[Oderi]

Sorry guys, you're gonna have to wait for anything more detailed for a while, busy rediscovering my music collection.
 
I tried writing some observations down but couldn't do it - I'm not in a very objective mood right now, that'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'll try to get the phones somewhat volume matched out of the M-Stage tomorrow - I think I'm listening louder than usual right now, which probably has to do with the very pleasant sound of the Mad Dogs; as some people have stated, you could listen to these all day week month year long without fatigue.
 
Initial impressions are very good.
 
EDIT: something worth noting is that the bassline on Damian Marley's Welcome To Jamrock was on a whole new level compared to the M50's - I'll have to give the song another listen with the D5000's to compare. Once I manage to strip these cans off my ears. Which probably isn't happening before tomorrow.
 
EDIT 2: Trivium sounds phenomenal. D5000 are definitely not metal cans. Mad Dogs are so clear and fast that the songs are just... properly laid out before me, can't think of another way to put it.

 

[paradoxper]

Most of you know how I feel about the Mad Dogs comparative to other headphones (Mostly orthos). Not everyone is comfortable writing mini reviews or posting their in depth impressions.
I thought it'd be nice if everyone would just compare their Mad Dogs to other phones they've
got in their inventory. Pros and cons. This isn't ment to bash any headphone, 
but to spotlight both the Mad Dog's good and bad features.

 

[Oderi]

Sounds like a good idea to me. It's not like I have much of an idea about any absolute benchmarks (does anyone?). So far there doesn't seem to be any genre for which I'd prefer the D5000 over the Mad Dogs but I haven't gotten to hip hop yet. The biggest differences I've noticed in complex passages, where the instrument separation and clarity of the Mad Dogs seem better.
 
EDIT: The bass extension is also definitely there - running 20-25 Hz tones on Audacity provided a very nice ear massage.
 
EDIT 2: Quite a significant change in This Calling by All That Remains (metalcore): the fast dual bass drum in the chorus actually sounds like a bass drum. Other headphones (again, have to check to make sure with D5000 tomorrow) tend to, IME, forget the bassy part of the drum sound and only give you the initial tap resulting in a rather awkward sound - you know the sound when you try to unsuccessfully light a lighter? Imagine someone doing that 10 times a second. Yeah.

 

[disastermouse]

A lot of people are comparing the Mad Dogs to the LCD-2.  How do they compare to HE500s?

 

[wje]

Quote:

A lot of people are comparing the Mad Dogs to the LCD-2.  How do they compare to HE500s?

 
A lot of people are comparing it to the LCD-2, or indicating that it is 85% - 90% of what an LCD-2 offers.  They are not comparing it by indicating it is a 100% match to the LCD-2.  However, there have been members who have stated that they have preferred the modified T50RP over the LCD-2 headphone.  
 
How does it compare to the HE-500, or even the HE-400?  In my opinion, I'd still rather own the HE-500 or HE-400 over the Fostex.  But, there are some things that the Fostex does really well.   It's a sealed headphone that allows you to listen privately almost anywhere.  Additionally, the comfort with the Shure 840 pads is really outstanding.  Plus, the balanced sound signature can really be appreciated.  Where it doesn't match up with the HE-400 or HE-500 is when it comes to bass slam.  The Fostex has plenty of bass, but can't slam it like the HifiMAN can.
 
I put together a pretty good chain of components earlier today and thought it was quite an appreciable system that I could actually live with if I were stranded on an island.  The gear was as follows:
 
Laptop computer ----> HRT Music Streamer ----> Little Dot I+ Amplifier ----> Fostex T50RP (Modified).  I was really, really impressed with the sounds that I was hearing while using Foobar with a slight EQ adjustment.  Beautiful stuff.

 

[preproman]

Quote:

 
A lot of people are comparing it to the LCD-2, or indicating that it is 85% - 90% of what an LCD-2 offers.  They are not comparing it by indicating it is a 100% match to the LCD-2.  However, there have been members who have stated that they have preferred the modified T50RP over the LCD-2 headphone.  
 
How does it compare to the HE-500, or even the HE-400?  In my opinion, I'd still rather own the HE-500 or HE-400 over the Fostex.  But, there are some things that the Fostex does really well.   It's a sealed headphone that allows you to listen privately almost anywhere.  Additionally, the comfort with the Shure 840 pads is really outstanding.  Plus, the balanced sound signature can really be appreciated.  Where it doesn't match up with the HE-400 or HE-500 is when it comes to bass slam.  The Fostex has plenty of bass, but can't slam it like the HifiMAN can.
 
I put together a pretty good chain of components earlier today and thought it was quite an appreciable system that I could actually live with if I were stranded on an island.  The gear was as follows:
 
Laptop computer ----> HRT Music Streamer ----> Little Dot I+ Amplifier ----> Fostex T50RP (Modified).  I was really, really impressed with the sounds that I was hearing while using Foobar with a slight EQ adjustment.  Beautiful stuff.

 
wje,
 
What part of the sound sig did you EQ - did you give it a little more bass?

