The Closed-Back Headphone Thread (Plus Comparisons & Reviews)

[arielext]

This morning I listened to my Magni's, while I am used to the LSA HP-1 planars by now. The Magni's present a warm sound and unlike the Gjallarhorns you don't have to bend or press the headband in order to get the best sound. Their sound doesn't change if you bring the drivers closer or further away from your ears; again unlike the Gjallarhorns.
I'm still so impressed with how open sounding the Magni's actually are. It's very easy to forget that these are closed back.
For those looking for a cheaper Magni might I suggest taking a look at the LSA HP-3 ( HP-3 Nova | Underwood HiFi ) at $599 shipped world wide using fedex express these are a steal. Unlike Magni you are unable to choose your own style in wood and finish but the HP-3 is a bit cheaper; even during the black friday sales.

 

[che15]

Hello head fi
I have to make a post because recently I have found a pair of headphones that have simply stump any other headphone that I have owned or listen to. No don’t kill me immediately!
It is just my opinion I am not saying they are the best closed headphones ever made, all I am saying is that they are my favorites.
I have listened to headphones from almost every single brand out there and many were their upper models just so you know about my experience with headphones.
They include: stax, Mr Speakers, seenheiser , audeze, hi fi man, beyerdaynamics, ultrasone, Sony, kennerton, grado, ZMF ,audio technica, focal, and others.
I have to say that the LSA HP-2 driven by my old but lovely Apex peak/volcano driven by my innuos Zen MK3 and PS audio direct stream is simply my favorite most fun and impressive headphone sound that my ears have had the pleasure to experience.
The sound is the most detailed, without sounding analytically boring. The best bass I have ever heard and yes that is correct audeze fans, not even close. The bass is deep........, tight, controlled and the most detailed bass I have experienced on headphones. The HP-2 are neutral sounding, highs are not too sharp or rolled off they play what the recording tell them to play. The mids are so detailed, female vocals are a experience all on their own.
I had to share this because I think people need to give these a try, they are the first and only giant killer that I have found in the headphone world. They are much better than my beloved Fostex TH-900 as well.
I could just go on and on and on about these.
If u have any questions please fire away!!
Forgot to mention they are only $799!!!!!!!

 

[Malevolent]

Hello head fi
I have to make a post because recently I have found a pair of headphones that have simply stump any other headphone that I have owned or listen to. No don’t kill me immediately!
It is just my opinion I am not saying they are the best closed headphones ever made, all I am saying is that they are my favorites.
I have listened to headphones from almost every single brand out there and many were their upper models just so you know about my experience with headphones.
They include: stax, Mr Speakers, seenheiser , audeze, hi fi man, beyerdaynamics, ultrasone, Sony, kennerton, grado, ZMF ,audio technica, focal, and others.
I have to say that the LSA HP-2 driven by my old but lovely Apex peak/volcano driven by my innuos Zen MK3 and PS audio direct stream is simply my favorite most fun and impressive headphone sound that my ears have had the pleasure to experience.
The sound is the most detailed, without sounding analytically boring. The best bass I have ever heard and yes that is correct audeze fans, not even close. The bass is deep........, tight, controlled and the most detailed bass I have experienced on headphones. The HP-2 are neutral sounding, highs are not too sharp or rolled off they play what the recording tell them to play. The mids are so detailed, female vocals are a experience all on their own.
I had to share this because I think people need to give these a try, they are the first and only giant killer that I have found in the headphone world. They are much better than my beloved Fostex TH-900 as well.
I could just go on and on and on about these.
If u have any questions please fire away!!
Forgot to mention they are only $799!!!!!!!

The LSA HP-2 Ultra is a rebadge of the Kennerton Gjallarhorn GH50, isn't it? If so, I can't say I disagree with you. The bass performance of the Gjallarhorn is very impressive, indeed. In comparison with some of the stalwarts in the high-end realm, such as the Vérité Closed, the AH-D9200, the TH900 Mk2, and the LCD-XC, the Kennerton headphone makes a good account of its capabilities in the lower registers. Great texture, solid and engaging punch, tangible rumble.. it's all there.

