[tamahome77]

The studio beats almost made me threw up when I had a listen at Futureshop.  

  Pure Garbage.  I recommend the HD25II or the Koss Portapros.

 

[JakeHT]

Quote:

The XB500's are definitely not better than the Beats. A good bit worse imo--I liked Fanny Wangs more, but you might love them. 
 

I just tried the XB500 at my friend's place, and the beats did sound better. Quite a bit better, I know it was only a short test but it was pretty drastic. The bass from the XB500 wasn't bad with heavy EQ, but I'm afraid they lacked the sound quality from the mids and highs.. I guess i was setting my hopes too high for them. I may just pick them up anyways to further my trial since I can get them for like 30 something on amazon.
 
I guess I'm going to look into Denon 1100 and Beyer DT770 for replacement for my beats.
 
I'm kind of confused when i read some people's reviews, that say the XB500 and Beats have overwhelming bass. I don't get it, because with a flat EQ, the bass is FAR from overwhelming. Hell, I have it boosted 7db and it's just starting to get overwhelming. Maybe I'm deaf but plug the beats into an ipod and there is not much bass evident... way far from listening to a speaker system with a good subwoofer.
 
So if a headphone like the Denon 1100 or DT770 can handle a ridiculous low end EQ tweak and sound pretty good (better than beats) all around, I think that's what i'm after. I'm sure those headphones sound better than the beats.

Again, this is my EQ, see the lows? Boosted far. And the highs obviously to try and make up for where the beats lack I have raised to make it sound less dead.
 
http://i.imgur.com/kKHAA.jpg
 
With some decent bassed headphones like denons or DT770s, with a similar EQ applied, they should boom the way I want them to... thoughts?
 
EDIT: This review is very convincing
 
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3MYXNAZNGPIFA/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R3MYXNAZNGPIFA

"hey have what equates to an 12" woofer in the car trunk" "To be clear: we're talking about 3x - 5x the amount of bass when compared to the D5000/2000 at similar volume levels and flat EQs"

 

[JakeHT]

Quote:

The studio beats almost made me threw up when I had a listen at Futureshop.  

  Pure Garbage.  I recommend the HD25II or the Koss Portapros.

Yes, I listened to them at futureshop and they sound like absolute garbage also. Terrible.
I have them hooked up to a high quality computer sound card, tweaked the way I want it. It is absolute day and night compared to what they sound like at future shop, which is horrible at best.
 
They actually do sound pretty good the way I have them set up.
 
Hooked up to an ipod, they sound awful.

 

[JakeHT]

I bought the Denon AH-D1100. Got them on headphone.com for $150 on sale
 
http://www.headphone.com/headphones/denon-ah-d1100.php
 
I sold my beats for 190 to some chick!
 
I hope I like them, the frequency response graph is high in the bass range, which is what I'm looking for, and all reviews suggest the same!
 
Thanks for the help guys..
 
One question, will these be fine without an amp? They are 32 ohm which seems low enough

 

[Croozer]

One question, will these be fine without an amp? They are 32 ohm which seems low enough

Yes, they will sound nice without a amp but whenever you can get yourself a nice amp for them and they will sound better.

 

[TMRaven]

You very well might be desensitized to bass if you find the beats pretty flat and neutral.  It's not really hearing damage (or it could be) but moreso you're probably just used to the beats signature.  You can listen to stock apple earbuds for months on end then switch to an Audio Technica AD700 and find it to have an overwhelmingly amount of bass, it just depends on how your ears get accustomed to something, as our bodies are very adaptational.
 
I also find that headphones can definitely produce the same amount of perceived bass as a cheap, bloated subwoofer can, but no where near the amount of visceral impact.  That's a major limitation you'll always get with tiny drivers (for the better anyways).
 
It also could be that you're listening to rather bass-light songs too.  Who knows.  Anyways, raw bass quantity is only one part of loving bass.  There's plenty of other good qualities to bass as well besides just quantity.  If you're trying to raise bass quantity in a headphone to get the type of visceral impact of a full sized subwoofer, then I feel it's not a good approach.

 

[erod]

Let us know your impressions after you've spent some time with the d1100. Maybe you could do a comparison with the beats.

 

[JakeHT]

This is true, I don't believe i do have hearing damage yet, I'm only 20, so it's not that, however i've been listening to the beats for a while now with the EQ cranked down low, and also I have a 10" clarion subwoofer for my home audio, and it hits hard, so I'm just used to bass heavy songs all around, even from rock music.
 
That's why I'm searching for a headphone that can deliver the type of sound I am used to and love. I love the deep rumble, and in certain songs a bit of an ear tickle, or watching a movie and an explosion goes off and it sounds like you're there. I just love bass! I've had the beats since they were released, which is kind-of the reason I own them. There were very few reviews when I was first looking at them, all of which of course positive, so I didn't really know that they were a rip off at the time. Now I realise there are far better headphones for the money, so I'm going for some new ones!
 
From what I've read about the d1100, they seem very bass rich, and with my ridiculous EQ boost, they should hit hard the way I want them to, at least as hard as the beats, and likely far cleaner sounding.
 
