[Muftobration]

I recently got my Heed CanAmp (which I love) and have been listening to it with my DT990s ever since. The sound is fantastic! I really didn't think there was anything wrong with what I was hearing, except I had a little voice in the back of my head that kept saying, "where's the bass?" I've pretty much been ignoring the voice, but I did notice that the bass was ominously lacking. Well, today I was playing my keyboard with a cheapo Koss headphone that came with the thing 10 years ago (reeeeealy crappy) and decided to try those crappy headphones in my CanAmp since they had the right jack (6.3mm). Of course, they sounded horrible still, but they had much more bass than they did unamped on my keyboard!

Anyway, the whole reason I was trying those Koss crappers on that amp was because they are dying and I wanted to see what they sounded like on the amp. I'm going to use my old Bose TriPorts (don't laugh, they were a gift!

) on my keyboard since the Koss ones are dead. Well, I figured "what the heck?" and decided to try out the TriPorts on the amp as well. Man, I was blown away by the bass!

I mean, I never remember them having this much. It sounded fantastic! Just then I realized I don't like a lack of bass. The DT990s have much better bass than the TriPorts. The only problem is there is hardly any of it! I think I want to try something new, but I love so many aspects of these headphones. They are comfortable and have awesome sound in all departments except the bass (IMO). Both the headphones and the amp are fully burned in (well, the amp is around 350-400 hours probably) so I don't think things will change much. What do you suggest I look at?

 

[Gurra1980]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muftobration /img/forum/go_quote.gif I recently got my Heed CanAmp (which I love) and have been listening to it with my DT990s ever since. The sound is fantastic! I really didn't think there was anything wrong with what I was hearing, except I had a little voice in the back of my head that kept saying, "where's the bass?" I've pretty much been ignoring the voice, but I did notice that the bass was ominously lacking. Well, today I was playing my keyboard with a cheapo Koss headphone that came with the thing 10 years ago (reeeeealy crappy) and decided to try those crappy headphones in my CanAmp since they had the right jack (6.3mm). Of course, they sounded horrible still, but they had much more bass than they did unamped on my keyboard! Anyway, the whole reason I was trying those Koss crappers on that amp was because they are dying and I wanted to see what they sounded like on the amp. I'm going to use my old Bose TriPorts (don't laugh, they were a gift! ) on my keyboard since the Koss ones are dead. Well, I figured "what the heck?" and decided to try out the TriPorts on the amp as well. Man, I was blown away by the bass! I mean, I never remember them having this much. It sounded fantastic! Just then I realized I don't like a lack of bass. The DT990s have much better bass than the TriPorts. The only problem is there is hardly any of it! I think I want to try something new, but I love so many aspects of these headphones. They are comfortable and have awesome sound in all departments except the bass (IMO). Both the headphones and the amp are fully burned in (well, the amp is around 350-400 hours probably) so I don't think things will change much. What do you suggest I look at?

I guess Hi-Fi headphones are not for you! Last thing you could try would be dt770

 

[b0dhi]

DT-770 and DT-990 have similar levels of bass. What you need is a good software or hardware EQ. I use an M3 amp with 7dB bass boost switch with Evox Rifa caps - performs great.

 

[ericj]

congratulations, you're a basshead.

 

[Lad27]

That's weird.

I used to have DT990 and CanAmp and the last thing I would say that there was lack of bass. The 990 are bass heavy phones and I don't think this is only my opinion.

I also did try MS1's with flats, KSC75, PX100, ATH-ES5 and of course Darths. Only Darths could beat 990 in the bass department, but again not in quantity, only in quality and control of bass. The rest of the phones sounded bass-anemic compared to 990's.

There must be something wrong with your cans.

 

[Morph201]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muftobration /img/forum/go_quote.gif I recently got my Heed CanAmp (which I love) and have been listening to it with my DT990s ever since. The sound is fantastic! I really didn't think there was anything wrong with what I was hearing, except I had a little voice in the back of my head that kept saying, "where's the bass?" I've pretty much been ignoring the voice, but I did notice that the bass was ominously lacking. Well, today I was playing my keyboard with a cheapo Koss headphone that came with the thing 10 years ago (reeeeealy crappy) and decided to try those crappy headphones in my CanAmp since they had the right jack (6.3mm). Of course, they sounded horrible still, but they had much more bass than they did unamped on my keyboard! Anyway, the whole reason I was trying those Koss crappers on that amp was because they are dying and I wanted to see what they sounded like on the amp. I'm going to use my old Bose TriPorts (don't laugh, they were a gift! ) on my keyboard since the Koss ones are dead. Well, I figured "what the heck?" and decided to try out the TriPorts on the amp as well. Man, I was blown away by the bass! I mean, I never remember them having this much. It sounded fantastic! Just then I realized I don't like a lack of bass. The DT990s have much better bass than the TriPorts. The only problem is there is hardly any of it! I think I want to try something new, but I love so many aspects of these headphones. They are comfortable and have awesome sound in all departments except the bass (IMO). Both the headphones and the amp are fully burned in (well, the amp is around 350-400 hours probably) so I don't think things will change much. What do you suggest I look at?

