In that case the number of headphones you can consider 'worthy' of this topic is very limited: LCD-X, LCD-CX, LCD-4 !! If it would not clip and crackle like crazy once you push it a bit in volume the Focal Clear would have been a contender .Sometimes I have the feeling that people don't read me well.
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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Best bass headphones
- Thread starter mpscottfr
- Start date
I have the HD6XX and no amount of EQ could produce the bass I was looking for. I ended up with a pair of AKG K371, EQ’d them to the Harmon Curve and adjusted the low shelf as recommended. Paired with a DX7 Pro, I couldn’t be happier. I listen mostly to rock, and as a drummer, I really need to hear the kick drum.
If the K371 seals to you properly then for sure it'll be great headphone for bass - the HD600/650/6XX line don't do bass that well in my experience as an HD600 owner (amoungst others), bass is just a bit undefined on the HD600 if you push it with EQ, whereas your K371 has low bass distortion in the bass so should do bass with maximal clarity & impact (if it seals properly). "If it seals properly" is a massive thing in headphones and particularly for closed backs, but I would wager based on your experience as a drummer that they're doing ok if you say they are! (K371 can be a bit finicky with seal for some people from what I've seen, I've seen a few in-ear measurements from one person (@MayaTlab) showing that fact as well as other anecdotal reports from others....but it will depend on the person & if it seals to you properly).
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Robin L
Master Contributor
I've got both. I didn't try the AKG phones with Amir's EQ until just now. I'm listening to them right now with really bass heavy material [Material, in fact], with my own extreme cranking up of the lowest octaves---yes, I used the "loudness" control back in the day. If you're a basshead and can cope with the issues of sealed-back headphones---that 'cuppy' sound, heat, the sense of isolation---the AG 371 might work for you. Not the best in terms of isolation from outside noises, but for $120 you can't expect everything. The AKG 'phones have more bass right out of the box, play louder with less juice, are cheaper. The bass of the 6XX 'phones doesn't go as deep or as loud.
If you've got the 371s, pay close attention to the direction the earpieces fold. The left earpiece can only fold in one direction. Be sure to fold the right earpiece in the same direction. If turned in the wrong direction, the exposed wiring for that earpiece can get tangled, limiting the adjustment of the right earpiece. AKG should have designed the fixture to have the same limit of range of motion for both earpieces. This should be a cheap and easy fix at the production level.
(I don't have the K371, but my comments are going on other people's experiences / in ear measurements / dummy head measurements on GRAS & people's accounts to build a picture). In terms of Amir's EQ's I think they're highly "personal" inasmuch as it's based on just one unit and he eyeballs it quite roughly....I've not had good experiences with Amir EQ's albeit I've only tried it on the NAD HP50 which I know is an ultimate bitch to seal properly to any dummy head or human without precise persistence, lol! I would use Amir's reviews as a good guage to general headphone quality and as a means to see the trend of the objective measurements, but I wouldn't use them personally for EQ unless no other GRAS options are available as it's based on a single representative measurement of a single unit of a headphone (not multiple measurements of one headphone 'even').......I would use his speaker measurements for EQ though! His headphone reviews are undoubtably useful and a great insight into a headphone (maybe the best overall), just I wouldn't use them as a #1 EQ resource, which is not his goal anyway as I understand. (I'd use Oratory measurements as #1 and then Crinacle/Resolve as #2 - mainly because quite often Oratory measures multiple units, but if I knew Crinacle/Resolve measured multiple units more often or the same as Oratory then I'd count their measurements as equal.)
Nice tips on the folding of the K371 to watch for, can't get tips like that unless from long term users.
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@Robbo99999: I also own à AKG K371, which I consider excellent given its price point. The bass is great. I needed a closed back HP for travel. I have 2 negatives to report:
1. the cable connection contraption on the HP is one sided and way too massive : when you wear it with any kind of overcoat, jumper it scrubbs along with whatever you got on and it is highly audiophonic.
