Best bass headphones

[thewas]

The Mezes are audio junk food to me. Yep, I know they're not good sonic nutrition for the budding audiophile in me, but they're just damn fun to listen to when I'm in a certain mood.

Will I keep them forever? Maybe, maybe not. But for now, I dig them, as they're the wild house party complement to the genteel, clinical sound of my HD 560s and all-around sound of my Moondrop Starfields.

Horses for courses.

Nothing wrong with some fun bassy tuning, I just don't enjoy the sound when the bass bloats to the lower mids, but as said these are personal preferences and depend on a number of factors.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

This track, Material [Bill Laswell's project] with William S. Burroughs, has some deep bass without overtones: [...] That's my go-to track for bass performance.

That "song" (more like a sound concept, really) got me waiting for 8 minutes and 16 seconds, hoping that at some point the actual song would start. It's like an endless intro : 8 minutes of expectation, leading to frustration, leading to despair. (still hoping for a laughing smiley)

 

[Robbo99999]

I recently got 3 sets of headphones, find myself using all three for different purposes. The reviews at DIY audio, at Inner Fidelity and at this site were my guide. I'm a musical omnivore, like many here, listen to any number of different genres of music, including bass heavy dance/techno. This track, Material [Bill Laswell's project] with William S. Burroughs, has some deep bass without overtones:

That's my go-to track for bass performance. A lot of headphones boost bass around 100hz, that's the peak, what's going on below often doesn't have the impact. Sennheiser headphones tend to have that built-in EQ. I've got three with that sort of eq, the Urbanite XL, the HD 579 and the HD 599. I don't recommend any of these three, they don't improve much with eq. I know there's more to bass than the second harmonic of the electric bass guitar. Often, when we hear a bass, it's the overtone we hear. The 40hz part of the tone is more felt than heard, and has much more impact over loudspeakers in a big room than is possible with headphones. The "Soul Killer" track is one of the few tracks that one feels the bass more than hears the bass via headphones. The track has bass at high amplitude going as far down as 10hz.

I used to have the Sony MDR V-6 headphones. They emphasize mid-bass over deep bass. Then I got AKG K167 headphones, with a lot more going on in the bottom octave. Those started to physically disintegrate. Too much hard [but not durable] plastic in the design. I had a little extra cash and as I listen to music over headphones more than over speakers, decided to get something better. The first set of headphones I got are the Drop 6XX headphones. They have the same kind of bass response as the Sonys I owned and the Sennheisers I still have, but fortunately they take to eq-ing. Of the three sets of headphones I got recently, they have the best deep bass response, but only when they are eq-ed. Otherwise, not so good. Also, they need a little extra power to reproduce that bass. So they are no good on my low-power DAP, the Fiio M3K.

Next up are the Philips Fidelio X2 HR phones. Tyll and Solderdude have nicer things to say about them than Arim. They are a little weird. Massive earpads, very open to outside sounds, image better than any other headphones I own. Some low-level distortion/blurring on everything. They don't go as deep as the eq-ed Drop 'phones, but they don't require much power either. Good for long walks as long as I can stay away from traffic. Not the ultimate in deep bass, but solid down to about 40 hz. Really great with small/medium sized combos in Jazz.

Of the three sets of headphones, the AKG K371 goes the deepest into the bass without eq. It is also the most efficient, requiring the least power. Very little distortion. In practical terms, these turned out to be the best for deep bass, though the eq-ed Drop headphones have a touch more clarity at the frequency extremes. However, the AKG K371 have the best bass overall in most circumstances. Not requiring eq or much power is very much in their favor. I suspect for folks DJ-ing, the ability to fold one earpiece off to the side of the head is very helpful, not to mention their ability to play loud with lots of bass and little distortion. Being the least expensive of the three is also in their favor.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying there, but I'm not sure that's a great track for evaluating bass performance of a headphone, it would be a good way to evaluate how much sub bass you're getting, but there's not much else going on at the same time, so you can't tell from that song if it's muddy bass or not & whether or not it would obscure other elements of a track, so I don't think that's a very good track to use for balancing bass through the whole frequency range of "bass". I think the best tracks for balancing bass levels are busy tracks that contain bass at all frequencies (rather than mostly/just subbass) combined with voice & other instruments that are happening at the same time....that way you can tell if the bass is overwhelming other parts of the track or removing resolution.....in my playlist I've found "Supermassive Black Hole" from Muse the best track for determining this overall balance.....I do use other tracks too though, but not many.

