Review: Denon AH-D2000 (my first review ever)

[Br777]

This is my first review ever. Go easy on me. I certainly dont claim any expertise in this area:

i know this review doesn't fit the standard process, but this is the best way i can describe my experience.

my sig explains my setup
i should especially note that i use eq to "flatten the peaks" i will include this justification in the review. I used to be anti - eq

Sound:

When i first received thees cans, i found them to be a major upgrade from my hd555's everything sounded better, clearer, more defined and separated and yet oddly unbearable at the same time

i soon i found myself getting headaches and needing to listen at very low volumes to tolerate these cans

i discovered the how to eq your headphones thread and thats when these headphones began to shine

Before i eq'd the headphones to remove the gigantic peaks that hurt my ears, along with some other minor peaks, everything i listened to, from dave matthews to paul simon, to Esperanza spalding (jazz) to mozart, to tool, to the head fi open your ears cd sounded like the singers were singing into a coffee can, the bass was a bit muddy, and there was very present hissy sound in every song.

i should stress that im not exaggerating or inflating my experience, the coffee can vocal sound was really strong and the symbols were hurting my ears

its funny because i didnt really realize what was going on until i got them eq'd correctly and listened to them that way for a few days. when i would ab back to the old non-eq i literally had to switch it back to eq'd sound immediately. It was that uncomfortable. it literally hurt.

attached is an illustration to show you exactly how these cans sounded to me before i eq'd them - i have inverted my eq settings to show you the peaks i heard. imagine setting an otherwise flat sounding can with these giant peaks. you can imagine how bad that would sound. yuk

However, once I flattened the sound, I really enjoyed these cans.
they are not the best i have ever heard, but they are the best ive ever owned.
i think for the money the sound is phenomenal. They pretty accurately reproduce recordings.
The bass can be a bit muddy at times around 50-100hz but if i pull it out with the eq, i notice a difference in the way the rest of the mids are represented.

something in the mids is a bit weak, no matter how i configure the eq. i cant put my finger on it. i feel like there are some resonations happening somewhere that is muddying up the sound, probably from the bass being a bit overbearing

i feel the sound stage is pretty good, the instrument separation is also pretty good, but i know in better headphones, this improves, sometimes drastically. Again for the money, i think the average to above average listener would be very happy owning these, and if for some reason i could never upgrade again, i would not be terribly disappointed. These are definitely an above average can IMO.

for many reasons i listed above, and the fact that they wouldnt be driven correctly, I would not listen to these on my ipod touch unless i ran it through my amp. they just dont sound good.

Comfort:
great, i often leave these on without thinking about it long after i turn my music off. they are light and dont clamp your head like some headphones ive used. theyre soft and smoothe on the head

Looks:
well i certainly wouldnt wear them outside but otherwise i think they look great. they look and feel very sturdy

Build Quality:
Im pretty confident i could stand up raise my arms to shoulder level and drop these on my wood floor (i'm 6 foot 3) and they probably would not sustain any damage, though im not going to test that theory
i especially like the cable. yes its really bulky, but no matter how you rub against it or move it, it does not produce resonance or sound into the cans, which so many headphones do and drive me crazy.
really, everything feels high quality and sturdy about these cans


well this was a quick and dirty review, and its surely full of spelling errors, but here it is

for the price i paid ($245) I am very happy with these cans. The fact that i had to eq them so much (or at all for that matter) definately bothers me, but once eq'd they really sound great. i would give them an overall 7.5 out of 10 and would recommend them for home use to anyone in the mid level price and quality bracket. I can certainly understand why they are a very popular choice at this price level.

That said, i plan on selling them and buying some he5's...

 

[stang]

Thanks for the review

I am personally still eying the Denon D2000 and D5000

It sounds like you could benefit from the MarkL mod though

Just try adding some dynamat to the cups and driver (there is a thread somewhere around here). I wouldn't bother trying to stuff the earpads, I'd rather buy the JMoney pads

 

[Nachkebia]

What is the attached image? :O

 

[tdockweiler]

I basically agree with most things you said. I disliked them enough on the first day that I put them in the box and shipped them back within six hours. The bass was unbearable for me even after changing the EQ settings. Yes, I do have an amp. Overall, for $230 they're are a poor value unless you don't mind paying a lot extra for comfort. It's just amazing to me that the Shure's are only $140 and sound better then a $230 headphone.

These were an "upgrade" from my SRH-840 because the SRH-840 are a bit too big for my head. I was also curious how good the D2000's were.

The SRH-840 to my ears are way better and I'm going to keep them. So far the only thing that is better is the Triple Fi 10 IEM. The sound quality seems VERY similar, but the 840 has a little more bass, but only slightly.

I've also tried the AKG 701 and Beyer DT-990, but ended up selling them. Same with the HD-650 which I hated.

Have you tried the SRH-840? It's worth checking into. Despite the comfort issues, I love mine.

7.5 out of 10 seems extremely low for such an expensive headphone. I'm not surprised you're getting rid of them. So far i've returned three pairs of headphones in the last three months. Amazon probably hates me!

 

[Ham Sandwich]

You aren't the first to complain that the D2000 highs are harsh or uncomfortable. I don't hear that in the highs, but others do so there is something going on up there that affects some people but not me. I'm not immune to harsh highs. I had a listen to a 600 ohm DT990 and the highs (cymbals especially) were uncomfortable to me. But the highs on the D2000 are very comfortable for me. Only complaint is sibilance can sometimes be accentuated, but never enough to be what I consider bothering.

The trick with the D2000 for making the bass less muddy or overdone is to boost the mids, not cut the mids or cut any of the bass. Boost the section of mids that are recessed and bass evens out some. The bass is still a bit loose, but that somewhat loose bass also goes deep (much deeper than any of my other headphones) so I live with it and like it.

I'll attach an image of an EQ curve that I use. It's simple. I don't bother correcting any peaks in the higher frequencies because nothing up there bothers me. I just fix the mids and I'm happy. Quite a different EQ curve than you're using. (I realize your EQ image is flipped vertically so to show the peaks you heard that needed to be corrected for)

And be careful about wishing for the HE-5. I heard one at a local meet and instantly scratched it off my want list. Mids were nice but there was a peak in the highs near the sibilance range that I found bothering. I also want more bass than they deliver (both in terms of fullness, punch, and deepness). My idea of proper bass is D2000 style bass just tighter and more controlled.

 

[Ham Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdockweiler /img/forum/go_quote.gif I basically agree with most things you said. I disliked them enough on the first day that I put them in the box and shipped them back within six hours. The bass was unbearable for me even after changing the EQ settings.

You didn't give them enough time. I'm not a proponent of extended burn in. But the D2000 do change after the first 10ish to 20ish hours. When I first got my D2000 I listened to them and immediately thought I had made a mistake. The bass was too much and taking over the sound. I listened to some Pink Floyd which is a ritual I do with every new headphone. Then I put them under a pillow and let them burn in playing Infected Mushroom overnight. Came back to them the next day and the bass was different. It was better. No longer as overdone. Something changed.

 

[plonter]

thanks for the review. that's what EQ is meant for, no headphone/speaker is perfect and need correction, some headphones (like the v shaped denon)need it more than others that's for sure.
I never heard the D2000 and i am very interested to know how much the sound resembles the D5000. I love my D5000 sound as it is through my system, they also have those treble peaks but only in some recordings so it is not so bad, i am also a grado listener so I can handle those peaks with no problems. the bass also can be overbearing sometimes but again,only in some bass heavy recordings, in neutral or bass shy reordings it sounds on the spot for me.