[Empire1]

Edit: I realized most members here haven't gotten to try the new D600 yet. Please feel free to replace D600 with the D2000 for your opinions
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Hey everyone

I'm new to high end headphones (most of my current high perfomance headphone 'experience' comes from reading headphone forums and reviews). My family has just purchased a Bose QC15 for me though I can still opt out for the all new, rather hyped-about Denon D600.

Now I do realize the Denons are audiophile quality and most of you wouldn't even put the word Bose in your minds. But I would like your honest assessment and opinions between these two. I listen to a wide variety of music including hip hop, pop, classical, rock, rap - and more covering nearly all categories.

Sound quality is most important to me along with comfort. NC is less so. I lean towards being a basshead, but I've moved past the booming, muddy base stage and am looking for this so-called tight, punchy bass. I am still looking for the bass to be deep and make me feel like I'm in a club, however.

I also do not plan on purchasing an amp, if that is useful for recommending me to the best choice of headphones. My source will be an iPod Touch.

Denon D600 vs Bose QC15
Your thoughts and opinions?

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Suggesting other brands isn't too helpful for me since they are too difficult to locate in Beijing and I've looked at other similarly leveled offerings online already (from Beyer, Ultrasone, Shure, AKG, etc).

Note: I do have enough to shell out for an Audio-technica ATH-M50 myself when I get back to the States, and even though they are often regarded as great entry headphones for new enthusiasts, I'm pretty darn sure they pale to the Denons or the NC feature of the Bose.

 

[Empire1]

Any help? 

 

[Ishcabible]

Nobody really knows how the D600 sounds like because only like, two people here have them. We can't really tell you to get something we've never heard.

 

[Empire1]

Ah I see. I figured I did something wrong back there.
The official Denon store/retailer here in Beijing has ordered a D600 to be shipped here so I can pick them up. Doubt they'll let you try them if you don't pay for them though. And worse, you can't return items here either, unless it's defective.

The D2000 is hailed as one of the finest headphones around. While the D600 certainly has quite few changes (I've heard it has more bass, and has V shaped sound), I would think the two phones would share at least some close similarities. By comparing the D2000 to the QC15, could you point me to the right direction?

 

[Ishcabible]

I'll have someone else do that for you because I really am not a D2000 fan.

 

[Croozer]

LOL, I have never heard the D600 but I guarantee it will be better than the Bose.

 

[MrDom1nation]

If you travel a lot, stick with the Bose, the NC really cancels outside noise well.
Not so sure about the Denons though, since I've never heard any of their headphones.

 

[alphaphoenix]

I've owned the past two NC Denon flagships (NC732, NC800) as well as the QC15.  If you strictly want SQ, then the Denons beat the QC15, but not by a huge margin.  I've owned many full size NC headphones and when it comes to straight NC effectiveness, the Bose is always in the lead.  The QC15 sounds pretty good, though. However, if you don't care about the NC feature, it sounds like you already answered your question(s) on what to get.

 

[Empire1]

I'm worried the D2000s or D600s won't have enough bass for me. The Bose's base is present, albeit a little muddy, but I'm not sure if the Denons will have the same or similar bass.

I'll have someone else do that for you because I really am not a D2000 fan.

Why not? I'd like to hear

 

[Tizzle]

I just ordered a pair of D600's, I'll let you know how these fair out.  Though I don't have any experience with the Bose QC 15 as I'm coming from a Sennheiser HD 598

 

[Empire1]

I just ordered a pair of D600's, I'll let you know how these fair out.  Though I don't have any experience with the Bose QC 15 as I'm coming from a Sennheiser HD 598

Awesome! If you could tell me how they sound unamped (since I don't plan on buying an amp) and sourced through an iTouch that would be even better! And if you can, could you also say what they are like when playing cruddy mp3 files (256, 192, 128 kbps)? Thanks so much

 

[Tizzle]

Sure thing, they come in on Wednesday so I'll probably give a reply on Thursday

 

[hahavaffan]

Hey Head-Fi I just registered because I felt I could give you some listening impressions of the new AH-D600.
 