 

[Robin L]

That "song" (more like a sound concept, really) got me waiting for 8 minutes and 16 seconds, hoping that at some point the actual song would start. It's like an endless intro : 8 minutes of expectation, leading to frustration, leading to despair. (still hoping for a laughing smiley)

It's a very deliberately different mode of composition, not a "Song" in any aaba sense, a lot more like musique concrete. My question to you would be, "but did you hear/feel the deep bass?" Yes, the "material" William S. Burroughs is intoning has a lot to do with despair.

 

[Robin L]

I agree with a lot of what you're saying there, but I'm not sure that's a great track for evaluating bass performance of a headphone, it would be a good way to evaluate how much sub bass you're getting, but there's not much else going on at the same time, so you can't tell from that song if it's muddy bass or not & whether or not it would obscure other elements of a track, so I don't think that's a very good track to use for balancing bass through the whole frequency range of "bass". I think the best tracks for balancing bass levels are busy tracks that contain bass at all frequencies (rather than mostly/just subbass) combined with voice & other instruments that are happening at the same time....that way you can tell if the bass is overwhelming other parts of the track or removing resolution.....in my playlist I've found "Supermassive Black Hole" from Muse the best track for determining this overall balance.....I do use other tracks too though, but not many.

It's good in part because the deep bass is there or it isn't. If the deep bass is intermodulating into the mids, the edge on the sound of WSB's voice smooths off and blurs. If the headphones can get through this with the lower octaves powerful and the rest clear, then it will work with just about anything else.

 

[Robbo99999]

It's good in part because the deep bass is there or it isn't. If the deep bass is intermodulating into the mids, the edge on the sound of WSB's voice smooths off and blurs. If the headphones can get through this with the lower octaves powerful and the rest clear, then it will work with just about anything else.

Yes, I agree it's a good way of working out if you have sub bass or not, but I don't think you can tell much else from that track. I didn't find there was enough happening at the same time as the bass was playing, so would be difficult to balance the bass....I didn't notice voice at the same time of bass but I only listened to it once. I can see what you mean by saying "voice smooths off & blurs", so I can see you're trying to evaluate the negative effects of unbalanced bass....I just think there's better tracks out there if you want balance & shape bass levels optimally....I think they need to be more busy.

EDIT: These are the tracks I use for shaping bass and testing out new EQ's:

• Muse: Supermassive Black Hole
• Massive Attack: Inertia Creeps
• Christine and the Queens: No Harm is Done

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

For deep bass that's easy to hear/feel, I would suggest two obvious tracks and a less obvious one :

Beyoncé - Partition (part 1) :

This track is nice because you can hear the bass rolling down from 60 Hz to 20 Hz, many times.
On a low quality output (my old motherboard), this track manages to create awful distortion : Beyoncé's voice is distorted every time the bass hits And it's not subtle, a deaf can hear it. That happens with all of my headphones. Thankfully I just have to plug them into the E30/L30 combo, and magic ! No distortion at all.

Marian Hill - Lovit (or almost any Marian Hill track actually) :

No rolling down bass here, but a nice warm, deep 30-40 Hz bass all along. Up to you to see if your equipment is able to make you hear/feel the deep end.

Béla Fleck & The Flecktones - Flight of the Cosmic Hippo :

Bass all song long, and some nice 30 Hz sub-bass around 2:20-2:30.

 

[threni]

Yes, I agree it's a good way of working out if you have sub bass or not, but I don't think you can tell much else from that track. I didn't find there was enough happening at the same time as the bass was playing, so would be difficult to balance the bass....I didn't notice voice at the same time of bass but I only listened to it once. I can see what you mean by saying "voice smooths off & blurs", so I can see you're trying to evaluate the negative effects of unbalanced bass....I just think there's better tracks out there if you want balance & shape bass levels optimally....I think they need to be more busy.

