[Philimon]

Thanks for the feedback. I didn't think I increased brightness all that much, but I'm 43 and my hearing only goes up to 15khz. That said, I borrowed a friend's grados that I fixed for him, and found the treble fatiguing.

Before this random experiment I'd already ordered thin angled pads and a leather headband from Vesper Audio. I'll report back how they work. I expect them to look and feel better than these relatively cheap pads, but hopefully the sound won't be disappointing by comparison.

Dependent on model, but in general Grados are ice picks.

edit: I doubt my hearing’s any better. And I wish I kept my D5200 so I could try them un-cupped. How much of that brightness is relections from backwave? How much is bass affected?

 

[Smoothstereo]

Brand new out of the box, the D5200 did sound just a tad bright for my tastes. But I placed it on my burning rig (old Sony minidisc player with hp out) and let it play repeatedly every day for 4 to 6 hours or so. I lost track how many total hours I have on it. Now re-listening to the same songs from my initial time, it doesn't appear bright anymore. Its actually pretty smooth. YMMV.

 

[sacguy231]

So, I've had these for a couple days now, still really enjoying them! The stock pads are really nice - the guy I got them from included some Brainwavz PU rounds which fit well, but I have found no desire to swap out the stock pads yet. These are still very mid-forward to my ears, though less "shouty" than my initial impressions had led me to believe. Bass is tight and extends plenty. Not a basshead can per se, but it can deliver the goods and slam when needed; overall I have found the can responds pretty well to EQ. As I mentioned in my prior post, since the wood cups are so vulnerable to scratching and I've seen other posts about issues with the delicate wood surface, I decided to add a little protection. So, I gave the cups a couple coats of a clear satin polyurethane (only recommended if you've worked with it before). Anyway, the final product has a nice soft sheen and should be much more resilient to scratches and scuffs now. Below are a couple of unfiltered pics to show the finished product. To my eyes, the poly brought out a little more of the wood grain, and the clear satin finish I used gives just a little shine, but nothing garish. Anyway, these cans are a steal at the current used prices

Sidenote - that little yellow piece on the headband is something I do to all my headphones, I put some colored velcro on the left side so I always instantly know which way to put the cans on. It helps when switching headphones or when lighting is low so I don't have to look for L and R markings

 

[mochimashu]

I’ve d5200 and briefly owned 7200. The latter is supposed to be an upgrade but personally I find 7200 really weird - it’s darker and the bass is quite bloated which makes it quite fatiguing to listen and in the end I much prefer 5200 even tho it sounds a bit thinner than 7200. Anyone with the same experience?

 

[VRacer-111]

I went with the Yaxi TH610 Pads which are between stock and 110mm size. Like what they did in calming the treble down some along with bringing the subbass out more.

 

[Herueyes]

Got the 5200's for a little over $200 direct from Denon... This is the best purchase I've ever made in my Head-Fi journey... I like them better than my Stellias and Elegias...
The Denons have more bass and were perfect for me straight out the box... been running them out of my FiiO M15, iPhone X, Onkyo DP-X1 and iPod 80gb.
I have yet to hook them up to a proper desktop dac/amp - even under pandemic rules I've no need to journey to my listening room to fire up the big boys... In fact I'm listening to them now as I type this - all is well...

 

[WilcoRoger]

$200? Paint me green with envy.

 

[PolloLoco]

Got the 5200's for a little over $200 direct from Denon... This is the best purchase I've ever made in my Head-Fi journey... I like them better than my Stellias and Elegias...
The Denons have more bass and were perfect for me straight out the box... been running them out of my FiiO M15, iPhone X, Onkyo DP-X1 and iPod 80gb.
I have yet to hook them up to a proper desktop dac/amp - even under pandemic rules I've no need to journey to my listening room to fire up the big boys... In fact I'm listening to them now as I type this - all is well...

I also like them more than the Elegia's I used to own, not to mention my Argons and Blue Ella's. But I'm surprised to see you like them more than the Stellia's. I've never heard them but based on the reputation that's high praise.

 

[sacguy231]

Got the 5200's for a little over $200 direct from Denon... This is the best purchase I've ever made in my Head-Fi journey... I like them better than my Stellias and Elegias...
The Denons have more bass and were perfect for me straight out the box... been running them out of my FiiO M15, iPhone X, Onkyo DP-X1 and iPod 80gb.
I have yet to hook them up to a proper desktop dac/amp - even under pandemic rules I've no need to journey to my listening room to fire up the big boys... In fact I'm listening to them now as I type this - all is well...

Agreed! I sold my Elegia last month, and then came across these. I never had the two at the same time to do a side by side comparison, but from memory the 5200 do everything better than the Elegia. In fact, the 5200 has also prompted me to list my Z7 (mk1) since I simply can't see myself listening to it anymore given my other inventory of cans. I've had these for less than a week and I can't stop listening. Definitely a sleeper headphone

 

[reivaj]

After using my headphones from time to time for the past like month. I absolutely love these cans. I have never had bass heavy cans. These are certainly the bassiest cans I have owned but it is not overwhelming. It is always pleasant and so surprising when the mid and sub bass extend. I then try my other cans and it is just such a big difference.

Loving the 5200.

 

[reivaj]

What do you all use to clean your headphones? I kinda want to keep that new leather smell going as long as I can

 

[sacguy231]

Well, I'm reporting in after about two weeks with these I'm still thoroughly enjoying them. Interesting to me, I've never really bought the hype of "burn in" for headphones, but these, more than any other headphone I've ever had, did indeed seem to change a bit after I ran them for two days straight to burn them in. Maybe I'm wrong, but it was an interesting observation for me and something that I've never experienced before. They are not my best headphones, but they are a great all-arounder. They don't make any major mistakes and are a very good value on the used market. Bang-for-buck (at current used prices) I think these are fantastic. Big smile on my face!

 

[KCXT]

After 10 weeks I finally received a label from Denon and it looks like they're having me ship to United Radio, so I'm not clear if this is a warranty repair or they're refunding and just having it repaired separate from my purchase. If it is a repair perhaps they will better channel-match the volumes but at the moment there's a 5-6 dB difference, which is not encouraging.

They also mentioned that they couldn't send me a replacement directly from Denon since '...the headphones are being discontinued.' Maybe that's not news but I hadn't seen that noted before.

 

[reivaj]

Well since this thread got bumped... I want to chime in and say that after 2 months of use. I officially love these headphones. I use them for everything other than gaming at this point. I like the soundstage but it isn't what I am used to in fps so I stick with my old habits. These cans are just really pleasant.

 

[Hyde00]

After 10 weeks I finally received a label from Denon and it looks like they're having me ship to United Radio, so I'm not clear if this is a warranty repair or they're refunding and just having it repaired separate from my purchase. If it is a repair perhaps they will better channel-match the volumes but at the moment there's a 5-6 dB difference, which is not encouraging.

They also mentioned that they couldn't send me a replacement directly from Denon since '...the headphones are being discontinued.' Maybe that's not news but I hadn't seen that noted before.

Damn..... they discontinued already? So fast!!! Out of curiosity I went to Amazon Japan and tried to look for it and can't find it. So seems like the rumour is true.

Now I wish I grabbed a pair during the sale except it was US only so I couldn't order it for Canada also by the time I got around to it it was sold out already.

I wonder if it's discontinued because it doesn't sell well compare to D7200 / D9200 OR if they're planning for D5300.