Best bass headphones

[Robbo99999]

I haven't read the whole thread but I was just recommended a set of V-Moda Crossfades. There to be a gift to my sister whom is a bit of a basshead. I simply asked her when she's listening to the stereo what knob does she go to after the volume knob and she quickly said BASS. Beyer's DT177X GO have a good bit of bass, as well as the Blue Mix-Fi.

That V-moda has got one crazy frequency response though! Here's the frequency response measured by Oratory:

That's just nuts! Could she get something like the K371 and then add more bass through adding EQ, or EQ is not convenient?

 

[Merkurio]

That's V-moda has got one crazy frequency response though! Here's the frequency response measured by Oratory:
View attachment 199195
That's just nuts! Could she get something like the K371 and then add more bass through adding EQ, or EQ is not convenient?

V-moda shape, indeed.

 

[Axchisler]

That V-moda has got one crazy frequency response though! Here's the frequency response measured by Oratory:
View attachment 199195
That's just nuts! Could she get something like the K371 and then add more bass through adding EQ, or EQ is not convenient?

That's interesting, I got this -

and this -

Left ^^ and right -

Quite a difference, perhaps your graph is for the Crossfade LP's which have more bass than the Crossfade 1 and 2. I have to say from personal experience the Crossfade 1 has the bass, but it's not overwhelming. The top end needs a slight boost, in my ears it definitely needs some eq. It'll be interesting to see how my sister's ears read them.

Thought I'd throw in the Beyer's for comparison.

 

[ripvw]

I would say the Sennheiser HD600's (not equalized) are probably the best, most accurate bass I've ever heard with headphones.

 

[Metronomy]

That V-moda has got one crazy frequency response though! Here's the frequency response measured by Oratory:

That's just nuts! Could she get something like the K371 and then add more bass through adding EQ, or EQ is not convenient?

I tried that headset, I returned it, the bass was not beautiful at all, falsely deep and soiled the middle. I was sorry because the structure was very nice and very comfortable to wear. I took an Austrian Audio 60x with great satisfaction.

 

[Metronomy]

I don't know about you, but I'm not very likely to use an equalizer; if the disposition of the headset is to have: obvious bass, glittering highs middle back middle forward etc, why not respect it? It would be like forcing a fish to climb a mountain, it's not in its nature, it's not designed to do it, then maybe I'm exaggerating, but forcing a Sennheiser hd 600 to sub bass seems unhygienic to me, the same to raise the bass to a Meze Neo.

 

[Robbo99999]

That's interesting, I got this - View attachment 199495View attachment 199496
and this - View attachment 199498

Left ^^ and right -View attachment 199499

Quite a difference, perhaps your graph is for the Crossfade LP's which have more bass than the Crossfade 1 and 2. I have to say from personal experience the Crossfade 1 has the bass, but it's not overwhelming. The top end needs a slight boost, in my ears it definitely needs some eq. It'll be interesting to see how my sister's ears read them.
View attachment 199501

Thought I'd throw in the Beyer's for comparison.

The RTings graphs you are showing are compensated to show a flat line as neutral, whereas the Oratory graph I showed you is not compensated, that's the RAW data shown vs the Harman Curve (which is "neutral"), and also the RTings measurement apparatus is different to that used by Oratory so they won't read the same, but they do still show the same general trends for this headphone at least. The Oratory measurement is more valid as it is done on a more industry standard GRAS measurement device, and there's more research behind that one that makes it more reliable/accurate. I'm still confident to say that the V-moda Crossfade is a disaster of a headphone. If you want the best overall experience, chances are that you should choose a headphone that complies well to the Harman Curve and then if you're a bass head you'd use a Low Shelf Filter at 105Hz (Q0.71) to add more bass - you'd increase that filter by 1dB at a time until it sounded right for you in the bass (if you're a bass head). K371 headphone is probably one of the best headphones to start out with for this & especially if you can't EQ as there's already a good amount of bass there and it complies quite well to the Harman Curve in the rest of the range - that headphone can have seal issues on some people though, which would diminish the bass, but there's no free lunch, sometimes compromises have to be made when choosing headphones for specific purposes & especially if you're not gonna be using EQ.

 

[solderdude]

I was just recommended a set of V-Moda Crossfades

There is no 'crossfade'.
Crossfade is a line with different headphones. They all have elevated bass+lower mids.
Thumping powerfull bass bleeding into the mids.
As with all headphones, some like 'm some don't.
Part of the appeal is the technical/fashion look.

