[Sound Eq]

 
Gotcha, yah that should have been obvious. My bad. The D7000 is a gorgeous sounding headphone I thought. I did slightly drop the treble via parametric EQ, but overall from memory the treble was very nice, well extended but not piercing.

i am really wondering which to buy?

 

[Sonic Defender]

  i am really wondering which to buy?

Well, the D7000 can be expensive, certainly more than a Z7. If you want rich warmth and strong bass I'm not sure the Vibro is the best choice. It is very nice, quite clean, but for me the bass is a little light and could use more impact. Of course that depends on the music you like quite a bit. In recent years I listen to a fair amount of electronic music and drum and bass like stuff. The Vibro will be excellent for vocal and acoustic music I feel as it is clean and detailed so micro details seem to be present. The Vibro would also be a moderate load to drive. I found through my E12 on full at high gain it wasn't quite loud enough for my taste, but I do listen quite loud it seems so your perspective may be different.
 
I can't comment on the others, the Z7 I will have on Tuesday so hopefully I can comment then. The NAD HP50 might be worth looking into as well. I had the HP50 and had it just been for home use, I would have kept it, but as a portable which is foolishly how I intended to use it I found it was a little bulky and looked so odd that I was self-conscious wearing it in public. But it did sound very good with an overall warm balance and enough bass power to be worthwhile. It is a well regarded headphone so maybe you should look into it? If money wasn't a consideration the D7000 I think will top them all as it is a very nice sound signature and frankly I wish I hadn't sold mine.

 

[moriez]

 
Absolutely, and for the record I spent $500 on a headphone cable, and I do one day intend to do the testing. My post wasn't aimed at you, or your beliefs on a personal level, but as I think my post was clear about I usually make a counter post when strong claims of massive improvement are made. That isn't done to be an ass, or to challenge or demean others, I just think it is important that less experienced users be allowed to look at both sides of the spectrum. I'm sorry if it seemed to be personal, certainly not my intent.

Nice. We need more of that in my opinion. Keep doing what you're doing. 

 

  I notice there is very little padding on the headband at the top, and none on lower sides of the headband; there is no padding for the first two inches up from the silver sliders. I have a very early version (serial 0126). Is there more padding on more recent serial numbers?

 
The serial of mine is 10.000 up from yours and by your description the padding is the same. 3-4cm of 'concrete' from the sliders up and just softly padded of about 1.5cm in-between.

 

[mangler]

i was thinking out the below which has the great bass, warmth and rich full sound signature without any irritating piercing highs

1- audeze closed el8
2- sony z7
3- zmf vibro x
4- oppo pm3
5- denon 7000
6- jvc 1000

If you're considering the d7000, you might want to add the fostex th600 to the list. There are some pretty good reviews of them here on head-fi. I've owned it and the th900, and the th600 is probably 90%of the TH900, but costs substantially less. Fwiw, even though I love my z7, if I could only have one, id keep the th900. Even so, I don't plan to get rid of my z7

 

[moriez]

 
I would say the Vibro has bass similar to the DT 880 in terms of quantity and impact. I would beyond crushed if the Z7 isn't significantly harder hitting in the bass. 

 
Interesting. If what you say is true I can skip the Vibro. It's been a while since I heard the 880 but I remember it was too weak in the bass department for my taste. 
 
Did you ever hear the FAD Pandora VI? It for sure trounces the Z7's impact. Not sure about quantity yet.

 

[TMRaven]

Z7 certainly has a full sound without irritating highs.  I don't think its bass is all that powerful or impactful, but it is bloated enough to make the Z7 sound overly warm.  Honestly it's a good non-fatiguing signature, but it's not that high fidelity.
 
Combined with its good comfort, it's a good sit-back-and-relax type of deal.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Good point, the TH600 would be a good candidate as well, and when they come up used here the price is certainly attractive. I have often wanted to grab a set, but I would be better served to save a little more and get the TH900 as I am very interested as it is supposed to be essentially a more articulate D7000 that has superior separation which was the biggest D7000 issue for me.

 

[moriez]

 

i was thinking out the below which has the great bass, warmth and rich full sound signature without any irritating piercing highs

1- audeze closed el8
2- sony z7
3- zmf vibro x
4- oppo pm3
5- denon 7000
6- jvc 1000

If you're considering the d7000, you might want to add the fostex th600 to the list. There are some pretty good reviews of them here on head-fi. I've owned it and the th900, and the th600 is probably 90%of the TH900, but costs substantially less. Fwiw, even though I love my z7, if I could only have one, id keep the th900. Even so, I don't plan to get rid of my z7

 
TH600 highs are quite hot to my ears. Perhaps with the right amp it's not a thing but compared to the Z7 it's quite the difference.