Whilst I don't find its treble exceptional in any way, the Gjallarhorn is a good statement-of-intent from Kennerton; they've demonstrated their ability to create a headphone with truly-fantastic bass, a solid and enduring midrange, and a pleasant tonality. From this fundamental point, the stage is set for better things in the future.

 

[Terriero]

Today I saw this in the classifieds... (Sony MDR R10 - 8500 € - located in France). If someone can afford them and send to @Malevolent to compare it would be marvellous...

But you, Malevolent, don't think in that crazy thing... Or better be preparing that dog house (or buy one) or, like someone said in this thread, the divorce lawyer...

 

[Chris Kaoss]

Nice! Enjoy!

I don't want to cause you to spend more money, but the headphones may look better on traditional wooden "omega" stands. Just saying..

No no no.
I don't like the omegas.
As a side note, they may look better on an omega, but best on my head.

Have to get used to the D9200, but what i did noticed instantly is the faster bass compared to the D7200.
Frozen Crown sounds much better on the D9200.
Aaaand, it doesn't work well with the FAW Noir Hybrid for me. To much highs.
From my brief listening, the cable of the SEM5 does a better job.
But that's a bit early to judge so far.
Will have a look/ listen with the cables of D9200/ D7200/ SEM5 and the Noir Hybrid.

 

[Terriero]

No no no.
I don't like the omegas.
As a side note, they may look better on an omega, but best on my head.

Have to get used to the D9200, but what i did noticed instantly is the faster bass compared to the D7200.
Frozen Crown sounds much better on the D9200.
Aaaand, it doesn't work well with the FAW Noir Hybrid for me. To much highs.
From my brief listening, the cable of the SEM5 does a better job.
But that's a bit early to judge so far.
Will have a look/ listen with the cables of D9200/ D7200/ SEM5 and the Noir Hybrid.

That's good to know... Another metal follower with a 9200. I didn't know that italian band... I'm going to listen now when the marvellous Theatre of Tragedy - "And when he falleth" ends

Edit: I listened several "Frozen Crown" tracks on youtube (poor quality), I loved the guitars but didn't like the voice of the singer woman... I was amazed by the woman with the electric guitar. Thanks for sharing.

 

[trellus]

Congratulations! What was the listed price?

It appears that the AH-D9200 fan club is growing at a steady pace!

By the way, here's a question for everyone - What have you purchased this Black Friday?

LCD-X, Koss ESP/95X, iSine 20, Amiron Home, I think that was it... hmmm, nothing, closed, but I’ve already got plenty of those

 

[TSelanne]

Being totally isolated is not that much fun, even at the basic level: someone enters your room and you don't even notice until they tap you on your shoulder. Scares the hell out of me, so no noise cancelling for me at home/office settings. On the go its also a must to have some passive isolation since I don't want to ruin my ears by turning up the volume to drown out my surroundings.

Some isolation is good, and I want that. Both directions actually, if I'm in the same room I fully understand that its unnerving to hear faint music coming out of my headphones, just loud enough to be hard to ignore.

The D9200 works quite well in that department btw. I don't need more isolation actually.

Speaking of Beyerdynamic, they offer a special variant of their DT770, the DT770M, which does not have the small holes of the normal version. It's sound is per their own description not as good as the normal version, but it isolates way more -- intended as a monitor for drummers. The set you mentioned may employ a similar technique I guess.

Funny you say this. While trying some of the more isolating HP's (like Mr.Speakers & Stellia), I noticed that when I'm humming or singing along, I couldn't hear myself. That was kind of annoying actually. Compared with the d9200 and TH900-MKII's, I can hear myself just a little. Not that hearing my voice is worthwhile for anyone, but it's nice to know I'm not shouting at the top of my lungs when wearing either of the latter two (as their isolation is pretty poor.... but I suppose that's a silver lining right?).

I couldn't agree more about being freaked out wearing a solid isolating pair. Sometimes when testing/listening I'd have to have put my back to the wall to avoid jumping out of my chair when my wife would come in the room and tap me on the shoulder.....creepy!