2. the same goes for the cable itself.
The built quality is ok but not great. Nevertheless I will keep it because I haven't found any better for mobile high quality lightweight closed audio
1. the cable connection contraption on the HP is one sided and way too massive : when you wear it with any kind of overcoat, jumper it scrubbs along with whatever you got on and it is highly audiophonic.
2. the same goes for the cable itself.
The built quality is ok but not great. Nevertheless I will keep it because I haven't found any better for mobile high quality lightweight closed audio
Robin L
Master Contributor
Overall, I like the Drop 6XX 'phones better. Transducers are different from electronics. One can predict a great deal about the "sound" or lack thereof for electronics. But transducers have many sorts of sonic quirks that are about the resonances of physical materials, resonant interactions with the pinnae [very important with headphones], the size of the driver and so on. And some of those variables will have a direct impact on sound that will vary from listener to listener.
Long story short, listen to headphones before buying if at all possible.
Judging from measurements and my fondness for bass, one would assume I would prefer the AKG 'phones, but I find the Drop 'phones easier to wear for longer periods of time, not only for comfort but for 'listener fatigue' as well. While the Drop 6XXs are not exactly champs at imaging, the AKG 'phones are decidedly "closed in" in character. That closed-in character might be about being closed-back. However, I use the 371's every week for tech work that requires closed back headphones, so they are probably getting a lot of wear, though the 6XX 'phones are used for several hours every day at home and are showing less wear. The Drop 'phones probably wouldn't fare too well being regularly dumped into a bag---shiny hard plastic that's scratchable, doesn't fold, biggish. The 371 is good for such purposes as remote monitoring, but a little fragile compared to Sony's V-6/7506. The design could use a premium version---471?---with more durable materials and more sonic isolation for studio/PA work.
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Robin L
Master Contributor
One great thing about the 371s---plug it into any low power portable device, you will still get plenty of bass and volume.
Can you get any kind of aftermarket cable that is less bulky on that side? And some cables are more microphonic than others. I don't normally suffer from microphonic cables unless I'm wearing something with an exposed zip that it rubs against, eg open fleece for example, but my usage for headphones is normally at my PC for gaming or music listening where I don't have a lot of head movement that would agitate microphonics of cables. My personal preference for headphone cables is less than 1.5m long and as flexible as you can get, although I do have a short stiff Van Damme cable for my K702, so I think my most important feature is a short headphone cable that doesn't loop and get in the way, roll over with the chair, etc.
EDIT: I think you made a great choice re headphone, as long as it seals properly to your particular head....so you'll get great bass, which you report as so.....so you've made a good purchase there I'd say.
JBL Tune 710, anyone tried that, hugs Harman quite close & closed back & cheap, might do bass quite well:
www.audiosciencereview.com
New JBL closed back measurements
Sean Olive shared some measurements on his social media of upcoming JBL models.
www.audiosciencereview.com
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JBL Tune 710, anyone tried that, hugs Harman quite close & closed back & cheap:
New JBL closed back measurements
Sean Olive shared some measurements on his social media of upcoming JBL models.
I own them. Same problem as with the 371, people will experience different levels of bass, albeit for totally different reasons (this time the yoke isn't stupidly designed, but the room for the ear lobe is cramped and it can quickly become an on-ears if you're not careful when putting it on, or if your ears are too large).
For me I have to take some time to put them on properly to get a decent seal but it's somewhat possible. Once that's done the FR is more stable when moving about than for the 371. Of the few modern Harman products I've tried / owned (710BT, 371, 371 BT, Mark Levinson 5909, AKG Y600NC, N700NCM2, JBL Tour One, Everest 700), they're the ones I prefer sound-wise, but they're still a bit rough around the edges and not particularly refined.
