[giedrys]

Just received my D2000. Mixed feelings, i must say. The biggest surprise so far is when i connected them to my PC via auzentech xplosion card, it really sounded like sh.t.
No volume, no bass, plain bad. And i thought that this card was better than on-board solution.

Then, even bigger surprise-i connected D2000 to macbook's audio output and it sounded better, louder, cleaner. Way better than $100 POS card called Auzentech xplosion!

And finally, i connected D2000 to my Denon receiver and things finally started to be as they should-great sound.

So it seems that Roker is right- these cans need some sort of amplification, they don't sound great "when plugged to almost anything", like many others have said.
My problem is, i want to use these mostly on with my PC, not with receiver. I know there's plenty of portable amps and stuff, but i would really to upgrade soundcard instead of going with some external solution, if possible.
I heard many good things about Asus STX/ST cards with build-in amp. Is that thing powerful enough for D2000? Anybody uses this combo?

Thanks in advance.

 

[rpaul]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roker /img/forum/go_quote.gif I tried them on my macbook and iphone and the bass was missing (surprisingly it sounded slightly better from my iphone vs my macbook)

Weird, I noticed the opposite with the D2000/D5000/D7000 connected to my non-unibody Macbook Pro. Hooking them up to my HR Desktop amp or Pioneer integrated amp helped firm up the bass, but I think these headphones are efficient enough to sound more than decent directly out of the Macbook Pro. Out of the iPhone, well not impressive at all.

O/T, but I wonder if the line out is that different (quality/power) between the Pro and non-Pro Macbooks.

 

[SchneiderStudios]

My D2000 sound amazing, best headphones/in-ears i ever tried and owned.

 

[jagorev]

Long time since I last posted on head-fi. A few years ago, I was a true headphone nerd, accumulating amps and headphones like they were going out of style. I listen to a lot of classical music, and the best headphone for classical music I've ever owned, until now, has been a Sennheiser HD 600.

However, in the last few years, my living situation (small apartment in a big city) has meant that I have had to deal almost exclusively in closed headphones. I sold off the HD 600 and bought an HD 280, and an Etymotic IEM for long flights, and some throwaway CX 300s for the office.

All of these headphones have kept me relatively happy, though none came close to the heights I had experienced with the high end Sennheiser open headphones.

At any rate, recently my HD 280 started to get clippy in the left earcup on certain bass notes. Instead of sending it in for repair, I started looking at what new options I may have in the closed headphone space. Looking for a step up from the HD 280, I tried the HD 25 I-II first (way too uncomfortable for extended wear), and then the Denon D2000.

Oh. my. god.

These are by far the best sealed headphones I've ever owned (the best I've ever tried is the Denon D7000, which I can't afford). They sound exactly like how I expect high end open headphones to sound. I would put these up against any headphones, open or closed, under $500. These are amazing. They are the first sealed headphones I've tried which allow me to not miss open headphones. Great build quality too.

So thanks, Denon. I wasn't familiar with the brand before, but this one is a keeper, for sure.

And a shout out to B&H Photo Video: I got 'em for $215. At a little over twice the price of the HD 280, they are an amazing upgrade. Woot!

 

[ERNEST T]

I have been playing the "buy one headphone sell, buy another"game for years. When I got my D-2000 I knew it was what I was looking for. The only way I would change would be to move up to a D5000 or 7000. I have tried 650's, m50's,280's, 595's and others and for comfort and sound the 2000's win for me. Mine are off being recabled now. That is the only problem I have found is that the cable is to stiff. But that can be taken care of with a recableing. They are going for a good deal now around 212 shipped. I have been thinking about buying a pair for the shelf.

 

[Karl H]

Quote:

Originally Posted by giedrys /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just received my D2000. Mixed feelings, i must say.

Need at least 200 hours of burn in. Sound crap out of the box, but give it some time...

 

[plonter]

from all my cans, the D5000 are my favourite and the best i heard so far.
I can't find a better word to describe their sound other than breathtaking.
this is what "high end" sound means to me.

I am probably one of the few that havn't done the mod for their D5000.
and although i really had a difficult time to adjust to the sub-woofer like bass ,I finally decided that i like it that way,especially for electronic trance music. so I ditched the mod.

 

[giedrys]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karl H /img/forum/go_quote.gif Need at least 200 hours of burn in. Sound crap out of the box, but give it some time...

