[ruinedx]

I have a similar issue, but not to the extent of the OP. My open backs are HD650 with a Bottlehead Crack and I find they deliver the bass response and thump level I like. However, when I listen to the Grado RS2e or Sennheiser HD800s, I found the bass to be absent. The sound signature sounded so bright to me, I couldn't listen for very long. I was in a Hifi store listening to Tidal tracks with a Chord Hugo2. I ended up liking the sound signature of the Focal Clears the most with the Chord Hugo 2 and they sounded even better with a Primaluna Tube Amp. I really wanted to like the HD 800 s, but I didn't. Is there a better DAC pairing I should consider to give them a second chance? I have a feeling that I am just not a Grado person. I would love to love the HD 800s because I have eclectic music taste and I think classical music could sound divine, but I need to get a minimally acceptable warm bass response. Any way to do that?

I've found liquid platinum is a good pairing under $600, also project horizon III apparently works well

If you can spend more I've heard good things about DNA Starlett and Eddie Current, ECP amps. On solid state front other than ECP there is also hdv820.

Note that based on your commentary though you'd probably be best off with HD820. It sounds like the HD800S except with a bit less treble and notably more bass which sounds like what you are looking for. I have both and when you need deep bass for electronic music or r&b, the hd820 easily beats the hd800s. Conversely hd800s has a bit more treble, a bit more soundstage width, and more emotive mids - which works better for vocals, classical, jazz, etc.

 

[mvvRAZ]

I have a similar issue, but not to the extent of the OP. My open backs are HD650 with a Bottlehead Crack and I find they deliver the bass response and thump level I like. However, when I listen to the Grado RS2e or Sennheiser HD800s, I found the bass to be absent. The sound signature sounded so bright to me, I couldn't listen for very long. I was in a Hifi store listening to Tidal tracks with a Chord Hugo2. I ended up liking the sound signature of the Focal Clears the most with the Chord Hugo 2 and they sounded even better with a Primaluna Tube Amp. I really wanted to like the HD 800 s, but I didn't. Is there a better DAC pairing I should consider to give them a second chance? I have a feeling that I am just not a Grado person. I would love to love the HD 800s because I have eclectic music taste and I think classical music could sound divine, but I need to get a minimally acceptable warm bass response. Any way to do that?

I'll update you when I receive the HeadAmp GSX Mini, it might end up a great pairing!

 

[ADUHF]

So I've tried a whole bunch of open headphones now (most of Audeze, Focal, Abyss Diana V2, Rosson RAD-0, HD650 etc etc)

I'm generally coming from IEMs - some of you might have seen my reviews across the Portable Audio Forums, and no matter which headphone I try there's one glaring issue I find with it... It has this ultra diffused and "open sounding" bass which kind of works for instrumental performances, jazz, rock and the classic audiophile test tracks, but the moment I put on anything that actually has a bass THUMP it comes across more as "pum pum pum." From what a friend of mine explained it's an issue with me being super used to super high pressure bass that IEMs are capable of putting out, so when I try on headphones where you can't really hear any of the bass but can rather "feel" it, it comes across to me as practically having no bass whatsoever

I've tried super powerful sources, super high end ones etc etc - nothing is able to really resolve this for me. I'm currently running the Diana V2 off the LPGT into the Romi BX2 Plus and listening to Jungle's Jungle album (which is an album I love for its bass-heavy notes), and the Diana V2 isn't really able to transmit any of that whatsoever. It does great with live music as well as the classic audiophile tracks and recordings, but Idk... is that the only thing openbacks are really good for?

I've also tried EQing a whole bunch of bass into headphones, so I add something along the lines of 7 or 8 decibels of bass, and I still can't get any real bass presence and impact - once again it sounds extremely diffused, almost as if I'm listening to an IEM that I haven't been able to seal properly

Anyone have any tips of suggestions?

Just my 2c, but in my experience you can't really increase what isn't there to begin with, either with an amp or EQ. Some claim you can get bass down to 30 Hz on the open Senns with the right amp. But I still have my doubts. I don't have $500-$1000 lying around here to experiment with that though. So I have to take their word on it.