 

[Axchisler]

There is no 'crossfade'.
Crossfade is a line with different headphones. They all have elevated bass+lower mids.
Thumping powerfull bass bleeding into the mids.
As with all headphones, some like 'm some don't.
Part of the appeal is the technical/fashion look.

I don't understand, there's the original Crossfade (1) and the Crossfade 2, as well as the Crossfade M80, M100, LP, LP2 and Master. Correct?

 

[solderdude]

Yes, they are all called crossfade and all are different in response.
So there is no single model called 'crossfade' there are several ones.

All of them have elevated bass.

 

[Axchisler]

The RTings graphs you are showing are compensated to show a flat line as neutral, whereas the Oratory graph I showed you is not compensated, that's the RAW data shown vs the Harman Curve (which is "neutral"), and also the RTings measurement apparatus is different to that used by Oratory so they won't read the same, but they do still show the same general trends for this headphone at least. The Oratory measurement is more valid as it is done on a more industry standard GRAS measurement device, and there's more research behind that one that makes it more reliable/accurate. I'm still confident to say that the V-moda Crossfade is a disaster of a headphone. If you want the best overall experience, chances are that you should choose a headphone that complies well to the Harman Curve and then if you're a bass head you'd use a Low Shelf Filter at 105Hz (Q0.71) to add more bass - you'd increase that filter by 1dB at a time until it sounded right for you in the bass (if you're a bass head). K371 headphone is probably one of the best headphones to out with for this & especially if you can't EQ as there's already a good amount of bass there and it complies quite well to the Harman Curve in the rest of the range - that headphone can have seal issues on some people though, which would diminish the bass, but there's no free lunch, sometimes compromises have to be made when choosing headphones for specific purposes & especially if you're not gonna be using EQ.

Well, no use crying over buyers remorse, they've been bought and shipped. I'm sure the K371's are fine sounding cans but I also needed Bluetooth and that made them a little more than I could spend, (I got a really good deal on the V-Moda). If I may offer my opinion for what it's worth. I didn't like the V-Moda's at all right out of the box, but they do burn in a bit and start to sound better, not perfect but better. I didn't find the bass as "so heavy" but more the treble as buried. A small boost in the highs with EQ brought life into them that was nicely detailed, and I didn't notice any bass bleed into the mids. I could've gone much further with EQ but I figured I'd wait and see how my sister takes to them and using EQ. She's pretty clever so I'm sure she'll be able to find a sound she likes. Strange how I'm not hearing what some of you all are, or like the graph shows. The pads are pretty small so maybe I'm getting bass leakage. I still hear hear some nice detail though with the treble boosted just a couple dB. However they sounded quite a bit better using a parametric set like the following -

I thought they sounded better with the mids reduced a little personally. It's all about suiting ones taste anyway right?

 

[solderdude]

Crossfade 2 wireless:

I am not surprised people perceive headphones differently given the fact that some people think the K500 is neutral and others find the Nighthawk 'neutral'.

From a measured p.o.v. the VModa's are all bass-heavy and some may find them to be a bit muddy (or bleeding in the mids)
The wireless less so because of the dip at 400Hz.

Your EQ shows an upward tilt of 10dB. One can choose to say subdued in the treble or that bass + lower mids are elevated.

For people who like bass (and need BT) this is probably a better choice than the JBL Tune710 but for people more interested in tonal accuracy opposite a certain 'standard' the JBL will be preferred.
Below JBL Tune 710 BT

Below Crossfade 2 wireless vs wired M100

 

[Axchisler]

Below Crossfade 2 wireless vs wired M100

Thanks very much for the input solderdude, every little bit helps. I was still experimenting with the parametric and basically trying to fill in the dips and experimenting with Q. I didn't have time to tweak it and I was looking all over the interweb for ideas. They are the original Crossfade, I bought them open box NOS

 

[Robbo99999]

Well, no use crying over buyers remorse, they've been bought and shipped. I'm sure the K371's are fine sounding cans but I also needed Bluetooth and that made them a little more than I could spend, (I got a really good deal on the V-Moda). If I may offer my opinion for what it's worth. I didn't like the V-Moda's at all right out of the box, but they do burn in a bit and start to sound better, not perfect but better. I didn't find the bass as "so heavy" but more the treble as buried. A small boost in the highs with EQ brought life into them that was nicely detailed, and I didn't notice any bass bleed into the mids. I could've gone much further with EQ but I figured I'd wait and see how my sister takes to them and using EQ. She's pretty clever so I'm sure she'll be able to find a sound she likes. Strange how I'm not hearing what some of you all are, or like the graph shows. The pads are pretty small so maybe I'm getting bass leakage. I still hear hear some nice detail though with the treble boosted just a couple dB. However they sounded quite a bit better using a parametric set like the following - View attachment 199609
I thought they sounded better with the mids reduced a little personally. It's all about suiting ones taste anyway right?

