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.
