[Sonic Atrocity]

Quote:

Unless you're looking for a bass monster skip the D2000. I owned the D2000 for some time however upon receiving a JVC RX700 I realised how colored (sloppy bass, runs into mids) the sound was I sold them. I like to think of the RX700 as a well behaved D2000, very similar sound signature.

Again forgive me for possibly being annoying here but hasn't the Pro 900 also been referred to as a better D2000? Not saying you are wrong, just adding something to your statement.
 
And like I posted in another thread does it matter if one's cans are too bassy, too bright, mids stand out too much, etc? I mean, can't that stuff just be EQ'd out?
 
Edit: By "EQ'd out" I mean corrected by equalization.

 

[Poetik]

Quote:

Unless you're looking for a bass monster skip the D2000. I owned the D2000 for some time however upon receiving a JVC RX700 I realised how colored (sloppy bass, runs into mids) the sound was I sold them. I like to think of the RX700 as a well behaved D2000, very similar sound signature.

Daniel, I'd definitely give the Denons a try as you never know what's exactly your cup of tea until you've had it.  I've owned high end pairs of sennheisers (hd800) and beyers (t1) but they never gave me close to the immersion and musicality of a Denon.  I know I've beat this topic to death while discussing the Denon but I'm someone who has actually owned some high end dynamic headphones and I feel my experience can help you more than just saying "skip this headphone if you don't like bass".  Sure the Denons aren't perfect (no headphone is) but they do one hell of a job when you actually want to rock out to your music.  If you find the bass too sloppy then MarkL mod your cups and get a pair of J$ pads which will massively tighten it up.  If you find the highs are too piercing then you can get a soft wood pair of lawton audio wooden cups.  All I'm saying is please don't dismiss a headphone because there is one person recommending a pair of $40 headphones over them =/
 
Also any dac/amp combo that I recommended would suit the Denons perfectly.  I used to own the Nuforce HDP which does a WONDERFUL job with the Denons but I downsized to a NFB-11 which does a great job with the Denons as well.  I owned a NFB-12 too and felt that the NFB-11 did better with the Denons as it tightened up the bass and had a clarity in the highs that the NFB-12 didn't.  The NFB-12 meshes well with the Denons too but it felt more like a tube amp (warmer signature) and it had rolled off highs.  You don't really notice the roll off until you compare it with other gear though.
 
All in all I'd say go with the NFB-12 or NFB-11 as they are great starter dac/amps and use higher quality components plus a better dac than most of the competition.  I would wholeheartedly recommend the NFB-12 over the e7/e9 combo because the NFB-12 not only uses the better version of the e7 dac but it has TWO of them as well. 

 

[DanielofDenmark]

 
 
That MarkL mod seems a bit pricey for me
 
But I've definitely looked at the J$ pads, and they're fairly reasonably priced. I will go take a listen to the D2000's as soon as I can. But tell me Poetik, I know the IE8 is an IEM, but I own that as well. How does the D2000 sound compared to it? I'm not sure if you know as I can see you own the LA7000, but I guess it's worth a try asking.

 

[Poetik]

Quote:

 
 
That MarkL mod seems a bit pricey for me
 
But I've definitely looked at the J$ pads, and they're fairly reasonably priced. I will go take a listen to the D2000's as soon as I can. But tell me Poetik, I know the IE8 is an IEM, but I own that as well. How does the D2000 sound compared to it? I'm not sure if you know as I can see you own the LA7000, but I guess it's worth a try asking.

When I mentioned the MarkL mod I meant just dampening the back of your Denon cups which is only about $10 in sound deadening material.
 
I've owned a bunch of pairs of D2000's so I can tell you they are kinda similar.  I haven't heard an iem that quite matches the Denons but the closest I've heard is probably the TF10.  Compared to the ie8's I'd say that the D2000's reproduce the bass frequencies a bit more, the mids are a tad bit  recessed, wider sound stage, and the biggest difference is that the D2000 has a bit of treble to it.  I would go a little more in depth but the last pair of stock D2000's I had were from march of last year. 
 
All in all if you like the ie8's I'd say you'd appreciate the D2000's. 
 
