[Motts]

I'm wanting to buy my first pair of high end headphones. I mostly listen to rock from the the 70s & 80s, and metal, (not cookie monster vocals).

I know that Grados are great for rock/metal. I'm considering getting the SR325i. I'm also considering the Denon AH-D2000. I hear that those are great as well, and not just for rock.

Grados are known for being rock'n'roll cans. Would the D2000 be good for rock/metal, or not so much? Do they have a faster sound like the grados? I want tight, punchy bass. . . definitely present, but not hip hop bass.

Also, are the Grado SR325i that much better than the SR225 to justify paying $100 more?

Thanks.

 

[JayB18]

I haven't heard either but the D2000 would probably be a bit more versatile. I doubt they would be as fast as Grados though and they can be bass heavy from what ive read.

 

[donunus]

I'm getting the md2000 soon, you might probably do some research on those. Markl modded d2000s!

 

[Caution]

If you want tight punchy bass, imo the D2000s may not be for you.

 

[Seba]

If you like to hear all the nice details in music and you aren't serious basshead = Grado

If you don't care the details so much and want a non-fatiqueing sound and you are a basshead = Denon

 

[Henmyr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seba /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you like to hear all the nice details in music and you aren't serious basshead = Grado If you don't care the details so much and want a non-fatiqueing sound and you are a basshead = Denon

Aren't the Denons said to be rather detailed?

 

[smallmouth]

The Denons do well with 70's rock. But I think they're a bit slow for metal.

 

[lmilhan]

For whatever it's worth, about 90% of my music collection consists of Metal of all flavors (power, prog, classic, etc) as well as classic rock. For the longest time (several years), my "go to" cans for those genres of music were Grado phones. And I have owned just about every pair of Grado headphones in existence (among my favorites were PS-1s, RS-1s, MS-2is and SR-225s). Nothing was ever quite able to capture the magic of Grado headphones for my tastes....

...then along came Denon with their new line of headphones. I tried a pair of D5000s, and the rest, as they say, is history. They exhibited all of the good characteristics of what I liked in a pair of Grado headphones, with a few extra bonuses that the Grado phones didn't have, such as extreme comfort, more palpable bass, better stereo separation/headstage, and the ability to attenuate outside environmental noise by about 10 decibels or so. I didn't think it would ever be possible for a pair of closed headphones to sound the way the Denons do, and oddly enough, up to this point in my headphone career I never really liked closed headphones at all. Then I went ahead and did a partial "Markl" mod on the D5000s, and it improved what I was hearing even more.

But I digress.

You are asking about the D2000s. I enjoyed the D5000s so much, that I went on to buy the D2000s for my 'office rig' and a pair of D1000s for portable use. Of all of the Denons that I own, the D2000s get the most head time, since I do most of my listening at work, which is 5 to 6 hours per day, 5 days per week. Although the D2000s don't sound quite as refined as the D5000s (to my ears), and the D2000s don't quite have quite jaw dropping palpable bass impact that the D5000s have, the D2000s are still a fantastic pair of 'all rounders', and I prefer them greatly over my previous office rig headphones, which were a rotation between Grado SR-60s, SR-80s, SR-225s and MS-2is, depending upon my mood.

I didn't think I would ever see the day that I didn't have a single pair of Grado headphones in my collection, but as it turns out, I enjoy the D5000s, D2000s and D1000s so much, that all of my Grado phones went unused for such a long period of time, that I felt bad about it and ended up selling all of my Grado phones. SO here I sit, without a Grado headphone in sight, and couldn't be happier with my current headphone collection. Go figure!

So there is my testimonial for you. But them bottom line is that you should try these headphones out for yourself and make a decision based on what YOU think about them. My best suggestion is you buy BOTH a pair of D2000s AND an equivalently priced pair of Grado phones (maybe the SR-225s?). Buy them both from a reputable dealer with a great return policy such as TTVJ and or Headroom. Then spend some serious time with each of the phones, and make your decision on which one you like best. Return the pair you don't want to keep and get a refund. Then live happily ever after, knowing that you definitely made the right decision on which pair of phones work best for you and your own ears.

Thus concludes my 2 cents (which in the grand scheme of things probably doesn't mean squat).

Good luck.

 

[glac1er]

D2000 is more detailed than SR225. I can't compare it to SR325i, it's been too long since I've heard one.

SR325i is better than SR225 but listening to their treble can be tiring, you'll love them if you're a treblehead.

If you like your music fast with tight and swift bass, go Grado. If you want the bass to be more present and better soundstage, get the Denons.

 

[donunus]

Imilhan, why did you go only partial markl mod not full on?

 

[lmilhan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donunus /img/forum/go_quote.gif Imilhan, why did you go only partial markl mod not full on?

I did all of the mods except the cable replacement. For critical listening I use my D5000s in my home rig. The stock cable on the D5000s is already quite good, and to be completely honest, I never really got into cable mods since I rarely hear a big enough difference in cable mods to justify the high price tag.

Same deal with the D2000s, I did all of the mods except for the cable. Although the cable isn't nearly as nice on the D2000s (when compared to the D5000s). And the rig I use the D2000s with is for casual listening, and probably wouldn't benefit all that much from a cable upgrade - in this situation a source/amp upgrade would benefit me more than a cable upgrade would.

So once again the cost versus audible gain ratio isn't high enough for me to justify spending the money on a cable upgrades.

For my personal tastes, and from my own personal experience, the cable is the absolute last thing that I would upgrade in a headphone rig. And in both of my rigs (D5000 rig and D2000 rig) it simply wouldn't be worth it to me to upgrade the cables.



Now it would be a different story if I dropped $5,000 on an amp, and $3000 on a source. In this case I would probably go all the way and drop the money on a cable upgrade. But as it stands, I feel my current rigs simply wouldn't benefit from it, and I would rather spend my money on something other than a cable upgrade.

 

[Seba]

Today I visited a friend of mine and gave his stock D2000's another listen. My god, they sounded beautiful even compared to one of my favourite cans, the MS-1. No more sucked-out mids and treble was very nice and without a hint of harshness. Very noticeable difference was in the bass. It was very well controlled and didn't overpower the rest of the spectrum.

From what I heard I liked the D2000's sound sig a bit more than D7000's (notice, D7000's weren't properly burned-in yet)

 

[donunus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lmilhan /img/forum/go_quote.gif I did all of the mods except the cable replacement

So do you like the modded d2000 more than the stock d5000?

 

[Tiemen]

The D2000 has enough bass and drum slam to handle rock. But they are not the fasted sounding cans around.
Actually, I found them a bit too slow to get my feet tapping.

 

[donunus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiemen /img/forum/go_quote.gif The D2000 has enough bass and drum slam to handle rock. But they are not the fasted sounding cans around. Actually, I found them a bit too slow to get my feet tapping.

See buts thats the reason why I keep going on about comparing the markl modded one vs the stock. The markl modded one is supposed to take care of the bass muddiness that make the cans seem sluggish