[)v(ajin_R_]

Hi all,

Short story version
For those who don't like reading a thread somewhat representing a million page document, the short story is $600-700 budget looking for deep,textured yet tight bass with liquid and full bodied mids and crisp nicely rolled off highs.

The Narrative
I haven't been posting here regularly in years but I am back and undecided on what I should do after all this time! This may be a confusing post to reply to but answering or commenting any part of it will be a great help! A word of warning is that I'm no good with how to articulate sound through words but I'll try my best!

A bit of background is that I used to own a pair of A900LTD's and with the setup I had it was the end of the road, unfortunately they were stolen about 6 months ago and I'm not really quite happy with the street style noise cancelling sony's I have. I also do not have the receiver/source I had in my sig unfortunately. So keeping reading and assume I'm starting afresh.

Currently I have a pair of broken PX100s and KSC75's that need resoldering, no idea how to do this but i'll post some pictures later or perhaps move off to the DIY forum for that particular issue. I mention this because I consider fixing these an option rather than purchase a big new shiny headphone.

So here's where I need your help

Currently in a tight spot with the wallet but I am looking to find something that I can listen to whilst being content. Currently I only have an x-fi xtrememusic sound card and an E5 fiio portable amp which i am pretty happy with! If I were to open my wallet for a pair of new headphones I'm looking to spend about $6-700 (AUD) although I would be quite happy to not try to squeeze every cent out of the budget or avoid it if I could. That being said I also am happy to splurge on something that make me rest easy

I'll give a bit of detail on the type of sound I'm looking for:

- Starting off with the highs, I'd prefer them to be sparkly, crisp and clear but not something that'd feel like it'd make me deaf at a reasonably high volume (I don't think many headphones would do this anyway) so they would be rolled off I'd assume but not dull .

- Mid's are important! I absolutely love the sound of a female voice being full bodied when listening to a track with singing, I'd like the mids to be forward while obviously not pushing everything out of the way. I'd also not to have the sound of a male voice overpowering everything else so I'd say balance with a perhaps peak in the higher mid area? I have no idea in explaining that bit lol.

- Bass! Alright ideally I'm looking for something that'd have the bass of an L3000 but thats probably not very realistic I'd like bass to be present, textured, deep, present and at the same time I'd like it to have impact and be snappy too. I realise I may be contradicting myself in asking for something airy and tight yet being very deep and present, it's worth a shot though.

I listen to a lot of genre's, it mostly ranges from everything between acoustic guitar, vocal/chillout trance, classical, alternative rock, hardstyle, house, folk and jpop.

The sound signature I am after is something with a bit of energy, I'd love the headphone to fullfill the above requirements while being fast, snappy, dynamic while being able to really extend deep down and bring out resonance in say a song such as Angel by Massive Attack. Sennheisers tend to not follow the signature I'm after, having listened to recabled 650's and a HE60 setup although they are both extremely good sounding with the right equipment it is not what I'm after

. I preferred the O2's sound over any senns that I have heard.

After a few days reading of all the new headphones out that I previously never heard of (A2000X, W1000X, Ti's D's X's everywhere!) Here's what I'm considering:
AD2000
W1000X
A900Ti
D7000/5000
+
Very open to suggestions!

and perhaps I should include a DAC/amp in my budget. If I could replicate the sound my my previous receiver then I would be very happy! I'd say there was a very warm/full bodied amp in it. However I am illiterate in these matters

A side note is that I will use this headphones for gaming but any headphone should be able to reproduce generic gaming sounds quite well, positioning is important though.

Looking forward for any comments, musings, thoughts, break throughs or suggestions! Thanks for bearing with me and reading through this!

 

[)v(ajin_R_]

Bump, I knew the thread title was terrible! (I must admit so is my username) I may end up doing a bit more research then taking a stab at one of the above and see how it goes.

My style of writing may have scared everyone off but any impressions, comparisons or tips would be great! Some sort of confirmation can help me head into the right direction with more certainty at least

 

[joelpearce]

I think you haven't gotten many responses because what you're asking for is pretty rare. Unless you head into the stratosphere in price, it's tough to find something without compromising in some area of the sound.

What I would recommend for you is, given your tough list of criteria, instead of looking at consumer headphones, you may want to take a look at some studio cans. Something like the professional Beyer cans (DT150) might fit your criteria, and you might want to take a peek at some German Maestros. I don't have enough experience with either to make a serious recommendations, but it's a direction that you probably haven't considered that you should.

Keep in mind that most bassy cans mean a serious sacrifice in the midrange--you might need to be willing to live with some lighter (but still deep) bass in order to get that sweet vocal range that you want.

 

[)v(ajin_R_]

Thanks for the reply, I've never considered studio headphones since I don't know much about them and how they sound compared to consumer grade headphones. I did a little reading and they do look like an interesting path to take. So I'm considering the DT150's plus an amp or GM 450 PROs.

I may be a little tough on the criteria but it isn't essential that the headphone sound exactly how I described, I've heard the AD2000 has a great mid range with nice tight snappy bass. I am ready to sacrifice something somewhere, I'm not really an analytical listener so I like to get lost in the music. Perhaps I came off as a little too hard to please but that is not true as I was quite content with the LTD's I had.

 

[MomijiTMO]

I read your post.

Having the AD2ks myself and owning a HD650, they aren't too similar sounding. The AD2ks do have really forward mids which I love. The bass is tight and goes deep when it needs to but this isn't a bassy headphone. It's just behind the HD650 in the bass department to me. The highs extend more than the HD650 but aren't harsh at times like the AD1k or the K701.

I had a listen to Angel with the AD2ks and compared them to the D2000 which has much more bass. I didn't like the Denons at all as they almost rumbled and this drowned the mids. The AD2k was able to hit very deep though. I'd eliminate the Denons from your list because they are kind of bassy. Now, most say the Markl mods make it tighter but I don't really want to have to mod a headphone.

If you can audition the AD2ks, do so. The sound stage isn't huge but good enough to me. From reading your needs, the AD2ks fit the best from what I've heard.