Try strapping speakers to your head!

 

[Muftobration]

It could also be because I listen at very low volume. Turning up the volume makes the bass sound a lot better. It sounds like it should. Unfortunately, I prefer to listen at low volume and I guess bass just doesn't like that. I guess I'll check out some EQ options for increasing the low end.

And Morph, isn't that kind of like what the K1000 is?

 

[wovenhand]

When listening at low levels the Fletcher/Munson Loudness curve comes into play, meaning that bass & treble will be harder to hear. That's what the loudness button on some stereos do; boost lows & highs to compensate at lower listening levels so the output appears flat.

Your hearing is at it's most "flat" at 85dB.

 

[wovenhand]

And I also agree with previous posters that the 990 is far from lacking in the lower frequencies.

 

[Muftobration]

http://sinan.ussakli.net/basstest/

Check out the 5-100 FLAC. I jsut did it and the results were, uhh, AMAZING! I've never heard so much bass. I'm kind of worried about my headphones now though. I went into FL Studio and set up a simple four note beat pattern with the kick pad and turned up the volume to listen to the bass and see how it was. It was good, but as the volume went up I could hear a vibration in the left channel only. It sounded like something was loose and jiggling. On that bass test I linked to I could hear a strange clicking noise in the left channel again, but I don't know if it's in the recording or not. Can someone listen to it and tell me if they hear anything? It only does it when the volume is pretty high, or maybe that's the only time I can hear it.

Yes, I'm sure it's my headphones. It sounds like the diaphragm clicking like it's sticking to something as it moves in and out. If you can picture tow balloons pushed together and then pulled apart then you can probably think of the noise. It sounds like that rubbery sticking noise. If I turn up the volume enough then it comes out of both channels, so I don't know if it's a problem. It sure is annoying at high volume on those tests though.

 

[AudioCats]

one possibility is the lost of hearing on mid/low bass. 990 doesn't have a lot of bass, it has deep bass that is all. Before I got my 990's I was using Sony CD180's, and the 180's are BOOMY, if you haven't heard good bass before you'd say the 180 have great bass. But 180's bass is all in the upper area, actually stop responding below 63 Hz (was using my Denon eq to determind that).

If the mid/low bass hearing is damaged then the 990's won't be very "bassy" since they don't emphasize the upper bass. Try some low grade Sony close phones they might work better?

 

[b0dhi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muftobration /img/forum/go_quote.gif http://sinan.ussakli.net/basstest/ Check out the 5-100 FLAC. I jsut did it and the results were, uhh, AMAZING! I've never heard so much bass. I'm kind of worried about my headphones now though. I went into FL Studio and set up a simple four note beat pattern with the kick pad and turned up the volume to listen to the bass and see how it was. It was good, but as the volume went up I could hear a vibration in the left channel only. It sounded like something was loose and jiggling. On that bass test I linked to I could hear a strange clicking noise in the left channel again, but I don't know if it's in the recording or not. Can someone listen to it and tell me if they hear anything? It only does it when the volume is pretty high, or maybe that's the only time I can hear it. Yes, I'm sure it's my headphones. It sounds like the diaphragm clicking like it's sticking to something as it moves in and out. If you can picture tow balloons pushed together and then pulled apart then you can probably think of the noise. It sounds like that rubbery sticking noise. If I turn up the volume enough then it comes out of both channels, so I don't know if it's a problem. It sure is annoying at high volume on those tests though.

Sorry to say this but that's the worst bass test clip I've heard. That clicking is tolerable but there's a strong high frequency harmonic at the end that starts about 40 seconds in. I tested with a test tone generator going down from 100hz to 5hz and there's no harmonics with that, so it must be the recording.

Test your headphones again using NCH test tone generator, and if the rattle continues, you probably have a hair in your left driver. Blowing into it gently should fix it.

 

[GreatDane]

I use the Aphex 204 at home and it works well with my DT-880 giving them as much or more bass as a non-processed HD 650.

 

[Muftobration]

b0dhi, that app did seem better. The clicking was gone unless I turned up the volume much higher than I had to with the other sound clips that I was using earlier.

 

[Skylab]

The only hi-fi headphone with noticeably more bass than the DT990 is the Headphile Darth Beyer. Unless your DT990's are defective, you may be asking for something a reasonably balanced headphone can't really give you.