nsuttitinagul
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2005
- Posts
- 120
- Likes
- 10
Background:
I purchased both these headphones off of very kind sellers here at head-fi. I've owned the AD2000s for almost a year now. The default HD600 is a new addition to the stable, as I was curious about the sound that these very highly respected headphones could produce.
Source: Meier Audio Corda Aria USB
Some say the USB DAC makes this amp sound suboptimal. I haven't heard too many sources nor amps. I just know that, as a musician, I haven't found any glaring faults with the amp, and its neutrality and frequency extension generally don't seem to be matters of debate. I practically always use the crossfeed feature, as it makes things more natural to me.
To arrive at my common listening level, the Aria is only at 9:30 on the dial for the ad2k. The Senns need to be turned up to 12 o'clock to get to the same listening level. This is comfortable listening to me, not too loud.
Music:
I tend to listen to quite a lot of Japanese music, currently spanning 3 principal genres: relaxed pop, jazz, and rock. I also listen to classical, and having played in an orchestra as well as gone to many concerts, I have a decent feel for what orchestral classical should sound like.
Other than sound both headphones have decent build quality and excellent comfort, making comparisons on this point somewhat irrelevant.
Some caveats: I've only listened to the HD600s for the course of today, and this pair supposedly hasn't been fully burnt-in. I understand the idea behind burn-in, but I don't believe it will affect the fundamental sound of the headphone. I'll update if I find that this changes. The AD2000s have been slightly modded: I added foam strips to the pads to make them truly circumaural and more comfortable. I'm reviewing them in this condition, though I will note that this mod pushes the midrange back a little bit and diminishes the bass a tad.
The better headphone is marked, per genre, with an asterisk.
Pop Genre Track: Akatsuki no Kuruma (暁の車)- FictionJunction YUUKA
This song, ripped lossless of the Destination album, has been a staple of my testing of any new equipment. It is well-recorded and tests midrange particularly well in the beginning, with essentially an a capella introduction followed by the song proper with more layered acoustic instrumental accompaniment.
HD600s: to my ears, overemphasized bass, grainy vocals, though excellent bass impact and drums, as well as cymbals. Basically, with the HD600s, one hears more of the instruments (particularly bass guitar) than the voice, and what one hears of the voice is not clear.
*AD2000s: honestly, this was an unfair comparison. Many have stated how well-voiced many Audio-Technica headphones are with respect to Japanese music, especially female vocals. It sounds more forward, more energetic, and simply clearer. Instruments are not deemphasized, per se, but vocals are brought forward pleasingly, and most importantly, more clearly. The pain Yuuka Nanri conveys with her voice is rich and detailed. The song is an emotional lamenting, and it sounds every bit as it should on these headphones.
Jazz Genre Track: Kuchibashi ni Cherry (くちばしにチェリー) - EGO-WRAPPIN'
This song is an upbeat jazz piece with Nakano Yoshie providing the sultry female vocals. A good portion of the song has Nakano singing accompanied by double bass and percussion. The remainder of the song is a bit more layered, adding trumpet and sax.
HD600s: certainly fares better here than in pop, as it is at home presenting percussion (especially bass drum and cymbals) and bass. Some passages with relatively fast percussion got glossed over, as if the many separate bass drum strikes became one. I believe this has to do with how these headphones deal with transients. Everything I mentioned above concerning vocals still applies here, sounding grainy and not very clear. To its credit, I did find how these headphones handled cymbal strikes very realistic.
*AD2000s: not nearly as much bass impact as the HD600s, but it's there if one listens for it and seems to go just as deep if not deeper. Mids are most certainly emphasized, but voices are presented clearly. The sultry, flirtatious character of Nakano' Yoshies voice comes through.
Rock Genre Track: Miss Murder - Himuro Kyousuke (氷室京介)
I don't have any American rock on me at the moment, but the recordings and music style could be said to be most similar in style to Green Day, I would say.
HD600s: the greater presentation of bass really serves well in getting the point of the music across. That said, its slow transients get in the way of really enjoying the music, as if the headphone is plodding through the music. Himruo's deep, manly voice is represented rather fetchingly; it has a somewhat grainy character to begin with, so he seemed to end up sounding quite pleasing to my ears.
