Covenant
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2005
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[size=medium]Introduction[/size]
I've had loaner pairs of both the DX1000 and LA7000 at my place for the past week, doing predominantly casual listening through my Pico > HA160 rig, and thought I'd post a few observations of the differences between the two closed, woodie bass kings.
Please note, this is not intended to be a proper review of these two headphones. I haven't invested the time required to be thorough and methodic, and instead am simply jotting down my impressions from listening to what I want to listen to.
[size=medium]Looks, Comfort and Build Quality[/size]
The LA7000 wins in the looks game, hands down. The custom wood cups, bright metal fixtures and luxuriously supple Jena cable all combine to make a very handsome headphone. It has a fair bit of weight to it as well, making it feel substantial to hold and handle.
The DX1000 is still quite a good looking headphone, albeit it pales a bit in comparison. The fixtures and hinges are much duller compared to the LA7000, and feel plasticky to the touch. The stock cable appears to be quite thick and rugged, but lacks the truly decadent feeling of braided Jena wire.
Comfort wise however, the DX1000 is a fair few steps ahead of the Denons. The JVC is much lighter, with thicker pads that comform themselves to the shape of your head and create a seal without exerting much pressure. The fit feels solid, to the point where one can safely headbang to Bohemian Rhapsody without worrying about flinging headphones off the noggin and into the wall.
LA7000 comfort leaves a few things to be desired. The weight of the headphone is greater than the DX1000, and seems to press around the ears a fair bit more, causing them to become uncomfortable during long listening sessions. The headband's padding is also thinner than the DX1000's, causing a bit of discomfort along the top of the head.
[size=medium]Listening Impressions[/size]
LA7000
As soon as one puts the LA7000 on, there's immediate "wow" factor. This isn't a headphone that needs a long adjustment period on the part of the listener. You don't have to wait before you "get" it, it gets gotten from the get go (try saying that 10 times fast). The presentation is very forward, with everything presented clearly, unapologetically, and vividly. It embodies the antithesis of "veiled".
Bass attacks go deep, with nice resonance and slam, yet remain clean. There doesn't seem to be much bleed between images, even with the very forward presentation clustering everything closer together to the point where that would normally occur. The cleanliness combined with the strength of the bass reproduction immediately flagged the LA7000 as a potentially excellent trance headphone, and that proved to be the case when put through its paces on some Infected Mushroom and Nick Skitz. The only issue that arose with this combination is a certain brightness to the Denons that begun to induce listener fatigue within about 20 minutes, for me.
For metal, particularly heavy metal, I almost feel that the LA7000's are too clean. I want more slam and grit out of them than they're giving me. Metallica's Black Album comes across a tad too thin and anemic for my taste, which is odd considering that the LA7000 couldn't be considered bass light by any strech of the imagination. Perhaps the Lawton Audio damping has simply culled reverberation TOO much for this genre.
Female vocals, such as Loreena McKennitt, sound quite vivid and crystalline. However, it's also afflicted by a slight harshness to the treble, which ends up detracting a bit from the experience. Being a very forward headphone, the LA7000 also has difficulty conveying the size and atmosphere of the recording venue in tracks like Dante's Prayer, where Loreena's voice should echo and resonate throughout the cathedral.
DX1000
The JVC's, in contrast, did take me a while to "get". Initially I felt them to be slightly uninvolving, with a surprisingly distant presentation from a bassy closed headphone. Over time this impression has evaporated, and what I intially perceived as distance, I now hear as expansiveness. One might argue that's only a difference in terminology to describe the same thing, and with a certain amount of validity. But that's pretty much how my oppinion of them has evolved during the week they've been here. The DX1000 possesses a large soundstage for a closed headphone, and this I think is where most people double-take, as it does not live up to the typical expectations of a closed 'phone.
Loreena McKennitt's Dante's Prayer, which the LA7000 struggled with, the DX1000 seems much more suited to. The treble response of the JVC's is much sweeter, eliminating the distracting harshness experienced by the Denons. And while the sense of space experienced in this track doesn't match the HD800's ability to convey, we have to make a few concessions for the JVC being both closed, and half its price.
