[wrecked_porsche]

I have a V3 closed Darth, I want one more headphone to complement it.

I have a choice of either:

1. Used pair of DT880 600 ohm + new pair of leather pads + new black velour pads @ roughly USD $450
2. Brand new ATH-AD2000 at roughly $ USD490~500++

Types of music I listen to and headphones used:

Darths

Cheesy Dance music (Awesome with darths! I love this genre, esp the 80s dance music!)
Trance/progressive house --> Armin van buuren, tiesto, kyau & albert
Chil out
Jazz
New Age
World music


AD2k/DT880

1. I want my Trance/Electronic music to have lotsa details while having [edit]at least some of[/edit]the impact of the Darths if possible. [edit](Even 1/4 of the Darth's impact would do!)[/edit]
2. Acoustic guitars ---> Jesse Cook, Allison Krauss
3. Female vocals ---> Norah Jones, Leona Lewis, Diana Krall
4. Pop
5. R'nB
6. Rap
7. a few metal songs ---> Disturbed, Dope, Mudwayne
8. Songs that have boomy bass, can't be used with Darths.. they become horrid! Only bass that is visceral and impactful are nice on the Darths. I need a headphone that can limit boomy bass.

Basically, sometimes I want HEAD POUNDING BASS, and that I can get from my Darths.

Now I need a headphones with tons of details and separation and has tight punchy bass, for times when I want to HEAR EVERYTHING.

I'm really 50-50 on either the dt880/600 or the AD2k... I can't decide... pls help, throw in some pointers as to what I should do...

Some extra info:

FWIW, i have tried the 2005 250ohm dt880, loved it.
Have ES7, love it, won't give it up for the world. I have high hopes that the AD2k would be like a grown up ES7.

I'm lead to think that the AD2k is the better headphone from doing lotsa reading on head-fi.

I do not like the Grado sound, too forward, didn't last more than 5 seconds on my head.
Do not like the K701, too sterile and polite, sounded lifeless. Heard 2003 DT880, and while I could live with it, I found the 2005 version to be more lively, 2003 version was too flat... it was more towards the k701 sound. Too flat and boring for my taste.

I don't mind colored sound, as long as its fun. I love the sounds of violins and guitars. If I could have the ES7 with more details and separation plus a slightly less muddy bass but still being punchy and has nice impact, I'd be very happy.

Thanks in advance to everyone for their input!

*Which would be a better buy? The dt880 comes with earpads that can be used with my Darths, the AD2k is more of an all rounder SQ wise.... hmmmm...

 

[Andrew_WOT]

$490 for a brand new AD2000? Where?

Check if this helps any with your decision
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/bey...ad2000-120019/
DT880 are very nice cans, but if this is an indication of anything, I unloaded my pair to fund AD2000 (that wasn't easy btw). And for the record, I would not recommend leather pads on DT880, they turn nice phones into bassy boom box with hollow sound.

 

[wrecked_porsche]

Thanks for the link, yeah I have read that before. I have also been PMing Elephas and having a chat with him about the AD2k. His DT880 is the '03 version though. What version was yours?




Regarding the AD2k price, it would probably end up around $500 for the AD2k, I'm just being optimistic but maybe some bargaining or paying cash might fix that. Gonna get my dad's friend to look into it, he lives in Hong Kong.



Anyway, my biggest fear is:
I know I won't hate the DT880, heard them before, they are quite nice. 600 ohm "should" be better than the 250ohm version that I heard.

BUT

I think Beyer headphones in general are not very refined. And I think the AD2000 might be a more refined headphone and I won't know until I get them, so I might miss out if I went down the safe route....

In my mind, the way I see it, Beyers are trying soo hard to be refined and delicate while Audio Technica does it kinda almost effortlessly... I talking about both brands higher end models here.
I dunno, its just an image i have in my head...