EDIT: These are the tracks I use for shaping bass and testing out new EQ's:

• Muse: Supermassive Black Hole
• Massive Attack: Inertia Creeps
• Christine and the Queens: No Harm is Done

I use this to check I've not introduced any problems (distortion):

 

[wemist01]

i have tried a lot of headphones and the Audeze lcd4 provided the greatest amount of bass, all else being equal.

I don't like IEMs, so no comment there. I have an Audeze LCD-XC and the bass extension is very good. Also very low distortion. Cons: they need to be EQ'd and they are big and heavy. Helps if you have big and heavy skull to begin with.

That said, the cans I've owned with the best native bass extension were the Fostex Massdrop TH-X00s. Sub-bass on them is like no other I've ever heard. For clean, modern recordings, this was a lot of fun. For older recordings, you often discovered that the recording was a low-frequency mess. Anyway, these also sounded better with EQ since the highs were a bit muted. And I sold them to finance the Audeze because the Audeze felt better on my head, not weight-wise, but how they accommodated my ears.

 

[Robbo99999]

I use this to check I've not introduced any problems (distortion):

I quite like that track actually, especially with the vid at the same time! Isn't that a track from the late 80's?

So much so, I checked it out switching from my K702 to my HE4XX which is EQ'd to the Harman Curve all the way down to 20Hz. I could definitely hear stuff with the HE4XX that I couldn't in the K702 re low bass, but I didn't notice distortion in either headphone. I'm not surprised I didn't hear distortion because my K702 I've only EQ'd up the bass to what I think is the optimum level & depth whilst avoiding lack of clarity in bass, and the HE4XX (planar) is a bass monster when bass EQ'd with Oratory's profile that can totally accept a big bass boost down to 20Hz on that HE4XX.

Is it easy to notice bass distortion in that track, I wasn't able to test that as my EQ's are already optimised from that point of view.....I normally assess bass distortion by not being able to hear quick changes/detail in the bass line (no loose indistinct farting sounds!) (although I'm not trained nor an expert in this, so this is just an observation I've made from my EQ testing)?

 

[phoenixdogfan]

with most of Audeze its good to have a neck the size of a fire hydrant to be able to support them

That's what headrests on recliners are for.

 

[threni]

I quite like that track actually, especially with the vid at the same time! Isn't that a track from the late 80's?

So much so, I checked it out switching from my K702 to my HE4XX which is EQ'd to the Harman Curve all the way down to 20Hz. I could definitely hear stuff with the HE4XX that I couldn't in the K702 re low bass, but I didn't notice distortion in either headphone. I'm not surprised I didn't hear distortion because my K702 I've only EQ'd up the bass to what I think is the optimum level & depth whilst avoiding lack of clarity in bass, and the HE4XX (planar) is a bass monster when bass EQ'd with Oratory's profile that can totally accept a big bass boost down to 20Hz on that HE4XX.

Is it easy to notice bass distortion in that track, I wasn't able to test that as my EQ's are already optimised from that point of view.....I normally assess bass distortion by not being able to hear quick changes/detail in the bass line (no loose indistinct farting sounds!) (although I'm not trained nor an expert in this, so this is just an observation I've made from my EQ testing)?

I found if I boosted the bass too much and didn't bring the overall level down to compensate it was quite easy to get distortion/clipping. I think the music is probably quite simple/pure bass, so clipping is clear, whereas playing, say, some crazy organ music might not make it quite as obvious because of all the harmonics. If that track doesn't cause a problem, nothing will!

To be totally clear, that track (on youtube) is very close but not identical to the one I use, which is just called "bass test". It's from 2012 but as with a lot of things it (as in most Meat Beat Manifesto/Jack Danger tracks) mixes up to date software and hardware with vintage analogue synths, samples from old and new sources etc.

 

[Robbo99999]

I found if I boosted the bass too much and didn't bring the overall level down to compensate it was quite easy to get distortion/clipping. I think the music is probably quite simple/pure bass, so clipping is clear, whereas playing, say, some crazy organ music might not make it quite as obvious because of all the harmonics. If that track doesn't cause a problem, nothing will!

