[Big Yoshi]

It is surprising to realize that the pad actually affects the sound of D9200 dramatically.

 

[Sound Eq]

Not sure where to buy, but the 7200 rings fit the 9200 exactly.


I'm going to have to search what you did to the stax pads as mine are incoming.
Thanks to your work we are saved the trouble of trial and error.
What would you say is the difference between the stax pad, and the stax modded pad, in relation to the stock 9200 pad?


No matter what pad I had on the 7200, I could tell the lower spectrum was colored (wood cup?), But not so with the 9200 having such clear low end.


They are expensive and many options to get wrong, especially the choice of inside foam, which I was surprised how hard my choice was for a smaller headphone.


I am also quite saddened at just how many pads out there I tried and they all alter the sound so much not in a good way.

After trying pads I must agree that the foam is very important to the sound.

yesterday i was in contact with vesper audio for custom pads, and when i was asked bout foam he just gave me 2 choice 1 memory foam and 1 regular foam, so I did not know what to choose. I asked them to design pads that are about for stax 009 which has 50x70 mm oval inner opening, 16-22 mm high in the back 18mm, 12 mm in the front . But then I did not continue the order as I did not know if his foam is going to be like the stax 009 pads.
As for price it came close to 75 Euro, any I stopped the order as reading the foam type is having a big effect on sound, until I learn more about what to choose

 

[jmills8]

yesterday i was in contact with vesper audio for custom pads, and when i was asked bout foam he just gave me 2 choice 1 memory foam and 1 regular foam, so I did not know what to choose. I asked them to design pads that are about for stax 009 which has 50x70 mm oval inner opening, 16-22 mm high in the back 18mm, 12 mm in the front . But then I did not continue the order as I did not know if his foam is going to be like the stax 009 pads.
As for price it came close to 75 Euro, any I stopped the order as reading the foam type is having a big effect on sound, until I learn more about what to choose

Get both

 

[Sound Eq]

Get both

 

[zolkis]

I'm going to have to search what you did to the stax pads as mine are incoming.

The mods thread is here (for history).
What to do is explained here. Above that post there is a picture for context.

The Stax 009 and 007 pads are similar and the mod can be done on both. I ponder trying a Stax 007 pad on the D9200 as it's slightly thicker and with slightly smaller opening (still bigger than the D9200 own pad), which might actually be even better on the D9200. The 007 pads are cheaper, too. However, over countless experiments, I have settled with the 009 being the best. The nice thing about them is that you can easily fold them out, change the foam and fold them in again - usable right away without any stitching work.

I have a few D9200/D7200 measurements with various pads and cables and cups interchanging.
However, a quick verbal summary:
- the bamboo cups have about 3 dB more deep bass than the walnut cups
- the D7200 driver seems to have more mid/bass, but with the walnut cups is just fine
- the D9200 driver sounds best with the bamboo cups
- no damping (poly-fill) is used in the D9200 and now I have taken the default damping out of the D7200 as well, without measurable issues (just sounds better)
- the occasional slight honkiness of the D7200 was mainly caused by the D7200 cable, coupled with early sensitivity of the walnut wooden cups (handled with factory damping, then by my own damping), but as the wood got older, that problem disappeared, so I took out the damping and changing the cables was actually beneficial. Interestingly, the same happened to my TH900 after about 2 years, and no cups damping was needed any more.

Learnings:
- the cups changing experiment made it absolutely clear that Denon has made exactly the sound they wanted. It's not just how things happened, but the cups + drivers were properly designed to work best with each other. Except that I'd prefer the pads less stuffed/more plush/sound more open.
- rest assured, the D9200 drivers sound best with the bamboo cups, and no damping - yes, Denon knew their stuff
- the 2 years old D7200 with its modded pads and no cups damping measures better than the D9200 in any configuration (stock pads, modded D7200 pads, modded Stax 009 pads, other pads). It's the best value in headphones that I know.
- The D9200 measures decently however, and I like its sound slightly more (may be personal)
- cable change on the D7200 is warranted (I'd recommend silver plated copper UP-OCC), and probably has good effect on the D9200 (looking at pure copper UP-OCC).

 

[Maxx134]

As for price it came close to 75 Euro, any I stopped the order as reading the foam type is having a big effect on sound, until I learn more about what to choose

When I ordered the regular foam it was so stiff it was uncomfortable and not soft at all.

Get both

No, it would be an expensive blunder waste.
He needs soft foam. Maybe tbe mem-foam.

 

[zolkis]

1.
Blue: D7200 + modded D7200 pads
Red: stock D9200

2.
Red: D9200 with modded D7200 pads
Green: D9200 with modded D7200 pads and cups from D7200

Note that measurements above 4K are increasingly unreliable on absolute scale, so focus on relative differences and "just get an idea" without far reaching conclusions on sound quality judged by FR.


3. The effect of pads on the D9200 measurements (just the range, without individual responses).

 

[zolkis]

FWIW, in all the measurements above, I have used the same D9200 long cables.

 

[boxster233]

Anybody have good picture of the storage case that was mentioned in the original post?

• Luxury hard storage case and cleaning cloth keeps your AH-D9200 safe and in pristine condition

 

[Arcamera]

FWIW, in all the measurements above, I have used the same D9200 long cables.

Thanks for that. Any idea how the D9200 measures against the TH900?

 

[zolkis]

Thanks for that. Any idea how the D9200 measures against the TH900?

Yes, a lot , as it's the TH900 I've spent most time tweaking. If you check the D7200 thread, earlier I published TH900 vs modded D7200 measurements.
IIRC the TH900 has more bass boost between 40 and 300 Hz, a deeper dip around 600-800 Hz and a bigger peak around 9 kHz.
Interestingly enough, it sounds good, definitely competing with the Denons, and still king in home cinema for bass impact. It's true that it also needs the (modded) Stax 009 pads for that.

 

[Gayron]

Hi everybody, do you EQ your D9200? If so could you recommend the best setting for these headphones? I'm asking because, having burned these in, I still find them a bit fatiguing, especially when listening metal. I literally feel how my ears get tired after some time with these on, in comparison to CA Solaris, which are almost perfect in this regard! Thank you!

 

[Maxx134]

Red: D9200 with modded D7200 pads
Green: D9200 with modded D7200 pads and cups from D7200

Looks like the 9200 drivers are less affected by the cups..
Which one may assume is due to greater control..

 

[zolkis]

Looks like the 9200 drivers are less affected by the cups..
Which one may assume is due to greater control..

We don't know how the D7200 drivers are affected by the cups change, I have not tried that.
With the D9200 there was measurable difference between the walnut and bamboo cups (in the bass region).
FWIW, we don't know how the D9200 drivers are affected, we only know the effect of the cups on the FR. But right, I could check distortion measurements as well.
IIRC they are very similar between the D9200 driver and D7200 driver when using the same pads.

 

[vourt]

Hi,
Advise is much appreciated if someone had experience or can share some tips. I've ordered the D9200 and having 3 dac & amp buying options, i can not test them so just others recommendations can help here - which one will go best with the D9200 ?

1. Chord Hugo 2 (which can be portable as well, but i do not need this feature)
2. Luxman DA-200
3. Sony TA-ZH1ES

What do you say ? .