Thank you for the Crinacle link on the MSR7B, TSelanne. Crinacle appears to have added quite a few new headphones to his graphing tool since my last visit there!

https://crinacle.com/graphs/headphones/graphtool/

Since I just got my DT-770 and M50X a few months ago btw, I'm not really lookin for another closed-back at this point. Unless I run across something in my price range that looks like a much better match to my preferred sound signature than what I've already got. And also as comfortable and reliable as the DT-770 has been so far. The Crinacle plots on the AT MSR7b don't look too shabby. But they don't appear to be a significant improvement on the AT M50x, and 250 ohm DT-770, in terms of their tonal balance. And maybe a step back in some ways from the kind of thing I'm lookin for. (See my notes below though re the L/R bal. on all these HPs.)

It's helpful to see some new and different plots on my current headphones though. I don't think Crinacle had plots of both the 80 & 250 ohm DT-770 the last time checked. (To view the 250 ohm, click on the down arrow (v) after the name of the headphone in the title bar that's below the graph on the right side, and select it from the list.) They appear to confirm a couple of my suspicions about the differences in tonality between the two though. For starters, the 250 ohm DT-770 has more sub-bass than the 80 ohm. I could definitely hear that in my comparisons, when listening to them on the same amp. And the 250 ohm also appears to have a bit more air in the higher frequencies. And I believe it was the combination of those two things which lead me to perceive that the 80 ohm version as being a bit more "mid-centered". The notch at 4 kHz also looks more pronounced on the 80 ohm version of the DT-770. And I believe that is something I also noticed. Though it was probably less obvious than the differences in the sub-bass and treble.

The plot of the 250 ohm DT-770 also appears to shown an imbalance between the right and left channels, which favors the right channel by a dB or so. Which is also consistent with my experience. So it looks like that issue could indeed be in my headphones rather than some other gear. And it looks like I'm making the right type of correction to compensate for that. The plot also shows that the imbalance is pretty consistent across most of the frequency spectrum, rather than isolated only to certain spots. Which is also useful to know. Because that means I don't really need an EQ to fix it. And the simple L/R balance adjustment I've been using is probably sufficient.

The drivers on Crinacle's 80 ohm DT-770 plot look a little better balanced though. And like they might actually be favoring the left channel a bit in the bass and mid-treble, which is interesting. I did not listen to the 80-ohm DT-770, when I had one, as much as the 250 ohm. Because I took a pretty quick shine to the latter. And was really more interested in a higher impedance HP.

The L/R balance appears to be very good on the AT MSR7b btw. Particularly in the bass and midrange. But less good on my AT M50x. ...Oh well. You get what you pay for, I guess. The imbalances don't look quite as problematic on the Rtings M50x compensated plot...

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/1-4/graph#295/3992

I'm fairly sure I could hear some differences in both the bass and treble though on my pair. Perhaps that's somethin that could improve a little after some break-in though.

While I can't speak to any of the HP's here, I'd only suggest that you consider not spending too much time & energy on frequency graphs. They only tell one small part of the story.... the majority of the remaining story only gets told when you put them on for a good listen. Just my $.02. That said, I do find them interesting..... especially after listening to the HP themselves.... I find it fun being able to 'audio-ize' (yes I just made up that word) what you see on the graph. Side note, but some graphs I found pretty cool were ones that compared various attenuating materials. It was interesting to see that toilet paper and paper towels had virtually the same effects as expensive 'attenuation pads'. I can speak to this personally as well, as I've tried all the above. But I suppose that's another topic for another thread.

 

[TSelanne]

After ordering them on Black Friday, they've arrived this morning.
It's going to be a joyful week, i guess.

Are you testing both? Keeping both? I recently tried both as well.... I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts & observations.

 

[TSelanne]

Frozen Crown sounds much better on the D9200.

I agree, I think the d9200 sounds wonderful for metal music. If you like the d9200 (and you're up for trying more HP's), give the Fostex TH900-MKII's a try. I loved both of these HP's for metal.

Thanks for mentioning Frozen Crown too. I'm actually listening to them right now.... pretty good so far! This probably isn't the place to begin sharing female-fronted metal bands..... so I'll only toss out a few less known (not Nightwish or Epica for ex). Knowing you like Frozen Crown, here are some I've discovered over the last number of years since becoming a Spotify Premium member:
Beyond The Black
Blackbriar
Kobra And The Lotus
End Of The Dream
Kalida
Sins In Vain
Unleash The Archers

Of course you've probably heard many (or maybe all) of these before, and there are probably tens more..... a fun conversation for a different place.

