[apenney]

So I broke down and ordered a pair!  The most expensive full size headphones I've owned before are my Grado sr80i's so I'm hoping this'll be.. quite the upgrade.  I'm almost broke, now, but I'm trying to find the most reasonable amp/dac I can for $400 now.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  I thought briefly about a loki+asgard-2.  Maybe it's better to just get a bifrost and worry about the amp part separately?
 
I wonder if I can lie and tell the wife I found them, because otherwise she's going to ask about price..

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

From what i'm hearing myself, the AD could benefit from beefy power and a hint of warmth. I'd look into some Audio-GD, seriously. NFB 15.32 goes for like $300, and the NFB11.32 is under $400. Both will put around 2 watts for the AD. I owned the NFB5, SA-31, and Compass 2. Audio-GD is worthwhile, and a bargain for the price.

 

[uzi]

It will be sad to part with the Alpha Dog. I love almost everything about it. It, and the MD are the only two closed headphones with non-cloth pads I can basically wear all day. The AD is heavy, but the comfort is still top notch. The Alpha Pads, well, I'm sure most of you are aware of how amazing those pads are. Literally the only non-velour/alcantara pads I don't have a problem with.

This.  Most of the full-sized headphones I use (HE-500, HD650, DT770 Pro 80, HD595 (for TV)) have velour pads.  For me, leather means heat, heat means sweating, and sweating means rashes.  I've had and gotten rid of the ATH-M50 and SRH-840 for this reason.  The Mad Dogs and AH-D2000 give me no problems... and the AH-D2000 are more semi-open and don't isolate well enough to be used when you want closed headphones for that reason.  That makes the MD the only closed cans with leather pads I can use as well (and by proxy, the Alpha Dogs).

 

[apenney]

From what i'm hearing myself, the AD could benefit from beefy power and a hint of warmth. I'd look into some Audio-GD, seriously. NFB 15.32 goes for like $300, and the NFB11.32 is under $400. Both will put around 2 watts for the AD. I owned the NFB5, SA-31, and Compass 2. Audio-GD is worthwhile, and a bargain for the price.

 
This is the second recommendation I've had for the Audio-GD range, so I think I'm going to listen to the advice and go that route, thanks!

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

[VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fakia5udFQU[/VIDEO]

Anyone with the AD, can you guys tell me if you hear her voice being a little sibilant here? Like when she says 'Too young' (which she says a lot in the song).

I ripped this album in WAV, so I assure you I hear it even on the CD, not just Youtube.

Just seems like one of those songs that highlights the problem area I have with the Alpha Dog's 'S' and 'T' sounds...

It may just be the recording, but I don't hear that problem with the Shure 1840, MA900, and another headphone I have. This is the only problem I have with the AD's sound. Otherwise, it's phenomenal.

Expect nothing LESS than an 8 in all aspects for me. This is overall my highest scoring headphone, if I had to score them all. My future reviews will be scoring more things, like bass/mid/treble quantity/quality.

 

[vipervick]

Anyone with the AD, can you guys tell me if you hear her voice being a little sibilant here? Like when she says 'Too young' (which she says a lot in the song).

I ripped this album in WAV, so I assure you I hear it even on the CD, not just Youtube.

Just seems like one of those songs that highlights the problem area I have with the Alpha Dog's 'S' and 'T' sounds...

It may just be the recording, but I don't hear that problem with the Shure 1840, MA900, and another headphone I have. This is the only problem I have with the AD's sound. Otherwise, it's phenomenal.

Expect nothing LESS than an 8 in all aspects for me. This is overall my highest scoring headphone, if I had to score them all. My future reviews will be scoring more things, like bass/mid/treble quantity/quality.

It's the recording. I'm listening on ATH-M50's and it's pretty bad. Doesn't help that I don't like that genre...

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

The M50 has upper end harshness itself, so that's actually an M50 issue as well (I have owned/tested three different M50s, one being an LE)... like I said, I have used 3 other headphones without that tizziness, 2 which have a clean and neutral to slightly bright upper range.

 

[Clemmaster]

The mastering is bad, I hear ssss everywhere.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Okay, I'll have to find another song. Later. Sleep time. Merry Christmas guys.

Odd though as I don't get it with the other headphones. Perhaps that the Alpha Dog is too revealing of a bad recording.

Though the 'issue' isn't ALWAYS present.

 

[sunneebear]

That is a terrible recording on any headphone.

 

[Formae]

For someone who listens to a lot of Hip Hop, would these or the Mad Dogs be good? 

 

[hans030390]

  So what about the graph that Dan gave us himself last couple months ago? Seem like if innerfidelity or I mean Tyll measures the Alpha Dog then we will know more precisely but I think each company has at least one or two dedicated methods to measure.

 
It's pretty much this. Different hardware and rig setups, different software, different (or no) compensation curves, etc. When looking at any set of measurements, it's important to know all of these details in order to best be able to "read" the measurements and get good information from them. There's not a ton of consensus about all this from what I can tell, hence the sometimes wildly different results. And there are simply some measurement setups and methods that are just not good overall or only occasionally provide useful information.
 
The best thing one can do is get their hands on a lot of gear and look at a lot of measurements so they can find which methods most often correspond to what they hear (or find a way to mix attributes of measurements). The key is not tricking yourself into hearing what you see in measurements, much like it can be the same way with how subjective impressions influence what we hear or expect to hear. Easier said than done.
 
I'm sure there will be better, more accurate, and more repeatable ways to get headphone measurements in the future.
 
The Russian graph being referred to looks like they use too much smoothing, for one. Smoothing can "cover up" dips, peaks, and other imperfections that are actually quite audible (too little smoothing can make it appear rougher than what we'd really hear, though). Based on my experience with the MD and AD, I'd be hesitant to use this site's measurements before some other sources of measurements.

 

[mikemercer]

  For someone who listens to a lot of Hip Hop, would these or the Mad Dogs be good? 

I suggest the Mad Dogs for hip hop and electronic over the Alpha's - though I love em for both,
to my ears, the Mad Dogs lower octaves have a tad more slam and outward fluidity

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Agreed. The bass decays a little slower and is more prominent on the MD, making it more immersive for those genres. That being said, the Alpha Dog does a great job with any genre you can throw at it.

 

[Formae]

Alright then, if I do get the Mad Dogs, will it work well with a portable AMP? They don't seem too big in the pictures so I wouldn't mind bringing them around some places. Would a Fiio E12/E17 work?