Koss Pro DJ 100 - The Budget King - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by 200poundsofamp 

 

For anyone else looking at these, Sweetwater has their stock in early, mine just shipped out. Much better price, soundprofessionals actually comes out to $30+

Thanks. I just bought another set. It's $19.98 for 2 sides with free shipping.

I suggest not experimenting by removing their foam like I did! I didn't realize how much the foam backing helped until I got another pair of M50s and tried the pads again.

Strangely enough the M50 pads with foam removed ON the M50 itself sounds pretty good. Reduces the bass a little though.

For a few days I couldn't figure out why the DJ100 all of a sudden became fatiguing for me and it was that foam I had removed.

Totally unnecessary but this weekend I'm going to experiment with some Dynamat in the DJ100. I think it will be similar to other results I've tried. For now they sound just fine the way they are.

I think since the Blu-tak and foam is too thick, the Dynamat will be worth a try. I have to be careful because any of the smallest changes inside the cup CAN screw up the sound.

I've found ways to kill the soundstage, make them have too much bass and even too forward of mids! Now that I think of it, I'm not sure why I bother. I just want to retain it's signature and improve on it.

Going to recable a pair again with Belden 1192A once the other one is burned in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katun 

Great to see those back in stock. May have to get me a pair.

 

...You know, just so I'm ready for when the DJ100 goes on sale this season.

They're on sale now. $62.84 on Amazon from Electronics-Expo. Stupid good deal for those considering how good they sound once they're fully burned in.

$63 DJ100 + E7/Pa2V2 + M50 pads would be a pretty dang nice combination I think for those that don't have a powerful source or amp.

Fingers crossed that Koss started giving these more burn in at the factory.

Here's a frequency graph of them from another thread. I don't have a clue if it's accurate or not. I expected much more bass on it's graph, so who knows...

Thanks to this website:

(translated version)

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?rurl=translate.google.com&twu=1&u=http://www.geocities.jp/ryumatsuba/prodj100.html&usg=ALkJrhiZyhc-39wqnXb-1Ne1ZdxZIYEySg

Main list of reviews:

http://www.geocities.jp/ryumatsuba/review.html

DJ100 review in Japanese:

http://www.geocities.jp/ryumatsuba/prodj100.html

(includes a CSD, review is in Japanese. Can anyone make any sense of the review? )

If you're a nerd like me, you'll be checking all those graphs out for an hour!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katun 

Ah dang it, too bad it's $6.99 shipping. $70 is still a killer for these though, but I'm being cheap.

 

Hoping to get them for $60 even, and then the M50 pads would bring them up to $80. Now that's a deal!

Try to haggle with J&R on the phone to see if they'll match the $60 + free shipping deal they had last Sunday

I bet they will if you mention the Electronics-Expo deal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astrozombie 

Pit them head to head with the DT235 TC, i lean toward those because i think they look freakin sexy in white, while most say they are ugly as sin.

I have the DT-235 and it's another severely under-appreciated headphone. I always loved my pair. One of the few cheap portables that can even be great for classical.

The mids are just so-so and not really forward sounding, but still quite good. For $60 it's a pretty clear sounding headphone.

I modded the heck out of mine and there's an old thread about it. You can actually make them circumaural with HD-203 pads. What's funny about this, is that they then become too bass heavy and you need to mod them to reduce it.

For $55 the DT-235 pretty much blows everything away at it's price point. I even got some Maxell DHP-II memory foam pads to fit.

Just ordered the E11 from Amazon for $64. I'll let everyone know how well it is for the DJ100.

Should be a good match. Hope it's neutral enough to not mess with the DJ100's signature too much. I don't need any extra bass.

Love my Airhead with the DJ100, but it's a bit bulky and doesn't fit into a pocket too well.

Been trying the E11 with the DJ100 for the last 2 hours and it just might be the best portable amp I've tried yet with the DJ100 and only $65!

I'm using it with a Mogami cable I made, but shouldn't make a difference much in the results.

Getting the impression of more detail, treble and a larger soundstage. I'm also using it with a Nuforce Mobile DAC (which needs upgrading).

Thankfully it doesn't seem to be messing up with the signature by adding in any bass etc. Seems like I'm hearing more tiny details in the background.

Seems as if the sound is a little more clear, but that's probably my imagination. I would need to compare it side by side to my other amps.

Not a super huge fan of "Imogen Heap", but their music sounds pretty impressive with this headphone/amp combination. Their music just sounds crystal clear on the DJ100 for whatever reason.

At first I felt the E11 was making the DJ100 a bit harsh and fatiguing, but definitely not. Just some really poor tracks.

So I think it's safe to say the E11 is a very good match!

E11 also sounds good with the D2000! Going to go try it with the M50 too.

I don't know why these things are such a pain in the butt to sound good from small portable players and portable amps.

Been using them a lot with the E11 and Nuforce Mobile DAC (from PC) and it sounds very good.

