[gLer]

I have not heard the Atticus yet but many reviewers are quite positive, indeed.

My 2 cents: The Denon AH-D7200 (not to be confused with the older, veritable 7000, which is more like the TH-X00) has the best bass I have heard in a headphone. It has the texture of planars, goes deep as a Z1R and has the slam of an Elear. IMO and I realize that tastes differ a lot - its bass blows most headphones out of the water. However it is quite a bit different from the TH-X00's bass: Deeper, less mid bass and less bloom (which one might like or dislike).

IMO the 7200 seems not to get the attention it deserves, which almost certainly has to do with the fact that Denon - after the Fostex-made and very successful 7000 - cut its ties to Fostex and came up with an abomination of a headphone: The 7100, which was a total flop. They certainly have to overcome some image damage, but the 7200 is one of the finest closed headphones I have heard.

Likewise I haven't heard the Denon 7200 myself but only heard good things about it. I was considering it as one of my upgrade choices after the TH-X00, but the Atticus won out in part because I felt it would be more complementary to the LCD-2F (down to the same cable type), and those big wooden cans were just too gorgeous to resist (not that the 7200 isn't beautiful in its own right). I'd love to hear the Denon one day for sure. One thing the Atticus doesn't do is go as deep into the sub bass as the Fostex (and by your description the Denon), so serious EDM fans may want to try it out before committing.

 

[shampoosuicide]

Question: For under $600, which headphones have more bass - in particular, bass slam - than the TH-X00? Aside from the Purplehearts, of course.

 

[gLer]

Question: For under $600, which headphones have more bass - in particular, bass slam - than the TH-X00? Aside from the Purplehearts, of course.

In my experience, none. TH-X00 is king of the hill. Maybe the TH-900, but then you're well over $1000 already. Even my Atticus, although close, doesn't touch it in terms of pure visceral slam. Of course you can try out bass-centric canons like the V-Moda M-100, which may have more raw slam, but it falls apart by comparison in every other aspect. At the other end of the scale something like the Atticus may have a touch less slam, but is an upgrade over the TH-X00 in almost every other respect.

So back to the short answer to your question: none. If you already have the TH-X00, you're there.

Edit: apparently there's some JVC pair that's renown for insane bass, and probably costs a lot less than the TH-X00. Haven't heard them myself however. Doubt it can touch the TH-X00 musically however.

 

[moedawg140]

Question: For under $600, which headphones have more bass - in particular, bass slam - than the TH-X00? Aside from the Purplehearts, of course.

I would check out the TACTION. Subbass slam in my opinion is the only area it has a leg up compared to the Purpleheart.

 

[jmills8]

V-Moda M-100, no way compared to the TH900 or even the B&W P7.

 

[Zbell]

Sup. Anyone know how the TH-X00 handles higher impedance amps (I'm thinking 10 ohm output)? I know the 1/8 rule says it's a bad pairing, but I also know some headphones handle these issues better than others. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Jwass87]

If anyone's thinking of doing a removable cable mod without modifying the headphone, here's some info that I hope helps. I will just include pics for stuff that's not already in this thread. Thank you @PETEREK and the others in this thread for the help.

So, people said that you can do this mod "without modifying the headphone" if you use SMC connectors. I'll save you the confusion - yea, you don't modify the headphone, but you do modify the SMC connector.

Disassembly
These headphones are very easy to take apart. 4 screws hold the cup/driver to the frame, and 4 screws remove the cup from the driver. Just note that there is some glue holding the cables in place - it's easy enough to pull apart, just go slow.
The wires are well marked. Brown on both sides = ground, and pink/blue wires indicate L/R positive. The positive connection is marked on the driver contacts with a red marker.

Removing Stock Wires
I try to make this as simple as possible. A dab of solder on the soldering iron, I pull a bit on the existing wire, and just touch the iron to the solder already on the headphone. In about a second, the solder re-liquifies and you can pull the old wire out without removing the existing solder blob.

New SMC Connectors
There is very, very little space available between the headphone frame and the cup. You need SMC connector model 2963:


This is a tiny connector already, but you have cut it down even further to get it to fit. I was able to do this easily with my wire strippers. Here's what mine looked like after cutting:


Next, solder wires at 90-degree angles to the connector:



For soldering the wires to the driver, I reverse the procedure I mentioned above. I tin the wire, place it on top of the existing solder blob (with a little bit of downward force), and just touch the iron to the wire long enough to reflow the solder. the wire pops into the existing solder and we're done.

After confirming that the connections are correct (i.e. playing music), I finish the connector by adding a dab of hot glue around the connections, just for insurance.

