From A900 to CD3000, impressions

[Dane]

I purchased the A900 a few months back as I needed an alternative to my ER6 for office use but it quickly became clear that I liked the A900 more than my SR-80, so the A900 stayed at home. In the true spirit of Head-Fi I was in the market for yet another phone for my home in order to free up the A900 for office use. My search homed in on the Sony MDR-CD3000. I’ve had the CD3000 for about a week now and I have mainly used them with the XP-7 amp. Here are some quick impressions:

Build

A900: Overall nice build quality - plastic with aluminum cups. The 3m cloth cord is very nice and the 3.5mm plug with screw-on adaptor is high quality. The pad material does however appear cheap and thin.

CD3000: Again nicely built – but all plastic. Same type of 3m cloth cord with screw-on adaptor as the A900. Pad material is pleather and appears better and more durable than the A900 pads. Given that the CD3000 costs double as much as the A900 the build quality of the CD3000 is not impressive, but acceptable. They come in a large plastic box.

Comfort

Both phones are very comfortable. If I were forced to choose I’d go for the A900 “3D wing” support system but it’s marginal. I think my head is fairly small, when I wear the Grado SR-80 the adjustable metal rods are almost pushed all the way up. However, when I wear the CD3000 the inner support band is only one centimeter from touching the outer brace. So if you have a large intellectual skull (massive brain compartment above eye/ear line) you could be in trouble. The A900 appears to fit skulls significantly larger than mine – I actually look a little stupid with that wire brace hovering high above my head.

Both phones are very big and not suited for portable use. If you move your head too quickly they will fall off – especially the CD3000.

Noises

Even though the cords appear to be almost identical the A900 exhibits significantly more cord microphonics than the CD3000 – it can actually be a little annoying. On the other hand the plastic cup joints on the CD3000 sometimes squeaks when you move your head, I’ve tried lubricating with silicone spray, I think it helped a little – hopefully it’s just because they are brand new. Both phones are closed but they do not offer much isolation from external noises, perhaps the A900 isolates a little better.

Sound

There’s no question that there’s more bass energy with the A900 and it works very well unamped. However, especially when amped, it gets too much at times – it sometimes feels like your whole head is vibrating. With the A900 and the LaRocco PR I several times caught myself checking whether the bass boost really was off. With the CD3000 the bass is faster and you don’t get the feeling that the whole phone is coming apart when a powerful bass kicks in, more control I would say.

Compared to the A900 the CD3000 has a little more pronounced midrange, also the A900 can sound a little nasal with female vocals. I would say the CD3000 sounds less closed in than the A900.

With the CD3000 I get the feeling that everything is crystal clear, spacious and super detailed. This, combined with a more bass lean version of the A900, was what drove me toward the CD3000. I’m not disappointed. It is debatable whether the CD3000 are worth the extra money; the A900 offers really good value in comparison. Anyway, I’m definitely keeping my CD3000

 

[james__bean]

Thanks for the impressions. That's interested what you said about the Pocket Reference and the A900's. I still don't think I'll ever go the route of the CD3000's simply because of all of the people who have said that they are too bright. Who knows, maybe my opinions will change at the Seattle meet. (I'm so excited, my first meet

)

 

[pbirkett]

So the A900 has more bass but is less analytical than the CD3000. Sounds like I would like it, but alas, it sounds too similar to the DT531 for me to consider. Thanks for the impressions though.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbirkett So the A900 has more bass but is less analytical than the CD3000. Sounds like I would like it, but alas, it sounds too similar to the DT531 for me to consider. Thanks for the impressions though.

If I ever hear another A900, I'll let you know how they all stack up

 

[commando]

This seems to mesh with my experience too, except that I find the isolation that the A900 offers to be significantly better than the CD3000. You can't really call the CD3K isolating at all. In the office the A900 gets far more use than the CD3K.

 

[Dane]

Quote:

Originally Posted by commando This seems to mesh with my experience too, except that I find the isolation that the A900 offers to be significantly better than the CD3000. You can't really call the CD3K isolating at all. In the office the A900 gets far more use than the CD3K.

I just opened the window to get some street niose. Yeah, the difference in isolation is a little more significant than what I expressed above - but neither isolates well. Good thing that my A900 will go to the office as was my original plan

 

[Max Minimum]

Okay, weird question, but here goes...