*AD2000s: really brings forward the melody. The instruments and everything in the music is still there, but again, not as much bass as the HD600s. The transients are handled better, so the music seems to gain a more forward, more melodic character. Bass impact is sacrificed for this, but contrastingly, what is presented is clear, with what I regard as a natural decay. Although I could see the merits of why some would prefer the HD600s over these for rock, they just sound too distant and grainy for me.
Classical Genre: Rachmaninoff, Concerto#2, 1st Movement - Stephen Hough (pianist) with Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Having worked my way through the first movement on piano and listened to several concerts featuring this concerto, I'm fairly familiar with the piece. Stephen Hough's interpretation has been met, divisively, with criticism and praise for his breakneck speed and his restrained dynamic range and rubato. I use this since it is the clearest recording in my library I currently have access to, and in my opinion, Mr. Hough does good work.
*HD600s: sometimes I have to listen to hear the piano, but I realize that's actually the way a real orchestra sounds. Much of the music is in the lower midrange/upper bass, and the music is very rich and pleasing. The presentation is natural and the soundstage rather wide, as if in a large concert hall. The presentation is not upfront at all, but listening to these headphones, one gets the feeling they were voiced for the express purpose of presenting orchestral music naturally.
AD2000s: a substantially more forward presentation than the HD600s. Midrange really comes through, but soundstage is compressed in comparison. While the piano and violins sound especially pleasing, almost bubbling over with romantic energy, I know this presentation is not quite correct, like sitting too close to the orchestra in a concert hall designed to provide the best experience for the center of the audience. The greater clarity of these headphones almost wins me over (it might, depending on my mood), but I know the HD600s are more natural.
Considering the mix of music in my library, the AD2000 is the easy winner in this comparison. I just can't seem to like the HD600s' presentation of most music, neutral or not.
From what I gather, clarity, forwardness, and some sibilance seem to go hand-in-hand, sometimes at the cost of a degree of realism, laid-back presentation, and a certain forgiving quality toward bad recordings. In summary, I feel the AD2000 so far does everything non-orchestral better than the HD600, while losing out to the HD600 in soundstage and some realism with classical music.
I purchased both these headphones off of very kind sellers here at head-fi. I've owned the AD2000s for almost a year now. The default HD600 is a new addition to the stable, as I was curious about the sound that these very highly respected headphones could produce.
Source: Meier Audio Corda Aria USB
Some say the USB DAC makes this amp sound suboptimal. I haven't heard too many sources nor amps. I just know that, as a musician, I haven't found any glaring faults with the amp, and its neutrality and frequency extension generally don't seem to be matters of debate. I practically always use the crossfeed feature, as it makes things more natural to me.
To arrive at my common listening level, the Aria is only at 9:30 on the dial for the ad2k. The Senns need to be turned up to 12 o'clock to get to the same listening level. This is comfortable listening to me, not too loud.
Music:
I tend to listen to quite a lot of Japanese music, currently spanning 3 principal genres: relaxed pop, jazz, and rock. I also listen to classical, and having played in an orchestra as well as gone to many concerts, I have a decent feel for what orchestral classical should sound like.
Other than sound both headphones have decent build quality and excellent comfort, making comparisons on this point somewhat irrelevant.
Some caveats: I've only listened to the HD600s for the course of today, and this pair supposedly hasn't been fully burnt-in. I understand the idea behind burn-in, but I don't believe it will affect the fundamental sound of the headphone. I'll update if I find that this changes. The AD2000s have been slightly modded: I added foam strips to the pads to make them truly circumaural and more comfortable. I'm reviewing them in this condition, though I will note that this mod pushes the midrange back a little bit and diminishes the bass a tad.
The better headphone is marked, per genre, with an asterisk.
Pop Genre Track: Akatsuki no Kuruma (暁の車)- FictionJunction YUUKA
This song, ripped lossless of the Destination album, has been a staple of my testing of any new equipment. It is well-recorded and tests midrange particularly well in the beginning, with essentially an a capella introduction followed by the song proper with more layered acoustic instrumental accompaniment.
HD600s: to my ears, overemphasized bass, grainy vocals, though excellent bass impact and drums, as well as cymbals. Basically, with the HD600s, one hears more of the instruments (particularly bass guitar) than the voice, and what one hears of the voice is not clear.
