[gavisthename]

I have been striving to find headphones that reproduce accurate sub bass. I have owned a pair of HD650's but sold them foolishly without knowing much about amps because the bass was too light. Now I'm more clue'd up and have a better dac/amp (Epiphany Acoustics EHP-02D) I would like to try them out again. 
 
I hear the DT880's and the K701/2 are bass light. I own a pair of Etymotic ER4pts which seem like the bass is being rolled off from about 200hz downwards.
 
I understand that these headphones are what you call "flat". But the only cans I have heard that show me sub information are my DT770's albeit its a "hyped" sound.
 
Is there a set of headphones on this planet that extend with the same amount of power in the sub region as the DT770's but with accuracy?

 

[Trunks159]

ATH WS99 baby! Prefer them to the dt770. Plus you've got he400.

 

[gavisthename]

Cool, I'll look into these models ... are they for mixing or are they in the pleasant listening category? How accurate are their in terms of reproducing exactly what is coming from your audio?

 

[pandaonslaught]

I found the ATH W1000X's to have good bass, albeit the price is higher than the headphones you listed. cheapest i've seen new was about $400 USD

 

[gavisthename]

Excellent you've given me hope that there is actually headphones with real weight behind them out there!

 

[gavisthename]

Quote:

ATH WS99 baby! Prefer them to the dt770. Plus you've got he400.

 
Not sure the ATH WS99 is ideal for mixing as it's a portable. My apologies if I didn't state that in my original post. The Hifiman HE400 look interesting with the open back design... are these meant to be used for mixing?

 

[gavisthename]

Quote:

I found the ATH W1000X's to have good bass, albeit the price is higher than the headphones you listed. cheapest i've seen new was about $400 USD

 
These look pretty sexy, but are they suitable for mixing music with?

 

[Bill-P]

If sub-bass is what you're looking for, grab a LCD-2 and call it a day.
 
If on a budget, then yeah, grab the ATH-WS99.
 
Or alternatively, if you're looking for a slightly more energetic sound, the ATH-M50.

 

[TMRaven]

You dont really have to look past an M50 to get good extending sub-bass.

 

[ev13wt]

If you want that 770 sub bass and depth but with awesome detail and resolving... Don't listen to the T5ps. Its a love hate type deal. But seems like thats the sound sig you're looking for. Try them and save up. Sell your sould to the devil or whatnot and go for it

 

[gavisthename]

This is excellent gentlemen, thanks for the advice, looks I got some tidy headphones to think about there!

 

[Zashoomin]

+1 for the Audeze LCD2 best base I have ever heard apart from its older brother the LCD3.  I wouldn't say that these are the "best" mixing headphones though.  Have you tried playing around with the EQ settings? sometimes that can really bring out some more base.

 

[gavisthename]

Thanks for the suggestion buddy. Yeah I've recently tried adding a low shelf boost to my etymotics and I must say that greatly enhances the bottom end. The only problem with that is I'm concerned that I would be jeapordising the flatness of the rest of the spectrum on the earphones.

I've been having a discussion about bass in another forum and I am starting to wonder if the problem is with me. Maybe I am used to listening to too much bass? Maybe I need to retrain my brain as to what real bass should sound like.

 

[Zashoomin]

Here is the thing about headphones.  There are $50 headphones and $5000 headphones and if you like the $50 better than the $5000 ones, that is just a matter of personal preferance.  If you like base than you like base.  I am not a base-head so I can't say that, but my advise is that EQ it as much as you want.  As long as the base doesn't bleed into the mids and start to bloat I think you will be fine.  But if you want to hear good base Audition a pair of Audeze headphones. If you don't like it than you don't like it.  Sound is all suggestive.  I have been maybe beating around the bush a bit but what I am trying to get at is there is no problem with liking base.  Search until you find something that makes you happy to listen to music.
 
The one thing about mixing though is that I wouldn't use EQ. And also there are many amps with a base boost option.  That could also help as well. 
 
I hope this kinda helps.  I might have even lost myself in that first paragraph.  

 

[cel4145]

I haven't heard the ATH-W1000Xs, but Innerfidelity's review points out, "Bass extention on the W1000x is pretty poor, with a steep roll-off starting at 90Hz." The measurements confirm that: http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/audio-technica-ath-w1000x-grandioso-page-2. My guess is that people describing these as having good sub bass output are either using EQ to bring it up or don't really know what flat to 20hz sounds like.

My experience with the DT880s is that they have a slight roll off, and only need a little boost to bring up the low end : http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/BeyerdynamicDT880250ohm.pdf. But then they do have accentuated highs.

There was a mod discussed on head-fi to increase the bass on your Etymotics, but I can not put my hands on it. Still measurements indicate it should be fairly flat. down to 20hz.

If you want a truly flat response into the sub bass with over ear phones, I think you will need to look at planar-magnetic headphones. With dynamic drivers, it's hard to get a flat anechoic response to 20hz out of home audio subwoofer, much less trying to create a driver that covers the whole frequency range.

If you want to avoid spending tons of money on a planar-magnetics, there are mods you can do to a Fostex T50RP to make it fairly flat in response.

That all being said, I think below 40hz is more for feel than how it sounds. So if you are composing music for those low frequency effects, I would think you would need a pair of powered monitors, a good subwoofer, a measurement mic, REW, and a good PEQ to set the sound up for flat at the listening position.