How does the sound of these 'phones stand up to some of the midrange canalphones? I know it's a very different experience, but would one have a significant sound quality advantage over the other, say comparing the A900's to the ER4P's or E5c's?

And pbirkett, ha ha

I clicked on "unmotivated" and read this line - "I finally sold the Sony MDR-CD3000s, and also the AKG K240 Studio's. I am now using a pair of Beyerdynamic DT531's again. The Sony's were too good for the rest of my system in honesty, and too unforgiving - revealing all bad recordings for what they were, and dictating what I listen to. I largely suspect I will end it here, as I have been getting sick of the whole hifi thing. Its been a bigger obsession to me than music for quite a while now, and its time to stop!"

I know how you feel. It blows to have your equipment dictate what you want to listen to! I've only had this problem on the other end, though - a bad pair of earbuds had me listening to only brightly-recorded material otherwise the sound was like what you'd expect to come from a speaker missing a tweeter.

 

[Dane]

With my source equpment bad recordings have pretty much always sounded bad, but I'm still able to enjoy the music if it's good. So I haven't really noticed that the CD3000 in particular should make recordings unlistenable...

I don't own the ER4 or Shures.

 

[BradJudy]

Does this mean your A900s are going up for sale? I've thought about trying those. Of course, A900s would sell in a second around here to any number of members.

 

[Zoide]

AAAHHHhhh... I'm listening to the White Album on my CD-3000's and it's sooo good!

Man... the Beatles really knew how to make awesome music...

And the sense of spaciousness is amazing. Some people think that stereo was over-used and exaggerated back then, but I think it's awesome (except when there's only like two instruments at once or one instrument and a vocalist and they're at completely different sides, hehehe).

 

[bangraman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Max Minimum Okay, weird question, but here goes... How does the sound of these 'phones stand up to some of the midrange canalphones? I know it's a very different experience, but would one have a significant sound quality advantage over the other, say comparing the A900's to the ER4P's or E5c's?

The A900 would lose out a little as it isn't a particularly 'fast response' phone in comparison with either Etys or the Shures.
The CD3K would give a better account of itself, and dare I say it, I think it's possible to EQ it to be the near or equal of the Etys or the E5.


I've been doing a lot of looking into why the Etymotics sound as detailed as they do, and in this case the Behringer EQ has been a friend. They do have excellent detail off the bat, but not significantly better than any premium headphone can achive. The real key to their overwhelming sense of detail is with the significantly increased HF response in comparison to their rendition of the rest of the frequency response of the Etys, combined with a slight bass falloff to concentrate the listener's attention even moer onthe highs. A lopsided bowl EQ curve biased towards the highs eventually made the AKG K271S more or less equal the Etys in overall felt detail.


In comparison with the Etys, the E5 have a bit of the MDR-V700DJ going on 'as is'. The midbass on the E5c is as boosted as the highs are on the Etys, and going straight from 4S to E5 is like wading into a vat of toffee. Once again however, an EQ tweak reveals that these are no more and no less detailed than premium phones, although due to the configuration of the drivers I find it works better to reduce the midbass on these phones, and not to increase the treble. The extra low-freq driver really does make a difference in the elasticity and capability of the bass, and the low ends on the E5 is something that I would challenge even the CD3K to reproduce properly.


My personal preference of the E5 comes from the even, genuinely detailed (without spurious information), naturalistic sound that is possible by a midbass cut (on the iPod, the preset is 'bass reducer') and by their physical attributes: extreme efficiency with a high impedance, tractability, durability and relative long-term comfort in comparison to the Etys. Although I found the CD3K an excellent allrounder and one which could have graced my ears for a long time, the fit problems which Dane very succinctly referred to caused me too much discomfort to stick with them.


EDIT: Forgot! Dane, congratulations on acquiring (and fitting) one of the best headphones around. After a while, some quirks might manifest themselves. Once you accomodate those for your specific taste, it will serve you well. They have certainly been the only phones I've sampled to date which may have stopped constant upgradeitis, something that neither RS-1, W2002, HD600 and HD650 have been able to do. While superior in certain narrow aspects none of these other phones captivated me as an all-rounder much as the CD3K. The only stopping factor was of course the fit. Hopefully the driver issues won't hit you.