[reddog]

Hm, I thought ... by other online comparisons, that the opposite should be true. I thought 400i is a bit thicker sounding? Did you mean an particular range of FR or overall impression? I find the AD a bit thin for me and sometimes I EQ treble to about -3db.

Too my ears I found the overall sound a tad drier however I found the alpha dogs a touch sibilant compared to the 400it's . The bass on the 400i's to be great, definitely deeper, but controlled, no leakage into the mids. I needs to hear the HE-560's to make a fair comparison. Both the alpha dogs and the 400i's are great cans and compliment each other. And the HE-400i's I am using are unmodified. I have no doubt that doing the grill mod would make the HE-400i's sound fantastic. I

 

[wahsmoh]

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue74/alpha_dog.htm
 
Here's another newer review I found. He doesn't go very much in depth but I could tell he was ecstatic that's for sure

 

[swspiers]

Too my ears I found the overall sound a tad drier however I found the alpha dogs a touch sibilant compared to the 400it's . The bass on the 400i's to be great, definitely deeper, but controlled, no leakage into the mids. I needs to hear the HE-560's to make a fair comparison. Both the alpha dogs and the 400i's are great cans and compliment each other. And the HE-400i's I am using are unmodified. I have no doubt that doing the grill mod would make the HE-400i's sound fantastic. I

Oh man, I'll be doing that comparison in a few days.
 
And yeah, I found the same thing with the AD's when I had the 560's.  Added some doggy treats to tame it a bit, but I never would have noticed or minded had I not heard the 560's.
 
Reading threads is dangerous!

 

[Lutrty]

Hi Mike, 
Knowing that you are a Audeze's fan, how would you compare the AD with the XC? Assuming that I listen mostly to vocals (Leonard Cohen, Ryan Adams) and some 90's grunge do you thing the XC would be a significant and noticeable upgrade? I fear for the brightness of of both headphones...
Many thanks

 

[torta]

Any experience with vary-bass adjustment? How much does one turn bring bass up or down?
 
Thank you for previous answers!

 

[pdrm360]

T1 vs. AD

 

[MattTCG]

^^ Sweet picture sir!!

 

[hans030390]

  Any experience with vary-bass adjustment? How much does one turn bring bass up or down?

 
It's hard to say exactly how much one turn will affect the bass. Realistically, from the stock setting, one turn isn't going to be a drastic difference. I ran some basic measurements (not publicly posted at HF, at least not yet...soon) and was able to confirm these adjustments do a good job lowering the bass response below approximately 100Hz, though it may also affect the treble response around the 10KHz area (bumps the treble spot up as you tune bass down).
 
Personally, I found my AD to have the most balanced response by having the vents almost closed. However, if you go to far, and you'll know when, the sound starts to take on a weird, almost anemic sound despite measurements showing plenty of bass. YMMV, and my AD was fairly bass-heavy out of the box (a good 5dB boost or so below 100Hz).
 
I wouldn't recommend doing these adjustments unless you have very good ears or are able to measure your set to verify proper channel balance. Even then, it works best if you use your ears first, verify with measurements, and then double check again with your ears. If you do want to make adjustments, I'd recommend starting with half turns, keeping count, and going slowly and incrementally on both channels until satisfied. That way you can back out to a stock setting easily if need be.

 

[torta]

Thanks, it seem I am a rather basshead ... so I am interested mainly in +. Coming from fidelio X1 it is very evident how different headphones can be. My pair is missing felt pads - any thoughts on felt pads vs EQ.?
I have a few EQ presets for AD. Classical, acoustic and well recorded music don't need any. But sound quality on some great jazz, funk recordings can be so off balance I need to EQ  treble parts, and sometimes lift bass.

 

[aamer23]

I do agree, the any quality issues in the source material will result in adjusting the EQ so the AD are useable and since my material is bit dodgy i have use 2xDT or is it my ears 

 

[Tony1110]

Does anybody use a Chord Hugo with their Alpha Dog?

 

[hans030390]

It could be your pair has a bit less bass out-of-the-box than mine, though what I hear on mine isn't too far off the tour pair I tested a while back, and Tyll's measurements indicate the AD should have at least a subtle bass boost. Unless your pair already has the vents mostly opened, you probably have room to increase the bass. This may also affect treble to your liking.
 
As long as you are EQing treble down on the AD, it should have no ill effect and might not even be worth further looking into the felt pads. They do, after all, mostly just bump down the treble response in a fairly even fashion.

 

[torta]

As long as you are EQing treble down on the AD, it should have no ill effect and might not even be worth further looking into the felt pads. They do, after all, mostly just bump down the treble response in a fairly even fashion.

Thanks. Do you use Vali to drive AD?

 

[hans030390]

Vali work OK with the AD, though I think it can sometimes make orthos sound ever so slightly thinner than they should (dunno why). I prefer the AD from my vintage Sansui 5000A.

 

[aamer23]

Love the way the Sansui 5000 A looks takes me back to my youth