 

[disastermouse]

Quote:

 
A lot of people are comparing it to the LCD-2, or indicating that it is 85% - 90% of what an LCD-2 offers.  They are not comparing it by indicating it is a 100% match to the LCD-2.  However, there have been members who have stated that they have preferred the modified T50RP over the LCD-2 headphone.  
 
How does it compare to the HE-500, or even the HE-400?  In my opinion, I'd still rather own the HE-500 or HE-400 over the Fostex.  But, there are some things that the Fostex does really well.   It's a sealed headphone that allows you to listen privately almost anywhere.  Additionally, the comfort with the Shure 840 pads is really outstanding.  Plus, the balanced sound signature can really be appreciated.  Where it doesn't match up with the HE-400 or HE-500 is when it comes to bass slam.  The Fostex has plenty of bass, but can't slam it like the HifiMAN can.
 
I put together a pretty good chain of components earlier today and thought it was quite an appreciable system that I could actually live with if I were stranded on an island.  The gear was as follows:
 
Laptop computer ----> HRT Music Streamer ----> Little Dot I+ Amplifier ----> Fostex T50RP (Modified).  I was really, really impressed with the sounds that I was hearing while using Foobar with a slight EQ adjustment.  Beautiful stuff.

 
Huh...so maybe the HE500 as an HD650 upgrade and then the Mad Dogs for portable gym use (yeah, I know they're bulky and weird for the gym, but I don't mind being weird at the gym...)
 
 
Hmmm...and then an upgrade to the Asgard for amplification.  Or maybe Mjolnir with balanced cables for my home cans.....???

 

[wje]

Quote:

 
wje,
 
What part of the sound sig did you EQ - did you give it a little more bass?

 
Yes.  I was using the EQ with Foobar.  I also have the WASAPI plug-in.  I did a minor tilt on the low end (63Hz), and a bit around 110Hz, then cut a few frequencies around the upper end.  It really worked out well when it came to sound.  I'll have my laptop (with Foobar) at the meet as well as the Music Streamer and my Little Dot I+ amp.  It has some crazy good performance for not a lot of $$.

 

[olegausany]

For those who uses Foobar I would recommend Graphic Equalizer V 0.37 plugin instead of built-in one

 

[preproman]

Quote:

 
Huh...so maybe the HE500 as an HD650 upgrade and then the Mad Dogs for portable gym use (yeah, I know they're bulky and weird for the gym, but I don't mind being weird at the gym...)
 
 
Hmmm...and then an upgrade to the Asgard for amplification.  Or maybe Mjolnir with balanced cables for my home cans.....???

 
 
The choices are endless

 

[Oderi]

Quote:

 
Huh...so maybe the HE500 as an HD650 upgrade and then the Mad Dogs for portable gym use (yeah, I know they're bulky and weird for the gym, but I don't mind being weird at the gym...)
 
 
Hmmm...and then an upgrade to the Asgard for amplification.  Or maybe Mjolnir with balanced cables for my home cans.....???

 
I couldn't use any full-size cans at the gym because of the sweat. Not that I go to gym; bodyweight conditioning for the win.
 
Call me a convert of Voldemort, but I've grown a slight dislike towards Schiit. If you're ready to pay the price of a Mjolnir, I suggest you also look at amps by Lake People/Violectric (G103/G109 S/P and V100/V181 (balanced)/V200). The main brand, Lake People, is directed towards studio use and their gear should as such be extremely neutral (whether you want that from an amp is another question). The Grace m903 DAC/amp also offers a pretty end-game setup from what I've read.
 
I'm using M-Stage with my D5000 and Mad Dogs and have no complaints. I might upgrade to V200 or similar someday but that's ages away and before that I gotta upgrade my uDac2 to something more sensible.
 
On to the actual topic, I've done some more listening with the Mad Dogs today and I'm really starting to like the sound, if I'd have to describe it with my limited experience and knowledge, 'pleasant yet extended and detailed' would sum it up quite nicely.
 
I will rip some of my father's CDs today to expand my classical/jazz collection and do some more listening. I will probably choose a bunch of songs and post comparisons with each headphone (D5000 and Mad Dog) with them in a separate thread. I also got some other stuff to do so that thread might be a while away.

 

[preproman]

Quote:

 
V100/V181 (balanced)/V200). 

 
Just some clarification here the V200 is not a balanced amp it only has XLR inputs.  The 181 is there only balanced amp at the moment.  It's like having two V100s inside with balanced inputs and a balanced 4-pin output.

 

[Oderi]

Yeah that's what I was trying to say, meant that only the V181 is balanced, therefore no '(balanced)' after 'V200'. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Kees]

Quote:

 
Just some clarification here the V200 is not a balanced amp it only has XLR inputs.  The 181 is there only balanced amp at the moment.  It's like having two V100s inside with balanced inputs and a balanced 4-pin output.

I thought that's what his post said...(V1281 is balanced, V200 not)?

 

[preproman]

O