To be totally clear, that track (on youtube) is very close but not identical to the one I use, which is just called "bass test". It's from 2012 but as with a lot of things it (as in most Meat Beat Manifesto/Jack Danger tracks) mixes up to date software and hardware with vintage analogue synths, samples from old and new sources etc.

Digital Clipping is different to distortion/clipping caused by the transducer/speaker not being able to reproduce the sound faithfully, have you managed to use that track to detect the latter?

 

[WickedInsignia]

What if someone just enjoys their Meze 99 Classics, knowing their measurement flaws and imperfections? Should they just surrender their ASR membership card and leave now?

Of course personal preference plays a large part in enjoying a headphone. I’m a little sick of this point always being thrown up, so here’s a breakdown to explain why it's an unnecessary argument:

Firstly, the major audience must be considered. The Harman Target is the best representation we have of wide user preference in conjunction with natural sound. It's a seriously revolutionary body of study conducted over decades that determines what the greatest majority of people enjoy in listening to a headphone, and it's startlingly accurate. The demographic it covers ranges from trained professionals to very casual listeners.
People who don't fall into this preference are outliers....a small percentage with ideal tastes beyond the bounds of the target. Unfortunately headphones are not sold to outliers, they are sold to the major public. Therefore my recommendations and impressions address the major audience, not the 10% of people that enjoy ridiculously overemphasized and technically deficient bass.

Secondly, this silly assumption that all we do here is jerk our collective meats to squiggly lines on frequency graphs. No-one here (in my experience) is misinformed enough to rely on graphs alone. For example, in every single review Amir relays his own listening impressions. SolderDude does the same on his site. In some cases they actually hear something that the graphs don't show and they enlighten us on that.
I formed my impressions based on listening. I didn't measure the Meze and I didn't memorize the FR, I just knew it sounded like ass after spending a couple weeks with it. I also enjoy some headphones that don't reflect the Harman Target, since naturally concessions must be made in a landscape where everything does not match the same ideal.

So in conclusion no one is saying not to enjoy the Meze if you own it. We are simply recommending against buying it because there are objectively "better" headphones out there for the majority of tastes that people have.
The Meze really is faaaar away from this centralized preference, since it represented a low-anchor point in some of Harman's own testing and has been universally panned by the most notable reviewers in the field.

 

[threni]

Digital Clipping is different to distortion/clipping caused by the transducer/speaker not being able to reproduce the sound faithfully, have you managed to use that track to detect the latter?

Good question - I guess to find out I'd have to do it again and see if the problem only occurs if I play it loud (latter) and not also when really quiet (former).
At the time I was doing it that wasn't the problem I was trying to solve; I only cared whether it was distorting at volumes as loud as I'd ever be likely to listen at.

 

[Astrozombie]

I also own the V-Moda M100 Master, which has my favorite-tuned bass of anything I've tried. It's tight, fast and consistent, but just a fair warning that the general sound signature is mildly V-shaped and it's not strictly a bass monster.

I've always been curious, always thought the V-MODA were ugly so I never tried them. Do you have any comparisons to other V-Shaped closed cans you've owned? Like the DT770 (I own those and the AKG 361) ALso I've had the old Denon Urban Raver TH600 i think it was....

 

[WickedInsignia]

I've always been curious, always thought the V-MODA were ugly so I never tried them. Do you have any comparisons to other V-Shaped closed cans you've owned? Like the DT770 (I own those and the AKG 361) ALso I've had the old Denon Urban Raver TH600 i think it was....

In the price range I've had the K371 (briefly, they don't fit me well), the Beats Studio 3 and the M50x. The last two are fairly V-shaped. I've also tried a number of budget consumer headphones that are V-shaped but not really worth mentioning.
For reference my personal "neutral" is the Audeze LCD-1. It approximates the Harman Target fairly well with slightly less shouty upper-mids and no subbass shelf.

