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Best bass headphones

borissiomin

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I am using sony xb900N, superb bass quality in my experience. And I used XM4 for few hours, obviously xm4v better than xb900N. I am very late here but if anyone wants to sort it out then check this post-https://bestwirelessbluetoothheadphones.com/audio/best-headphones-for-bass
 

AdamG

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cursive

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Not sure exactly what about it gives it this characteristic, but my best bass headphone is my Old Hifiman HE-560 v2 (wooden cups, 2.5mm cup connection). Something about the bass on that headphone just sounds so deep and good to me. Not sure it totally qualifies as basshead, especially without boost, but the quality and depth is excellent. To me it has better impact and more satisfying bass than the Ananda, or the HE-6 SE v2.
 

sacguy231

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I recently got a pair of Fostex TH-X00 Ebony in trade, and I've been generally impressed with them. Bass extends quite deep, and has plenty of impact. They are "fun" headphones, but are capable of impressive resolution and musicality considering what their asking price was. It is my most "basshead" can, and scratches that particular itch pretty well. I'm happy to have it in my stable. :)
 

Acerun

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

Beyoncé - Partition (part 1) :

View attachment 119139
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 :eek: 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) :

View attachment 119140
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 :

View attachment 119144
Bass all song long, and some nice 30 Hz sub-bass around 2:20-2:30.
Those songs destroyed my outdoor speakers...they never had a chance.
 

Bernd

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Without EQ it is really anemic, even with EQ, not much change in terms of impact and slam.
Hm, I have EQ'ed Sundaras with a Peak of + 6.5 db at 56 Hz and Q of 1.2 and I'm really surprised how good the bass is on this headphone. I also have an EQ'ed LCD-X 2020 which is better in bass slam and bass detail but not by much (at least to my ears). The EQ is on the RME ADI DAC 2 FS and the amp is a Topping A90.
 

Jose Hidalgo

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For people with a powerful enough amp (so enough headroom), Sundaras can be EQed down to linear bass, if they really want to. I have tested with mine some time ago, and here are the numbers:
  • Oratory preset requires -5.5 dB preamp.
  • 30 Hz bass requires -7.1 dB preamp.
  • 20 Hz bass requires -11.0 dB preamp.
The problem about Sundara's bass is not about how low it can go, but rather about the lack of slam/impact inherent to many planar headphones. It's nice and all, but it's not by any means violent, which is something you'd like to expect sometimes. It's like caressing your ears with a feather.

IMHO the Sundara doesn't belong in the "best bass headphones" topic. Or else half the headphones belong too, if you have an amp that's powerful enough.
 

Jimbob54

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For people with a powerful enough amp (so enough headroom), Sundaras can be EQed down to linear bass, if they really want to. I have tested with mine some time ago, and here are the numbers:
  • Oratory preset requires -5.5 dB preamp.
  • 30 Hz bass requires -7.1 dB preamp.
  • 20 Hz bass requires -11.0 dB preamp.
The problem about Sundara's bass is not about how low it can go, but rather about the lack of slam/impact inherent to many planar headphones. It's nice and all, but it's not by any means violent, which is something you'd like to expect sometimes. It's like caressing your ears with a feather.

IMHO the Sundara doesn't belong in the "best bass headphones" topic. Or else half the headphones belong too, if you have an amp that's powerful enough.
Using what shape/ strength filters?
 

Jose Hidalgo

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# HARMAN PRESET - ORATORY DEFAULT # Target Curve : Harman AE-OE 2018 # Data from : Oratory1990 Reddit # Credits : Oratory1990 Preamp: -5.5 dB Filter: ON LSC Fc 28 Hz Gain 0.0 dB Q 0.71 Filter: ON PK Fc 66 Hz Gain -0.8 dB Q 1.5 Filter: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain 5.5 dB Q 0.71 Filter: ON PK Fc 540 Hz Gain 1.0 dB Q 1.4 Filter: ON PK Fc 2250 Hz Gain 3.3 dB Q 1.4 Filter: ON PK Fc 6400 Hz Gain -4.1 dB Q 5.0 Filter: ON PK Fc 7900 Hz Gain 4.0 dB Q 1.0 Filter: ON PK Fc 8500 Hz Gain -3.0 dB Q 7.0 Filter: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain -1.0 dB Q 0.71


# HARMAN PRESET - 30 HZ BASS # Target Curve : Harman AE-OE 2018 # Data from : Oratory1990 Reddit # Credits : Oratory1990 Preamp: -7.1 dB Filter: ON LSC Fc 28 Hz Gain 2.0 dB Q 0.71 Filter: ON PK Fc 66 Hz Gain -0.8 dB Q 1.5 Filter: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain 5.5 dB Q 0.71 Filter: ON PK Fc 540 Hz Gain 1.0 dB Q 1.4 Filter: ON PK Fc 2250 Hz Gain 3.3 dB Q 1.4 Filter: ON PK Fc 6400 Hz Gain -4.1 dB Q 5.0 Filter: ON PK Fc 7900 Hz Gain 4.0 dB Q 1.0 Filter: ON PK Fc 8500 Hz Gain -3.0 dB Q 7.0 Filter: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain -1.0 dB Q 0.71 # The 28 Hz filter gain was changed from 0.0 dB to 2.0 dB for greater bass extension down to 30 Hz. # Like Oratory states in the PDF, this filter gain can be changed from 0.0 (no bass extension) to 7.0 dB (linear bass extension). # 2.0 dB seems like a good balance, plus this value was already used in Oratory's preliminary Sundara preset. # The preamp gain was adjusted accordingly, from -5.5 dB to -7.1 dB.