Bass isn't as clean on the DX1000. It resonates to a greater degree, and is perhaps even slightly bloated in the midbass in comparison to the very linear response of the LA7000. That being said, they still don't entirely satisfy me with Metallica. Some of the missing body experienced with the LA7000 is back, but the JVC's lack the true angst needed to convince me here. Or maybe I'm just spoiled by my memories of the PS-1. Ah, there was a metal headphone.
Oddly, I find the DX1000 more satisfying for trance than I do the LA7000's. The extra bass resonance and heft brings this style of music to life, more than the clean, precise nature of the LA7000's can manage to do.
[size=medium]Conclusion[/size]
I like the DX1000's more than the LA7000. A great deal of this has to do with my own listening biases - my preferences for body, larger soundstages, and sweet treble. The LA7000 seems to be the higher technical performer of the two, and is a very balanced headphone with an excellent response across the frequency spectrum. But the slight harshness to the treble, the very forward nature of the presentation, and the cleanliness of the bass response prevent me from truly liking them.
And now you ask: "How can a clean bass response be a bad thing?" I do, after all, love the HD800, which is just as clean and has less quantity to boot. But I love the HD800 because of their extremely open sound, the sense of being a clear window into the music, and the size of the soundstage they are able to portray.
The DX1000 manage to capture some of this, or as much as a closed headphone can really aspire to at this price point, and combine it with truly juicy bass to satisfy my metal and trance cravings. The LA7000, in contrast, doesn't attempt to be an open-sounding headphone, and simply presents everything in a very upfront, clear, immediate fashion. There is no "right" and "wrong" between these two ideals, they simply appeal to different tastes.
And my taste, accustomed to open headphones such as the HD600/HD800, demands some space and air to breathe. The DX1000 delivers, does so comfortably, and also brings to the table more bass than my open headphones can provide, which works wonders for alot of the material I listen to.
I've had loaner pairs of both the DX1000 and LA7000 at my place for the past week, doing predominantly casual listening through my Pico > HA160 rig, and thought I'd post a few observations of the differences between the two closed, woodie bass kings.
Please note, this is not intended to be a proper review of these two headphones. I haven't invested the time required to be thorough and methodic, and instead am simply jotting down my impressions from listening to what I want to listen to.
[size=medium]Looks, Comfort and Build Quality[/size]
The LA7000 wins in the looks game, hands down. The custom wood cups, bright metal fixtures and luxuriously supple Jena cable all combine to make a very handsome headphone. It has a fair bit of weight to it as well, making it feel substantial to hold and handle.
The DX1000 is still quite a good looking headphone, albeit it pales a bit in comparison. The fixtures and hinges are much duller compared to the LA7000, and feel plasticky to the touch. The stock cable appears to be quite thick and rugged, but lacks the truly decadent feeling of braided Jena wire.
Comfort wise however, the DX1000 is a fair few steps ahead of the Denons. The JVC is much lighter, with thicker pads that comform themselves to the shape of your head and create a seal without exerting much pressure. The fit feels solid, to the point where one can safely headbang to Bohemian Rhapsody without worrying about flinging headphones off the noggin and into the wall.
LA7000 comfort leaves a few things to be desired. The weight of the headphone is greater than the DX1000, and seems to press around the ears a fair bit more, causing them to become uncomfortable during long listening sessions. The headband's padding is also thinner than the DX1000's, causing a bit of discomfort along the top of the head.
[size=medium]Listening Impressions[/size]
LA7000
As soon as one puts the LA7000 on, there's immediate "wow" factor. This isn't a headphone that needs a long adjustment period on the part of the listener. You don't have to wait before you "get" it, it gets gotten from the get go (try saying that 10 times fast). The presentation is very forward, with everything presented clearly, unapologetically, and vividly. It embodies the antithesis of "veiled".
