Koss Pro DJ100 vs Creative Aurvana Live: Budget-fi Throwdown - Page 3

I have a stupid question and it might be hard to believe..Were you by any chance driving the CAL! with a Nuforce Icon Mobile? Based on my experience this amp seems to tone down the bass on some headphones, bring forward the mids slightly and then kind of roll off the treble a tad. This is why it was a nice match for specific headphones like the M50 and D2000. With the M50 and the Nuforce Icon Mobile you'd be shocked that some think it has recessed mids. It's not a bad amp, just really rather weird. I actually prefer it to the E7 despite this things.

 

Don't stop writing reviews! I like them. I'm not good at writing reviews really and they end up being like 20 pages.

Agreed, I look forward to your reviews. :)

Nice comparison!

 

The CAL is a sweet little headphone, especially when it's selling for ~$65.  It just has a fun sound, and pretty good genre bandwidth.  I'm not a huge fan of closed headphones, but I like having one pair of them - the CALs fill that niche for me.

 

Lol at them being bass-light, that's not the impression they give me.    What does that mean for me when they are the bassiest cans I own?  Is there a term for the opposite of "bass head"?

Haha, you're like me. My bassiest headphone is the DJ100 and the K240 Studio! Those really aren't even bass heavy at all, but close.

I think the K240 was more bassy out of the box somehow though.

 

My XB500 is around somewhere...in about ten different pieces. I've found it worthless without a massive EQ.

 

My DJ100 has about the limit for me when it comes to bass. Any more and I'd probably not want to listen to it. I hate bass bleeding into the mids. So annoying..or massive mid-bass humps.

 

Exactly.  Get that BASS out of the way!

 

I'm not sure about your new avatar pic

Don't worry. Bass is all relative. I can imagine it being bass-light for some people if they are used to bassy headphones (you mentioned DJ cans in the review.).

 

 

 

I know, I know. It must be either passhead or basstoe. Take your pick.

Edited by kingpage - 12/10/11 at 2:13am

I was gonna order the CALs today, then I saw that they shot up $30. @_@


Listening to the CALs I ordered for someone recently, they are just as I remembered. They ARE bassy. And I've owned some bassy cans in my time:

XB500
XB700
DT770 Pro 80
Koss UR40
DT990
DT770/600 (weird variant with a ridiculous amount of bass)
M50
ES7
ESW9
D7000
HE4
(Can't remember the others)

The CAL puts out some deep bass, even amongst these heavy hitters.
Edited by Mad Lust Envy - 12/10/11 at 4:03am

You're making CAL! sound like bass monsters, but they're really quite balanced (especially if you put dynamat in the earcups).

Not bass monsters, but definitely bass heavy. I do agree, they are quite well balanced, not unlike the M50s. Just trying to state that they thump just as good as anything else, just it isn't over pronounced.

I just bought a pair of the Koss DJ100s here in Vietnam. I'm pretty much a virgin here in head-fi, but the reviews are really helpful. Luckily, there's a bonafide Koss retailer here. Out of the box they sound pretty good to me, but not as nice as the burnt-in ones at the shop. I have them hooked up to the JLab Audio website which has a burn-in feature (plays a loop of different frequencies). I may go for the M50 pads - most say it improves the sound a bit. What I really need is a better source, though. All I have is an Ipod video, but I'm looking at either a Rocoo P or the Cowon J3. The guy at the shop says the DJ100s will benefit from an amp, but maybe it wouldn't be necessary with a better player. Anyways, I love all the talk about the mods and comparisons - this site is a wealth of information and surely will result in future arguments between me and my wife ("But you already have a pair of headphones????) Hehe

HM5s sound (a lot) better than my modded CAL! in very way out of the box (some areas more than others); they are an overall big step up or two. I'd recommend HM5s or FA-003s if any of you had a bit more to spend.

Ipod Video should be a good match for them. I know the Ipod Touch can drive them decently, but there's still something missing.

It makes absolutely no sense but the best portable source for the DJ100 is the Sansa Clip(!). This tiny thing seems to be better at driving headphones than many other devices twice it's size. I know what the DJ100 should sound like when at it's best and many portable devices just don't get it right. I'd say that with the Clip the DJ100 is at around 90% of what it's capable of.

 

My DJ100 even benefits from a very good DAC. I was actually surprised at how much my HRT Music Streamer helps.

 

Now switching to the Ipod Video to the Clip doesn't make sense and I don't have much good advice for sources.

 

DJ100 isn't very good from an iaudio 7, Sansa Fuze or portable CD player. I actually like doing the "bad" thing and connecting an E5 to my Ipod Touch without using the LOD It's actually very impressive with that setup and sounds similar to how it is straight out of the clip. Maybe I'm over driving it, but the signature doesn't seem to change much. With better amping it's bass, mids and soundstage are much better.

 

I sure wish someone had told me earlier how well the Clip can drive some power hungry headphones. Now off to try it with my K400...kidding..

 

M50 pads are really a must have, but if you are 100% ok with the comfort of the stock pads, it's not required. M50 pads do improve the soundstage and treble though.