The M100 Master loses major points for comfort...you must buy the XL pads to be able to wear them for a couple hours or onward. They are nicely built, but QC can be weird (the head cushions on mine are slightly uneven and one of the XL pads only just fits the cup).
Sound-wise they have the best bass I've heard. Borderline polite for what V-Moda is known for but even across the range and very tight. They punch, rumble and slam very well for the price range...sub, mid and high bass feel very evenly represented. I would struggle to call it a true basshead can though.
The mids are a little recessed, timbre is not entirely natural (a little lacking in the warm body that mids usually bring) and treble is slightly emphasized to be sparkly.
Soundstage is actually impressive for a closed headphone and projects outside the head very well. Imaging is good and precise but the center image is a little unstable and less pinpoint than what I'm used to.
Speed is excellent and detail retrieval is good for the price range. It does not sound "slow" with too much decay or reflections.

The K371 (and K361 by extension since it's meant to be a very close sonic sibling) sound more natural with a more present upper-midrange, less emphasized treble and better subbass extension. Midbass is also slightly less emphasized. It does not sound quite as punchy and "fast".
The M100 Master is not a Harman-tuned headphone, it's pretty off the mark. It sounds most like the best iteration of the common V-tuning that casual audio brands use such as Beats use, but more tasteful and reigned-in.

The M100 original is similar to the Master but far more ample in the bass. It is designed squarely as a basshead headphone.
Roland bought V-Moda some years ago and the Master was the first headphone they helped tune. The M200 is also tuned by them and an accompanying model designed to sound neutral and flat....I didn't enjoy it in my short listening test though.
Please excuse the subjective nature of these impressions, this is the best I could describe it haha.

 

[MayaTlab]

One thing that could be worth mentioning in this thread is that some closed back headphones can vary quite a bit in terms of FR curve at lower frequencies depending on seal, and this is something that ANC headphones with a sort of feedback mechanism can more or less adequately address.

For example, my head anatomy requires the earcups to form a V shape when looking from the front or rear, and with the K371, which pads often come crumbled at the bottom because of how they're packaged and which memory foam doesn't always regain its shape after being warmed, the amount of sub bass I get depends a lot on whether the pair I'm trying effectively seal at the bottom of my ear or not. The ones which crumbled pads just don't.

The AirPods Max or Bose 700 on the other hand deliver a pretty constant bass response, even when there is some amount of seal breach. Now I personally have quite a few issues with the 700's bass response, but the APM is so far my favourite closed back below 1khz and the one that I find the easiest to EQ below 1khz to where I want it to be.

Rtings tests bass response on five humans and it's apparent that among closed backs the most consistent ones across listeners tend to be ANC ones (QC 35, 700, XM4, AirPods Max).

 

[WickedInsignia]

Rtings tests bass response on five humans and it's apparent that among closed backs the most consistent ones across listeners tend to be ANC ones (QC 35, 700, XM4, AirPods Max).

I think that would be because ANC headphones require an excellent seal for the ANC to work properly. All the headphones you listed there are designed by massive companies, which probably have the resources to develop optimal comfort and seal.

I share your frustration with the K371 too. Fortunately AKG has started shipping them with plastic covers on the ear cushions....mine arrived without any crumpling at all. Unfortunately this did not help in my case, they simply don’t seal on my ears apart from when I hold my head at a very awkward angle.
This seems to be a rather common issue.

 

[MayaTlab]

I think that would be because ANC headphones require an excellent seal for the ANC to work properly. All the headphones you listed there are designed by massive companies, which probably have the resources to develop optimal comfort and seal.

I don't doubt that a lot more attention than usual is given to effective mechanical / physical / material design to ensure a proper seal (albeit in the case of the Max the joint being at the top of the cups is a major compromise in that regard), but it really is a product of the inwards facing mic system, see Solderdude's measurements of FR curve vs. seal below :
https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/bose/qc35-ii/
https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/brands-st-x/wh-1000x-m3/
This is a significant advantage of active ANC headphones with such a sort of feedback mechanism over traditional closed backs.

I share your frustration with the K371 too. Fortunately AKG has started shipping them with plastic covers on the ear cushions....mine arrived without any crumpling at all. Unfortunately this did not help in my case, they simply don’t seal on my ears apart from when I hold my head at a very awkward angle.
This seems to be a rather common issue.

The K371's headband and headband to cup joint mechanism prevent them from angling in a way that works for everyone. Every single time a headphones manufacturer thinks they're clever enough to reinvent the yoke mechanism, they always make things worse. The yoke is like the wheel of the headphones world .