Denon AH-7200
Apr 23, 2017 at 11:24 AM Post #961 of 3,127
Hey owners, how are you wearing your pads for these? I was bored today and just for fun, I turned my pads so that the thin part was in the back of the ear and the thicker part in the front (which is the opposite of the way they came). And you know what? It made them sound better with an increase in soundstage and imaging. In fact, it made them sound more like a Sennheiser with the angled drivers, in terms of soundstage. I think the imaging was already fantastic, so this little boost, to my ears, was a pleasant surprise.
so less bass equals wider sound stage ?
 
Apr 23, 2017 at 11:51 AM Post #963 of 3,127
Hey owners, how are you wearing your pads for these? I was bored today and just for fun, I turned my pads so that the thin part was in the back of the ear and the thicker part in the front (which is the opposite of the way they came). And you know what? It made them sound better with an increase in soundstage and imaging. In fact, it made them sound more like a Sennheiser with the angled drivers, in terms of soundstage. I think the imaging was already fantastic, so this little boost, to my ears, was a pleasant surprise.

 
No, I don't think this is a good idea. However, it is known with all oval shaped inner openings -- especially if the opening is small (like with the D7200 and even worse, the TX00) --, that depending on your ears, they may work best either straight up, or rotated backwards, or rotated forward, perhaps 25-30 degrees.
 
I do prefer pads with slightly larger oval openings. Oval shape is good for better sound stage, and for less interference resulting in midrange suckout.
That suggests some alternatives to try: ZMF Eikon and Ori pads, Audeze leather pads, and to a lesser extent Lawton TH90, Stax 009, 007.
However, I think the D7200 pads are pretty okay, except for the internal filling and too small internal opening.
 
Apr 23, 2017 at 11:59 AM Post #964 of 3,127
No, I don't think this is a good idea. However, it is known with all oval shaped inner openings -- especially if the opening is small (like with the D7200 and even worse, the TX00) --, that depending on your ears, they may work best either straight up, or rotated backwards, or rotated forward, perhaps 25-30 degrees.

I do prefer pads with slightly larger oval openings. Oval shape is good for better sound stage, and for less interference resulting in midrange suckout.
That suggests some alternatives to try: ZMF Eikon and Ori pads, Audeze leather pads, and to a lesser extent Lawton TH90, Stax 009, 007.
However, I think the D7200 pads are pretty okay, except for the internal filling and too small internal opening.


Why would you say it's not a good idea without ever trying it? I'm not going back as I prefer the sound this way. It may not be for everyone, but I'd love to hear someone's impressions who has actually tried it. If you don't like it, you can just rotate them back around. It only takes like 5 seconds to make the change and it's far easier and cheaper than having to buy new pads and then mount them on the plastic rings.
As an owner of Sennheiser 598's and a former owner of the B&W P9's, which both have angled drivers, this makes the Denon's sound like they now have angled drivers.
 
Apr 23, 2017 at 12:09 PM Post #965 of 3,127
Why would you say it's not a good idea without ever trying it?

 
I did try it, and also measured it, albeit not with the D7200, but the TH900 and TX00 with a couple of angled pads. It's a twisted workaround for something that should be solved at the source, but if you don't have better option, it's your headphone and your ears.
 
Have you tried rotating the pads only about 30 degrees front or back?
 
Apr 23, 2017 at 12:15 PM Post #966 of 3,127
I did try it, and also measured it, albeit not with the D7200, but the TH900 and TX00 with a couple of angled pads. It's a twisted workaround for something that should be solved at the source, but if you don't have better option, it's your headphone and your ears.

Have you tried rotating the pads only about 30 degrees front or back?


Oh ok. I didn't know you had already tried it. Well they came stock already rotated towards the back about 30 degrees and I liked it. I just turned them with the thinner part of the pad in the back but they're still rotated 30 degrees. I can't wear them with the opening vertical because they won't go around my ears like that.
 
Apr 28, 2017 at 1:30 PM Post #968 of 3,127
Tried while traveling to Montreal. Bought directly after that. Let me make a comparison. If D7100 is samsung note 7, then D7200 is s8. Denon has swapped out the haze of d7100. I personally do not like D7100 because it looses many attitude of Denon which showed on D7000. D7200 is a real successor for D7000.
 
