Should I get the Denon AH D5000?

[JonnyShaw]

Hi
 
I have been looking for a really nice closed headphone and been considering the following:
 
Ultrasone HiFi 780
Denon 2000
Audio Technica A900
 
I've not really come to any conclusion as many people have come back
quoting various problems with the mentioned headphones. I'm not really
sure about spending £400 on headphones but reviews on the D5000 seem to
be really good. I pretty much live in headphones and music is sort of my life.
I really am starting to believe this purchase will leave me thinking what have
I been missing. If it does make me feel like this then £400 is a small price to pay.
I'm sure I'll notice the difference as my previous headphones have been sennheiser HD201. I'm not a sound engineer and this headphones are purely for pleasure for me.
I know the Denon 2000 headphones are very neutral which is great. But I want a pleasurable sounding headphone. Not a headphone for sound monitoring.
I do believe in the theory of buy once buy right. I can afford £400 and if it is going to further my expierence of enjoying music then it is a good thing.
 
What do you guys think?
Should I buy the Denon 5000's?
Are they good for enjoyable listening?
 
I like all sorts of music
 
I spose I could say I predominantly like
 
Electro house/ Drum n Bass/ Indie Rock/ Dubstep/ Reggae/ Hip Hop/ Funk/ Soul
 
I hear these headphones are good for bass which is a biggie for me.
I am truley missing bass atm with the HD201's haha
 
Any opinions are much  appreciated
 
Thanks
 
Jon

 

[NapalmK]

Would you consider an amp with these? I'd highly recommend doing so if you go the Denon route. As for the D5000s I haven't heard them but the D2000s do a great job (not what I'd call neutral though) and you can always mod them to the level or close to the level of the D5000 as the only differences are the cable and wood cups. You might want to check out the mod in my sig.
 
I find the Ultrasones to be very good for the genres of music you listed. They do tend to be a love them or hate them can so if you do choose those buy them from a dealer with a good return policy.
 
What's your budget?

 

[1Time]

OK, so what equipment will you be plugging your new headphones into? 

 

[JonnyShaw]

Hey! Alright Napalm good to see you commenting one of my posts again. I will get there finally in purchasing some sound equipment hhaha

 
1Time, I am definately new to this and in all honesty I'm not sure what amp I will be using. I plan to run my headphones through my computer and also plan to purchase a new MP3 player. I have a lot of FLAC albums and feel it would be good to get something to get the best out of them.
 
My current HD201 got stamped on by a maid while on holiday and is now in bits

Actually my girlfriend broke my old school ipod about 2 or so months before aswell. On looking for a headphone replacement I decided life is too short and plan on throwing a bit of cash at my music hobby ( also keeping them off the floor and not letting my girlfriend anywhere near them). I do feel abit stupid and naive that I cant give direct answers to your question about equipment I will purchase. But we all have to start somewhere. If any of you guys can help me learn what I dont know and give me some advice on what sort of set up I should be looking at please do. I'm sure I dont know, what I dont know and there's many things I'm not considering so fire away haha

 
Thanks
 
Jon

 

[JonnyShaw]

Ok, I've done a bit more research and see that I will either need a Amp or a quality soundcard.
If I'm running music off a PC harddrive through an amp to the phones, wont I need a quality soundcard as well?

 
I've seen people arguing about soundcards and amps and I'm trying to make heads or tails of it.
 
Jon

 

[revolink24]

The D5000 is great, but I just can't see the justification of its price over that of the D2000. 
 
If you are looking at sound cards, I suggest you look at this thread where I described what a DAC is and the benefits of an external DAC. I highly recommend you get an external DAC/Amp for your headphones, such as the Total Bithead (www.headphone.com). 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/501071/realtek-alc888-to-get-the-best-sound-output#post_6764444
 
That said, the two headphones you listed that I've heard (the AT and the Denon) both worked pretty decently without an amp. 

 

[JonnyShaw]

Revolink24 that information is really useful. Thank you!!!!
This stuff can be really confusing to newbies.
 
I'm going to do a bit more research but from what I can tell the

HeadRoom Total BitHead

should do the job. Or at least an external DAC of some sort.
 
So that will completely bypass my terrible onboard soundcard
providing a more improved sound quality?
 
Thanks again
 
Jon
 

 

[JonnyShaw]

"So that will completely bypass my terrible onboard soundcard
providing a more improved sound quality?"
 
ahh right just found out it does

 

[Dev Avidon]

Quote:

Revolink24 that information is really useful. Thank you!!!!
This stuff can be really confusing to newbies.
 