When mounting the SMC connectors to the headphone, place the friction ring on the outside of the headphone, so they mount as low as possible.

When re-assembling the driver & cup, go slowly and don't over-tighten. You don't want to strip the wood or, god forbid, cause a crack.

Finished product:

Can I as what male connector you used to build cables that fit this connector?

 

[inertianinja]

Can I as what male connector you used to build cables that fit this connector?

The male for this one is SMC connector model 2963, which can be a bit of a pain to find.
The female are easy enough to find on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/SMC-Female...00-RG174-RG179-RG316-RG188-Cable/282658726621

 

[Jwass87]

The male for this one is SMC connector model 2963, which can be a bit of a pain to find.
The female are easy enough to find on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/SMC-Female...00-RG174-RG179-RG316-RG188-Cable/282658726621

Oh ok so the male is soldered to the headphones and the female is part of the cable

 

[bsoplinger]

I'd gladly share my mod details here for whoever wants to attempt (and hopefully make through) their Denon 2000/5000/7000/Fostex TH600/TH900/Massdrop x00/EMU removable cable mod...






This is the exact link for the mmcx: http://www.ebay.com/itm/290843397189?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT


Here's the close-ups:

I wanted to try this mod and purchased some goodies for it on the 11.11 sale at aliexpress.com. I bought a cable ended with MMCX and a few different styles of male MMCX with the idea of adding them to the supplied cable once I removed it from the headphones. Also a few different styles of MMCX that differed from those mentioned in the original post. Long story short, didn't have a chance to get around to trying until this week only to find that the female ones need to be the style mentioned. I had no desire to wait for the slow boat from China shipping method of the eBay listing. So I offer the following options for USA based folk, Amazon prime, which I used so I'll be reporting on my success Sunday once they arrive, and an aliexpress.com seller offering 5 (figure that's a set, spare set and extra) with e-packet for those wanting an option other than the Amazon one but faster than the eBay one. Note you get a pair in the Amazon choice.

https://www.amazon.com/Bingfu-Conne...MMCX+panel+mount+Jack+with+nut+and+solder+cup

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5PCS-MMCX-Panel-Mount-Jack-with-Nut-and-Solder-Cup/32705270684.html

 

[AT Khan]

That's nice. Yeah, that will work.

 

[DavidA]

Oh ok so the male is soldered to the headphones and the female is part of the cable

The only place I've found the male (headphone side) SMC jack: https://vetco.net/products/smc-female-chassis-mount-connector (I guess they consider them the female)

@bsoplinger , I've tried the MMCX jacks a few times but they don't seem to last very long if you connect and disconnect the cables often (more than 2-3 times a week) so I went with SMC which seems to be a more solid connection. While I didn't use the MMCX jacks on my TH600 I tried them on a SennGrado build and on a MDR-7506 to make dual entry and neither lasted more than a few months. A few pictures of the SennGrado MMCX:

 

[bsoplinger]

The only place I've found the male (headphone side) SMC jack: https://vetco.net/products/smc-female-chassis-mount-connector (I guess they consider them the female)

@bsoplinger , I've tried the MMCX jacks a few times but they don't seem to last very long if you connect and disconnect the cables often (more than 2-3 times a week) so I went with SMC which seems to be a more solid connection. While I didn't use the MMCX jacks on my TH600 I tried them on a SennGrado build and on a MDR-7506 to make dual entry and neither lasted more than a few months…

Yikes, with their cheapest shipping rate of $7.50 + $7.50 a connector, that's $21+ just for a pair of jacks.

Granted I'll agree that the MMCX connectors aren't the best choice, they are less costly and you can buy cables pre made with MMCX connectors in plenty of places. Add that I can Amazon Prime them for delivery Sunday for just over $11 for 2 pairs of female jacks and I'll stick with that choice. After all, I've already have gotten past the what am I doing taking a soldering iron to a $450 pair of headphones mental stumble so if need to redo it with the small SMC connector it'll be a piece of cake

 

[DavidA]

@bsoplinger, there are other cheaper SMC jacks but the Vetco ones fit with no cutting of the frame, baffle or cups so its reversible. The MMCX jacks you are using will also fit with no cutting so that's a plus

 

[VRacer-111]

Really enjoying the modded TH-X00 'PS' straight out my Samsung Galaxy TAB S2 tablet...playing Celldweller 'Offworld' album I finally purchased...



One song that I've really been liking recently on both the modded Purpleheart and Palo Santo is this one:



The piano, atmosphere, synthesized bass, and 'distortion' are what make it for me...very rich and colorful/emotional sounding. Stock TH-X00s would probably not do as well though with all the distortion added in (will be a little too muddy and conjested sounding stock - will not be the same experience.)