That's good to know... Another metal follower with a 9200. I didn't know that italian band... I'm going to listen now when the marvellous Theatre of Tragedy - "And when he falleth" ends

Edit: I listened several "Frozen Crown" tracks on youtube (poor quality), I loved the guitars but didn't like the voice of the singer woman... I was amazed by the woman with the electric guitar. Thanks for sharing.

ToT..... man I haven't listened to them in a while.... thanks for bringing them back! I just swapped over and listened to a few off Aegis. I haven't ever been a true follower of this band, but I can appreciate their style. They remind me a bit of Draconian... and maybe even Battlelore a little.

To keep this HP related, I found that a lot of these female-fronted bands are great testing music for HP's. So many of them have great musical qualities for testing different sounds within the HP's capabilities. Obviously the bass of the drums and bass lines, the mids of the guitars, and, as a drummer (one who's always secretly wished he had the ability to be in a metal band), hearing all the fine nuances of the cymbals on the drum kit is important. My favorite HP's highlighted and articulated all of these sounds very well. And, of course, female vocals!

 

[plakat]

What I really like about V-MODA is its unabashed dedication to a "house sound" - EDM-loving, DJ-friendly, virtually indestructible, bass-heavy "fun" headphones. Since its takeover by Roland, however, they seem to be gravitating towards a more audiophile-centric tuning; case-in-point, the M-200 Master. I was actually very intrigued with that headphone. However, the multitude of early reviews from its loaner tour didn't generate exciting news.

In any case, since you have both the M-100 Master and the M-200, could you share more impressions of these 2 headphones? Ideally, I'd like something that doesn't stray too far away from the V-MODA sound. Thanks!

Glad to return at least a bit

To me the Roland takeover was both opportunity and problem: for one I'm sure they have good engineers and therefore the potential to bring V-Moda forward on the technical side. Unfortunately the V-Moda house sound may not fit that well with Rolands more production focused activities... Nevertheless I ordered the M-200 as soon as they became available late last year.

In short, they have been a major disappointment to me. They lost that fun sound, gravitating towards a more neutral signature, but loosing all character in doing so. Plus I think it does not even do a neutral signature really well, upper mids sound not very realistic to me, it is very upfront and direct (i.e. not the least bit spacious, maybe due to the drivers sitting almost directly on my ears), bass is very controlled and does not seem to reach really deep.

On the plus side: I like how they evolved the design, making it a bit less rounded. It (still) feels good in hand, though the folding mechanism misses that reassuring click (at least with my unit). The magnetically attached pads are a major improvement, and while they have a larger opening than the original pads on CF2/M-100 Master they are much too flat for my ears, i.e. comfort is not good (but this is of course something very personal). The flat pads are in my opinion part of the problem with the sound signature: the drivers are simply not far enough away from the ear.

The case feels a bit thinner and has a bit less space for cables, but overall still OK.

The M-100 Master, on the other hand, follows the classic V-Moda sound signature, but, to my ears, offers a slightly cleaned up bass. Most of the differences might be due to the pad change between M-100 and Master. It also lost the fabric inner part of the headband in favor of pleather, a welcome change to me. The headband itself looks much like the other variants (CF2 etc.), while the headband of the M-200 is wider (and also pleather covered on the part touching the hair). I've recently bought XL pads for the Master as well, but did not listen that much since -- having a new toy such as the D9200 does bring down headline for other models quite a bit...

Overall I think for someone who likes classic V-Moda sound the CF2 Codex or the M-100 Master are good options, the M-200 is not.

 

[Terriero]

LCD-X, Koss ESP/95X, iSine 20, Amiron Home, I think that was it... hmmm, nothing, closed, but I’ve already got plenty of those

If we had those Beyer Amiron and Denon AH-D5200 discounts here in Spain (or Europe), I would have bought both of them... They were so cheap...

I agree, I think the d9200 sounds wonderful for metal music. If you like the d9200 (and you're up for trying more HP's), give the Fostex TH900-MKII's a try. I loved both of these HP's for metal.

