[jmills8]

You were not trying to help the guy. You were openly discrediting my experience and advice.

Sorry you chose to see it about you.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Thanks betula for your input.

Do you think that the regular D8000 has fast enough bass response for aggressive sounding music? Some of the metal music I listen to tends to be fast, with many layers of instruments running in parallel. This can sometimes produce muddy results if the bass is not fast enough. I get a slight hint of muddiness when listening to the busy passages of Son of Winter and Stars. My concern with the D8000 is that some people say it can be sometimes be too bassy. Just worried that the bass will bleed too much into the mids.

Also, i've seen a frequency response chart that shows a steep rise at around the 4-5k region. This should in theory enhance guitar tones but not sure if its too much as it could create sibilance or sound tonally off. For my 2C I had the opposite issue and had to increase that region by 5dbs, which balanced the sound. I guess what im hoping for is less eq tweaking with my next set of headphones.

I know you're not asking me this question, but after a long listening session with the D8000 tonight, I have to jump in. This headphone is the fastest, clearest, lowest distortion planar I've ever heard. It has a great deal of resolution and it's evenly distributed, top to bottom. So in addition to the usual density of bass notes one gets from a planar, there is also a lot speed, detail, and clarity.

I don't care for metal and can't comment on how this headphone does on that genre. But recently I've been following a bass player new to me, MonoNeon. He can do many things, but his primary/source style is funk. He uses a very unusual setup:

• He's right handed
• His bass quitar is right handed, but it plays it upside down, as a left-handed player (ie, left hand picks/strums and right hand fingers notes on the keyboard
• Thus his higher strings are on top of the fretboard and the lower strings are below (the opposite of usual if he played the same axe as a right hander
• The result is a very different sound than one usually hears--specifically, he plays the higher strings with greater percussive power (downstrokes with left hand) than usual. The sonic differences are myriad and very subtle.

Net/net: with the D8000 + the "G" pads sold with the Elite (I installed "G" pads in place of stock pads) + the Monoprice Liquid Gold X (with which the D8000 develops spectacular synergy) -- I'm hearing this great bassist better than I can with any other headphone and amp. This is the D8000 giving me epic resolution at the very bottom of its range. This is very articulate bass with zero bleed into the mids.

And for what it's worth, IMHO, this is not a traditional "bassy" headphone. The bass range is very expressive, but so is the rest of the frequency range. Bass doesn't jump out or stand out on this headphone. But when there's a lot of nuanced bass content, you will hear it all on this headphone.

As for a rise at 4-5 kHz, I really can't say. I don't hear any noteworthy peaks or dips in frequency here. It's a very neutral, resolving headphone, though with a touch of warmth I find very welcome.

I own/owned many planar headphones over the past 5 years (Audeze LCD-2.1/pre-fazor; LCD-3/pre-fazor; ZMF Ori; Meze Empyrean; Kennerton Odin "Thridi"; Dan Clark Audio AFO; HiFiMan Edition X v.2). The D8000 has the best technicalities, resolution, and overall sound balance of all of those planars. I'm getting more than I ever could have expected from the D8000. I've had it several months and my respect for what it can do continues to grow.

And FWIW, I'm not selling it; am not a millionaire; and continue to learn and grow in this hobby, at least partly because what's most important for me is music, not gear.

 

[OctavianH]

I will share some preliminary opinions related to D8000 vs D8000 Pro even if I am still evaluating them. In other words, I did not had enough time to form a final opinion and my D8000 Pro is still evolving or, at least, I am evolving in my process of understanding it. I need around 6 months to form an opinion on a headphone so... But since I have similar muscal taste with @WailingBanshee I'll try to give some hints which I hope will be useful.

D8000 Pro is not an upgrade to D8000 but more of a side grade. Like different angles you can watch the same object and see more or less the same but in a different way. I am not good at descriptions but I see both like a camera where you play with the focus. D8000 has the focus on the drummer and the rest are accompaniating it while de D8000 Pro goes more for guitars and vocals. Both are fast, resolving and have good separation. The perceived difference in the level of detail is caused by the different tuning. D8000 is more vivid, richer and everything sounds bigger but D8000 Pro is more focused and tight, texture is better.

Yesterday I was in this situation:

So I had the chance to compare 1:1 D8000 with D8000 Pro and switch Forza AudioWorks Noir Hybrid cable with the OFC silver plated one which came with D8000 Pro. Both are good cables, I like them both but they are a little bit different. About this later.

