[DoctaCosmos]

I think that once that black gets a little dust on it or some little "oh no, how did those little abrasion marks and scratches get all over my brand new black plastic headphone" show up, they're going to look like a 10 year old childs toy in a matter of a couple weeks

 

[TheAwesomesauceShow]

I really like the AH-D7100, but the price is very high for my budget  I guess they don't have a D2000 replacement.

 

[lmswjm]

​

 
 
When I see this picture, it keeps reminding me of Dark Helmet. I'm sure he's in for a pair of these beauties.
 

 
 
Quoting Jude:
"the styling of Denon's Music Maniac over-ear models is likely to be polarizing, especially when judging from photos. Both headphones definitely look nicer in person, in my opinion, with their largish chassis--though made of glass fiber reinforced composite--looking rather like they could be aluminum. Though large, they look good on the head, and, frankly, I like the new styling a lot."
 

 
 

 
Kidding aside, I definitely will be giving the "Artisan" a serious listen for sure when available. Optimistically speaking, I believe they have a good chance of trumping the D7000.
 
I do like the look of the D7100 in pictures, but I'm getting visual image of "hugeness" when comparing them in my mind vs. the D7000.
 
Rest assured, if they find a permanent home with me, I won't be wearing these out of my listening room. I can already see my wife holding back pains of laughter at the site of me with these behemoths on my head. Rule of thumb Denon: Bigger = Dorkier. We as head-fiers already have suffered enough with this stereotype. Thanks a lot.

 

[thepredestrian]

The D7100....holy guacamole...

 

[Raines]

i just want to know how they sound
 
i have the D5000 on the way , but the AH-d600 could be a go for if they sound better.

 

[CantScareMe]

This is a really good article on them:
 
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/blog/2012/05/30/denon-new-headphones-new-docks-new-look
 
OBVIOUSLY it's not gonna be made of plastic. Composite really light materials to replace the relatively heavy materials of the past denons. It could be like when you have a racing version of say an aston martin, they go all out to reduce the weight. Scrapped are the luxury material. In comes the nasty, cheap looking composites that are very tough and light. Tough to protect the wooden housings of the drivers I guess. Light?- hopefully these denons could clock the sub 200grams (or hover close to it) mark. Don't cry about the last line- those with the 600g lcd2's/ he500's. To normal humans, weight matters.
 
The article shows also who their new mates are: its denon, marantz and boston acoustics. I don't know much about the other two- some of you lot will. Late july we can expect some impressions of these here on these threads. Not too long to wait is it??
 
Im still not sure on what they would look and feel like. They could be impressive or not so, but untill i see them in person i can't decide. That's what my past experience with headphones tells me.

 

[ProjectDenz]

Gee unless the D7100 is better or on par with the LCD2, T1 or even HD800 I can't even see why somebody would want to spend $1299 on this.

 

[MattTCG]

I have more of a morbid curiosity about these because I have owned three pair of Denon's. But honestly it doesn't go any further than that. Would I like to listen...sure. Would I like to buy...ask me after I listen. 

 

[MuppetFace]

Quote:

OBVIOUSLY it's not gonna be made of plastic. Composite really light materials to replace the relatively heavy materials of the past denons. It could be like when you have a racing version of say an aston martin, they go all out to reduce the weight. Scrapped are the luxury material. In comes the nasty, cheap looking composites that are very tough and light. Tough to protect the wooden housings of the drivers I guess. Light?- hopefully these denons could clock the sub 200grams (or hover close to it) mark. Don't cry about the last line- those with the 600g lcd2's/ he500's. To normal humans, weight matters.
 
The article shows also who their new mates are: its denon, marantz and boston acoustics. I don't know much about the other two- some of you lot will. Late july we can expect some impressions of these here on these threads. Not too long to wait is it??

 
Aren't composite materials usually plastic? Albeit "fancy" plastic? There's nothing wrong with plastic for headphone construction per se.
 
Also that article mentions Marantz and Boston Acoustics are sister companies, but it doesn't say just who built the D7100, just that the sister companies were also releasing new things. To my understanding it's still a mystery as to who their new OEM is.

 

[MattTCG]

I read the sound and vision article. Not much there really...

 

[WiR3D]

Quote:

 
Aren't composite materials usually plastic? Albeit "fancy" plastic? There's nothing wrong with plastic for headphone construction per se.
 
Also that article mentions Marantz and Boston Acoustics are sister companies, but it doesn't say just who built the D7100, just that the sister companies were also releasing new things. To my understanding it's still a mystery as to who their new OEM is.

All those brands are under D&M holdings.
Boston Acoustics are really not a bad speaker company, but they dont have headphone experience, things are a little different when its scaled down.