Among the headphones I've listened to in good enough conditions (which for the subject of this thread, critically doesn't involve any Audeze), I would not consider any of them worthy of the top spots for the "best bass headphones" category
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You know what, that sounds totally like my NAD HP50 closed back! The earcup space is tiny on that headphone to the point that I can barely fit my own relatively small to average ears inside them - zero room for movement......it's also the same when I try to position it on my miniDSP EARS measurement rig that I bought in the last month - here you really see that the exact placement and least obstruction from the pinna is absolutely crucial to proper bass performance - to such an extent that I think the NAD HP50 is a little broken by it's sensitivity to this phenomenon, there is literally zero tolerance in comparison to all the other headphones I've measured.I own them. Same problem as with the 371, people will experience different levels of bass, albeit for totally different reasons (this time the yoke isn't stupidly designed, but the room for the ear lobe is cramped and it can quickly become an on-ears if you're not careful when putting it on, or if your ears are too large).
For me I have to take some time to put them on properly to get a decent seal but it's somewhat possible. Once that's done the FR is more stable when moving about than for the 371. Of the few modern Harman products I've tried / owned (710BT, 371, 371 BT, Mark Levinson 5909, AKG Y600NC, N700NCM2, JBL Tour One, Everest 700), they're the ones I prefer sound-wise, but they're still a bit rough around the edges and not particularly refined.
Among the headphones I've listened to in good enough conditions (which for the subject of this thread, critically doesn't involve any Audeze), I would not consider any of them worthy of the top spots for the "best bass headphones" category
OK, so that's not good news for the JBL 710, you want small ears right for that one!?
EDIT: and if I understand your post, you're still hunting or not come across headphones worthy of "best bass" in your own experience. I would consider HD560s open back and HE4XX as best bass amoungst my headphones in my sig, after EQ of course, but some fair better than others, just those two are noteworthy for me amoungst the phones in my sig.
No, it's just that none of the Harman products listen above would be my favourite for "best bass".
Ah, ok, which one(s) are your best bass?
solderdude
Grand Contributor
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.
TUNE 710 BT
back to JBLback to measurementshome published: Nov-12-2021 NO SMOOTHING is applied to the shown plots. Most measurement sites have some smoothing applied which ‘irons flat’ sharp peaks and ‘wiggles…
diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com
JBL vs AKG
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Without EQ, overall the Airpods Max. That's an easy one. But it isn't ideal either.
With EQ, Airpods Max, Hi-X65. But to be honest EQ makes most of the headphones I possess better, to me, at bass reproduction than headphones without EQ (in other words I'd take an EQ-ed HD650 over most un-EQed headphones in terms of bass reproduction).
But crucially I lack experience with Audeze headphones, so...
.Headphones that can't maintain a constant FR in the bass because of positional variation, leakage, or excessive sensitivity to pad wear, among other factors, are instantly disqualified in my view for "best bass". And headphones with an excessive noise floor that I can still hear when bass notes are playing are disqualified as well (QC 35 / 45 for example, too bad with EQ they're pretty neat otherwise at lower frequencies IMO).
As a general rule only active / DSPed headphones can achieve the bass response that I want and maintain it consistently. So either EQed passive headphones resistant to leakage, or headphones with a feedback mechanism.
My subjective impressions of the bass response is heavily influenced by the rest of the spectrum, so even if two headphones have the same response below 1kHz (something that I think I can achieve to tolerances below audibility for some of the headphones I possess - but not all), if the response above differs (and in that range it's a lot harder to achieve that below audibility thresholds), my preferences for these or those headphones in terms of bass response might come from their FR differences above 1kHz, and not necessarily different non-linear distortion characteristics.
One idea I've entertained trying to do, to avoid that pitfall, is to compare the headphones I know can reach the exact same FR below 1kHz with a low pass filter to eliminate all content above 1kHz. Haven't done so yet.