I've listened to 2 very different albums: Anathema - Weather Systems and Carcass - Torn Arteries. On Anathema what you are listening is mostly acoustic guitar, vocals (male/female) and from time to time to a decent level of bass in some tracks where they use some keyboards. It is more atmospheric somehow. On Carcass things get faster, more complicated and the problem is the timbre of electric guitar and maybe separation. Now this timbre of electric guitar is usually problematic on headphones. Because it can sound dull without any distortion but harsh if you add some "life" to it, so I guess you need something in the middle. With the D8000 the acoustic guitar, vocals and keyboards sounded incredible lifelike. There was more holography/euphony and other words people like to use on these forums. Switching to Carcass the D8000 was a little bit too much, electric guitar was a little bit too thick. I would like to have here a lighter presentation. Solos remained very good, vocals were better, keyboards were better but anyway, Carcass does not quite use those. D8000 Pro sounds a little bit more sterile, which helps solving my problem with the electric guitar but this makes vocals/keyboards/acoustic guitar sound a little bit lifeless. Now, these changes are subtle, both headphones can be considered excellent performers and organic.

Now, a little bit about cables. The reason D8000 Pro is evolving a lot and many people need months to stabilize is the OFC silver plated cable. I switched in the first hours to the Forza Noir Hybrid (which has around 200 hours on it) and D8000 Pro sounded almost perfect and close to D8000. I put back the silver cable and things went to a point where you need to break stuff in. The cable for D8000 Pro provides a very tight signature, but this comes with a more sterile/dry presentation. You can compensate it with the FAW Noir Hybrid which sounds more vivid, but the bass will be not as tight. Which is better? I have no idea, I like them both. What I do not like are the included D8000 cables and those need an upgrade.

In the end, when deciding, things are always getting to money. How I see it, things are like this:
- D8000 needs an aftermarket cable, so you'll spend around 300 USD/EUR to get a decent one
- D8000 might need better earpads, G-Type, so you'll spend around 100 USD/EUR for that one (including some shipping)
- D8000 Pro has decent earpads and the silver cable is good, BUT it has 3m and might not be what you need
- D8000 can be bought on the 2nd hand market around 2000 USD/EUR while D8000 Pro goes around 3000 USD/EUR.

If you choose D8000 and then buy earpads and a decent cable you are around 2400 USD/EUR. If you buy D8000 Pro you are around 3000. Which one is better? Both are better, at something else, than your current headphones and you should also consider the resell value because in this hobby we always want to move forward at a later point in time. You might sell easier the Pro because it has a nicer name (people feel better if they own a "Pro" item) and many consider it a much better sounding headphone than OG. So they'll buy it faster than the D8000. But, in my opinion, they are subjective. Both are good, none is perfect. Which suits better your expectation? I have no idea. Let's hope I wrote something coherent which will add more information alongside what others already said. Good luck in taking the right choice.

PS. I guess all I've said can be read easily on the Final website. They said it but we did not believe it and we had to discover it by ourselves after many hours of listening:

 

[WailingBanshee]

Thank you Octavian. I am familiar with the albums that you mentioned and I think you've addressed an important distinction that I've been wondering about. From the sounds of it, it looks like I may prefer the Pro version since I tend to listen to music that is heavy on distorted guitars. This is actually one of the downfalls of my current headphones in that they can at times sound a bit too thick when things get busy. This issue is most present in faster music with symphonic elements. However, music can sound absolutely sublime on the LCD2C when playing songs that are less busy and more bass oriented, such as the latest album from Whitechapel. I just hope I won't sacrifice too much body with the Pros, but I guess that might be somewhat mitigated with some eq?

Also how are drum hits on the pro vs og? One thing I really appreciate on my headphones is how they are able to render impactful drums and percussive instruments in general. I find this aspect to be a "special sauce", for a lack of a better term, and can suck the life out of the song if not rendered properly.

 

[OctavianH]

Also how are drum hits on the pro vs og? One thing I really appreciate on my headphones is how they are able to render impactful drums and percussive instruments in general. I find this aspect to be a "special sauce", for a lack of a better term, and can suck the life out of the song if not rendered properly.

Drums hit harder on the OG, the Pro is more "balanced". The bass is there but in the back of the signature. But people say that the magic of the Pro comes after 2 months, I'll tell you in April. LOL

 

[joseG86]

Drums hit harder on the OG, the Pro is more "balanced". The bass is there but in the back of the signature. But people say that the magic of the Pro comes after 2 months, I'll tell you in April. LOL

I am a Pro user for almost a year and I would enjoy more the D8000, almost 90% sure, thank god EQ exists haha

 

[Arkitecc]

Thank you Octavian. I am familiar with the albums that you mentioned and I think you've addressed an important distinction that I've been wondering about. From the sounds of it, it looks like I may prefer the Pro version since I tend to listen to music that is heavy on distorted guitars. This is actually one of the downfalls of my current headphones in that they can at times sound a bit too thick when things get busy. This issue is most present in faster music with symphonic elements. However, music can sound absolutely sublime on the LCD2C when playing songs that are less busy and more bass oriented, such as the latest album from Whitechapel. I just hope I won't sacrifice too much body with the Pros, but I guess that might be somewhat mitigated with some eq?

Also how are drum hits on the pro vs og? One thing I really appreciate on my headphones is how they are able to render impactful drums and percussive instruments in general. I find this aspect to be a "special sauce", for a lack of a better term, and can suck the life out of the song if not rendered properly.

