Denon D5000 and the Boomy Bloated Bass Brognosticators
May 12, 2008 at 11:44 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 85

zeluiz22

500+ Head-Fier
Joined
Jan 2, 2006
Posts
516
Likes
320
I bought both the D2k's and the D5k's at Amazon, and ran them both from an X-Can v3 and an X-can v8.

Listening from an MF A5 as a preamp and a Cambridge 840c as a DAC (for Squeezebox) and CD Player.

I also run a Clearaudio Emotion with a Grado Reference Master.

Listened to Dylan, Neko Case, Portishead, Rage Against the Machine and Mars Volta.

It took about ten minutes to hear that the D5000 is a far superior phone (unlike the RS1 to the lesser Grados) to the D2000. This "very similar signature" thing was not my experience.

The range (in either direction) and dynamics/imaging on the 5k's leave the 2k's sound shriveled, staticky and lifeless in A/B comparison. The detail is far more complete. Some writers here have said that 5k's are more detailed, but the 2k's more analytical and dynamic... isnt that contadictory?

The 5k's are a clear winner here in musicality, detail, highs and lows and all things in between. Deep bass and bloated bass are not one and the same- the 5k's are the former.
 
May 13, 2008 at 12:01 AM Post #2 of 85
D2000s have padding/sound dampening foam under the cups, though a small amount. The D5000s have none, and I believe that this accounts for the fatter/warmer bass of the D5000. The upper mids/lower treble on the D2000s lacks compared to the D5000 but all in all both sound very nice.

The headroom graphs agree:

graphCompare.php


Let us all be thankful we do not have to listen to this anymore,

graphCompare.php
 
May 13, 2008 at 12:32 AM Post #3 of 85
Quote:

The 5k's are a clear winner here in musicality, detail, highs and lows and all things in between.


Yup, my D5000's have never exhibited boomy bass. It is deep and punchy; the best overall bass I've heard in headphones. The balance between mids lows and highs is spot on. I don't even think about trying more can's anymore, I'm exploring my music and loving it.
 
May 13, 2008 at 12:42 AM Post #4 of 85
Quote:

Originally Posted by Beav /img/forum/go_quote.gif
. . . I don't even think about trying more can's anymore, I'm exploring my music and loving it.


Famous "last words" on a Head-Fi thread! : )
 
May 13, 2008 at 12:53 AM Post #5 of 85
Quote:

Famous "last words" on a Head-Fi thread! : )


I should know better but it was worth a shot LOL
 
May 13, 2008 at 1:13 AM Post #7 of 85
Well, you can't fault this place for variety
wink.gif


....I personally found the D5000 bass to be, how should I say it, torrid. Whether it was too thick, too little control, too syrupy, too much overhang, too much bleed into the midrange, or...well...simply too much....I don't know.

But likewise, I found the W5000 to be too thin and bright to be a keeper. Yet, some people enjoy it and think its bass response is the best they've ever experienced. And, some even say it mates the best with their - gulp - DAC1 (my skin crawls and ears start ringing at the very thought of matching W5K with DAC1
tongue.gif
)

@Beav - yes, very brave indeed. I think most people here have said that at least once in their Head-Fi career. Must be something to do with denial
biggrin.gif


@zelius - I s'pose if you are enjoying it you aren't considering the markl mods? I personally haven't heard but it seems that many are waxing lyrical about it as the new giant killer.
 
May 13, 2008 at 2:29 AM Post #8 of 85
It's possible that not D5000's sound the same as a result of production inconsistencies. The two that I heard (same burn-in and system) sounded about 25% different from each other in the bass. One was a bit too boomy IMO and the other was a little soft but clearly less intrusive. Any similar observations?
 