Some open planars might work because they already have decent bass extension to begin with. And you might be able to squeeze out a few more dBs on the low end with an EQ. YMMV. They aren't as comfortable as the lighter weight dynamic HPs though.

There are a number of very good closed HPs that'll deliver all the bass you could ever want, and then some. (Including some planars by Audeze, Monoprice, and one or two others I think.) Closed HPs also respond better to EQ. So you can start with a more neutral-sounding HP if you prefer, and tweak it however you want for more or less bass. The tradeoff, as others have mentioned, is that you'll lose some of that open sound quality. Alot of folks don't see the point in using full-size HPs without that.

 

[ADUHF]

Some open dynamic HPs in the low to mid-fi range with a little better bass extension than average include the AudioTechnica R70x, Sennheiser HD 58x Jubilee, Beyerdynamic DT-990 (see also the new TYGR 300 R), some Philips HPs, and maybe the Senn HD 599. The Beyer and Philips may also be on the bright side in the treble, and require a bit of tweaking in that area. The TYGR is supposedly more neutral. But I know less about that model, since it is still fairly new and not as widely available. And marketed more towards gamers.

None of these HPs are as well-extended as a good closed-back. But they may deliver a little better extension or emphasis in the lower frequencies than your typical open-back dynamic HPs. Whether you'd really hear a discernible difference is hard to say.

 

[TMRaven]

Not sure why you bought an amp first. I've been in this hobby long enough (started in 2011, ended in 2018) to know that a better amp won't magically give your headphones better bass. In this day and age, nearly every source and amp will be enough to provide proper bass extension for a headphone. It was a little different for some bad devices from 2005-2010, where there were some ungodly impedance mismatches, but these days, proper sound chips can be had for mere pennies to a manufacturer. I learned the hard way that this is a hobby of subtleties and listening to gear over music. It's definitely fun to blow money on more expensive gear the deeper you progress into your journey, and trying to pick out the nearly indiscernible differences between them, but you're not seeing the forest for the trees here. If you're EQ'ing 7-8db of bass into a headphone (which is a huuuuge, dramatic difference), and still not getting what you want, then a different amp will definitely not give you what you desire.

Sometimes you just need to take a step back and realize what this hobby is, and simplify your solution, instead of getting lost in the rabbit hole of audiophilia.

 

[szore]

So I've tried a whole bunch of open headphones now (most of Audeze, Focal, Abyss Diana V2, Rosson RAD-0, HD650 etc etc)

I'm generally coming from IEMs - some of you might have seen my reviews across the Portable Audio Forums, and no matter which headphone I try there's one glaring issue I find with it... It has this ultra diffused and "open sounding" bass which kind of works for instrumental performances, jazz, rock and the classic audiophile test tracks, but the moment I put on anything that actually has a bass THUMP it comes across more as "pum pum pum." From what a friend of mine explained it's an issue with me being super used to super high pressure bass that IEMs are capable of putting out, so when I try on headphones where you can't really hear any of the bass but can rather "feel" it, it comes across to me as practically having no bass whatsoever

I've tried super powerful sources, super high end ones etc etc - nothing is able to really resolve this for me. I'm currently running the Diana V2 off the LPGT into the Romi BX2 Plus and listening to Jungle's Jungle album (which is an album I love for its bass-heavy notes), and the Diana V2 isn't really able to transmit any of that whatsoever. It does great with live music as well as the classic audiophile tracks and recordings, but Idk... is that the only thing openbacks are really good for?

I've also tried EQing a whole bunch of bass into headphones, so I add something along the lines of 7 or 8 decibels of bass, and I still can't get any real bass presence and impact - once again it sounds extremely diffused, almost as if I'm listening to an IEM that I haven't been able to seal properly

Anyone have any tips of suggestions?

I just bought an Arya a few weeks ago, using it with Questyle 400i...I get tons of bass.

