Anyone here has the Koss Pro DJ-200? - Page 6

I get the feeling the FR dip is a small enough section that it might be a little hard to pinpoint without more time to test. I think I do agree with tdockweiler that it would help to have specific examples of songs and sections of songs/vocals where the problem is evident.

Not that it matters, but A) it was "Little Bit Of Time" by Rain People. Three part male/female vocal harmonies and the TB makes a mess of it. And B) probably around 4-8kHz area.

You can hear it with any choice of material if you compare the TB with any phone with a reasonably flat response from 1 to 10kHz.

Yo,

It has forward mids but I never noticed a dip on them, even with the two pairs I used to own.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ssrock64 

Did you notice any dip in the upper mids? I had to postpone my BB trip until tomorrow.

The example I gave was Phantom of the Opera, which has a definite dip in the male vocals when he gets to higher sections of the song.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beagle 

 

Not that it matters, but A) it was "Little Bit Of Time" by Rain People. Three part male/female vocal harmonies and the TB makes a mess of it. And B) probably around 4-8kHz area.

 

You can hear it with any choice of material if you compare the TB with any phone with a reasonably flat response from 1 to 10kHz.

Hmm, I don't know what to say. That song isn't in my collection and it's nearly impossible to find online.

I don't know how this Youtube version compares to your original. I'm guessing setting it to 720p improves the sound quality. Probably still bad, but it's old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITRnqLqT2o8

On my KRK KNS-8400 and Sextett it sounds like vocals were coming at me exactly two feet away. Not very forward at all. Fairly distant, but due to the recording. Even on my Sextett it was incredibly hard to pick apart and make any sense of the vocals and even where they were coming from. It felt as if they must have been sitting on top of each other. On my K601 it was the easiest. A tad more up-front than on the KRK KNS-8400. Kind of surprised about that. I imagine that song would sound much better on speakers and less so on a closed headphone. Just sounded like everything was jumbled together.

On my TB it was actually VERY hard to determine how far away the vocals were. Like I mean in feet. I guess the DJ100 is much worse in this area and I've always known this. It feels like everything is much better spaced out on the KRK KNS-8400 with most music. Honestly it sounded like they were probably a foot away on the stage. It actually had the most forward sounding vocals and shoved forward a tad. It's actually hard to pick apart the vocals on any of my headphones. Others can test it if they want.I'll have to find other songs or a better quality version.

Someone else mentioned The Phanton of the Opera and i'll try that as well.

I know this reply is probably worthless to you, but I still wanted to test it out. Maybe others will hear it differently or can find other stuff that's bad on the DJ200.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ssrock64 

The example I gave was Phantom of the Opera, which has a definite dip in the male vocals when he gets to higher sections of the song.

Maybe that's how it is in the actual recording? Doesn't matter, but I'll check it for fun since i'm bored. I usually test everything with many different headphones.

BTW is it the 2004 version Soundtrack? I'll have to find a CD of that. On samples it sounds like it's supposed to be spaced further back.

On my Q701 it sounds like this one is coming from inside of a cave. No joke:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRT4IIkbJe0

At 2:45+ the male vocals are nearly absent! Even more so on the Q701 and KRK. Like they almost disappeared.

But i'll buy a CD or something.

I've also found this CD to be the most distant sounding recording i've ever heard:

http://www.amazon.com/Silk-Road-Journeys-Beyond-Horizon/dp/B00138CUH4/ref=tmm_msc_title_0#mp3TrackPlayer

It's Yo-Yo Ma and everything is so distant you need to crank the volume super high. I never had to do this on very many CDs. "Simply Baroque" sounds like poop on the Q701, but quite good on the DJ100/HD-580. Really!

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdockweiler 

 

I know this reply is probably worthless to you, but I still wanted to test it out. Maybe others will hear it differently or can find other stuff that's bad on the DJ200.

I enjoy music on my headphones of choice, flawed or not. But, as a Head-Fi'er, I feel it is part of my "responsibility" to point them out if I hear them. 

Female vocals displayed more honk than I like. I also heard this on the PortaPro and the short-lived PortaPro 2000, way back when.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdockweiler 

Maybe that's how it is in the actual recording? Doesn't matter, but I'll check it for fun since i'm bored. I usually test everything with many different headphones.

 

BTW is it the 2004 version Soundtrack? I'll have to find a CD of that. On samples it sounds like it's supposed to be spaced further back.

 

On my Q701 it sounds like this one is coming from inside of a cave. No joke:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRT4IIkbJe0

 

At 2:45+ the male vocals are nearly absent! Even more so on the Q701 and KRK. Like they almost disappeared.

 

The version I have is unknown to me, actually. It's on an SACD that used to be used as a demo at a local Hi-Fi store. I've tried looking it up, but I can't seem to find the exact version anywhere.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beagle 

 

I enjoy music on my headphones of choice, flawed or not. But, as a Head-Fi'er, I feel it is part of my "responsibility" to point them out if I hear them. 

 

Female vocals displayed more honk than I like. I also heard this on the PortaPro and the short-lived PortaPro 2000, way back when.

No, no, that's ok. I love it when people rip apart my favorite headphones. I do this with even my HD-598. I'm a huge critic of the HD-600 despite how much people love that thing.

