[Alucard1]

Short Update. In my quest to find something in my price range (under 500) that satisfies my needs and feels like an upgrade to my CF2s i have made use of the Amazon return policy and will be testing lots of different Headphones.

I have ordered: Meze 99 Neo, DT1770 Pro, Hifiman He r9,Denon ah 5200, 99 classic, CF3, M100 Master. Ultrasone Signature Pulse.

Will be Using these on a Zen dac v2 paired with a Topping a30 pro

For now the ones that have arrived are the 99 Neos and the Ultrasones.

The 99 Neos sound like an Upgrade in the bass region from the vmoda cf2s i had, but the highs are fatiguing on some songs for me. Anyway, in comparision to the Ultrasone Signature Pulse, it won. The pulse has nice bass but that is about it. Vocals sound horrible on these, muddy and kinda echoey. I guess thats what the s-logic does on these. so they will be returned. Ill keep the 99 neos for now to compare against the others and will update here.

It is not S logic, that propably fresh out of the box peace, so they need 300 hours of play. With PRO 900i i was having the same issue. But this problem is not existed after lets say +/- 350 hours. They are burn in after this period. I speak about 900i but this is the case in most of Ultrasone headphones from what i know. The burn in process on these is propably "legendary" too

 

[davixx500]

It is not S logic, that propably fresh out of the box peace, so they need 300 hours of play. With PRO 900i i was having the same issue. But this problem is not existed after lets say +/- 350 hours. They are burn in after this period. I speak about 900i but this is the case in most of Ultrasone headphones from what i know. The burn in process on these is propably "legendary" too

I didnt know that. But these were used. So i dont exactly know how much play time they have had. But all i can go on is the sound that i heard at that moment. and for me These Headphones are great for a specific type of music ( EDM) but for my usecase, i need a headphone that can play everything decently. with visceral impact in the mid bass.

 

[Alucard1]

Seems you are lookin Pioneers Master 1 along side with clean and fast solid state amplifier. This is my personal choice for that what you talk about. But its expensive option. Try Grado PS500e if nothing from these to comes next, does not work. That little Grado have mid bass slam like a boss, easily outperform most of closed back headphones. Bass is slamming, hard and focused.

 

[davixx500]

Seems you are lookin Pioneers Master 1 along side with clean and fast solid state amplifier. This is my personal choice for that what you talk about. But its expensive option. Try Grado PS500e if nothing from these to comes next, does not work. That little Grado have mid bass slam like a boss, easily outperform most of closed back headphones. Bass is slamming, hard and focused.

would love to try them. Unfortunetly they can be difficult to find in EU there are some on Ebay but it makes it difficult to send back if i dont like them. I also need to get into EQing properly im currently running a general bass boost from my zen dac xbass with a general eq preset which boost bass and a little the trebble. Would love to find out how to just boost the mid bass a little to maybe get what im looking for.

 

[mildmannered]

if somebody has anymore in this price range with really good mid bass slam let me know i will try them all!

Emu-Teak is my vote and I consider them better or equivalent to other pricier headphones that I've heard for bass including Fostex TH900 AnniWhite, ZMF Eikon, SONY MDR-Z1R, and Denon D9200. They respond well to increased bass EQ as well.

Headphones I haven't listened to that may be better than Emu-Teak for bass regardless of price would be Denon 7200, Beyerdynamic DT1770 Pro, Campfire Cascade, Kennerton Gjallarhorns, Klipsch HP-3, and I'm sure there are more.

 

[davixx500]

Emu-Teak is my vote and I consider them better or equivalent to other pricier headphones that I've heard for bass including Fostex TH900 AnniWhite, ZMF Eikon, SONY MDR-Z1R, and Denon D9200. They respond well to increased bass EQ as well.

Headphones I haven't listened to that may be better than Emu-Teak for bass regardless of price would be Denon 7200, Beyerdynamic DT1770 Pro, Campfire Cascade, Kennerton Gjallarhorns, Klipsch HP-3, and I'm sure there are more.

yea i wish i could try them would be way too difficult for me tho to try them out and the whole return process since im in EU and needing to pay import taxes etc too... which makes them unfortunetly a no go

 

[davixx500]

Short Update. In my quest to find something in my price range (under 500) that satisfies my needs and feels like an upgrade to my CF2s i have made use of the Amazon return policy and will be testing lots of different Headphones.

I have ordered: Meze 99 Neo, DT1770 Pro, Hifiman He r9,Denon ah 5200, 99 classic, CF3, M100 Master. Ultrasone Signature Pulse.

Will be Using these on a Zen dac v2 paired with a Topping a30 pro

For now the ones that have arrived are the 99 Neos and the Ultrasones.

The 99 Neos sound like an Upgrade in the bass region from the vmoda cf2s i had, but the highs are fatiguing on some songs for me. Anyway, in comparision to the Ultrasone Signature Pulse, it won. The pulse has nice bass but that is about it. Vocals sound horrible on these, muddy and kinda echoey. I guess thats what the s-logic does on these. so they will be returned. Ill keep the 99 neos for now to compare against the others and will update here.

