[Jibbie]

I quite agree that my setup is far from high end, and that a better source and amp would of course, make this comparison a little more comprehensive.  Having said that, however, the things that were better on the D2000, namely comfort and soundstage, will always be better than the Pro 900, regardless of the source used.  I feel confident in proclaiming that, no matter the setup, I'd probably prefer the Denons for the reasons stated in the review.  More importantly, more people on this site have gear closer to mine (in terms of fidelity) than those who have $3000 dollar DACs and amps that my review, therefore, is applicable to a much greater audience.
 
In about a year, when I have income to upgrade my gear, a very high end DAC will be the number one upgrade on my list.  After that, however, I plan on pursuing high end custom IEMs, so a future comparison with the Pro 900 isn't likely.
 
On a side note, I'm not sure what you meant by mentioning software.  If there is a better way to listen on a Windows based PC than Foobar and its WASAPI plugin running FLAC files, please let me know.
 
Quote:

Hate to tell you the following, but I think you really should know it:
1. Matrix M-Stage V2 Favors Denon over Ultrasone, no doublt
2. Your source really does not do justice to to Pro 900: as you said
Pro 900 is very unforgiving for having bad sound sources
and by source I mean both hardware and software
 
not everyone owns a CD Player and hook them to some fancy DAC
but as a past-user of both cans just have to point them out to you
maybe one day your opinion will shift again
 
In the mean time, thanks for the review

 

 

[colmustard]

I don't know, when i upgraded from my fiio set to my desktop amp there was no difference with the 900s and there is a pretty big difference between the two sources.

 

[DVDRey]

Pro900, like D2000 are easy to drive, but pro900 need imo, a much better amp than D2000. Pro900 is more bright/detailled than D2000 and its more easy to have bad rendering with pro900.
 
Anyway, i have much more difference between pro900 and pro2900 than between my best and worst amp,lol.
 

 

[jeje]

This review was one reason why i bought denon ah-d2000. And i just love them, these phones  are just amazing. Thanks for this review/comparision.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

hey Jibz, long time. Thank you for this thread.

I'm in the unusual position in that I've owned the D7000 (my absolute fave), as well as the HE-4, but sold them of and TRIED to settle for less. It seems I couldn't settle for SO much less (that makes no sense, I know), so I've been shopping around for a mid-fi can to call mine and call it a day. Gone are the days of spending over $500 for cans.

My choices were:

Pro 900 (currently $300 on Amazon)
D2000 (still hoping to find one for $200 or so)
DT990 (owned it. Love the open sound... but the piercing highs just...don't wanna revisit that anymore)
DT770 Pro 80 (owned it. Undoubtedly the weakest here, but they were more along the lines of what I like in a can)

Why only these? I needed something in the $200-300 range that puts out some serious sub bass without sacrificing the rest of the sound too much. I've found out that I'm not as much a fan of mid bass as I am of sub bass, so your review helped me to shy away from the Pro 900, and go back to Denon's offerings.

I'm still undecided, as the Denons have the con of the loose fit which made my neck hurt at times (with the D7000), but it's something I may forgive.

 

[Croozer]

I love the sound signature of the Denon cans.

 

[Blakers]

One thing I've noticed with the pro900's is that decent quality sound files are an absolute must... without high bit-rate, well mastered tracks, the pro 900 can sound fairly abysmal, something other headphones are better able to cover up. They've made me slightly ocd about opening my music in audacity, to check the compression and loudness job that's been done on them. 
 
I also find it slightly ironic that these phones absolutely excel at D&B, dubstep, (generally all EDM), where this is one genre in which it is increasingly difficult to find well mastered material. In the pursuit of the loudest, hardest hitting bass drops, the waveform peaks on most tracks get absolutely obliterated.
 
I feel like a lot of the negativity directed towards the pro 900's is as a result of people commenting on their experiences with horrible quality music, which is sad because when you can hook the pro 900's up to a good quality track+source, they are extremely rewarding.. (as most of you guys on this particular thread actually know!)
 
Oh, and they need amping.. that too. I'm sure we can all agree that whilst you may be able to get a decent volume level straight out of an ipod/laptop, this is almost a bad thing as I feel it has tricked people into thinking they don't need to run them through an amp.
 
Anyway, I'm rambling..
 
What I wanted to ask was: Jibbie, I'm looking at the d5000's but I don't want to part with my pro900's.. do you think that if you still had your 900's they would get any use? or do you think the two are too close to complement each other? (our music tastes are virtually identical) so you should be in a good position to help me
 
thanks in advance

 

[Zoom25]

I got the D-2000 for a while and I must say it does sub bass with authority, just how I like it. Mid bass has enough punch, although sometimes I wish in certain edm tracks that it kicked harder in the mid bass section. I've heard that the D5000 is more mid-bassy and is closer to the pro 900s than the D2000s, so those two are on my future lists, although leaning more towards pro 900 than D5000 for purely edm purposes and vocal trance stuff. I will keep D2000s as an all rounder as the sub bass is plenty without any mid bass fatiguing. 
 
Another headphone I have gotten really interested is the Hifiman HE-500. Anyone knows how this does for electronica? I heard it can do both classical and dubstep well. I am attracted by its open presentation and I heard that its actually pretty fast. Any opinions on this? At times I feel that the D2000 is a bit slow, that's why the pro 900s are up on my list along with Hifiman HE-500.