I'm going to do a bit more research but from what I can tell the

HeadRoom Total BitHead

should do the job. Or at least an external DAC of some sort.
 
So that will completely bypass my terrible onboard soundcard
providing a more improved sound quality?
 
Thanks again
 
Jon
 

Yes it will, and I'm all about people splitting their budget between a decent dac/amp combo and headphones, because good headphones + bad amp/source = huge disappointment.  Take a look at the Fischer FA-003s as well; my personal favorite closed shells, and they'll leave you a reasonable chunk of change to drop on the dac/amp.

 

[Ham Sandwich]

How does the FA-003 sound compare to the Denon sound?  Does it give a similar "full" sound in the bass like the Denon?  Do they go low and play sub-bass?
 
The FA-003 and FA-004 have me very curious.  I'll likely be trying them.

 

[JonnyShaw]

 
Quote:

Yes it will, and I'm all about people splitting their budget between a decent dac/amp combo and headphones, because good headphones + bad amp/source = huge disappointment.  Take a look at the Fischer FA-003s as well; my personal favorite closed shells, and they'll leave you a reasonable chunk of change to drop on the dac/amp.

What do you guys think is a good combo to go with the D5000?
I've seen this package:
http://www.headphone.com/packages/micro-budget-audiophile-package.php
Which looks great. But I live in England and buy ing from them will cost millions on international shipping

 
Also is there a quality difference between portable and non portable DAC's?
 
Thanks
 
Jon

 

[Dev Avidon]

That's a good price for that package; the micro-amp I've heard good things about and that's a fair bit of savings.  There's always going to be a quality difference between pretty much every DAC.  Basically DACs can be about as good as you want to pay for them to be.  I forget that the pound puts you in a very nice position in terms of buying power.  Basically 800 US is about you want to spend, which puts you at a point where you can do a lot of good things.  Heck, that probably puts you in the range of separates if you want to go that route.  Are you going to want this to be a portable setup?  Usually a home amp/dac/dac-amp combo is going to be a better unit for the money than price-point comparable portable all-in-ones (gross generalization, but for the most part true).  To answer your other question, the FA-003s are very neutral phones (slight mid-treble jump, but that irons out after about 500 hours or so).  They have great LF extension, but they are not going to pummel your brain with bass.  Neither a bass-light phone or a bass heavy phone in my mind.  Bass feels appropriate.  As a point of full disclosure, I am most certainly NOT a basshead, so take my opinion in that regard with a grain of salt.

 

[JonnyShaw]

I'm not sure the FA-003's would be ideal for me. I want more of HiFi pleasurable headphone. The FA-003 seems from reviews to be more of a studio monitor headphone. I do love bass. I dont know if I could be called a basshead. I like Electro house prodominatly although I'm a big rock and indie fan. To  fair I'm a it of a bass head I love Dub Step which is possibly the most bass heavy genre I know.
 
I just worked out the price of those headphones with the amp and it turns out it's £530
The headphones alone over here are £400 and seperately the amp works out at £219 so a saving of £89 if I was to buy seperately.
I've emailed them to see exactally how much international shipping will cost.

 

[JonnyShaw]

Right got a reply. Anyone who's interested in ordering from Headroom from the UK here's the shipping policy
 
Hello Jonathan,
Thanks for your HeadPhone.com/ HeadRoom inquiry.
International/overseas shipping cost for any HeadRoom package between 0-4lbs is APPROXIMATELY $40usd via our contracted fully-tracked UPS Air delivery service -- Hence, one may typically order multiple items for that single shipping charge; Expect approximately 3-5 business day delivery time to UK from the date of shipment for officially "in stock" items. Please be advised this mailing fee only covers shipping charges for international express air delivery and does not include your particular country's importation taxes, VAT fees, and/or electronic product surcharges, if any.
 
For me I dont reckon that's going to be great. I have no idea how much tax will cost. I know I can get the headphones over here with tax inc and free post for £400. Which is still alot of money and my friends think I'm mad for spending that much on sound gear in the first place. I reckon I may buy the headphones and leave the amp . Use my OnBoaRd SouNdCaRd!!!!! ahhhhh!!!
 
At least for the time been anyway.

 

[Dev Avidon]

I would definitely not skip the amp if I were you.  Headroom is certainly not your only option, nor is it the cheapest way to get headphones.  But running a power hungry phone like the D5000s through your internal soundcard is not going to be pretty.  I would say you're better off looking into a phone like the Ultrasone 780s or the D2000s and spend the rest on a decent DAC/AMP.  Your sound card is not going to be able to do good phones like that any justice.