I think I have a love and hate thing for the K702 and HD-600. If I had any complaints about my DJ100 I'd have no problem telling people. It's not perfect and it's a hard headphone for everyone to like. Some people might be bothered by it's forward mids. I think some even the treble, which is weird to me.

If you return it (probably have), it's too bad you couldn't see if another pair sounded identical. I doubt they'd let you try a pair in the store. I went a bit crazy on my reply because someone else here had crappy mids on his pair too. This was about a year back. I've also had a few pairs that were very muffled out of the box (cleared up in 4 days of pink noise). I've been through 5 pairs. I usually end up ruining them. Don't ask..

It's just weird how in nearly 2 years i've never heard of anyone saying the TB/DJ100 has recessed upper mids. I don't even think they're 100% accurate and make everything sound like it's very slightly more in my face than normal. I like this. M50 pads reduce this though a bit.

If you think they have honky mids, don't even try the Koss MV!! That thing is just plain weird. I actually thought the SRH-940 had female vocals that were more forward than those of the DJ100. I prefer the 8400 or SRH-840 to that, but most won't. I actually think the mids of the 225i are similar to the DJ100. My DJ100 has "thicker" mids though with even my Airhead or E5.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ssrock64 

The example I gave was Phantom of the Opera, which has a definite dip in the male vocals when he gets to higher sections of the song.

Is this the version you're talking about? (Spotify link)

Andrew Lloyd Webber – The Phantom of the Opera - Single Album Version

Care to elaborate? I'd like to test it out on my HD600s. Are there certain sections (MM:SS) where its obvious? I know this is a bit of a wild goose chase but I think that's just the reality of it since most of the vocals/mids on these Koss's are strong but just this small section of the upper mids is dropped out. If you can point out certain sections and I can hear the same thing on my HD600s I'll chalk it up to the recording but it sounds like you've tried it on some other cans and they didn't have the problem?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ssrock64 

The version I have is unknown to me, actually. It's on an SACD that used to be used as a demo at a local Hi-Fi store. I've tried looking it up, but I can't seem to find the exact version anywhere.

Is it possible to rip that track to FLAC or 320k mp3 so we can give it a try?

IDK guys. This whole thread just frustrates me. I've made up my mind, I'm picking up some DJ100's and so help me God, if it sounds exactly like the graphs and has deeply recessed 4-8k, tdockweiler I will rip your nards off and feed them to you for being so goddammed biased. And if not, I will kindly apologize for threatening to rip your nards off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by devhen 

IDK guys. This whole thread just frustrates me. I've made up my mind, I'm picking up some DJ100's and so help me God, if it sounds exactly like the graphs and has deeply recessed 4-8k, tdockweiler I will rip your nards off and feed them to you for being so goddammed biased. And if not, I will kindly apologize for threatening to rip your nards off.

Don't forget to give them 1000 hours of burn in. Ok, I lied. My rule on the DJ100 is that if they sound good out of the box, then I don't bother. If I get a pair that's not very clear or muffled, then I give it 4 days of burn-in with pink noise cranked quite loud. The DJ100 has a titanium driver and supposedly needs a little burn in. Best advice is to try them with many different sources and see which one sounds best.

BTW do you have a Best Buy in your area? If so you should take in your portable player and give it a listen. DJ200 is on demo. They're in the Pro Audio department. It will be a good reference to see if your pair will sound identical or worse.

I expected the demo units to sound like garbage, but they're not bad at all. My store had the HDJ-2000 and HD-380. I want to try the HD-380 for a few days sometime.

I've had 5-6 (keep losing track) and about 4 of them needed burn-in. Two of them sounded like garbage of the box, but people tell me this is impossible. Ok, if you say so..

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdockweiler 

 

Don't forget to give them 1000 hours of burn in. Ok, I lied. My rule on the DJ100 is that if they sound good out of the box, then I don't bother. If I get a pair that's not very clear or muffled, then I give it 4 days of burn-in with pink noise cranked quite loud. The DJ100 has a titanium driver and supposedly needs a little burn in. Best advice is to try them with many different sources and see which one sounds best.

 

BTW do you have a Best Buy in your area? If so you should take in your portable player and give it a listen. DJ200 is on demo. They're in the Pro Audio department. It will be a good reference to see if your pair will sound identical or worse.

 

I expected the demo units to sound like garbage, but they're not bad at all. My store had the HDJ-2000 and HD-380. I want to try the HD-380 for a few days sometime.

 

I've had 5-6 (keep losing track) and about 4 of them needed burn-in. Two of them sounded like garbage of the box, but people tell me this is impossible. Ok, if you say so..

Either the Best Buy Po Audio departments are more standardized than I thought, or we may have the same store. Mine has the DJ200, TMA-1 Beatport, HD280 Pro, HDJ-2000, Pro#Asomethingsomething, HD380, and another Pioneer.

So I went into my local Best Buy today to try the DJ200 out. I brought mine along to compare, and while the upper-mid dip wasn't as present as in my pair (meaning mine must be defective or Koss's manufacturing process for this one is causing constant variances a'la LCD-3) I could still hear it quite clearly. It's definitely not as bad as I had heard in my pair and could be attributed to the forward lower mids, but I still hear it.