 

[Wmcmanus]

It would be the AD2K for me. I've read your opening post and think either would do quite well for what you have in mind, so you really can't go wrong. But as I've expressed in various threads many times, I just keep going back to the AD2K over and over and never have a listening session that I come away unhappy from. They really get out of the way and let the music shine through for me. To my ears, they do just about everything right with nothing over done or ignored.

I've got the 2003 DT880 and the 600 Ohm Beyer Manufactur DT990 with both leather and plush pads, so although I don't have direct experience with the 600 Ohm new version of the DT880, I've kind of shadow boxed around it. I prefer the AD2K over either of these cans quite considerably. Wish I had direct experience with the 600 Ohm DT880 to complete the circle, but I don't.

I've voted because I think my experiences with the above places me in a pretty good position to make a call. I doubt that to many people will have direct experience with both cans that you mention, but I could be wrong. It seems that you've done quite a bit of research (reading all sorts of threads here and so on). Thus, at some point (if you can't audition them both in your system) you just have to make a gut instinct kind of call and then live with it. I suspect you'll live happily with either decision.

Oh, in terms of amps, the 600 Ohm DT880 will obviously be much more demanding. But I'm sure you know that.

 

[wrecked_porsche]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus /img/forum/go_quote.gif It would be the AD2K for me. I've read your opening post and think either would do quite well for what you have in mind, so you really can't go wrong.

Its such a close call... which is why its soo difficult for me to decide....


Quote:

But as I've expressed in various threads many times, I just keep going back to the AD2K over and over and never have a listening session that I come away unhappy from. They really get out of the way and let the music shine through for me. To my ears, they do just about everything right with nothing over done or ignored.

See what I mean? Every one, including you, from the description you guys(you, Donunus, ASR, Elephas etc) give me, I get the impression that music flows out of it soo effortlessly. They seems so refined and aristocratic...

Quote:

I've got the 2003 DT880 and the 600 Ohm Beyer Manufactur DT990 with both leather and plush pads, so although I don't have direct experience with the 600 Ohm new version of the DT880, I've kind of shadow boxed around it. I prefer the AD2K over either of these cans quite considerably. Wish I had direct experience with the 600 Ohm DT880 to complete the circle, but I don't.

I did not like the DT990 250 ohm 2005 version. I noticed sibilance the moment I put them on. Was playing Jesse Cook (Acoustic Guitar) on them.


Quote:

Thus, at some point (if you can't audition them both in your system) you just have to make a gut instinct kind of call and then live with it. I suspect you'll live happily with either decision.

My instinct is to go with the AD2k.

Quote:

Oh, in terms of amps, the 600 Ohm DT880 will obviously be much more demanding. But I'm sure you know that.

Yeah, I know that.

Amplification won't be a problem. Have a temporary solution for now (D1 Dac +microshar

yes the microshar can handle 600ohm headphones too

). Amps will be my serious focus for next year. Nothing to worry about, for now at least...

Thanks for your vote and input.

 

[majkel]

I would never swap my 2005 DT880 Pro's for the Ad2k's. The AT's sound airy, light and open but also with little impact and weird upper midrange coloration. They're completely not my cup of tea while I rate my Beyer's very high. On the other hand I read that the 600 ohm version might be a bit boring to the stock 250 ohm version. I hope it was the amp to blame. Nevertheless, the AD2k's don't fit neither my needs, nor the OP's expectations IMHO.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by majkel /img/forum/go_quote.gif I would never swap my 2005 DT880 Pro's for the Ad2k's. The AT's sound airy, light and open but also with little impact and weird upper midrange coloration. They're completely not my cup of tea while I rate my Beyer's very high. On the other hand I read that the 600 ohm version might be a bit boring to the stock 250 ohm version. I hope it was the amp to blame. Nevertheless, the AD2k's don't fit neither my needs, nor the OP's expectations IMHO.

