[hans030390]

Alpha Dogs have plenty of bass, and it is more prominent than what you'll get with the Mad Dog IME. In fact, latest measurements I've seen and taken, along with subjective tests, make me believe it is actually slightly elevated below 100Hz on the AD. Tastefully so, IMO, and harmonic distortion is low enough so that it is fairly clean (but not the cleanest relative to something like the HE560).

 

[wahsmoh]

  And I thought the ADs weren't known for their bass quantity. I guess the 560s don't have any bass?

Alpha Dogs have outstanding bass. I don't know where you heard that but that is definitely not the case.

 

[swspiers]

  Alpha Dogs have outstanding bass. I don't know where you heard that but that is definitely not the case.

+1
 
So far the AD's have out-classed every headphone I've tried, in both quality and quantity of bass.  The thing is, they don't pull bass out of thin-air.  If it wasn't mastered with full, impactful bass, they don't create it.

 

[Mullet]

  Alpha Dogs have outstanding bass. I don't know where you heard that but that is definitely not the case.

I think you missed my point. I never said they didn't have quality bass. In fact, I like the bass on the ADs. I was referring to a few comments that they didn't have enough bass.

 

[Skyyyeman]

BURN IN  - For those who've been wondering about burn in for the Alpha Dogs (and for burn in "non-believers"), a question was asked in the Mad Dog thread about burn in for the Mad Dogs, as follows:
 
"Question, what is MrSpeakers official line on burn in? Been following the HE560 thread and the Hifiman reps have been talking about doing a 250hour burn in before giving impressions, because the MagPlanar drivers need to burn in/work themselves out etc."
 
Dan replied "I usually say 40-100 hours."
 
Here's the link:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/666284/mrspeakers-mad-dog-impressions-and-discussion-thread/2805    
 
See post 2819
 
Since the same drivers are used for the Mad Dog and Alpha Dog, it follows that the same 40-100 hours would apply to the Alpha Dog.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

^+a big 1, my Alpha Dogs came last Saturday, with the "new" drivers I started with 2 Dog Treats a side, with 8 days of nightly use that has dropped to one. Plus, using JRiver, I increased the bass (<40 HZ) by +3 DB, that is back down to flat now with most recordings. Burn in, break in, call it what you will, mechanical devices do change with use. I believe that it is almost universally a superior change because a) most produced if designed/manufactured well, match the sonics of the final prototype, which probably is well "burned in". Just IMO, though I am a behavioral scientist, not an engineer, so insert grain of salt....

 

[swspiers]

Just for the sake of balance, I never experienced burn-in with the AD's, brain or mechanical.  They 'fit' just right with my audio cortex.  Grado's took a while to get used to.
 
Doggie treats did calm down the occasional treble spike, which seemed dependent on the mix of the music. But I could easily live without them.
 
I'm not trying to challenge anyone, just report my personal and subjective experience.

 

[aamefford]

I'll chime in - my mad dogs settled in after a couple hours. Or I settled in. They have been upgraded to alphas, so no comments on AD burn in.

 

[torta]

I had both of those headphones. The mids an highs are just another class on the alphas. Bass is drastically different though. It's sharp fast and accurate on the alphas whereas the x1 was deep and boomy. The alphas also need much more power I can't get to to loud enough levels on a phone or tablet whereas the X1 had no problems so a proper amp is needed. The sound isolation is great on the alphas I can't hear my video cards whine when gaming. The pads are not dust magnets since they are leather and not velour and are replaceable (come on Phillips!) I ended up selling the Fidelio X1 since I enjoyed the alphas so much but I do miss them for movies.

Sorry for late reply, but could you expand on comparison on mids and highs between X1 and AD. How about the sound stage?

 

[xero404]

 
Sorry for late reply, but could you expand on comparison on mids and highs between X1 and AD. How about the sound stage?
 

 
I've never been much of a writer but I’ll give it a shot. Mids on both phones are neutral. The x1 sort of takes a backstage due to its bass and since they are so wide in soundstage they never really stand out. The Alphas Dogs take the cake on the treble though. They are very accurate and just sound more "right to me" especially when I’m using FLAC files on my home setup.
 
Now the tricky part is explaining the soundstage. X1 being an open can the positioning is very wide. Pin pointing footsteps using CMSS-3D in FPS games it was very easy to pick up how far my opponents were. In fact I was pretty blown away when I heard helicopters fly above my head using the elevation filters as I’ve never experienced that before. The Alpha Dog is a closed headphone and things seem closer playing the same game (BF4 helicopters don't sound farther away during flybys). Don't get me wrong though as this is widest I’ve heard from a closed back headphone coming from HD280 pros that I used for 7 years. It really does fool you that it feels like an open can and I can live with the lower amount of space due to the passive noise isolation it delivers (Noisy Gaming rig with a ton of cooling fans and overclocked video cards).

 

[torta]

Thanks, that is helpful. I have listened to AKG712 today and quite liked the sound stage on them. It felt much more precise compared to X1. Vocal also seemed a tad closer and mids overall had bigger resolution. These are a few things I really would like to have in a next headphones.
 
But ... AKGs are open and I need closed. Was thinking about TH600 but I need good isolation.
 
Can someone share a quick comparison with AKG712? AD are almost double price of 712 and triple price of X1. I have to buy blindly so I hope it would be an upgrade ... I will keep X1 - they are good for variety of genres, especially for funk (here 712 felt a bit short), acid jazz and similar.
 
I would need another pair more suitable for acoustic music - jazz and classical in particular. I hope AD would do well here.

 

[koolas]

I wonder about STAX SRS-3170. How much better is it from Alpha Dogs (driven by Pan Am)...

 

[ambchang]

Any one want to sell me a spare set of Doggie Treats?  I only need one disc per side for another mod project I am doing on a set of T50-RP.
 
Thanks.

 

[defguy]

  Thanks, that is helpful. I have listened to AKG712 today and quite liked the sound stage on them. It felt much more precise compared to X1. Vocal also seemed a tad closer and mids overall had bigger resolution. These are a few things I really would like to have in a next headphones.
 
But ... AKGs are open and I need closed. Was thinking about TH600 but I need good isolation.
 
Can someone share a quick comparison with AKG712? AD are almost double price of 712 and triple price of X1. I have to buy blindly so I hope it would be an upgrade ... I will keep X1 - they are good for variety of genres, especially for funk (here 712 felt a bit short), acid jazz and similar.
 
I would need another pair more suitable for acoustic music - jazz and classical in particular. I hope AD would do well here.

  In the brief listen I had to the Alpha Dogs, they sounded quite similar to my 702 Anniversaries which should be pretty similar to the 712's. The bass might have been a little better than the AKG's. I compared the AD's to the Shure 1540's and the LCD-XC and actually preferred the AD's to both

 

[GL1TCH3D]

Any one want to sell me a spare set of Doggie Treats?  I only need one disc per side for another mod project I am doing on a set of T50-RP.

Thanks.

I thought the doggie treats was $15?
https://mrspeakers.com/product/doggie-treats-tweaking-kit/