DENON D7000 revealed, impression and pics here
Aug 15, 2008 at 3:33 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 131

Sasaki

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DENON D7000 is real.
I've got a chance to audition DENON's new flag ship D7000 at Tokyo DENON office.
It was early August but I was not allowed to open this til today. The official announcement will be made in next week.
So this is a preview actually, though the demo unit was a final production model.



The MSRP of D7000 is 126000 Yen (include tax). It will be available around the mid of September.
Click pictures to enlarge.


D7000 and D5000, glossy one is D7000

At the first look, D7000 looks like almost same to D5000 except the piano finished housing. The housing is made from mahogany as already leaked in this forum.



In a closer look, the plug of D7000 has changed to 1/4 from 1/8 and the position of lettering has slightly relocated. I was not able to find other major changes. Away from the look, the pad material is also revised. This is softer and more comfortable to wear. In add, they told me that the cable sleeve has been improved. There is one more invisible change. From the brochure, D7000 employs 11.4% stronger magnets to enhance sound quality.



The outer difference looks small, it's time to hear the difference.
We were able to audition D7000 with the D5000 side by side. I brought my faithful SR-71 and iMod 5.5 to hook it up.

To my surprise, the look is similar but the sound has drastically changed from D5000. I'd say the former D1000/D2000/D5000 share the same sound signature but the D7000 is not on the line of the predecessors.
I auditioned with two friends and we all share the same impression.

The sound of D7000 is noticeably darker, deeper and laidback.
I felt it something like Senn so I thought the impedance has increased or effeciency has lowered. Actually I have to raise the volume to match the D5000. I told this finding to Denon people but they did not have enough technical information about that.
Next, I was amazed by the bass quantity and quality. The bass is huge, deep and much detailed. Wood bass note is realistic and impressive.
So my first impression was something like an L3000 blended with Senn.

Sound staging is not only wider than D5000 but it's fairly expansive as if I were in a large hall.
The housing is made of wood but I did not notice remarkable wood resonance like wooden Grados.

As for mid range, the vocal is articulate, rich and full. It's just stunning especially with warm SR71. S-sound harshness could be a little exists but not prominent anyway.
The mids to highs are clear and crisp, the timbre of this portion may be similar to the predecessors. But I did not feel it is so airy as it is darker overall.

Some may prefer D5000 rather, as the sound signature is so different. However, I think D7000 is a better can in general. D7000 has better resolution, sounds bigger and the bass is so impressive.
In my opinion, D7000 is a bit expensive and comes to the playground a bit late. But it's surly the new king of Denon cans and well comparable to other kings.
 
Aug 15, 2008 at 3:45 PM Post #2 of 131
Sasaki, so the driver is physically the same as D2000/D5000, but just has larger magnets? Or is the driver itself different somehow?

Are the wood cups of the D7000 the same depth/width or are they larger?
 
Aug 15, 2008 at 4:12 PM Post #4 of 131
Excellent first impressions and comparison Sasaki San. Honto ni arigato gozaima****a!

<edit>I guess you can't write words with the letter s. h. i. and t. in them </edit>
 
Aug 15, 2008 at 4:19 PM Post #5 of 131
Off topic, but you have cool hair! Anyhow awesome write-up, although in the beginning you sort of turned me off since you said it sounded like the Sennheiser, but then the D7000's made a comeback when you talked about their deep bass, it must be heavenly.
 
Aug 15, 2008 at 4:25 PM Post #6 of 131
Million dollar question: Did they fix the screw issue?
 
Aug 15, 2008 at 4:31 PM Post #7 of 131
How about the issue with the pivot joints failing and the cups falling off the headband?

Did they do anything to resolve that issue?

Based on your description... if the bass is even more pronounced... it sounds like its more unbalanced than the D2000/5000s are... at least in stock form and without burn in.

One of the advantages of the D2000/5000s, compared to Senns, is their brighter, more resolved/detailed sound. Its a bit difficult to understand how a darker, bassier sound would be an improvement.
 
Aug 15, 2008 at 4:33 PM Post #8 of 131
Quote:

Originally Posted by Enthusia /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Off topic, but you have cool hair!


Haha, my thought too.

OnTopic: How is the bass compared to D5000? (talking about which one have most bass, is it more tight or more boomy?). Is the bass deeper too?
 
Aug 15, 2008 at 4:42 PM Post #9 of 131
definitely doesn't 'look' as good as the D5000. The overglossy look makes it look less sophisticated. Maybe they are catering for the Japanese market somewhat, as the Japanese market tends to regard non-glossy finishes as implied lack of quality. Whereas in the West, many prefer less sheen.
 
Aug 15, 2008 at 4:46 PM Post #10 of 131
Thanks for sharing these impressions. Do you know if the cans you tried had some burn-in? Perhaps they were very new and the bass was in the "uncontrolled" side of things for not having enough playing time to settle down the drivers.
Another question, do you think the overall dark sound comes from the bass excess or for the treble being a bit more recessed than on the D5000?

Rgrds
 
Aug 15, 2008 at 4:54 PM Post #11 of 131
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sasaki /img/forum/go_quote.gif
So my first impression was something like an L3000 blended with Senn.


If it's true, it'll be soon my favorite cans. I do prefer the sound of Senn than Denon.
Anyway, very nice impression
tongue.gif
 
Aug 15, 2008 at 4:55 PM Post #12 of 131
That's certainly a beautiful set of cans.
 
Aug 15, 2008 at 5:30 PM Post #15 of 131
Thank you, Sasaki! Very helpful indeed!

As Torpedo has noted, the overpowering bass (if that's the right description) and relatively dark character may result from insufficient burn-in. In any case, your review assures me that Denon is not softening that earth-shattering bass that we know and love from the D5000, and it's now improving on the the D5000 soundstage. It seems they got it all right!
L3000.gif


Well, maybe not all of it is good news. I'm one of those who think it's hard to improve on the obscenely cute D5000. That glossy finish is a step back, IMHO. But we understand the need for some distinctive physical mark. It remains very, very pretty.

Wheeeew!... Is there a cure for the itch, people?
tongue.gif
 

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