 

[ssrock64]

Quote:

Gee unless the D7100 is better or on par with the LCD2, T1 or even HD800 I can't even see why somebody would want to spend $1299 on this.

Who knows, they may just be on-par with their older competitors. There was a big fuss over the design of the HD800, from what I've seen (I wasn't on the forums at the time of its introduction, but I've looked back at the threads), and look what happened to that.

 

[CantScareMe]

Quote:

I read the sound and vision article. Not much there really...

 
...but as much as you could ask for at this stage. I forgot to mention- see their gallery pictures. The second picture i think shows these three denons completely head on. Yep, look like normal headphones to me (way better than them early rubbish cad photos). Man, i've copied it below:

 
 
 
Anyway, I found this interesting:
 
''Denon global headphone product manager Petro Shimonishi said the new headphones are all designed so they can be driven with the source device most people use with headphones: a smartphone''
 
I can't help but notice the general movement away from mp3 players to smarphones for music listening. Smartphones have quite powerful headphone outputs often combining a tv out functionality through their headphone jack which are generally very well made and robust. The current denon's sound nice out of smartphones?? I've tried 5 smartphones with literally all three denons d2/5/7k. Not nice. I phone 4, some sony xperia, nokia n8, blackberry bold, samsung galaxy ace and finally, the king of them all, samsung galaxy s i9000 WITH voodoo sound kernel. I've heard the d7k recently through all of these and, as ever, the galaxy s gives the best sound. But it's still unlistenable for me. Way way too tinny in the highs (sounds like the dt770/80's here and too much of a distant midrange). A laptop rig just using the fiio e17 improves the denon by so many folds. 
 
So this is welcome news for me. Anyhow, I think that it's obviously the first headphone (i can't think of any) that is a DIRECT competition to the ultrasones edition 8 price and functionality wise. If a company exclaims that it's headphone mates with a smartphone, to me that straight away implies that it must be an isolating closed can. Take examples: akg with their k550, beyer with the t5p and ultrasone with their ed8- all are genuinely isolating cans and so to must this be. So with this denon we've probably got a >$1000 closed, lightish, robust, circumaural easy to drive headphone in the d7100. The only other headphone that fits this bill is the ed8 (as far as I know). 
 
Quote:

 
Aren't composite materials usually plastic? Albeit "fancy" plastic? 
 
Mostly yea. But once you have your hands on them, the differences become apparent. I doubt it'll be anything like the abs plastic on the shure 940's !! 

 

[obobskivich]

Who knows, they may just be on-par with their older competitors. There was a big fuss over the design of the HD800, from what I've seen (I wasn't on the forums at the time of its introduction, but I've looked back at the threads), and look what happened to that.

Exactly. They don't have to be better than anything in their category (or the history of the world) - they just have to be properly able to hold their own. So while I think they look dorky, if they sound the part (of a $1200 headphone, that I would assume will sell for $700-$800 unless Denon suddenly decides on enforced MAP), that's what matters at the end of the day. I'm actually glad to see Denon transition to plastics (or FRP, if the press release is to be believed) - it should make for lighter headphones (which means more comfortable).

So this is welcome news for me. Anyhow, I think that it's obviously the first headphone (i can't think of any) that is a DIRECT competition to the ultrasones edition 8 price and functionality wise. If a company exclaims that it's headphone mates with a smartphone, to me that straight away implies that it must be an isolating closed can. Take examples: akg with their k550, beyer with the t5p and ultrasone with their ed8- all are genuinely isolating cans and so to must this be. So with this denon we've probably got a >$1000 closed, lightish, robust, circumaural easy to drive headphone in the d7100. The only other headphone that fits this bill is the ed8 (as far as I know). 

Aside from other Ultrasones (Signature Pro, Edition 9), and the Beyerdynamic T70p and T5p, the D7100 would appear to be proper competition, yes. The "absurdly expensive portable" segment seems to be popular these days (and yes I know Ultrasone is trying to target the Signature Pro at pro users). Most "high end" headphone releases target the so-called "iPod Generation" - the current AH-D Denons are no different (low impedance, sensitive, relatively flat impedance, etc); I don't see anything "new" in that respect with these (and honestly wouldn't be surprised if they use the same (or very very similar) drivers). Honestly I think they're all nuts for truly mobile use - apart from the whole mugging issue, and the size, and the lack of broadband isolation, there's the "this won't survive going in my pocket" component. IEMs man, it's the wave of the future.

And because I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet:

Anyone else seen the per-cup detachable cable that looks to use a TS connector and thought about how quickly you could cut and re-tap it to an XLR4?

 

[jgray91]

As much as I dislike the design, it's quite refreshing to see that they insist on developing closed back headphones. Hopefully this one is a true closed one, not like the Dx000 line.