May 4, 2017 at 5:24 AM Post #970 of 3,127
I have had the 7200 for about two weeks. Great sound, I find it better than everything under 1000 euros. It sounds similar to the Audeze LCD X, with the Audeze having a somewhat fuller mid-range and sounding more smooth. It's also nice to finally have a headphone that fits my ears.

But I have a problem with the headphone. There are shiny spots on the wood, that look like the material the letters on the cups were made with. I think that they went on the wood with the material or something. The store I bought them from has emailed Denon and got an email back saying" wait it out, it gets better". Which is really strange, because I don't think this is something that gets better with time.
20170502_184656.jpg
 
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May 4, 2017 at 5:32 AM Post #971 of 3,127
Wouldnt it be easier to just enjoy the headphone? It looks good to me.
 
May 4, 2017 at 6:08 AM Post #972 of 3,127
Yes, that's what I've been doing, if you have read my text you'll see that. Do you also say that to the person that just bought a brand new car that has scratches on the paint? Enjoying something has nothing to do with a manufacturer putting pieces of wood on a headphone with spots on them that don't belong on the wood.

If they advertised with a new headphone with shiny spots all over the wood, I would know that what I bought was the way it was meant to be. When I see the headphone on promotional photos, I never see spots, so they probably don't belong on the headphone.
 
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May 10, 2017 at 3:41 PM Post #975 of 3,127
I have made preliminary measurements of the D7200 I recently got as a trade for my TX00EB + pads, and they are good. Very good, actually. Truth is, a closed headphone has no right to have so good measurements :). Almost a straight line FR, downwards sloping like Tyll wants it, and smooth at that. No ridge on the CSD. Smooth spectrogram. Okay impulse. Very low distortion (especially in the bass, in comparison with others), with even and flat distribution. I might publish the measurements for reference, but basically there is nothing to see: "adequate" performance, of the Rolls Royce flavor. It's good enough you shouldn't care.

The sound in turn is like with all the very well measuring headphones: a bit on the flat and boring side when compared to the Fostex variants that have more fun.

Earlier in this thread I stated I could make the D7200 sound better just by changing pads. And it proved to be true, on steroids. Once I've put the custom carbon foam filled TH900 pads on the D7200, everything changed. The impulse response got much better, translating to cleaner and more realistic sound, others suffered a few percent. But the subjective sound quality won me over. Much bigger stage, more dynamic, more relaxed, more fun sound, with good harmonic structure, while staying smooth and neutral. No hint of edginess, glare or any treble issues. Bass is more prominent, and goes all the way down to 20-25 Hz before starting to roll off. Actually with some music the original pads may be preferable (they start to roll off a bit higher, around 25-30 Hz, but have less bass distortion as well - where the TH900 CF pads have typical bass distortion figures).

I have rolled all the pads I have, quite a few, but the Fostex worked the best - they are not with oval opening, but the measurements didn't suffer almost at all.

I know it's subjective, and there will be people preferring the TH900 (it is perhaps a tad more dynamic still with some music), but most often than not I preferred the more even sounding modded D7200, as it played closer to the sound signature of my Staxen. Not as transparent and clean as the Stax, but fantastic for a closed headphone this side of the R10.

My (modded) TH900 will likely go on sale, something I've never thought would happen... I will keep comparing them for a while, but as I need only one closed headphone (for the office), and I need to raise some money for a DIY e-stat project, the D7200 is probably the best for me, and the TH900 can go.

I will go further: IMHO the Sony Z1R doesn't hold a candle to the modded D7200... not in a single area, be it subjective or measurement (I also liked the TH900 more, but it was more colored). Of course YMMV, but it's indisputable that Denon has done it again...

Build quality is excellent by the way, the acoustic design is impeccable (a lot of work is visible there to fine-tune the front-loading of the driver), the mechanical design and CNC work is awesome (except the pads assembly mechanism that totally and utterly sucks compared to Sony and even Fostex). I don't have the headband discomfort issue: a keeper, then. :)

(Off-topic: please don't ask me to make modded pads - I don't have time. Look at the "TH900 mods" thread for how to do it).

UPDATE
I need to add the modded TH900 holds up very well, even with the Lawton pad + carbon foam filling. Sounds a tad more open, a tad softer, definitely more colored, but also meaning there are more colors in the mids, reminiscent to the Audio Technica sound sig. The modded D7200 sounds slightly darker, but measurements tell it's the more linear and more neutral. I think it needs a different carbon foam shape in the pads than the TH900. I will work on that.
 
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