I will do a review comparing the beats studio vs. d1100 after i spend a few weeks with them, I'm not an audio professional by any means, i've only really owned these 2 cans, but hopefully it will help people considering the beats into something cheaper and better.
 

 
Quote:

You very well might be desensitized to bass if you find the beats pretty flat and neutral.  It's not really hearing damage (or it could be) but moreso you're probably just used to the beats signature.  You can listen to stock apple earbuds for months on end then switch to an Audio Technica AD700 and find it to have an overwhelmingly amount of bass, it just depends on how your ears get accustomed to something, as our bodies are very adaptational.
 
I also find that headphones can definitely produce the same amount of perceived bass as a cheap, bloated subwoofer can, but no where near the amount of visceral impact.  That's a major limitation you'll always get with tiny drivers (for the better anyways).
 
It also could be that you're listening to rather bass-light songs too.  Who knows.  Anyways, raw bass quantity is only one part of loving bass.  There's plenty of other good qualities to bass as well besides just quantity.  If you're trying to raise bass quantity in a headphone to get the type of visceral impact of a full sized subwoofer, then I feel it's not a good approach.

 

 

[JakeHT]

Initial impressions of D1100 vs Beats Studio
 
Wow, they sound a hell of a lot better than the beats. Way cleaner mids and highs, unbelievable difference in clarity. Hands down not even close in sound quality.
 
The bass, however...
 
I had to EQ down 125 and 250 Hz, and 500 down a bit. The rest is flat, and boosted 32 Hz.
 
It doesn't hit quite as hard as the beats.
 
I guess the mistake I made in my research is reading "overwhelming bass" this is true. I had to -12db the 125-250 Hz range... what I actually wanted, was overwhelming SUB BASS.
 
They're close to the beats studio in the amount of sub bass, a little less. The sub bass quality is very similar honestly.
 
I've got a bit more listening to do, maybe they'll open up. So far I'm SUPER impressed with the overall sound quality, however slightly dissapointed in sub bass quantity. They don't quite hit as hard as the beats (rap songs, and bass drum).
 
But for half the price, this is hands down a better choice.
 
Comfort is much better also.
 
They take about 60% more volume to achieve same loudness as the beats
 
Will post more after a week or 2 of listening.
 

 

[TMRaven]

About the same in sub-bass but way more upper bass.  I would have never imagined that.

 

[JakeHT]

Yep, they sound very strange if I don't have the upper bass lowered like that. The beats I only lowered the upper bass a little bit.
 
I'm going to have to start reading some of the lingo if I decide to do a review comparing the two. Unless people are fine with a very noob like review haha. Which I guess is the kind of people looking for beats anyways... I was a noob when I got them.
 
These are incredibly better.
 
I've played with the bass settings in my sound card (something i've never had to do with the beats, the EQ made them hit hard) and I've found a happier medium. They're hitting almost as hard as the beats did. They sound a bit deeper, not necessarily cleaner, but it seems they have better VERY low end, probably due to 50 vs 40mm drivers.
 
I'm very happy with them so far, I can barely tell they're on my head..
 
And they leak even less sound than the beats which is awesome, I'll be using them on a plane tomorrow, which I've also done with the beats last year so I can put that in my review also.
 
 
If anyone is following this thread that is considering the D1100 vs beats, STOP READING NOW AND GET THE D1100!!!!!!!

 

[khaos974]

My guess is that you would have been more satisfied with the Denon D2000, the bass reaches deeper and there's little to no upper bass and lower mids bump.
Alternatively a Beyer DT 880 could have been a good choice too, a at much much higher price the Audeze LCD2 is a sub and even infra bass champion.

 

[TMRaven]

The bass extension of the D2000 is something special.  Dave Rat's headphone quest was a pretty big reason why I wanted one.  The only headphone of his bunch to retain near perfect sine waveforms down to 15hz, with a very minimal drop in db.  Its response graph is a bit misleading of its true bass performance, but it does a good job of showing how flat it is from 30hz to 1k, granted it's all a bit elevated compared to the rest of its output, but makes it an overall very smooth and warm sounding headphone with impactful and deep, deep bass.  One thing it won't do is give the raw bass volume of Beats or any other majorly bass boosted headphone (unless you eq for it, at which point your head will pop)
 
A down the line upgrade for you might be the Denon D5000.
 
LCD-2, man that thing's a ruler.
 
 
 
 

 

[Megaohmz]

I listened to the Beats (the studios) and actually felt pretty shameful, since I use all monster cables in my trucks audio system. I have to say they sounded like highly distorted, cripley highs, and mushy round bass, If that makes sense. It is hard to describe since they were on my ears for about a minute. I would go for a good Sennheiser closed can if you need the closed type. For 300 bucks you would be better off getting a good passive type headphone since the amps in those are full of noise usually. Remember that flashy gimiky stuff usually sounds terrible, like earcandy, since they have to sell the stuff somehow. In the headphone world, ugly usually means good sound quality, but not all the time.

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
JakeHT, check out this track with your Denons. Make sure it's 720p. Here's another really low hitter.
 
Lemme know what you think of the bass.
 
Very best,