D2000 doesn't sound like crap, when connected do my receiver. It does, when connected to auzentech sound card.
And I'm not a big believer in burn-ins anyway.

 

[plonter]

straight out of the box my D5000 were really bloaty and muddy. after just a few hours they stabalized but still had very explosive bass...only after 400/500+ hours they finally tightened a little bit.

great pleasure for hardcore bassheads nevertheless!

many will disagree with me, but for me, this is a neutral balanced sound....this is how it needs to be sound like.

 

[Packgrog]

Just got my pair yesterday. After one day of burn-in, they went from pleasant to ear-shredding. Seems I need to let them run unattended for a bit. 200-400 hours, though? Wow.

Burn-in for cables seems like snake oil to me, but it's definitely real for drivers and amplifier capacitors. THOSE I've had first-hand, not-at-all-subtle experience with. The D2000 experience so far is definitely a good example of this. Fun.

 

[Rainbow Randy]

I think I might love my D5000s. I don't think it's been stressed enough how good these sound straight out of an iPod. I'm loving listening from my 2G Touch.

 

[Necrolic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by giedrys /img/forum/go_quote.gif The biggest surprise so far is when i connected them to my PC via auzentech xplosion card, it really sounded like sh.t. No volume, no bass, plain bad. And i thought that this card was better than on-board solution.

Don't know about that card, but out of the dedicated headphone output on my Auzentech Forte sound card my D5000s don't sound bad at all, in fact they sound very good, not great, but very good.

Anyways, onto the cans. Initially, my only problems were the slightly overpowering bass and lack of soundstage, and 3 different things have completely solved these issues.

1. JMoney pads - I can not emphasize enough just how much of an improvement these make, you wouldn't think a change of ear pads can make that big a difference, but they do. They improved soundstage an almost unbelievable amount, as well as taming the bass somewhat.

2. Burn in - it took a good 300+ hours, but after that point the bass really seemed to have been tightened up, it didn't lose any impact, it just didn't overpower the rest of the music any more.

3. New amp (HeadRoom Desktop), I just got this the other day from a friend who bought it then decided to get an Ultra Desktop and sold me it fairly cheap, so no full impressions yet, but initial impressions are that it improves soundstage a ton, and makes them sound more musical, and extremely enjoyable to listen to. Clearly, proper amplification for these cans, although not necessary, is a good idea.

In short, I absolutely adore my D5000s now. I'm one of the few who chose to completely skip the markl mod. JMoney ear pads essentially replace the stuffing of stocks, and it works even better than stuffing stocks. I personally did not find any of the other mods necessary after burn in.

 

[roker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rpaul /img/forum/go_quote.gif O/T, but I wonder if the line out is that different (quality/power) between the Pro and non-Pro Macbooks.

My macbook is the mid-June 2007 version. I haven't had a chance, but when I get to it, I'm going to do some comparisons using my LDI+ amp, macbook, iPhone, iPod Nano, and my roommate's Onkyo receiver to test the quality of output. I'm on the side of the fence that firmly believes these headphones NEED to be amped.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiComm4 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think I might love my D5000s. I don't think it's been stressed enough how good these sound straight out of an iPod. I'm loving listening from my 2G Touch.

Assuming D2000 are nearly the same as the D5000, I would never run these headphones without a proper amp of some sort. It's a world of a difference for me when I run it out of my LDI+ vs my macbook or iPhone.

I almost find them unlistenable, while my Grados sound good from almost any source I throw at them (iPod nano, iPhone, Macbook, Nintendo DS, etc.)

 

[Rainbow Randy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roker /img/forum/go_quote.gif Assuming D2000 are nearly the same as the D5000, I would never run these headphones without a proper amp of some sort. It's a world of a difference for me when I run it out of my LDI+ vs my macbook or iPhone.

It seems people are pretty divided here on whether the D's need an amp to sound good. To my ears--fantastiche unamped. I can't help but think many of you need to stop drinking the Koolaid. Or perhaps I'm blessed with uncritical ears.

 

[6ces11]

Everyone saying they sound bad out of the box is kind of a relief. I got mine a couple of days ago and i really almost returned them for akg 702s. But i guess these really do need plenty of burn in time.

Ill keep blasting the sound spectrum tests for a while and see how much they improve.