[xingfei]

.

 

[xingfei]

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[Mhog55]

>$1000 category since some mentioned the FOSTEX TH900...






The GH50 Mk2 for me is one of the tightest bass hp I ever came across thanks to the Kennerton Original designs- I was able to mod and managed to extract every last ounce of full range detail and tight non bloaty bass - hell yea I am biased cause its my mod but the others who own it all say the same (really they do)

And I would say for just pure rip your head off BASS euphoria on acid and little else in the detail dept I would say Spirit Torino for closed backs and for a bit more detail and insane rip your head off ("FINISH HIM" style) try a set of Spirit Cuffie Valkyria - these are probably the heavy weights in bass to rule them all period...

What's the deal with that headband on the Kennerton?

 

[John Massaria]

It’s the same band as rognir

 

[Corti]

I'm still waiting for the Cascades Backorder from shop.



Here's what I've been digging today, overall great artist.

So you're digging Skream and now throwing Truth in, i see..
Let me counter this.. with.. duploc



..or one of my favourite 'basstest-tracks', watch out at 1:21 and 3:39, very impressive.



While i'm already at it, here is one of my newer findings, Rezz, she is really talented:



last but not least some deep medi classic for old times sake. if we are talking dubstep they cant be missed.





(i saw goth-trad live some time ago, a true virtuose)

so thats it, hope this'll help a bit while waiting for the cascades to reach the shores

/spam off

 

[Steven31]

...since we're sharing basshead tracks I thought I'd share a few of my favourites. Listening with Fostex TH500RP (TH500RP are not bass cannons, they are very musical however. Bass is defined down to just 20 Hertz but has that planar slam).
The bass in the following songs should sound earthshattering on headphones such as Fostex TH900's, TH-X's, JVC HA-SZ2000 and B&W P9 Sig.






Hope the OP enjoys his Cascades!

 

[John Massaria]

​

 

[dezzadk]

They are finally here today!

A little quick test and thoughts for you bassheads. Thanks for the music suggestions I will definetily check your tracks out!

Packaging:
Very nice box, I like the minimalism Campfire Audio aimed for. Everything is elegant and the star pattern is just gorgeous and I took a while to gaze at it and appreciate it.

Taking the headphones out they feel so heavy, sturdy like quality and the pads feel excellent quality to me. Leather smell was pronounced when I opened the box and the shine of the leather was so bright and very firm looking.

Sound
Now onto the sound and my initial impressions in a few hours, so take with a grain of salt.

One of the hardest tracks for my old headphones to drive (or where the low end is really pronounced and unmatched by most other headphones) is ASURA - Life2.


The sound was familiar and what I want and already know from my Ultrasone Pro 900. Punchy, full body "tunnel bass" is what I call it. I can agree with Z-Reviews they sound a bit like IEM's. What significantly improved from my old headphones is high end. The highs and soundstage is better. You can hear the sound panning from right to left ear with good precision. The highs are crispy, they are engaging: the clap, crash sounds so crisp on this headphone while not being fatiguing and sharp or sibilant.

I've already tried EQing with AutoEq's 3 different presets from Crinacle (2 presets), ReferenceAudioAnalyzer and they do not improve the sound to me, they take away all of the room and magic of the lower end and the headphones suddenly sound cheaper because.. the "magic", the starfield pattern of the box of Campfire Audio and the signature sound is gone. I guess I could try to come up with my own preset sometime playing with not correcting as strongly as autoeq.

I also tried MrBill - Pleasure Seeker and this also sounded great as I expected. Smooth rounded 3D sphere bass sound with amazing room in these.


What blew me away though was one of my new favorite artists Truth Dubstep. I had this mix paused in a tab in Firefox and continued a 3/4 way of the mix which is very deep dark oldschool dubstep- kind of like a modern oldschool dubstep attempt imo. The AutoEQ presets rob all body out of this low end with this mix. Without them however it sounds simply engaging, punchy, round and smooth and puts a smile on your face. I feel the clarity and crispness that my Ultrasone sometimes lacked when several sounds are going on (layered thick sounds in low, high) end is much better.

What I really like about this mix for these headphones is that the sawtooth bass synthesizer sounds so synthethic, smooth and clear and almost liquid-like. The crispy highs is great with this type of round bass the effects and highs sound so crisp on top of the round bass and sound very clear.



Finalizing pros/cons
I agree with the headband that could be more comfortable where it hits your cranium on top I already felt that after a 30mins but rearranged the position and found a good spot. I guess the only other con I have on my lips right now about the sound is that it could have better more pronounced and transparent highs or maybe high mids, they sometimes sound a bit hidden away or in the background, especially when not as loud as the bassline - this is the first thing I'd try boosting with EQ.