# HARMAN PRESET - 20 HZ BASS # Target Curve : Harman AE-OE 2018 # Data from : Oratory1990 Reddit # Credits : Oratory1990 Preamp: -11.0 dB Filter: ON LSC Fc 28 Hz Gain 7.0 dB Q 0.71 Filter: ON PK Fc 66 Hz Gain -0.8 dB Q 1.5 Filter: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain 5.5 dB Q 0.71 Filter: ON PK Fc 540 Hz Gain 1.0 dB Q 1.4 Filter: ON PK Fc 2250 Hz Gain 3.3 dB Q 1.4 Filter: ON PK Fc 6400 Hz Gain -4.1 dB Q 5.0 Filter: ON PK Fc 7900 Hz Gain 4.0 dB Q 1.0 Filter: ON PK Fc 8500 Hz Gain -3.0 dB Q 7.0 Filter: ON HSC Fc 10000 Hz Gain -1.0 dB Q 0.71 # The 28 Hz filter gain was changed from 0.0 dB to 7.0 dB for linear bass extension down to 20 Hz. # Like Oratory states in the PDF, this filter gain can be changed from 0.0 (no bass extension) to 7.0 dB (linear bass extension). # The preamp gain was adjusted accordingly, from -5.5 dB to -11.0 dB.

All these presets and many others are of course included with my app. :D
 

odyo

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For people with a powerful enough amp (so enough headroom), Sundaras can be EQed down to linear bass, if they really want to. I have tested with mine some time ago, and here are the numbers:
  • Oratory preset requires -5.5 dB preamp.
  • 30 Hz bass requires -7.1 dB preamp.
  • 20 Hz bass requires -11.0 dB preamp.
The problem about Sundara's bass is not about how low it can go, but rather about the lack of slam/impact inherent to many planar headphones. It's nice and all, but it's not by any means violent, which is something you'd like to expect sometimes. It's like caressing your ears with a feather.

IMHO the Sundara doesn't belong in the "best bass headphones" topic. Or else half the headphones belong too, if you have an amp that's powerful enough.
Did you measure Sundara ? How is the unit variaton and wearing variaton in the bass ? They lacked a lot of sub bass on my head. I felt like no EQ can save them. They also sound a bit congested so adding more bass makes it too busy sounding for my taste. Although Sundara's slam wasn't that bad if you heard the Ananda. I guess the Focal, DT1990, Emu Teak stuff hit best in the bass.
 

Jose Hidalgo

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You must be mistaken. I'm not Oratory. :facepalm:

You listened to the Sundara without EQ. With proper EQ, they don't lack any subbass. This is not an opinion: measurements have proven it, as confirmed by several sources. That is not open to debate.

But still, they don't belong in the "best bass headphones" thread. They play in the same league as the HD 600/650/6XX. Their strength is in the midrange and in the treble, NOT in the bass. Their bass is like velvet: smooth, but always lacking slam.
 

Robbo99999

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You must be mistaken. I'm not Oratory. :facepalm:

You listened to the Sundara without EQ. With proper EQ, they don't lack any subbass. This is not an opinion: measurements have proven it, as confirmed by several sources. That is not open to debate.

But still, they don't belong in the "best bass headphones" thread. They play in the same league as the HD 600/650/6XX. Their strength is in the midrange and in the treble, NOT in the bass. Their bass is like velvet: smooth, but always lacking slam.
If the headphone is not sealing properly to his head though, then the bass can still be wrong. Planars that don't sit right on the head often end up with a wide hump (increase) in bass in the mid to upper bass and then it rolls off quickly, rather than dynamic driver headphones that just roll off rather than providing an increase further up in the bass range. So if a planar is not sealing properly to your head it's probably really tricky to get the bass EQ right.
 

Jose Hidalgo

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Indeed odyo may not have sealed his headphone properly. Which is why subjective impressions don't matter much anyway, at least on ASR. Pros like Oratory know how to seal a headphone properly before measuring it. It's part of their job after all.

@all : how about we all moved to headphones really worthy of this thread's title instead of focusing on one that is not ? :p Thank you.
 

odyo

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You must be mistaken. I'm not Oratory. :facepalm:

You listened to the Sundara without EQ. With proper EQ, they don't lack any subbass. This is not an opinion: measurements have proven it, as confirmed by several sources. That is not open to debate.

But still, they don't belong in the "best bass headphones" thread. They play in the same league as the HD 600/650/6XX. Their strength is in the midrange and in the treble, NOT in the bass. Their bass is like velvet: smooth, but always lacking slam.
No i didn't mistake you with Oratory. I thought you've measured them. My bad i misunderstood your post i think.

I've listened them with and without EQ. They of course have more sub bass with EQ but i still didn't get much feeling of it down low, not like Ananda.

Bass measurements aren't very precise. Headphone can measure good on dummy head when you make sure it seal very snug but it may have different outcome in real life for various reasons.
 

Bernd

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@ José Hidalgo
I do not know what level of bass you expect but with EQ (I use Amir's settings) I find my Sundaras have an excellent bass restitution - on par with my Aryas or my HD6XX (also EQ'ed). I have had the Focal Clear and the AEon RT closed, and the Sundara is better than those. I also own an LCD-X 2021 and that is the only phone that is clearly better in bass.
 

Jose Hidalgo

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Sometimes I have the feeling that people don't read me well. :facepalm:
I have said in this very page that the Sundara can provide linear bass if required (i.e. linear down to 20 Hz), so no worries on that side. Lots of headphones can do the same when properly EQed.
I have also said that it's not about the "level of bass" but rather about the bass characteristics (I talked about lack of slam, maybe lack of clarity too).

I'm glad you say that Sundaras are on par with HD6XX... because AFAIK none of them are known for their amazing bass.
You just said that the LCD-X are "clearly better", which proves my point. This topic should be about that kind of headphones only. :)
 
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