Honestly after trying the Q40 I think they are not great. The build quality is pretty bad as well. Literally zero soundstage. Muddy, plasticy sound... I honestly don't see how people can like them... Even the bass, whilst having a lot of quantity, is very monotone and just plain uninteresting to listen to. Ah well just my opinion on them!
Honestly after trying the Q40 I think they are not great. The build quality is pretty bad as well. Literally zero soundstage. Muddy, plasticy sound... I honestly don't see how people can like them... Even the bass, whilst having a lot of quantity, is very monotone and just plain uninteresting to listen to. Ah well just my opinion on them!
I hear ya. I feel the same way about Mad Dogs - I bought a pair, anticipated great things due to the hype on Head-Fi, got them, and pfffffft. Duds to me. To each their own is never more apparent than with headphones.
LOL................the D2000 is in transit and shall arrive on Friday. As I find on this forum, there are times I try to update my signature/profile and it won't allow so I updated the D2000 info and hit save................one time it works, next time it doesn't so I'll just leave it be.
So after they arrive the Q's may well end up down the list but I DO prefer them to the DT770's even thought they are both very similar (plenty of bass - and to be honest I am a confirmed basshead).
I'm hoping the Denon's are an improvement over the Q-40's and I fully expect them to be. If so, all that means is I now can bring one of the other two to work for my office and not have to transport them back and forth like I do now. I have an office setup, home office setup and a head-fi listening station and I'm aiming to have a set of headphones at each that I can leave there, and interchange when the mood strikes. Not to mention my garage home gym that I keep a set on my bike for listening while I work out. Helps having a ton of choices as I do.
Mm personally I would say the D2000 absolutely destroy the Q40's in pretty much every way... Not even in the same league except the D2000 can be a bit sibilant and hurt my ears after a bit... Damn I wish I didn't sell my D2000 because you cannot get them anymore
Mm personally I would say the D2000 absolutely destroy the Q40's in pretty much every way... Not even in the same league except the D2000 can be a bit sibilant and hurt my ears after a bit... Damn I wish I didn't sell my D2000 because you cannot get them anymore
Well, I hope I have the exact same experience as you and they DO kick the Q-40's butt. That would mean they are seriously amazing headphones.
You can buy used ones for around $300. I think that price will always hold and may even go up depending on how long you want to wait. The ones I'm getting have some of the MarkL mods so I can't wait to hear them. And the upper frequencies, because of my age (51) likely will never sound sibilant to me. Too many years of killer car stereo systems.
Shipping is $10 (for one or two pairs), the velours are $10/pair and the leathers are $20/pair. So two pair of velours cost me $30 shipped to Norway. I don't think that's bad, I paid more for one pair of the beyer pads.
Honestly after trying the Q40 I think they are not great. The build quality is pretty bad as well. Literally zero soundstage. Muddy, plasticy sound... I honestly don't see how people can like them... Even the bass, whilst having a lot of quantity, is very monotone and just plain uninteresting to listen to. Ah well just my opinion on them!
I completely disagree..I have my Q40 on me now. I don't hear any traces of muddy or plasticy sound on mine, in fact the opposite - I've rarely heard this clarity in a pair of closed headphones (and I've had a few) and the mids are simply fantastic. The soundstage: way better, for instance, than on one of its direct competitors, the ATH M50. The bass: I don't listen to bass heavy music and the bass on these is marvellous, especially on classical quintets and jazz records - it is beautifully layered and the texture of double bass and cellos is rendered in a very realistic way.
For comparison, I have my Beyerdynamic DT990 600ohm here as well. When I bought these, I happened to audition them to the Denon 2000 you mention, and the D990 was millions of times better. Now, the Q40 is in my opinion (and with the kind of music I listen to) not too far behind the Beyerdynamics. The latter is an improvement especially in the treble, however I can assure you the Q40 fare surprisingly well. Surely much better than the 58£ I paid for them.
Both headphones are properly amplified: I don't listen to good headphones via a poor jack from an mp3 player or ipod. May I ask what is your setup and what music are you testing these with? Is there a possibility you might have ended up with a faulty sample?