I'm not disappointed at all but very satisfied because the sound is punchy and unique room with engaging bass as I want it. While being a big improvement to highs and soundstage over my Ultrasone Pro 900. The headphones themselves ooze of quality.

But the cable I find is very disappointing and such a hassle, its curling around like a snake + it is short and that is beyond annoying and mind-tingling. I looked at their website and wow, now I think I will have to buy an expensive replacement cable to make me fully satisfied (I paid $1053 for these in Denmark). I cannot see the reasoning because its neither good portable when it tangles like that - maybe I'm picky, but who likes tangled cables? It really grinds my gears that they chose this tangling cable to be included after all they went through to make this headphone, I would choose a normal boring plastic cable over this any day as long as its not a tangling flimsy IEM cable. It feels like being forced to buy a proper cable after I spent all my money on this alone and I was pretty confident people were overreacting when they mentioned the cable, so I tried to ignore it at first. For headphones this price a proper cable really should be a non-issue, so you can focus on the sound.

But all in all I'm glad I went for the Cascades for the sound alone and will be looking forward to many listening hours from here on. Super nice closedback IEM-sound-ish that has a unique punchy bass room and very crisp and clear highs and I believe thats one of the best compromises for a basshead imho!

Huge thanks for the help everyone!

 

[dezzadk]

Damn. I am not lucky..

I just found out the right earcup has a grain/chip thing rattling around in it.

Beryllium coating maybe. I have reproduced the sound both with the earpad on and off, I was trying to record a video with pads off giving a high sound when it suddenly stuck and stopped producing the sound. Put headphones down, put them on again. Tilt head right, tilt head left metal or metal against plastic sound rattling in right ear.

Additionally I found out they sell it right now for $749 plus a bonus promo cable *sigh*

 

[dezzadk]

I have talked to the seller.

I will get them refunded as they have the grain in the right earcup.

Another reason is the high difference in price without the black-friday promo cable paying 1050 usd vs 749 (plus 249 value cable discount) after I have waited a month on a eu shipment that got lost and then got sent a defect pair ultimately.

I have tried straightening out the cloth litz cable by letting the two connector ends rest on the cardboard box edge and letting the headphone rest on table and the cable upper end going outwards between two heavy cups to straighten out the curling, which was succesful to some extent.

The comfort on the headband which gets continously hot on top of your head gets more annoying the more you use it. It forces you to push backwards where it can't really fit more "backwards" as the headphone seems forward leaned.

And the forged forwardness of the earphone (ever felt like putting them on forward felt backwards? Or felt like you had "tusks" ?)

The highs seems a bit muted to me at times even if they have crisp to them. Other times it seems a bit boomy or underbellied - insane burn-in or not I do not think the price is justified for the flaws it has.

It was also surprising the manual states 4 dampeners but only included 2 without notice.

I will consider trying Ultrasone Signature Pulse, the successor to my old headphone. Better price, better comfort I already know (hopefully better sound) and no tangling thin cable. If this cable just had more cloth coating or thicker with more weight in the upper end I am sure it would have felt better.

Its not the color I am put off by even if it personally to me is a dull overwashed floormop color.

How cool these headphones would have looked with a solid look and a proper cable like the Harts cable with the red coating and meanwhile being heavier so they wouldn't tangle like that.

Ultimately the comfort is the highest con to this headphone imho, and somewhat muted highs too much low-end focus sounding underbellied.

 

[Shane D]

I have talked to the seller.

I will get them refunded as they have the grain in the right earcup.

Another reason is the high difference in price without the black-friday promo cable paying 1050 usd vs 749 (plus 249 value cable discount) after I have waited a month on a eu shipment that got lost and then got sent a defect pair ultimately.

I have tried straightening out the cloth litz cable by letting the two connector ends rest on the cardboard box edge and letting the headphone rest on table and the cable upper end going outwards between two heavy cups to straighten out the curling, which was succesful to some extent.

The comfort on the headband which gets continously hot on top of your head gets more annoying the more you use it. It forces you to push backwards where it can't really fit more "backwards" as the headphone seems forward leaned.

And the forged forwardness of the earphone (ever felt like putting them on forward felt backwards? Or felt like you had "tusks" ?)

The highs seems a bit muted to me at times even if they have crisp to them. Other times it seems a bit boomy or underbellied - insane burn-in or not I do not think the price is justified for the flaws it has.

It was also surprising the manual states 4 dampeners but only included 2 without notice.