I've had a pair of D600 on loan from my work place for a couple of days now, so I can probably give you some insight into what I think of them. I've had a small headphone shoot out here at home for the last couple of days, with over/on ears for home listening. The contenders have been: Grado SR225i, Sennheiser HD650, Denon D2000, Denon D5000, Denon D600 and B&W P5. 
 
For starters, you can't really compare D2000 or D5000 to the new D600 as they sound nothing alike. I should probably mention that the D600 had only about 2-3 hours of running from being fresh out of the box, where both D2000 and D5000 have a couple of hundred, so they may change character somewhat over time, I'm guessing. Anyhow; here's what I think:
 
The D600 kicked ass, they really did. Fresh out of the box they where very bass heavy, and not very nice in the mids. But as I let them run for a couple of hours, they changed quiet a bit, and I believe that with more hours under the hood they will only get better. When running D600 and D5000 from an iPhone 4S or a MacBook Air '10, the D600 really outperformed the more expensive D5000. With a DAC/AMP connected through USB (Argon HA2 Tube amp / Arcam rPAC) the difference between the two where less apparent. With a simple amp like the one found in an iPhone or the MacBook, the D600 sounds fine, whereas the D5000 sounds ****. With a nice amp the before very sharp and over articulated highs and S-sounds from the D5000 is better handled, and they sound extremely natural and you notice how flat the response curve is. The D600 sounds even better with a nice amp compared to from a lesser one, but the bass is still noticeably heavier than with the D5000, but firmer than before and it feels more controlled, and the response curve is not as natural and flat with the D600. 
 
So, if you are gonna run your headphones through an iDevice, I can recommend the D600! Also, they are pretty much like a pair of Peltor sound stopping head phones, so theres absolutely no need for NC imho. I could listen to very low levels of music while my GF was watching a movie right next to me on our home cinema, without hearing a thing and without her being able to hear a single word or note when I was slamming the D600s with Dope - Die MF die 

 
Since I'm not native in english, the text above might be somewhat hard to read and full of idiotic choices of words, so please feel free to ask me direct questions if you have any, and I will answer them!

 

[kenji458]

Received my D600s only yesterday and paired with the ODAC/O2 as my laptop rig, the bass is the first thing that captures your attention. In some songs, like David Guetta's, the D600 would deliver great and deep bass, slightly more than HFi2400 even, IMO. However, the bass is always nicely controlled and tight, not intruding into the mids. The D600s have both ample quantity and quality bass, maybe boosted in the midbass IMO; but not overly emphasised.
 
The mids are fine and smooth, but sometimes they lack a bit a bit of volume especially if you have listened to mid-centric headphones; but overall are still smooth. Prefer the mids of my srh1840 in that relation.
 
Treble is clear and detailed, non-sibilant and non-fatigue. 
 
Soundstage is deep and good separation. The Imaging is quite similar to that of HFi 2400s are known for IMO.
 
IMO the D600s are fun, fast attacking and falls into the musical headphones category. The Denons not do sound grainy at all and are detailed and smooth. It shines the most at pop, rock, rnb, electronic IMO.
 
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Get the QC15s only if you really need the NC function, as they are considered the best in that category. If you want a compromise of NC and audiophile quality, you can look into the PSB M4U 2(had auditioned this too) and POLK 8000 Ultrafocus. Seems like the latter is even better than the former according to Tyll.

 

[Tizzle]

After receiving my D600 yesterday I will have to agree with the previous two posts.  The sound quality of these headphones are great, better than my Sennheiser HD598 in almost every category.  
 
As to whether or not 128kbps music files will sound good or not on these phones, you will notice a deterioration of sound quality because of the low bit rate so if you can, try to avoid them.  And the difference between 256kbps and 320kpbs is very minimal that I can barely tell the difference between them in these headphones.
 
I'm subscribed to iTunes Match so all of my low bit rate songs are replaced by Apples 256kbps aac, so if you can afford these $500 headphones I would recommend subscribing to iTunes Match to get rid of your low bit rate music files.
 
Also an amp like the FiiO e17 is recommended as well