Today i have received the Hifiman He R9s and first impression was... yea im not gonna keep them. even if they would sound like the best headphones i ever heard. They are so bulky and ugly and feel like cheap plastic almost like a kids toy. Anyway fortunately the Sound wasnt great either. it has a massive boost obviously at the bass but its not really quality base everything else just sounds muddy and kinda far away.

 

[crewcut]

Today i have received the Hifiman He R9s and first impression was... yea im not gonna keep them. even if they would sound like the best headphones i ever heard. They are so bulky and ugly and feel like cheap plastic almost like a kids toy. Anyway fortunately the Sound wasnt great either. it has a massive boost obviously at the bass but its not really quality base everything else just sounds muddy and kinda far away.

Be interesting to see what you settle on.I have been on a similar journey and for now have the Denon ah d5200 and the v moda 100 masters.
For me these are the ones that work the best for your(and my) budget.
The v modas pads are tight,but fit on my ears(xl pads can be ordered).I have had them twice in the past and sent them back because I felt the headband and pads were too small.Actually finding the stock pads very comfortable at the moment lol.
I ventured into the higher price bracket briefly,but really the returns financially(and for me soundwise) dont make sense.

 

[davixx500]

Be interesting to see what you settle on.I have been on a similar journey and for now have the Denon ah d5200 and the v moda 100 masters.
For me these are the ones that work the best for your(and my) budget.
The v modas pads are tight,but fit on my ears(xl pads can be ordered).I have had them twice in the past and sent them back because I felt the headband and pads were too small.Actually finding the stock pads very comfortable at the moment lol.
I ventured into the higher price bracket briefly,but really the returns financially(and for me soundwise) dont make sense.

Indeed I totally understand what you mean regarding the financials. My dream is the th900 but it will have to wait for a while.. regarding the m100 I will try them. I had the Crossfade 2 and used them wired and sounded really good for me. But they were 350 bucks and I wanted to see if there’s better out there. I tried the xl pads but they lessen the bass impact too much for me so I just used the stock pads and they were comfy enough only really starting to bother me after some 2-3 hours of having them on. Should be getting next batch of headphones tomorrow and the last one the dh5200 on Saturday am excited to try out the denon the most for the driver and because it seems everywhere I searched it always gets mentioned with the 7200

 

[crewcut]

Indeed I totally understand what you mean regarding the financials. My dream is the th900 but it will have to wait for a while.. regarding the m100 I will try them. I had the Crossfade 2 and used them wired and sounded really good for me. But they were 350 bucks and I wanted to see if there’s better out there. I tried the xl pads but they lessen the bass impact too much for me so I just used the stock pads and they were comfy enough only really starting to bother me after some 2-3 hours of having them on. Should be getting next batch of headphones tomorrow and the last one the dh5200 on Saturday am excited to try out the denon the most for the driver and because it seems everywhere I searched it always gets mentioned with the 7200

I had the 7200s and actually prefer the 5200s

 

[davixx500]

I had the 7200s and actually prefer the 5200s

Oh really? What did you prefer about them ?

 

[crewcut]

Just found them to have a more balanced sound over the bass mids and treble,especially the treble.

 

[GearMe]

Just found them to have a more balanced sound over the bass mids and treble,especially the treble.

Same here...

 

[davixx500]

Just found them to have a more balanced sound over the bass mids and treble,especially the treble.

One thing I hate more then weak bass is fatiguing treble and sibilance..

 

[davixx500]

Today i have received the Hifiman He R9s and first impression was... yea im not gonna keep them. even if they would sound like the best headphones i ever heard. They are so bulky and ugly and feel like cheap plastic almost like a kids toy. Anyway fortunately the Sound wasnt great either. it has a massive boost obviously at the bass but its not really quality base everything else just sounds muddy and kinda far away.

Today as anticipated i received the V-Moda m100 masters, Crossfade 3 and Meze 99 Classics.

First i tested the 99 classics against the 99 Neos. The 99 neos won that for me. The classics are tuned more Neutral and i didnt like the presentation also Neo hit harder in the bass department while not losing quality the 99 classics seemed to have less of that just a brighter version of the neos. I liked the 99 Neo better.

Next i tested the M100 Masters against the Crossfade 3 and i choose the M100 Masters from these. The crossfade 3 seem to lack bass in comparision. slam and overall also details the m100 masters sounded way better in every part of the spectrum for me while also being around 100€ cheaper. obviously you lose the wireless but im not looking for a wireless headphone.

Finally i tested the 99 neos against the m100 masters and for me the Masters won that and also not by a little margin. The Bass in general sounds way more clean on the M100 compared to the 99 Neos the Neos in comparision sound Muddy in the bass region, Bloated. And the slam is also on another level. the M100 Masters also dont have this sibilance on some songs which the Neos have.

Will be keeping the M100 Masters for now. and will compare them against the denon 5200 tommorow when i get them and the dt1770 pro when i get those sometime next week.

Say what you will about V-Moda but the 50mm driver in those can hit hard and also with quality. Maybe the only thing it lacks is great sub bass extension. They are more mid bass focused youll feel every kickdruck every thump. will be interesting to compare these to the more expensive beyer and denon which are about 200€ more expensive then the vmodas.