I don't have a Pro in order to offer a comparison between the two, but as an owner of a non-pro I can say that I am QUITE pleased by the drum hits they provide.

 

[OctavianH]

I am a Pro user for almost a year and I would enjoy more the D8000, almost 90% sure, thank god EQ exists haha

I am enjoying both in different scenarios and both are extremely good for what I need. I am fully convinced I will keep at least one of them, if not both. I have to decide which one, if I will ever part ways with one of them. Both are for me incredible, but it is true that I have not heard all the existing flagships. I have, however, owned some good headphones and these are better. I think they scale a lot with amplification, so synergy is important. They are very resolving, transparent, and bring on front the rest of the chain's signature, therefore synergy matters.

And this cable which comes with the Pro is good and looks very nice.

I remember what cable they supplied with ATH-ADX5000. Damn, incredible. And those headphones are not cheap.

 

[Delta9K]

I am a Pro user for almost a year and I would enjoy more the D8000, almost 90% sure

I have the Pro as well and I do really love the way bass sounds but, I too think I could like the nonPro as much or maybe more. I am bummed I turned down an opportunity to demo one. I will have to see what I can do about that. However, in no way should it be interpreted that I do not enjoy the D8000 Pro. I find it amazing.

 

[joseG86]

I have the Pro as well and I do really love the way bass sounds but, I too think I could like the nonPro as much or maybe more. I am bummed I turned down an opportunity to demo one. I will have to see what I can do about that. However, in no way should it be interpreted that I do not enjoy the D8000 Pro. I find it amazing.

Yes, the D8000 Pro is freakin amazing, when I listen to jazz, classical, orchestra and live I turn off EQ.

For electronic and bassy music I go D8k EQ profile.

 

[augustr]

After some time of ownership, the D8000 grown on me a lot. I never used it with EQ, just because I find it has the charateristics I look for when I look for a planar headphone: speed, rumble, phyisicality, all with no penalty to the details and the overall presentation.

Currently, my home setup consists of the D8K and the HD800 (pretty much polar opposites), both being powered by the Cayin IHA-6 by the balanced jack. They just sing and I can get both ends of the spectrum with this set. The lower octaves in the D8000 are just amazingly textured and layered, in a way, this is what I expected from Audeze's headphones but never quite got there. It works amazingly well with post rock, experimental and prog, all the while being also really versatile with contemporary jazz, for classic, bebop, and even some prog,, the HD800 is always at arms reach.

As stated by most, the build quality is over the top, the sound is smooth while being as clear as it gets, 0 fatigue here for me.

 

[betula]

After some time of ownership, the D8000 grown on me a lot. I never used it with EQ, just because I find it has the charateristics I look for when I look for a planar headphone: speed, rumble, phyisicality, all with no penalty to the details and the overall presentation.

Currently, my home setup consists of the D8K and the HD800 (pretty much polar opposites), both being powered by the Cayin IHA-6 by the balanced jack. They just sing and I can get both ends of the spectrum with this set. The lower octaves in the D8000 are just amazingly textured and layered, in a way, this is what I expected from Audeze's headphones but never quite got there. It works amazingly well with post rock, experimental and prog, all the while being also really versatile with contemporary jazz, for classic, bebop, and even some prog,, the HD800 is always at arms reach.

As stated by most, the build quality is over the top, the sound is smooth while being as clear as it gets, 0 fatigue here for me.

HD800 and D8K is a pretty spectacular combo that covers most genres. Good choices, enjoy your music.

 

[Terriero]

After some time of ownership, the D8000 grown on me a lot. I never used it with EQ, just because I find it has the charateristics I look for when I look for a planar headphone: speed, rumble, phyisicality, all with no penalty to the details and the overall presentation.

Currently, my home setup consists of the D8K and the HD800 (pretty much polar opposites), both being powered by the Cayin IHA-6 by the balanced jack. They just sing and I can get both ends of the spectrum with this set. The lower octaves in the D8000 are just amazingly textured and layered, in a way, this is what I expected from Audeze's headphones but never quite got there. It works amazingly well with post rock, experimental and prog, all the while being also really versatile with contemporary jazz, for classic, bebop, and even some prog,, the HD800 is always at arms reach.

As stated by most, the build quality is over the top, the sound is smooth while being as clear as it gets, 0 fatigue here for me.

Good game in your avatar... Risk of rain... I played a lot the first part, but the second part became frustating... very difficult...

... And also a good idea for the HD 800 to prevent the headband to flatten and maybe improve the overall comfort, because the clamp on the sides is very light and all the weight goes on the top of your head.

I'm glad you are enjoying both models

 

[OctavianH]

D8000 sounds different on tubes than on SS. On tubes the bass can be a little bit too much sometimes.

 

[Necro82]

D8000 sounds different on tubes than on SS. On tubes the bass can be a little bit too much sometimes.

In general, it is like this in my opinion also.