DT770/80 got upgrade-ditis HELP !

[SoFGR]

it all began when i was looking for a decent source for my dt770s, stock x-fi was subpar, tried pa2v2, not bad for 46$ but they just don't have enough juice much better bass than the x-fi tho, i settled down on audio-gd compass but i haven't placed my order yet

But now i have different demands on cans too, i don't mind buying a loose fitting closed pair of headphones ( or even an open one ) anymore, i actually need one since the noise isolation of my beyers gets me into a lot of trouble lately ( missed phone calls, can't hear the door's bell ringing, etc )

I still care about sound directionality in my fps's though, like when little kids type in the server " omagawd wallhax !! " priceless , most of my music are 80s and a little bit of electronica, i usually listen to music when i want to relax 1-2 hours before bedtime, and most of my recordings are mediocre quality so i don't think super analytical pairs like ultrasone 750 and 780 will suit me.

After many hours of googling i've narrowed it down to AKG 601 and denon D2000(both priced @ ~185 euros total ) , source is not a problem since i'll be getting that dac - HP amp combo and just use my x-fi titanium fatal1ty champion for passing hardware audio acceleration and EAX / cmss3d through spdif optical ( it is possible in winXP right ? ) i'm leaning towards D2000s since i like their looks very much and are supposed to be better in the bass department. ( i'm a little bit of a basshead )

But how do they fare against 601s on sound positioning, build quality and durability ? what about explosions artillery and gunshots ? i really like it when my awp goes deep and nearby artillery sounds realistic, not some kind of a fart-boom that leaves you unsatisfied.

 

[Alai]

D2000 will be able to handle explosions and such better due to more present bass. What amp will you be using with the K601? It needs a nice amp... less needy than the K701, but still.

 

[fss69]

In terms of sound positioning and spaciousness, the K601 should fare better since it's open. On the other hand, the D2000 is more well rounded and has better ooomph in the bass department. The K601 probably wins the build quality round. Some of the D2K - or at least the early batches - had issues of loose screws.

 

[SoFGR]

What amp will you be using with the K601? It needs a nice amp... less needy than the K701, but still.

that one

http://www.audio-gd.com/enweb/DAC-Compass.htm

@ fss69 : i was expecting to get that kind of answer, you can't have the best of both worlds huh ?

 

[Alai]

Ahh... the Compass. Much talked about in Head-Fi. I will probably be grabbing one real soon lol. Hmm... Not sure how well the K601 will pair with the Compass. In my opinion, you would need a separate amplifier for the AKG headphones. That has been my experience with the K501 and K701. More for the K701 though.

However, I hear the K601 is better with bass than the K701 so you might be ok. I would definitely shoot for the K601 for SQ and build quality. D2000 is good for bass and will tighten nicely after the Markl mods, but I hear there is sacrifice in the highs and mids in order for the bass to tighten.

 

[SoFGR]

here are my thoughts .....

keep the dt770/80 for movie playback, electronica, isolation and some casual gaming, buy the akg601 coz i'm curious to hear how an open pair sounds like since i went throught closed cans only before getting the beyers, and do some serious gaming on k601 with cmss3d enabled, cmss3d KILLS the bass impact of my dt770s, for example the shotgun sound in L4D does not sound punchy at all, unless i use these settings : audio system 5.1 , snd_legacy_surround 1 and headphone cmss3d OFF, so the way i see it buying another bass heavy pair isn't very smart imo.

If i still don't like the beyers after upgrading my source then i'll try selling them in order to buy dt150 for less money, what do you think ?

 

[Omerta]

I have k601s. I use it with an xp amp and gamma dac. Got it from misterx on head-fi. They work great with the k601s.

The k601s have a bigger soundstage and would also be better for gaming if that's what you also do. The k601s are awesome gaming headphones.

I recommend just going with the k601s, especially since you game.

 

[kool bubba ice]

it all began when i was looking for a decent source for my dt770s, stock x-fi was subpar, tried pa2v2, not bad for 46$ but they just don't have enough juice much better bass than the x-fi tho, i settled down on audio-gd compass but i haven't placed my order yet

But now i have different demands on cans too, i don't mind buying a loose fitting closed pair of headphones ( or even an open one ) anymore, i actually need one since the noise isolation of my beyers gets me into a lot of trouble lately ( missed phone calls, can't hear the door's bell ringing, etc )

I still care about sound directionality in my fps's though, like when little kids type in the server " omagawd wallhax !! " priceless , most of my music are 80s and a little bit of electronica, i usually listen to music when i want to relax 1-2 hours before bedtime, and most of my recordings are mediocre quality so i don't think super analytical pairs like ultrasone 750 and 780 will suit me.

After many hours of googling i've narrowed it down to AKG 601 and denon D2000(both priced @ ~185 euros total ) , source is not a problem since i'll be getting that dac - HP amp combo and just use my x-fi titanium fatal1ty champion for passing hardware audio acceleration and EAX / cmss3d through spdif optical ( it is possible in winXP right ? ) i'm leaning towards D2000s since i like their looks very much and are supposed to be better in the bass department. ( i'm a little bit of a basshead )

But how do they fare against 601s on sound positioning, build quality and durability ? what about explosions artillery and gunshots ? i really like it when my awp goes deep and nearby artillery sounds realistic, not some kind of a fart-boom that leaves you unsatisfied.

My DT480 is great for realistic gun fire..Of course they are 36 yrs old too.. And the grandfather to the DT150.