More bass: my ATH-A700 + new amp or $450 for new headphones + amp?
Mar 13, 2013 at 12:51 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 4

Gorebag

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Hello there,
 
I'm wondering whether I should buy an amp to boost the bass of my current headphones, or spend $450 on a new pair of headphones that are built for bass in the first place and get an amp for those. $450 is the most I can spend in total, including an amp (and potentially a dac, as I will get into later). 
I've got some Audio Technica ATH-A700's. I use them only with my PC, for gaming and music listening (trance, house). They're plugged into the headphone jack on my Bose Companion 20 desktop speakers, if that means anything. 
If new headphones would make a big difference with an amp, over my current ones with an amp, I need the new ones to be comfortable enough to wear for several hours. 
The ones I've got now I can wear forever, mostly because they don't rest on the top of my head. I love the wing gate design for that. I've never had a problem with heat in my ears, so when I say comfortable, I really only mean comfortable to the top of my head. Also, I've got big ears, so lots of space inside the cans themselves is definitely a plus. 
 
The amps I've been looking at so far are the Digizoid ZO2, Fiio E07, E10, E11, E17. 
Right now I get popping/cracking coming through the headphone jack, but I'm getting a new motherboard soon, which might not have that problem. 
Right now I can't say I need a combined amp/dac because I don't know if the new mobo will have clean sound coming out, but if it happens to have pops in the sound as well, a dac would have to be included in the $450, which means a dac/amp combo would probably be preferred, unless there's a big gap in bass between something like the ZO2 and any of the Fiio dac/amp combos. 
 
I'm new to all this, so there are lots of things I still don't understand like Vrms, Ohms, and so on. I'm really looking more for product suggestions than technical discussion :) 
Hope you can help a bass hungry newbie out. Thanks. 
 
Apr 3, 2013 at 7:02 PM Post #3 of 4
I have a pair of A700s and I think they are superb in so many ways.
 
I do sometimes find myself wanting more bass. I have a really great amp (Little Dot) and I don't think an amp will boost your bass that much.
 
Based purely on research it looks like the answer could be the Denon AHD2000 but it seems they are discontinued. Ebay?
 
Or there may be a new equivalent... but it looks like Denon have become consumed with Smartphone Culture!!!
 
Having said that... I also find that once the A700s have been on my head for a short while I get so lost in the depth of sound they produce that I forget about this desire for more bass. The A700s are *bloody* good headphones. The trick is to find something that good - with more bass. A challenge for sure.
 
My personal view is that the A700 destroys beats just about anything I have ever heard - including Stax electrostatics - for sound quality in the sense of detail and musicality.
 
Apr 3, 2013 at 9:15 PM Post #4 of 4
Do you mean you want basshead headphones, or just headphones that have more bass than the A700's? From what you're describing with your comfort issues, the Sennheiser HD650 would probably be comfortable to you, assuming you're not too sensitive to clamp. They have a little extra bass, but they're not basshead cans by any means. The Beyerdynamic DT770 80 Ohms is a much cheaper option well known for comfort and has more bass than the Senns. If you really want a lot of bass, though, I'd look at the Ultrasone Pro 900's, but these aren't as comfortable as the others.
 

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