May 13, 2008 at 2:38 AM Post #9 of 85
This clearly knocks points off for Denon in my book. They have to ensure that every D5000 fits into the sound QC requirements, otherwise all design efforts are lost to the variability of the production.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tev /img/forum/go_quote.gif
It's possible that not D5000's sound the same as a result of production inconsistencies. The two that I heard (same burn-in and system) sounded about 25% different from each other in the bass. One was a bit too boomy IMO and the other was a little soft but clearly less intrusive. Any similar observations?


 
May 13, 2008 at 3:03 AM Post #10 of 85
Quote:

Originally Posted by Philco /img/forum/go_quote.gif
This clearly knocks points off for Denon in my book. They have to ensure that every D5000 fits into the sound QC requirements, otherwise all design efforts are lost to the variability of the production.


It seems pretty absurd to "knock points" off of a company based solely upon what 1 stranger on an internet forum said.
 
May 13, 2008 at 3:19 AM Post #11 of 85
Quote:

Originally Posted by zeluiz22 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I bought both the D2k's and the D5k's at Amazon, and ran them both from an X-Can v3 and an X-can v8.

Listening from an MF A5 as a preamp and a Cambridge 840c as a DAC (for Squeezebox) and CD Player.

I also run a Clearaudio Emotion with a Grado Reference Master.

Listened to Dylan, Neko Case, Portishead, Rage Against the Machine and Mars Volta.

It took about ten minutes to hear that the D5000 is a far superior phone (unlike the RS1 to the lesser Grados) to the D2000. This "very similar signature" thing was not my experience.

The range (in either direction) and dynamics/imaging on the 5k's leave the 2k's sound shriveled, staticky and lifeless in A/B comparison. The detail is far more complete. Some writers here have said that 5k's are more detailed, but the 2k's more analytical and dynamic... isnt that contadictory?

The 5k's are a clear winner here in musicality, detail, highs and lows and all things in between. Deep bass and bloated bass are not one and the same- the 5k's are the former.



That set up had to make the D5000s pretty impressive - just the right complement to the darker D5000s - particularly the X-CANv8 with the 840C.
 
May 13, 2008 at 4:02 AM Post #12 of 85
Wow, I have been away from headfi for too long. lmilhan has no Grados and a D5000. The Denon is really interesting me lately. This post may not help the thread, but I posted it anyway.
tongue.gif
 
May 13, 2008 at 4:41 AM Post #13 of 85
Quote:

Originally Posted by Philco /img/forum/go_quote.gif
This clearly knocks points off for Denon in my book. They have to ensure that every D5000 fits into the sound QC requirements, otherwise all design efforts are lost to the variability of the production.


This has nothing to do with QC. The same applies to varying (but not insignificant) degrees to every other headphone manufacturer.
 
May 13, 2008 at 5:12 AM Post #14 of 85
There is always a certain tolerance allowed by every manufacturer. But to have radically different bass characteristics seems way out of reasonable tolerance for me. Reasonable tolerance would be more like a few tenths of a dB at a maximum. Remember, those are $700 (CDN) headphones !

A product that is designed/engineered to sound a particular way should sound this way.

I haven't experienced noticeable variations with Sony, AKG, Beyer and Sennheiser.

Quote:

Originally Posted by b0dhi /img/forum/go_quote.gif
This has nothing to do with QC. The same applies to varying (but not insignificant) degrees to every other headphone manufacturer.


 
May 13, 2008 at 12:59 PM Post #15 of 85
Quote:

It's possible that not D5000's sound the same as a result of production inconsistencies. The two that I heard (same burn-in and system) sounded about 25% different from each other in the bass. One was a bit too boomy IMO and the other was a little soft but clearly less intrusive. Any similar observations?


I've had about 20 of the D5000s now, and I have not observed this variation.

However, the OP is 100% correct (IMO) regarding the differences between the D2000 and D5000. Those graphs from Headroom don't lie. As I've speculated in another thread, I believe we are talking about two different drivers; I am skeptical that a cable and ear cup material with a thin strip of damping could produce such different FR curves.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top