 

[Sonic Defender]

   
Interesting. If what you say is true I can skip the Vibro. It's been a while since I heard the 880 but I remember it was too weak in the bass department for my taste. 
 
Did you ever hear the FAD Pandora VI? It for sure trounces the Z7's impact. Not sure about quantity yet.

Yes, you would likely skip the Vibro as it is not very bassy. It is a very nice sound signature, and lots seem to love it, but at this point I'm looking for a more fun, bass centric (but not bloated) sound. I know the Z7 isn't a bass cannon despite the driver size, but it should be a solid performer in this area. Never did hear the Pandora, might have to find one as several people seem to really think it is a worthy headphone.

 

[Sonic Defender]

   
TH600 highs are quite hot to my ears. Perhaps with the right amp it's not a thing but compared to the Z7 it's quite the difference.

Oh yes, smooth treble was a stated criterion for the OP, keep focusing on the bass! I swear I'm not a full-on basshead, but I have to come to grips with the fact that I like the fun signatures almost as much as the neutral, and I think in recent years even more. The music I like (wide variety) all benefit from some grunt power down low.

 

[Sonic Defender]

  Z7 certainly has a full sound without irritating highs.  I don't think its bass is all that powerful or impactful, but it is bloated enough to make the Z7 sound overly warm.  Honestly it's a good non-fatiguing signature, but it's not that high fidelity.
 
Combined with its good comfort, it's a good sit-back-and-relax type of deal.

Well, that is a tad disappointing if it plays out that way, but I won't be shocked either. Frankly, at this price point I can't expect sonic perfection can I? As well, I don't mind having that fun signature around and if the bloating isn't too bad I can likely clean it up with some gentle parametric EQ cuts here and there. That is the one use in my mind for an EQ, to cut, not add.

 

[moriez]

 
Never did hear the Pandora, might have to find one as several people seem to really think it is a worthy headphone.

 
I highly recommend it. Makes the Z7 unworthy. For electronic music that is.
 
Comfort is a b###h though. 

 

[Sound Eq]

so if money was not an issue, would u all agree for rich warm not fatiguing signature with great bass with good soundstage the denon 7000 is the way to go or the th900
 
i dont remember exactly but i read somewhere both has piercing highs
 
all i want is a real upgrade to my audeze lcd2 rev2 to work with my ifi micro dsd and alo mk3

 

[dweaver]

so if money was not an issue, would u all agree for rich warm not fatiguing signature with great bass with good soundstage the denon 7000 is the way to go or the th900

i dont remember exactly but i read somewhere both has piercing highs

all i want is a real upgrade to my audeze lcd2 rev2 to work with my ifi micro dsd and alo mk3

I can't talk about th900 but I did own the D7000 and the Z7 has gentler treble and more balanced mids. I also prefer the Z7 bass over the D7000. I do wonder if the it will be an upgrade over the LCD2 though as that is a pretty high end headphone. The Z7 will be more comfortable though as it will a lot lighter and the Z7 won't require as much to drive it effectively.

 

[Allanmarcus]

  so if money was not an issue, would u all agree for rich warm not fatiguing signature with great bass with good soundstage the denon 7000 is the way to go or the th900
 
i dont remember exactly but i read somewhere both has piercing highs
 
all i want is a real upgrade to my audeze lcd2 rev2 to work with my ifi micro dsd and alo mk3

 
"piercing highs" is a very loaded term. I prefer brighter headphones like beyer and grado, but for some music the sony's are very good. Modern pop. like Bastille, Meghan Trainor, Chrlii XCX, Ariana Grande, sounds better to me on the Z7s. Classic rock, Queen, Grateful Dead, Dire Straights, Bruce Hornsby, all sound better on the DT-770s, but certainly sound smoother, boomier, and less detailed (probably just less bright) on the Z7s. For classical I prefer the open grados. 
 
There is no "one headphone to rule them all", unless possibly you get into the stax or abyss or high end audeze. Even then, different music, moods, and location may dictate different headphones.
 
If you want a smooth, warm, thick, boomy (when needed) sound in a relatively comfortable headphone, the Sony Z7's might be for you. 
 
Also, "u" ain't a word We don't charge by the letter here, so you can use all three letters for that word! :