Thanks for mentioning Frozen Crown too. I'm actually listening to them right now.... pretty good so far! This probably isn't the place to begin sharing female-fronted metal bands..... so I'll only toss out a few less known (not Nightwish or Epica for ex). Knowing you like Frozen Crown, here are some I've discovered over the last number of years since becoming a Spotify Premium member:
Beyond The Black
Blackbriar
Kobra And The Lotus
End Of The Dream
Kalida
Sins In Vain
Unleash The Archers

Of course you've probably heard many (or maybe all) of these before, and there are probably tens more..... a fun conversation for a different place.



ToT..... man I haven't listened to them in a while.... thanks for bringing them back! I just swapped over and listened to a few off Aegis. I haven't ever been a true follower of this band, but I can appreciate their style. They remind me a bit of Draconian... and maybe even Battlelore a little.

To keep this HP related, I found that a lot of these female-fronted bands are great testing music for HP's. So many of them have great musical qualities for testing different sounds within the HP's capabilities. Obviously the bass of the drums and bass lines, the mids of the guitars, and, as a drummer (one who's always secretly wished he had the ability to be in a metal band), hearing all the fine nuances of the cymbals on the drum kit is important. My favorite HP's highlighted and articulated all of these sounds very well. And, of course, female vocals!

Thank you for your recommendations. I love to find different approaches to the metal genres that I love. I found a lot of interest bands when I was in "lastfm" from the neoclassical and dark ambient genres, and even metal. One curious thing that happened to me was that I found "Spiritual Front" (now is one of my favourites groups) because they share one album with Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio (a really weird group that I also discovered in lastfm).

About ToT, I really love the contrast in music (whether classical, jazz, metal or wathever...).

When you tried the closed backs, did you prefer the Denon or the Fostex with metal? Or your final choose was only about comfort?

 

[Terriero]

@plakat further impressions of the 9200, please?

 

[Chris Kaoss]

@TSelanne
I know this bands very well.
When it comes to testing headphones, my preferred music is metal bc of all the different nuances it could bring to the table.
For D9200, it really depends on the "signature" of the band, i'd say.
While i adore the sound of UtA, Frozen Crown, Kamelot, Volturian, Nightwish and many more with the D9200, the D7200 is a better pairing with Amaranthe, Lacuna Coil, Ad Infinitum, Rage of Light, Epica and so on.
Sure, this is my observation and opinion.

But man, i like the Denons that much, i keep them booth for my different moods.
Have to listen a bit more to make my final point, of course.

Btw.
Evanescence - Synthesis is waiting for me. ^^

Will report later.

 

[plakat]

I couldn't agree more about being freaked out wearing a solid isolating pair. Sometimes when testing/listening I'd have to have put my back to the wall to avoid jumping out of my chair when my wife would come in the room and tap me on the shoulder.....creepy!

Absolutely. And trying to keep tabs on the environment while acoustically isolated makes concentration much harder to me. I used to work in Cafes often, enjoying the background humming that did not directly relate to me. Completely blocking outside noise is not helpful to me, a bit attenuation is enough.

To keep this HP related, I found that a lot of these female-fronted bands are great testing music for HP's. So many of them have great musical qualities for testing different sounds within the HP's capabilities. Obviously the bass of the drums and bass lines, the mids of the guitars, and, as a drummer (one who's always secretly wished he had the ability to be in a metal band), hearing all the fine nuances of the cymbals on the drum kit is important. My favorite HP's highlighted and articulated all of these sounds very well. And, of course, female vocals!

I think music is what this is all about, so, to me at least, a passing reference to headphones is enough justification

@plakat further impressions of the 9200, please?

Do you have any specific questions I can possibly help you with? I don't do reviews or major comparisons, but try to let each model stand for itself (which, of course, is less helpful to others looking for decision help).

I use my D9200 in part with my AK380SS and in part with the Impacto, both sounding really good to me. What impresses me most is still the effortless deep reaching and clear bass, coupled with a sound signature that does not promote bass as its primary asset: voices are beautiful, space is wide, details are easy to hear but don't distract, yet bass is full and strong, without overpowering other parts of the music. Comfort, to me, is excellent. It's a joy to hold them in hand, and they feel good when on my head.
Overall they give me much more joy than the Abyss I used to own (yes, open vs. closed etc.), but I've obviously never been the planar bass lover type. Only a good dynamic driver does that for me