I will consider trying Ultrasone Signature Pulse, the successor to my old headphone. Better price, better comfort I already know (hopefully better sound) and no tangling thin cable. If this cable just had more cloth coating or thicker with more weight in the upper end I am sure it would have felt better.

Its not the color I am put off by even if it personally to me is a dull overwashed floormop color.

How cool these headphones would have looked with a solid look and a proper cable like the Harts cable with the red coating and meanwhile being heavier so they wouldn't tangle like that.

Ultimately the comfort is the highest con to this headphone imho, and somewhat muted highs too much low-end focus sounding underbellied.

Sorry for the bad experience that you had.
They have been including a very nice, free balanced cable for several months.

The headband is garbage and requires a few Dekoni Nuggets or a headband replacement if you want to go that far.

It is a nice, bassy headphone but certainly not perfect.

 

[dezzadk]

It is a nice, bassy headphone but certainly not near perfect.

It is what it is. I'm glad the grain happened now because ultimately I will just be brutally honest. I could live with the headphone and pull back the headband now and then, I could straighten the cloth cable with time. The import costs to Denmark are unfortunate, yes its THAT bad, we also pay more for electronics overall.

But if I had kept them and got them replaced I would have ultimately felt cheated for the cable at first and the comfort second. If the headband/comfort was better it would have pulled it up into that price bracket of headphone quality - The cable is subjective but to me it is the ultimate booger of the design of this headphone - how the flimsy thin tangling cloth IEM cable matches a headphone with CNC machined housing built like a tank is a weird decision to me, I wonder how cool would it have looked with a thick, sturdy, solid cable with devilish colors (black/grey for a neutral look or black/green black/yellow, black/red or pure red as the Hart cable). Regarding the sound its subjective, but I believe I have concluded that they try to be a bit more underbellied or boomy than my old headphones and I am not sure I agree with that before I find out if they react better to equalizing than my first experience or if the dampeners dramatically improved it. The tonality between low end and high end is very far imho, its quite underbellied. It gets better as you come into party-mode and blast them full on.

I hope I can get the same level of clarity that they ultimately had when they blasted - They can deliver a crisp clap and crash, but for other high sounds it sounds quite a bit muted. The underbellyness of the bass was better at high volume and become more blended with the highs. At casual listening levels the underbellyness is worst.

I have also tried gaming with them in Call to Arms: Gates of Hell Ostfront big PAK cannons and tank cannons and MGs sound nice and full-bodied and the theme music sounds theatrical and cinematic.

The same experience I have with the final cutscenes of Back 4 Blood. It becomes the epic theatrical cinematic experience. Helicopter sounds and shrieks of large godzilla monsters is very convincing and theatrical - where the underbellyness is pure evil sound.

The Cascade has never produced sounds that were sharp or sibilant to me. It is very smooth in that regard, but it comes at the price of detail in the high end. I think the crisp clap and crash sounds is a good compromise.

 

[dezzadk]

I came up with this

 

[xingfei]

.

 

[dezzadk]

I have compared my Ultrasone Pro 900 to the DJ version (DJ friend owned them) and it seems like a cheaper version of the same principle or more consumer-grade.

I love the Ultrasone Pro 900 to death. Its an incredible value. With the AutoEQ ReferenceAudioAnalyzer (best preset imo) it shows it responds incredibly well to EQ. Its not overly bassy or dark the treble is imperfect it can be sharp sometimes, but so can the Cascade when pushed by lowering the subbass the imperfections in mid-high becomes more apparent.

I think the Signature Pulse will be hard to beat it, but if you look at their website its also heavily marketed for DJs.
https://ultrasone.com/produkt/signature-pulse/

Not many know this german brand, but with bass they mean business and the treble is alright. I find its more detailed than the Cascade, but not as crispy. The soundstage on the Ultrasone Pro 900 is narrow though, not that it matters everything to me, it really doesn't.

The worst thing about Ultrasone Pro 900 is the cups fall off easily if you are not tightening them now and then, I lost a pad once like that. The comfort however is great.

The reason I think the Signature Pulse is better than the 880 Performance is it was described by Ultrasone as:

1. Performance 880:
Has a very dynamic rather audiophile sound. However, the headphones are designed for consumers and thus somewhat stronger in the bass tuned, https://ultrasone.com/produkt/performance-bundle/ at the moment for sale in combination with the SIRIUS to use it via Bluetooth.

2. Signature PULSE:
Has an incomparable bass foundation due to the 50mm driver.
In addition, it is very detailed and has a great separation and surround sound through S-Logic3, https://ultrasone.com/produkt/signature-pulse/

I interpret this as unmatched bass and sound in Signature Pulse and more neutral consumer-grade bass-boost in 880. Also 880 is half the price