[wordfool]

I've spent far too long here researching the various reviews and comments on headphones at the $200 price point and have reached an impasse. I'm hoping the good folks here can help me choose one of these 'phones as a replacement for my Shure SRH840 based on the following criteria:
 
The Shures sound great, but I'm looking for something slightly more "fun" when listening to mainly rock (from Pink Floyd to Radiohead) and electronica/pop (from Massive Attack to Madonna). Comfort is also important... the Shure's simply are not very comfortable for me for longer listening at my desk. 
 
By "fun" I don't simply mean massive bass and recessed mids, I mean something with slightly more attack and perhaps bass rumble than the Shures. I want Massive Attack to sound its ominous, rumbling bass-tastic best, and Led Zep or AC/DC to really to come at me with cracking drums and crunching guitars. I'm used to closed headphones, so soundstage is of slightly lesser importance than sound. 
 
(Source will be 320 CBR MP3 > Styleaudio Carat-Emerald DAC/amp)
 
So what would you recommend? Beyer 880s, Beyer 990s (both the 250 Ohm variety), or the Denons? If you want to recommend any others, please let me know why. Thanks.
 
 
 

 

[Zombie_X]

Well while the DT990 has more bass than the DT880, they don't really rumble (at least my set does not). The DT880 is lighter in bass than the SRH-840's and the DT990's have a bit more but still fall short of the SRH-840. The Denon has more bass but also has the recessed mids. The DT880 does not have recessed mids, but they are extremely clear sounding and the bass is very tight.

 

[sugarkang]

If your choice is one headphone only, the Denon D-2000 is good for if you want a little more bass.  I'd imagine it'd be somewhat more satisfying over the Beyer for a song like Teardrop.  I don't know about Bluelines or older Massive Attack though.  The Beyer 880s are my favorite can for rock, provide you EQ down the high end.  The 880 will give you that in your face guitar a little bit better than an HD-650 (I know you're not comparing that one) and even the Denon.  It's hard for me to choose between the Denon and DT-880 because they are both so good, but for you I think you should think about how much bass you need.  More = Denon.  Less  = 880. 
 
The 990 has a bit of extra sibilance where the trade off for extra bass may not be worth it.  I didn't like the 990 so much and the bass seemed boomy without depth, but that's a splitting hairs type of assessment. 
 
Quote:

By "fun" I don't simply mean massive bass and recessed mids, I mean something with slightly more attack and perhaps bass rumble than the Shures. I want Massive Attack to sound its ominous, rumbling bass-tastic best, and Led Zep or AC/DC to really to come at me with cracking drums and crunching guitars. I'm used to closed headphones, so soundstage is of slightly lesser importance than sound.   
(Source will be 320 CBR MP3 > Styleaudio Carat-Emerald DAC/amp)
 
So what would you recommend? Beyer 880s, Beyer 990s (both the 250 Ohm variety), or the Denons? If you want to recommend any others, please let me know why. Thanks.
 
 
 

 

[tdockweiler]

I don't know why, but I could describe the DT-880 with a dozen words, but none of them would be "fun". It just wasn't that fun to listen to it, but I did like the 250 ohm version a lot. I did find the mids recessed and even more so than a D2000 amped with my Asgard. This doesn't seem to make sense! The mids on the DT-990 250 ohm I tried were even more recessed to me than the DT-880 250 mids. Overall, the DT-880 250 are perfectly fine, but I can't suggest them based on your requirements.
 
Believe it or not my upgrade of the Shure SRH-840 was the Koss Pro DJ 100. I know you said $200, but you should really at least try them. Then just return them if you hate them! Best Buy sells them. Most people would wrongly assume they'd sound like garbage since they're only $80. 
 
I prefer them to the SRH-840 because they're less laid back, have better vocals, more forward mids, less fatiguing treble, smaller, better/more bass, more comfortable, have a better soundstage, better imaging and to my ears have slightly more detail and are a lot more clear. I compared them to the SRH-840 and KRK KNS-8400 and in the end I found the DJ100 and KRK far better. SRH-840 was once my #1 favorite headphone. The KRK I'm not suggesting of course since it's a boring studio monitor and is not really for everyone. The DJ100 is a bit harder to drive than the 840 though.
 
So yeah it's safe to say that my DJ100 is my fun headphone. I love it and it's my favorite under $150..maybe $200. Of course it all depends on what signature you like. People who like the SRH-840 SHOULD like the DJ100.
 

 

[windcar]

@tdockweiler: I looked at your profile and you said you love the CAL! but hate the D1100. I thought they have the same driver so what is so different about them?

 

[tdockweiler]

The Creative actually has the D1001 driver. The D1100 is said to be the replacement for the old D1001 I've heard.
The D1100 basically just had massive amounts of bass. Too much for me and I actually don't mind bass heavy headphones sometimes!
I'm perfectly OK with say the Denon D2000 and DT-990 etc. The D1100 is definitely the most bass heavy headphone I've heard.
It's hard to imagine a headphone having any more bass than the D1100 has!
 
D1100 has a new 50mm driver. The CAL and D1001 use the 40mm driver.
Quote:

@tdockweiler: I looked at your profile and you said you love the CAL! but hate the D1100. I thought they have the same driver so what is so different about them?