Funny how people hear differently. M50 - better than the Q40 and DT990 IMO but again small soundstage and closed in sound, Metallic treble etc. They were alright but I dont think they are as good as a lot of people make them out to be... decent for the money but a bit overhyped I think... Maybe because I had Sennheiser HD650 at the time I was finding a lot of headphones to be "closed sounding with a small soundstage" because the HD650 and D2000 were my references... DT990 - Didnt like those at all personally (only a shop demo) far too bright / sharp and sibilant... I thought the DT770 80 were alright from a shop demo. My setup is a Xonar D2 Spdif > Cambridge audio dacmagic > NAD 326Bee > Headphones...
Taste is a bitch. I don't think it's that we hear that much different but that we want to hear different things. Headphones like HD650 and Denon D2000 doesn't suit me for example because they have a more withdrawn / relaxed sound signature to them. Personally I want engaging / forward / in-your-face sounding (not laid-back) experience for my EDM music for maximum, foottapping and headbanging experience! The Q40 delivers me that.
Compare people that like heavy metal music versus people who like classical music, quite the opposite kind of listening experience. The heavy metal listener mostly loves how the main singer keeps shouting at his face with a fat elec guitar riff playing in the background with a somewhat overpowering bass guitar (basicly a chaos but the listener loves it!) while the classic listener may more like sitting laid-back in a comfortable sofa, enjoying the large open sound of his open headphones and analyzes all the texture he find in violin strings and what not. Again, totally different strokes for different folks! Listening satisfaction can come from very different ways.
Hmmm have you tried the D2000? Not really laid back in my opinion.... They have pretty bright / "sparkly" treble and massive bass.... Amazing for electronic music etc. Not so good for things like rock music because the midrange is very recessed. HD650 I would completely agree that whilst they are very impressive sound quality and good for things such as films, games and acoustic music, they are pretty boring and not good for electronic or pretty much any fast paced music. If I could have one pair of headphones out of what I have tried it would be the Denon D5000 but at the moment I am stuck with CAL! and Se215 until I have some more cash! :/ I am one of those people that likes classical and metal lol.
With relaxed I don't mean that Denon D2000 have veiled highs, no they are known to be pretty bright but what I mean if you like think soundstage wise the distance to the singer isn't like "in an arm's reach", it sounds like coming from a distance, like you're sitting further back in the audience. This kind of positioning generally works well for classical but it's not the kind of sound I enjoy. I want the sound that it sounds like I'm standing on-stage with the band playing, for me that brings engaging listening experience and I like my music to be engaging. That is why D2000 doesn't quite fit me.
Hmmm personally that is something I prefer... A more 3D soundstage as opposed to right in your face... I think that is something that is an advantage of using over ear headphones as opposed to IEM. I think you are maybe getting soundstage confused with the fact that the D2000 have a very recessed midrange annd you prefer a forward midrange? I agree that the D2000 are recessed midrange but the D5000 are better for that... It is all a load of terminology which means different things to different people! Definately the Q40 are very "in your face" they dont really have much sound stage at all.
I have my Q40 on at the moment and listening to the 2nd movement of the 9th Symphony by Beethoven (Solti, Chicago Symphony, XRCD 24). The source is a FLAC file I ripped from my XRCD24 myself and I'm using a HRT Headstreamer Dac/Amp as a source.
I would disagree on your comment about the lack of soundstage. I can hear the various sections of the orchestra in a clear spatial pattern. I can appreciate an impression of distance and separation between the various instruments. Double basses at 3 o'clock. Brass 4 o'clock. Strings spanning from 9 o'clock to 11 o'clock. Bassons 2 o'clock. Again, the definition of bass is surprising giving the cost of these. The timbre of the instrument is also as realistic as I've heard and certainly a vast improvement over the Audio Technica M50.
I don't usually reach for headphones when I want to immerse in a realistic soundstage (I have my Dynaudio Focus 110 speakers for that) but given the inherent limitations of the headphone concept I'd argue these Q40 are doing as good as many other headphones of higher price.
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