 

[bagwell359]

I've never found an open-back headphone that provides as much thump and low-end energy as a good pair of closed-back cans. This is a forte of headphones of the closed-back persuasion.

Obviously something like the HFM Ananda/HEX v2 while they have bass, lack thump AND impact. Dozens of more examples.

The original HFM HE-6 (4 and 6 screw) have a tremendous amount of impact and thump. LCD4 has some thump. Abyss Phi lots. Susvara. I mostly listen to the HFM HE-6se and HE-500 - with mods and EQ - but nothing silly in the bass (+2 db @ 30 for both).

I find closed back headphones to basically tamper with tonality, soundstage, instrument separation from about 300 Hz up. The ones that try to absorb sound are uneven - hence amusical in affect. What you really want is diffusion with some absorbing - but across 20-20 kHz, which is not likely to ever exist given the space available.

To me music lives in the mids, then the treble, and finally the bass (300 Hz down). If a listener has bass on top, and they like +5 or +10 output in the bass, then we are on the opposite side. I'm for musical accuracy, and not artificial boosting of frequencies to satisfy taste.

 

[florence]

Where's the bass? It's on the SR007mk2s paired with a KGSSHV amp. You'll see how beautiful sub and midbass could be achieved as an openback headphones.

 

[mvvRAZ]

Yeah I just received a 1266 Phi CC and I found the bass

 

[seamon]

Yeah I just received a 1266 Phi CC and I found the bass

Nothing compares to a 1266 at bass

 

[Malevolent]

Obviously something like the HFM Ananda/HEX v2 while they have bass, lack thump AND impact. Dozens of more examples.

The original HFM HE-6 (4 and 6 screw) have a tremendous amount of impact and thump. LCD4 has some thump. Abyss Phi lots. Susvara. I mostly listen to the HFM HE-6se and HE-500 - with mods and EQ - but nothing silly in the bass (+2 db @ 30 for both).

I find closed back headphones to basically tamper with tonality, soundstage, instrument separation from about 300 Hz up. The ones that try to absorb sound are uneven - hence amusical in affect. What you really want is diffusion with some absorbing - but across 20-20 kHz, which is not likely to ever exist given the space available.

To me music lives in the mids, then the treble, and finally the bass (300 Hz down). If a listener has bass on top, and they like +5 or +10 output in the bass, then we are on the opposite side. I'm for musical accuracy, and not artificial boosting of frequencies to satisfy taste.

Yes, we're definitely looking at the same issue from 2 different perspectives; I prefer a colored sound to my headphones and IEMs. In fact, I prefer closed-backs for general music listening, as I'm addicted to that "in-your-head" sound, the intimacy that's a hallmark of the prototypical closed headphone. I've heard many top-end headphones of the open-back variety, and I do agree that they produce a lot of quality, well-textured bass. However, for my preferences, and especially with the music I listen to (EDM), a closed-back headphone performs the job better.

 

[CTR640]

Amiron Home anyone?

 

[szore]

Yes, we're definitely looking at the same issue from 2 different perspectives; I prefer a colored sound to my headphones and IEMs. In fact, I prefer closed-backs for general music listening, as I'm addicted to that "in-your-head" sound, the intimacy that's a hallmark of the prototypical closed headphone. I've heard many top-end headphones of the open-back variety, and I do agree that they produce a lot of quality, well-textured bass. However, for my preferences, and especially with the music I listen to (EDM), a closed-back headphone performs the job better.

ALL you listen to is EDM? Exclusively?

 

[Malevolent]

ALL you listen to is EDM? Exclusively?

Nearly 3/4 of my music is EDM.

 

[Rob the Comic]

Another option you might want to look at is Sennheiser HD820, it has the sound of an open back, but a lot of the deep bass you'd get from a closed back (but not as much bass as some other closed backs). A good option if you want more deep bass than an open back but don't want to give up that "open soundstage" feel that open backs have.

Great recommendation here BUT they do leak more than Sennheiser would have you believe.

Rob