 

 

[DanielofDenmark]

 
 
I'd like to say that I like the IE8's, but they never really satisfied me. If it's my source, it's very plausible. They keep falling out of my ear, but the sound is very nice. I don't think their bass-monsters, as some people seem to think, though. I'm not too much in to all of the expressions, but I do sort of understand most of it - I like to think anyways
 
As far as the previous comment with the musicality and immersion, I definitely don't want something too analytical, as I sometimes find that very boring. 
 
I will look into the cheap markL mod then - that's alot more afforable

 

[Poetik]

Quote:

 
 
I'd like to say that I like the IE8's, but they never really satisfied me. If it's my source, it's very plausible. They keep falling out of my ear, but the sound is very nice. I don't think their bass-monsters, as some people seem to think, though. I'm not too much in to all of the expressions, but I do sort of understand most of it - I like to think anyways
 
As far as the previous comment with the musicality and immersion, I definitely don't want something too analytical, as I sometimes find that very boring. 
 
I will look into the cheap markL mod then - that's alot more afforable

If the ie8's keep falling out for you then get a pack of these: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-EPEX10A-BLK-Replacement-Earbuds/dp/B001RB24UA
 
I use the medium green ones and they fit my ear almost perfectly. 
 
Also yea if you don't want something too analytical then I'd say the D2000 + NFB-12.  The NFB-12 is of warmer nature but it's still very detailed. 

 

[KneelJung]

DoD the Sparrow would be a great choice. I have the B version paired with some HF2's. That's a rig you could put together for around $600 if you could get your hands on a used pair of HF2's. If you look at the last couple of pages of the Sparrow thread, and perhaps you have, you will see that another Head Fier, Cee Tee compared the Sparrow very favorably to the Benchmark DAC. Anyway the Sparrow is a great amp DAC combo. Just my 2 cents

 

[DanielofDenmark]

I went to listen to the D2000's today - and it's safe to say I wasn't impressed. The bass seemed pretty good. It wasn't overpowering or anything, and it extended fairly well, although my source was without a doubt the limiting factor here. It just didn't impress me. I just felt like getting it over with. It wasn't bad - not at all. The comfort was good, but the build quality seemed sort of cheap. They were TOO light. 
 
The soundstage didn't seem too good, although I haven't yet heard a headphone that did particularly well in this area.
 
And I'm pretty sure I want an open 'phone now.
 

 

[Graphicism]

Quote:

The soundstage didn't seem too good, although I haven't yet heard a headphone that did particularly well in this area.
 

600 Ohm DT 880 - enough said

 

[DanielofDenmark]

I sent Steve Guttenberg a mail over CNET, and he recommended me the Bottlehead Crack and Sennheiser HD600 - can anyone else comment on that combination? I figure he knows what he's talking about, as he's probably heard more audio gear than the average audiophile, but I just wanted some more input. I haven't done any DIY projects, but quite a few of my teachers are electrical engineers, my girlfriends dad has built speakers and quite a few other things, and my dad used to be an electrician. That, and the fact that Bottlehead writes it's quite an easy build makes me very interested in trying, although I'm not quite sure.
 

 

[Graphicism]

˄ Bottlehead Crack and Sennheiser HD600 sounds like a nice neutral setup, albeit slightly recessed for my liking. I haven't heard the 600s with the crack however I owned the 580s (same thing) with a Singlepower PPX3 SLAM tube amp and they paired wonderfully. I think nikongod has one for sale in the FS forum, you should check that out.

 

[DanielofDenmark]

I've more or less decided to up my budget to around 800 bucks, preferably less, as I've gotten quite a liking to the HiFiMAN HE-4 and EF5 combo.
 
Are there any other suggestions in this price range?
 

 

[DanielofDenmark]

Any new recommendations here in prime time?
 

 

[mrspeakers]

A set of smeggy Thunderpants with a D12 or a DACPort will hit your new target in full ortho style, but seriously, after 6 pages, couldn't you have just posted your real number right away?  
 

 

[DanielofDenmark]

I'll definitely take a look at the Thunderpants... 
 
And yes, I probably could've written my "real budget" right away, and I actually did - I just wasn't expecting the extra amount of money that it seems I'm getting