This is what makes it so difficult! Errr!!! Your opinion is well expressed and based on pretty direct experience (250 ohm versus 600 ohm, but they should be real close to each other, and probably closer than either my 2003 DT880 or my manufactur 600 ohm DT990). But I think the real key here is listening perception and that obviously varies from person to person.

I agree that the AD2K sound is light, airy and open and even the midrange coloration (which I happen to like and think it's a lot less emphasized than with the W1000 or W100, for example). But I disagree that the AD2K has little bass impact. I can see why you would say that, but I still disagree. At least in my system. The bass is there and in spades when its called upon. It never gets in the way, and is quick and tight, never over bloated. He's got the closed, Darth DT770 for those moments that he wants an exaggerated bass response.

What it all comes down to is: 1) what each listener wants and 2) how they perceive each pair of headphones that they try. Here is an excellent example where (thankfully) the OP has clearly described what he's looking for and based on that reasonable people can and will differ in terms of what advice to give. I'd love to hear the 2005 DT880 (600 ohm). Almost got those instead of the DT990. But even if I had, and I spent hours comparing them to the AD2K on my system with my ears and my musical and sonic preferences... oh, you know... it's not my ears and system and preferences that count.

 

[Rednamalas1]

From my experience... AD2k over DT880 and K701. and I'm a bass hater

! I'm even thinking of getting rid of K701+ bada PH12 combo all together actually becasue AD2k doesn't compliment it - it pretty much does everything better (save for classical music). I might be thinking of getting all-AT lineup because I liked AD2000 so much. - like:
AD2000, W5000, ES7, ESW9 W2002?
These should cover pretty much all the genres for me...

in response to your OP,
ATs first, and if you miss that treble, you can always get DT880 later (which is much cheaper @ around 200$ anyways).

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rednamalas1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif in response to your OP, ATs first, and if you miss that treble, you can always get DT880 later (which is much cheaper @ around 200$ anyways).

Or just get W5000

, best of two worlds.

 

[musicmind]

I havent heard any Beyer headphones, so this might not help much, but I think the AD2k is really terrific with electronica, the detailed and airy nature really makes the music engaging.
The AD2k has very good quality bass, but probably wont have the slam of your Darths. The midrange forwardness seems to bug some people, especially because it brings vocals very close, but I enjoy it quite a bit with instrumental jazz.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[3x331m]

Another vote for the AD2K.

 

[Gradofan2]

For the money ($400 to $500) few phones are the equal of the AD2000s with the right set up and once they're burnt in - they've got it all.

 

[wrecked_porsche]

Whoa, thanks for all the input guys. Very interesting points. Why all the hate/ignoring of the DT880/600? Are they simply not up there on the same level with the AD2000?

Also, I didn't know there were soo many users/fans of the AD2k on this forum.

 

[shigzeo]

well, i am interested to hear that someone who likes trance would go with an at phone. i have not spent the time that i would like with the ad2000 but i did not like them at all for trance. they did not have the space the dt880 had and seemed a little too forward without the space.

i can consider them if i listened to heaps of maybe... i don't know, rock or other splashy music that beyer phones may reveal sibilance on but for artificial music (trance and other electronics, space even new age), i don't think i could go down that road. perhaps the ad2000 are better for other genre, but i just felt like a left handed person wearing a right-handed glove when i used the ad2000 with trance.

by the way, i pretty much only listen to trance. and i did not spend that much time with the ad2000 but usually i can tell what i will like within a very short timeframe.

@op: unless you have a powerful amplifier you will not get a huge amount of bass impact from the dt880. yet, the ad2000 are not going to give you the big bass either like the darth - not too many phones will. however, dt880 remains my favourite for trance for over 2 years now. space, deep bass if not too much and excellent pace. i have the dt880 2003 version and it remains where it will always be, connected to my amp as my first choice for trance.

 

[donunus]

Wrecked_Porsche,
AD2K is great but they might not have the bass that you want. Don't get me wrong, I love their bass but lots of people find them lacking in bass volume, especially compared to darths.