Today I was cleaning my house and using an Iaudio 7 and E11 and the sound was rather dull and lifeless. Sounded good, but totally not like it's old self. Very strange. I don't think it's because the E11 is supposed to be neutral. Connected it from my DAC to my (full sized) Headroom Micro Amp and it sounds perfect and at it's best. A lot more engaging for sure. Similar results with the E9 (which is neutral or so they say).

Maybe giving it all these crazy amounts of power is making it sound better by boosting it's upper mids, improving the bass and increasing the soundstage. Without a lot of power from a good source everything sounds so different. I always felt to get it how I wanted it to sound, an Ipod Touch and larger portable amp was best. I never got it to my liking with smaller amps and devices. Not sure why this is. I don't think it's synergy because I've tried it with lots of portable amps and devices.

Hopefully if Tyll/Inner Fidelity ever reviews the Tony Bennet headphone (DJ100?) he can figure this mystery out. It would have been nice to use it without my Iaudio 7, but guess I'll need to use the larger Total Airhead with it.

Haven't noticed any huge difference between going from the E9 and Micro Amp.

It's kind of funny how I now listen to the DJ100 over even the K501 and HD-598 Sometimes I keep forgetting this is supposed to be closed. M50 pads help the soundstage so much really. Can't get over how much smoother the sound is with the M50 pads.

In the past I often just used them with my Ipod Touch and Total airhead, but these things are loving my cheap Nuforce Mobile DAC. So much better than the sound from the Ipod Touch. Nuforce Mobile's amp part isn't too good, but the DAC seems pretty good.

BTW It's kind of weird how with my DJ100 and K501 I use the same settings on my Headroom Micro amp. High gain and about 40% volume. Actually I need to increase the K501 sometimes by another 5%. On any of my amps, the low/medium gain doesn't give me enough volume for the DJ100

Probably will sell the E11 since it's not enough maybe if I use it with my Iaudio 7. It's great with the Ipod Touch and my DAC, but I bought it for the Iaudio. Too bad. Guess I'll have to haul around my Total Airhead for portable use. Maybe it's just bad synergy..who knows. Sounds great...as long as I use my DAC!

EDIT: Ok, maybe the E11 isn't as good as I thought with the DJ100. When I mentioned it was so good, I had it connected to my DAC. Really did seem to improve them in a lot of areas.

With the Iaudio 7 it's NOT a good match at all. Possibly due to synergy or something strange. I connected up the (which "should" be worse) Nuforce Icon Mobile and the sound is so much better. I don't think it's a better amp than the E11, but just gets along better with the DJ100.

Here's a list of amps for the DJ100 that get my approval:

Headroom Micro amp (desktop..I love this amp and prefer it to the Asgard by far)

Fiio E9 (desktop)

Schiit Asgard (desktop)

Fiio E5 (with Ipod Touch)

Nuforce Icon Mobile (amp part seems not that good, but sounds good with the DJ100)

Headroom Total Airhead (perfect for the DJ100, but a bit bulky)

If you check ljokerl's review you can find a few more that worked for him.

Even with the Nuforce Mobile and a small player the sound is a bit harsh and fatiguing (but not too badly). I noticed this a little with the E5 and the Ipod Touch.

When a more powerful amp and decent dac is used, the sound is completely smooth for me. Strange huh? I wish I knew why. I noticed this also with the D2000 recently!

I think when I have more money I'm going to upgrade my DAC just for the DJ100. No kidding.

EDIT 2:

Just found out that E11 sounds great with the Ipod Touch and DJ100. Guess the Iaudio 7 and E11 isn't enough to make the DJ100 happy. Weird. How is this possible? Not sure if it's this or just bad synergy?! The resulting sound is just so boring and missing something. Feels like everything is lacking. Well I've found the iaudio 7 has problems driving a ton of headphones itself, so that's probably the biggest problem to begin with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 200poundsofamp 

Okay, just got these in and they sound muffled, weird and way bassier than an srh840. Time to put your burn in theory to the test

Haha, don't worry, mine did too. In fact, sounded like garbage, yet people say this is impossible! This is coming from the DJ100 fanboy too. Best advice is to use your most annoying music and shove them in a drawer with the volume up fairly loud. Most pairs needed 3-5 days with 8 hours of burn-in on each day. I did it only when sleeping.

I used some bass heavy songs from the "On Stranger Tides" cd (Pirates of the Carribean) to burn mine in.

BTW try to listen to a song with a huge soundstage. On a DJ100 without burn-in it sounds screwy. Don't ask me how this is. Almost like sound coming from a tin can. Very hard to describe. Treble felt chopped off and the mids were not even forward at all.

If they don't get better in 3-5 days I'll personally mail you a check for $80 With the last 2 DJ100s i've gotten, I'm rather disgusted with how bad they are out of the box.

BTW I think the Pro4AAT needs a ton of burn in too. It also sounded VERY muffled out of the box too. I bet it also goes away with burn-in.

Hopefully Koss reads these forums and gets an idea that they need to do more burn in!