 

[windcar]

I personally find the bass in CAL! lacking. i am also one of the few that likes the bass in D5000. I borrowed a pair DT880 for a week and find them to have cringing high. I seldom listen to rock though but the high on the DT880 already proved to be fatiguing on ordinary pop songs. Those are definitely not my type of cans but I can see that rock listeners may love them. They are fast and the high may translate to the "attack" wordfool is looking for.

 

[idletime1213]

To my ears, the D1001/CAL is the best Denon headphone, it gets just the right bass, smooth mids and non-sibilant highs that makes me consider it the best headphone under $200.

 

[tdockweiler]

BTW what DT-880 did you have? I couldn't tolerate the treble on the DT-880 32 ohm or 600 ohm, but the 250 ohm was perfectly fine for me. Strange.
I was thinking of trying the 600 ohm version again and seeing if it has better upper mids than the 250 ohm version and is better for female vocals, but I doubt it.
I saw a frequency graph and it almost looks like the 250 ohm version has a bigger bump in the mids?! Maybe the graph wasn't accurate.
 
Bass on the CAL! was OK for me, but I'm not picky with bass. I actually kept the SRH-840 and returned the CAL! If I knew how bad the comfort was on the 840 after several hours I should have kept the CAL!
 
I loved the DT-880 250 ohm, but I found them rather boring and not very engaging with my music after listening to them for a week. Still good headphones of course. Probably one of my favorites and I wish I was rich enough to keep up to 4 expensive headphones!
 
Does anyone else find the DT-880 250 has slightly more forward mids than the 600 ohm version or is it just my imagination? I could have sworn there was another person on here who thought this as well. Maybe it was just the upper mids. 250 ohm sounded pretty good with female vocals. The 32 ohm version not so much to my ears.
 
Quote:

I personally find the bass in CAL! lacking. i am also one of the few that likes the bass in D5000. I borrowed a pair DT880 for a week and find them to have cringing high. I seldom listen to rock though but the high on the DT880 already proved to be fatiguing on ordinary pop songs. Those are definitely not my type of cans but I can see that rock listeners may love them. They are fast and the high may translate to the "attack" wordfool is looking for.

 

[windcar]

the DT880 i borrowed is the 250ohm! haha. Or maybe the sibilance has something to do with the crappy E9 amp I drove them with.
I own both the CAL! and D5000 and find them not picky about amp at all, which is good, and save me some money from finding the holy grail amp for some high impedance phones. I also have an old pair of HD480 which i rarely use nowadays.

 

[tdockweiler]

I always thought the E9 was supposed to be good, but I've never tried it. I have my doubts if it can really drive the K702 well. For the price, it's hard to complain.
I remember when I tried the 32 ohm version I had a ton of sibilance too. I then checked my files and it's just in the actual recording and the DT-880 is so revealing that it seemed to magnify the sibilance and just made it twice as bad. When switching to the HD-600 it seems to make it easier on the ears and you often don't even hear it, but it's still there.
 
I liked the D2000 and I may buy another one some day. Maybe the D7000 if I can find them for cheap and win the lottery. Closed headphones are just not my thing anymore now. Too bad the DT-880 wasn't fully open and only semi-open. If I don't get the D2000 again, it may be the 600 ohm DT-880. Just to compare with my ATH-AD2000 for gaming.
Quote:

the DT880 i borrowed is the 250ohm! haha. Or maybe the sibilance has something to do with the crappy E9 amp I drove them with.
I own both the CAL! and D5000 and find them not picky about amp at all, which is good, and save me some money from finding the holy grail amp for some high impedance phones. I also have an old pair of HD480 which i rarely use nowadays.

 

[Rambling]

First I have to say I never heard D2000 before, so I wouldn't say much about it.
Among 880 and 990, both of which I listened for extended time, I would recommend DT990 for you. Yes the mids are recessed, but highs are simply marveling. Bass is pretty good in amount, but a little bit bloated IMO. Details are superior. Rock and Electronic are DT990's best parts.
But 990 are not suited for long listening, for I found them easy to cause fatigue. DT880 is better if you are gonna wear them all day long. 
 
If you are going to upgrade your system, I heard that D2000s pales in their potential when compared with either DT880 or DT990. Without an amp, I think they are different more in style than in quality.

 

[wordfool]

Thanks all... I think I'm gonna give the D2000 a try and hope they are more engaging and comfortable than the Shures. The DT990s seem to generate too many "fatiguing" comments, which makes me slightly nervous, although those velor pads do look comfy!  Still fascinated by the Koss suggestion tho... will check them out if possible

 

[tuanhung303]

I used to have Denon Ahd 2000. I've done markl mod however, their bass is just too much for me. Therefore, I ended up with dt880. I drove it through Xbox and Denon cpd. It got some fun factors as I wanted and transparents, balance sound signature . the dt880 also makes my sr225 to be boring and lifeless :-<

 

[sugarkang]

Good choice.  I like both 880 and D2000 myself.  Do you know if the Denon has more bass than the 770 also?

 
Quote:

I used to have Denon Ahd 2000. I've done markl mod however, their bass is just too much for me. Therefore, I ended up with dt880. I drove it through Xbox and Denon cpd. It got some fun factors as I wanted and transparents, balance sound signature . the dt880 also makes my sr225 to be boring and lifeless :-<