Bass attacks go deep, with nice resonance and slam, yet remain clean. There doesn't seem to be much bleed between images, even with the very forward presentation clustering everything closer together to the point where that would normally occur. The cleanliness combined with the strength of the bass reproduction immediately flagged the LA7000 as a potentially excellent trance headphone, and that proved to be the case when put through its paces on some Infected Mushroom and Nick Skitz. The only issue that arose with this combination is a certain brightness to the Denons that begun to induce listener fatigue within about 20 minutes, for me.
For metal, particularly heavy metal, I almost feel that the LA7000's are too clean. I want more slam and grit out of them than they're giving me. Metallica's Black Album comes across a tad too thin and anemic for my taste, which is odd considering that the LA7000 couldn't be considered bass light by any strech of the imagination. Perhaps the Lawton Audio damping has simply culled reverberation TOO much for this genre.
Female vocals, such as Loreena McKennitt, sound quite vivid and crystalline. However, it's also afflicted by a slight harshness to the treble, which ends up detracting a bit from the experience. Being a very forward headphone, the LA7000 also has difficulty conveying the size and atmosphere of the recording venue in tracks like Dante's Prayer, where Loreena's voice should echo and resonate throughout the cathedral.
DX1000
The JVC's, in contrast, did take me a while to "get". Initially I felt them to be slightly uninvolving, with a surprisingly distant presentation from a bassy closed headphone. Over time this impression has evaporated, and what I intially perceived as distance, I now hear as expansiveness. One might argue that's only a difference in terminology to describe the same thing, and with a certain amount of validity. But that's pretty much how my oppinion of them has evolved during the week they've been here. The DX1000 possesses a large soundstage for a closed headphone, and this I think is where most people double-take, as it does not live up to the typical expectations of a closed 'phone.
Loreena McKennitt's Dante's Prayer, which the LA7000 struggled with, the DX1000 seems much more suited to. The treble response of the JVC's is much sweeter, eliminating the distracting harshness experienced by the Denons. And while the sense of space experienced in this track doesn't match the HD800's ability to convey, we have to make a few concessions for the JVC being both closed, and half its price.
Bass isn't as clean on the DX1000. It resonates to a greater degree, and is perhaps even slightly bloated in the midbass in comparison to the very linear response of the LA7000. That being said, they still don't entirely satisfy me with Metallica. Some of the missing body experienced with the LA7000 is back, but the JVC's lack the true angst needed to convince me here. Or maybe I'm just spoiled by my memories of the PS-1. Ah, there was a metal headphone.
Oddly, I find the DX1000 more satisfying for trance than I do the LA7000's. The extra bass resonance and heft brings this style of music to life, more than the clean, precise nature of the LA7000's can manage to do.
[size=medium]Conclusion[/size]
I like the DX1000's more than the LA7000. A great deal of this has to do with my own listening biases - my preferences for body, larger soundstages, and sweet treble. The LA7000 seems to be the higher technical performer of the two, and is a very balanced headphone with an excellent response across the frequency spectrum. But the slight harshness to the treble, the very forward nature of the presentation, and the cleanliness of the bass response prevent me from truly liking them.
And now you ask: "How can a clean bass response be a bad thing?" I do, after all, love the HD800, which is just as clean and has less quantity to boot. But I love the HD800 because of their extremely open sound, the sense of being a clear window into the music, and the size of the soundstage they are able to portray.
The DX1000 manage to capture some of this, or as much as a closed headphone can really aspire to at this price point, and combine it with truly juicy bass to satisfy my metal and trance cravings. The LA7000, in contrast, doesn't attempt to be an open-sounding headphone, and simply presents everything in a very upfront, clear, immediate fashion. There is no "right" and "wrong" between these two ideals, they simply appeal to different tastes.
And my taste, accustomed to open headphones such as the HD600/HD800, demands some space and air to breathe. The DX1000 delivers, does so comfortably, and also brings to the table more bass than my open headphones can provide, which works wonders for alot of the material I listen to.
