surprisingly light to wear despite the 460g official figure suggests otherwise. the build quality is superb! the mmcx cable connectors locked with a reassuring "click" and felt very sturdy. the thick 6.3mm cable is very soft and easy to manage. the quality feels much better than most headphones, at least better than ATH-ADX5000, AWAS and AWKT to me.
just listened to a few songs so far and the sound is very lively and there is quite a lot of treble (and also mid-bass) energy. i think many will wish for less treble output, maybe even less mid-bass . . . no idea how much this is related to the air studio tuning. this sounds quite different than most vocal biased cans from ATH but also entertaining for certain music genres. contrary to the sensitivity suggests (94dB/mW @ 45Ω vs 98dB/w @ 60Ω), it's fairly easy to drive and i've to dial down the vol by quite a lot when swapping out d8000pro with this new toy (vol. at ~10 o'clock vs 12 o'clock at low gain from A90).
btw, the s/n # on my unit is 1192. seems sitting in the warehouse for a long, long time already. at just ¥123,000, definitely a better buy than awas/awkt or MDR-Z1r to me if you're not looking for a closed back.
I have them both. To me, both have incredible tonal balance with very good to great bass quantity and quality. Both are very nicely balanced across the frequency spectrum. The difference between the two headphones is that the D8000 Pro's are faster with a better transient response. The D8000 Pro's also have more air around the notes and a better sense of space improving instrument separation and clarity. Comfort goes to the SE-Master 1. The are lighter with less clamp force.
i adjusted the vol by listening only and didnt volume match them so please take my comments with a grain of salt. i felt like the pioneer has more bass attack but relatively recessed mid. the d8000 pro sounds more airy to me on the other hand. se-master1 wins all the way for wearing comfort. built quality is comparable between these two TOTL cans.
but for the current prices, i wont hesitate to get se-master1 instead of d8000pro.
i adjusted the vol by listening only and didnt volume match them so please take my comments with a grain of salt. i felt like the pioneer has more bass attack but relatively recessed mid. the d8000 pro sounds more airy to me on the other hand. se-master1 wins all the way for wearing comfort. built quality is comparable between these two TOTL cans.
but for the current prices, i wont hesitate to get se-master1 instead of d8000pro.
Sorry for asking, but the last few discussions has been on pads.
What kind of headphones are the SE-Master 1s?
In Japan, there's still a couple of NOS units remaining.
For reference, I listen classical mainly on the HD800S.
Sorry for asking, but the last few discussions has been on pads.
What kind of headphones are the SE-Master 1s?
In Japan, there's still a couple of NOS units remaining.
For reference, I listen classical mainly on the HD800S.
i didnt listen to classical much. but the SE-Master1 sounds quite dynamic and bassy, tilting towards D9200 (but much more comfortable) much more than HD800s on the scale. I'm no sure that it will be a good match with classical. just my guess
IMO, the Pioneer need a lightly fenestrated set of pads. I did not enjoy mine for a few years, they sat on the headphone stand, most of the time unused. Then I changed the pads to some iBasso ones, that are lightly fenestrated and they lost the overbearing warmth (still have a normal amount) and heaviness to the sound. They are much more open now. more transparent, better highs. just better and a high quality headphone now. I wish I had done it years ago.
Curious about the ear pads. I'm in need of a set. Please share where you got them . I'm listening to mine now on the Burson Soloist 3X GT/RME ADI-2 combo and the sound is stunning.
i bought my from Rakuten japan and using a forwarder to ship to my address. i believe many forwarders are willing to ship to UK but not sure if the overall cost still make sense after factoring in import duties. those forwarders regularly offer discount due to points accumulated from rakuten transactions. wait for those 7% or 10% discount coming up every 2 weeks or so if you're interested.
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