Yep, there's the dip at 4kHz in the K371!TUNE 710 BT
back to JBLback to measurementshome published: Nov-12-2021 NO SMOOTHING is applied to the shown plots. Most measurement sites have some smoothing applied which ‘irons flat’ sharp peaks and ‘wiggles…
JBL vs AKG
Yep, reliability of seal is a massive thing for headphones, which is why you want to choose a pair that seats reliably each time you wear it.....I used to like my NAD HP50 for it's bass, but since my hair is longer the last 2yrs it doesn't seem to seal properly, and that one is super finicky to measure and also to wear, which is not a surprise! I suppose your idea of a 1kHz low pass filter is interesting - as a diagnostic tool to check seal and bass quality/amount, but if you can't sort out the rest of the frequency range above it then there's not much point to a headphone that is great in the bass from that test but "impossible" to get right in the rest of the frequency range - so ultimately you'd still have to assess the bass alongside the rest of the frequency range that the headphone can offer you......might be an interesting technical exercise and maybe it would provide some insights......if you ever do it and gain any useful insights then let us know, could become a useful diagnostic procedure.Without EQ, overall the Airpods Max. That's an easy one. But it isn't ideal either.
With EQ, Airpods Max, Hi-X65. But to be honest EQ makes most of the headphones I possess better, to me, at bass reproduction than headphones without EQ (in other words I'd take an EQ-ed HD650 over most un-EQed headphones in terms of bass reproduction).
But crucially I lack experience with Audeze headphones, so...
Headphones that can't maintain a constant FR in the bass because of positional variation, leakage, or excessive sensitivity to pad wear, among other factors, are instantly disqualified in my view for "best bass". And headphones with an excessive noise floor that I can still hear when bass notes are playing are disqualified as well (QC 35 / 45 for example, too bad with EQ they're pretty neat otherwise at lower frequencies IMO).
As a general rule only active / DSPed headphones can achieve the bass response that I want and maintain it consistently. So either EQed passive headphones resistant to leakage, or headphones with a feedback mechanism.
My subjective impressions of the bass response is heavily influenced by the rest of the spectrum, so even if two headphones have the same response below 1kHz (something that I think I can achieve to tolerances below audibility for some of the headphones I possess - but not all), if the response above differs (and in that range it's a lot harder to achieve that below audibility thresholds), my preferences for these or those headphones in terms of bass response might come from their FR differences above 1kHz, and not necessarily different non-linear distortion characteristics.
One idea I've entertained trying to do, to avoid that pitfall, is to compare the headphones I know can reach the exact same FR below 1kHz with a low pass filter to eliminate all content above 1kHz. Haven't done so yet.
Jose Hidalgo
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Well yes, I thought this topic was about "best bass headphones". Not about "all headphones that can go down to 20 Hz", because lots of them can, especially when EQed. I mean, if we can add the Sundara, then we can add most mid-fi headphones. The Meze 99 Classics for instance. They go down to 20 Hz even without EQ. But I would never consider them among the "best bass headphones", because bass is not only about frequency.
In my mind this topic should be about a small number of headphones regardless of the budget. Or if budget is an issue, then the topic should be renamed to "best bass headphones below XXX $/€".
odyo
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Yeah. Most famous bass headphones i've read from forums are Emu Teak biodyna's, Audeze BASS, Focal dynamics and Abyss 1266 in the high end. I was close to pulling the trigger on Emu Teak and Audeze couple of times but my priority is soundstage and presentation.Well yes, I thought this topic was about "best bass headphones". Not about "all headphones that can go down to 20 Hz", because lots of them can, especially when EQed. I mean, if we can add the Sundara, then we can add most mid-fi headphones. The Meze 99 Classics for instance. They go down to 20 Hz even without EQ. But I would never consider them among the "best bass headphones", because bass is not only about frequency.
In my mind this topic should be about a small number of headphones regardless of the budget. Or if budget is an issue, then the topic should be renamed to "best bass headphones below XXX $/€".
Axchisler
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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.
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