*AD2000s: honestly, this was an unfair comparison. Many have stated how well-voiced many Audio-Technica headphones are with respect to Japanese music, especially female vocals. It sounds more forward, more energetic, and simply clearer. Instruments are not deemphasized, per se, but vocals are brought forward pleasingly, and most importantly, more clearly. The pain Yuuka Nanri conveys with her voice is rich and detailed. The song is an emotional lamenting, and it sounds every bit as it should on these headphones.
Jazz Genre Track: Kuchibashi ni Cherry (くちばしにチェリー) - EGO-WRAPPIN'
This song is an upbeat jazz piece with Nakano Yoshie providing the sultry female vocals. A good portion of the song has Nakano singing accompanied by double bass and percussion. The remainder of the song is a bit more layered, adding trumpet and sax.
HD600s: certainly fares better here than in pop, as it is at home presenting percussion (especially bass drum and cymbals) and bass. Some passages with relatively fast percussion got glossed over, as if the many separate bass drum strikes became one. I believe this has to do with how these headphones deal with transients. Everything I mentioned above concerning vocals still applies here, sounding grainy and not very clear. To its credit, I did find how these headphones handled cymbal strikes very realistic.
*AD2000s: not nearly as much bass impact as the HD600s, but it's there if one listens for it and seems to go just as deep if not deeper. Mids are most certainly emphasized, but voices are presented clearly. The sultry, flirtatious character of Nakano' Yoshies voice comes through.
Rock Genre Track: Miss Murder - Himuro Kyousuke (氷室京介)
I don't have any American rock on me at the moment, but the recordings and music style could be said to be most similar in style to Green Day, I would say.
HD600s: the greater presentation of bass really serves well in getting the point of the music across. That said, its slow transients get in the way of really enjoying the music, as if the headphone is plodding through the music. Himruo's deep, manly voice is represented rather fetchingly; it has a somewhat grainy character to begin with, so he seemed to end up sounding quite pleasing to my ears.
*AD2000s: really brings forward the melody. The instruments and everything in the music is still there, but again, not as much bass as the HD600s. The transients are handled better, so the music seems to gain a more forward, more melodic character. Bass impact is sacrificed for this, but contrastingly, what is presented is clear, with what I regard as a natural decay. Although I could see the merits of why some would prefer the HD600s over these for rock, they just sound too distant and grainy for me.
Classical Genre: Rachmaninoff, Concerto#2, 1st Movement - Stephen Hough (pianist) with Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Having worked my way through the first movement on piano and listened to several concerts featuring this concerto, I'm fairly familiar with the piece. Stephen Hough's interpretation has been met, divisively, with criticism and praise for his breakneck speed and his restrained dynamic range and rubato. I use this since it is the clearest recording in my library I currently have access to, and in my opinion, Mr. Hough does good work.
*HD600s: sometimes I have to listen to hear the piano, but I realize that's actually the way a real orchestra sounds. Much of the music is in the lower midrange/upper bass, and the music is very rich and pleasing. The presentation is natural and the soundstage rather wide, as if in a large concert hall. The presentation is not upfront at all, but listening to these headphones, one gets the feeling they were voiced for the express purpose of presenting orchestral music naturally.
AD2000s: a substantially more forward presentation than the HD600s. Midrange really comes through, but soundstage is compressed in comparison. While the piano and violins sound especially pleasing, almost bubbling over with romantic energy, I know this presentation is not quite correct, like sitting too close to the orchestra in a concert hall designed to provide the best experience for the center of the audience. The greater clarity of these headphones almost wins me over (it might, depending on my mood), but I know the HD600s are more natural.
Considering the mix of music in my library, the AD2000 is the easy winner in this comparison. I just can't seem to like the HD600s' presentation of most music, neutral or not.
From what I gather, clarity, forwardness, and some sibilance seem to go hand-in-hand, sometimes at the cost of a degree of realism, laid-back presentation, and a certain forgiving quality toward bad recordings. In summary, I feel the AD2000 so far does everything non-orchestral better than the HD600, while losing out to the HD600 in soundstage and some realism with classical music.
