[REB]

I guess it's whether the phone is open or closed that makes the difference then. To my ears the open AD900 gives an incredible soundstage, airiness and instrument placement to classical music. I have only had them for a short while, so my opinion might change, but until now I have not been bothered by recessed mids (although they do seem to be a bit coloured, but that's not something I mind as long as long as I like the colour).

 

[John E Woven]

Anything else?

 

[RealDealz]

I have the AD900s, but I've never tried the D2000s. Like some others here have said, the 900s have an incredible sound stage. Personally, I think the people who say the mids are recessed on these cans are pretty nuts - as I find the mids (especially upper mids) to be the highlight of these. If there is one place I would notch them down it would be the bass - but I do think they get a bit of a bad rap. The bass is definitely there. It is not particularly hard hitting, it will not make your head rumble from some of those deep drums, but it is in no way anemic.

Without a doubt I would say the ad900s are best suited for acoustics, vocals, and transients - they sound incredible. For Jazz and Classical, I would say these are good, but if you want cans that are exclusively for those genres, you could find better. Personally, I like my classical to have a lot of bass depth to it - I find the 900s lack in the lower mids (although the real low stuff actually is pretty nice) I suppose it depends what you listen to. Most stringed instruments/pianos/horns sound fantastic on these phones, but if your looking to listen to the 1812 overture and want to be smacked in the head when those drums/deeper horns hit - youll need something with more umph.

Edit: I forgot to mention, although I know most people here seem to frown upon it, these react fantastically to EQ. Without any changes I find them to be a bit bass anemic but the bass is really there if you warm it up some with the EQ. (I actually bring down the mids a few db and bring the lows up a few db to warm them up, giving a net gain of about 6-7 dbs in the lower end) The difference between no eq and with eq is pretty huge and its really only a plus.

 

[fraseyboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nautikal /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have the D2000s, K701s, HD650s, HD580s, and DT880s (though I only plan on keeping one). For rock and metal, the Sennheisers are by far the best. *snip*

I've never heard that opinion before!

IMO my HD580's aren't too good at rock as they're too laid back and boring. I prefer my AD700's for that. They're fun, energetic but are let down by they're lack of bass.

 

[Townyj]

What about the AKG 601..??

For classical etc.

 

[nautikal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fraseyboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've never heard that opinion before! IMO my HD580's aren't too good at rock as they're too laid back and boring. I prefer my AD700's for that. They're fun, energetic but are let down by they're lack of bass.

What I like about metal is that grungy, mean sounding guitar, and the Sennheisers are the best at reproducing that. With other headphones, the vocals are more prominent and the guitar is more in the background, which also makes sibilance a problem. I can't take the sibilance with my 701s and the LD MK V, but with the Darkvoice 336i the sibilance is much better. But I don't know if I'm going to be allowed to have a tube amp in my dorm this fall, so we'll see.

 

[Zuerst]

Sony MDR-SA5000
Audio-Technica ATH-W5000

 

[Tiemen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Townyj /img/forum/go_quote.gif What about the AKG 601..?? For classical etc.

Well, the K601 can do more styles than classical. I use them also for rock, pop and country. And they are great with anything I'll throw at them. Although they're maybe not so good for the real heavy stuff, because of missing that last touch of slam/oomph.

 

[John E Woven]

After extensive listening to my IM716's, I've determined that these are almost exactly what I'm looking for in a headphone, except for being so excessivly bright. Not that there's anything wrong with bright headphones, but these are just way too much.