Well, if you're gonna use EQ, you may as well give Oratory's EQ a shot (you made a few changes somewhat similar):

V Moda Crossfade LP2.pdf

Shared with Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

He describes that headphone as "Crossfade LP2" so no idea if that's the same version as yours.
Here's his total list of headphones:

index/list_of_presets - oratory1990

r/oratory1990: Mostly covering topics like headphones, in-ear headphones, acoustics, electroacoustics, acoustic tuning, headphone design …

www.reddit.com

 

[Axchisler]

Well, if you're gonna use EQ, you may as well give Oratory's EQ a shot (you made a few changes somewhat similar):

V Moda Crossfade LP2.pdf

Shared with Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

He describes that headphone as "Crossfade LP2" so no idea if that's the same version as yours.
Here's his total list of headphones:

index/list_of_presets - oratory1990

r/oratory1990: Mostly covering topics like headphones, in-ear headphones, acoustics, electroacoustics, acoustic tuning, headphone design …

www.reddit.com

That's great thanks! I've yet to come across any of Oratory's posts on here, I've only seen amirm's reviews so far. That should be very helpful.

 

[solderdude]

Oratory doesn't post reviews here.
He has his own channels.

 

[Robbo99999]

That's great thanks! I've yet to come across any of Oratory's posts on here, I've only seen amirm's reviews so far. That should be very helpful.

At that link I gave you, that's on reddit, you should be able to see "his area" there - various posts from users & Oratory.....users starting threads & asking questions - Oratory answering questions along with other users, etc. Have a look if you're interested, there's a few things to be learned over there, particularly in the FAQ section. (Oratory doesn't really participate here on ASR, although he has an account, very rarely).

 

[usersky]

JBL Tune 710, anyone tried that, hugs Harman quite close & closed back & cheap, might do bass quite well:

New JBL closed back measurements

Sean Olive shared some measurements on his social media of upcoming JBL models.

www.audiosciencereview.com

IMO JBL Tune 710, sounds definitely better than AKG K371 (both tested on bluetooth, no EQ) and I mean the bass region.
I was surprised by the EQ wavelet proposes for K371, the bass region especially, since I read a lot about how compliant to Harman they are:

However I must admit to me K371 (on BT) sounds better equalised with wavelet than without so there is something good about that EQ curve.

For JBL 710 I use no EQ and don't feel the slightest need to EQ them.

Pitty for the materials and build quality of both. Especially JBL looks and feels dirty cheap and they are very uncofortable for my ears. I am also not found at all on 371's headband system, it presses the upper part of my ears more than the bottom part, not the best feel and definitely not the best seal.

 

[Robbo99999]

IMO JBL Tune 710, sounds definitely better than AKG K371 (both tested on bluetooth, no EQ) and I mean tha bass region.
I was surprised by the EQ wavelet proposes for K371, the bass region especially, since I read a lot about how compliant to Harman they are:
View attachment 201736
However I must admit to me K371 (on BT) sounds better equalised with wavelet than without so there is something good about that EQ curve.

For JBL 710 I use no EQ and don't feel the lightest need to EQ them.

Pitty for the materials and build quality of both. Especially JBL looks and feels dirty cheap and they are very uncofortable for my ears. I am also not found at all on 371's headband system, it presses the upper part of my ears more than the bottom part, not the best feel and definitely not the best seal.

For the Tune 710 do you ears fit all the way into the cups, or is that why they're uncomfortable....do you have to physically cram your ears inside to fit into the earcups?

 

[usersky]

For the Tune 710 do you ears fit all the way into the cups, or is that why they're uncomfortable....do you have to physically cram your ears inside to fit into the earcups?

Tune 710 presses on my ears. I don't have large ear lobes but there is no way my ear will fit inside, the coups on the JBLs are smaller than AKG 371, smaller than Sony 1000mx3 (that to me are very comfortable). In the end comfort is very important. One can EQ the sound but not the comfort. However, considering how good the sound is on these JBL Tune 710 is, I am very tempted by a pair of JBL Club One or JBL Club 950 that seem much better built and a different coups design. Any info/measurements on these?