Denon AH-D2000
Manufacturer: Denon Electronics Ltd. Part number: AH-D2000
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- For at-home listening, the Denon AH-D2000 headphones provide plenty of oomph, masterful musicality, and a solid, well-constructed design.
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CNET editors' review
Denon AH-D2000 price range: $214.00 - $349.99
- Reviewed by: Philip Ryan
- Edited by: John P. Falcone
- Reviewed on: 03/19/2008
- Released on: 03/01/2007
The good: Luxury full-size headphones with deep, powerful bass; well-padded earcups; solid construction.
The bad: Pricey; leather covers on earcups can cause sweat with extended listening sessions; body doesn't fold down for compact storage
The bottom line: For at-home listening, the Denon AH-D2000 headphones provide plenty of oomph, masterful musicality, and a solid, well-constructed design.
With earbuds practically taking over the popular private listening landscape, I can't help but wonder how many people consider over-the-ear headphones anymore. While I love my earbuds, especially while wandering around New York City and riding the subway to work, over-the-ear 'phones provide a visceral listening experience that earbuds can't match. Case in point: the Denon AH-D2000s. The full-size headphones provide deep bass that you feel on your head while listening, and their comfy closed earcups won't disturb anyone who happens to be nearby.
With all the trappings of a high-end audio product, the only thing the AH-D2000's seem to be missing are the obligatory wooden shells on the outside of the cups. If you step up to the more expensive AH-D5000, you can have that too. Meanwhile, the AH-D2000's sport black plastic shells, but those shells are held in place by a magnesium metal frame that's plenty solid and provides enough adjustment for small or large heads, and--at just over 12 ounces--isn't as heavy as you'd expect from that much metal. The headphones didn't weigh my head down, even after multiple hours of listening, and they're very comfortable to wear, being neither too tight nor too loose.
My only gripe about the design, and it is a minor one, is that the leather cover on the ear cups did leave me with a little bit of sweat on the skin below and behind my ears after prolonged listening. (Headphones with cloth-covered pads tend to avoid this problem.) The leather on the D2000's seems pretty thick, though, so you shouldn't run into the problem of it flaking off as you will with headphones such as the Sony MDR-V6.
The nearly 10-foot cable is double-sided (one wire to each earcup) and is covered in a cloth mesh jacket that feels durable and looks nice. Denon includes a gold-plated quarter-inch adapter for the gold-plated 8-inch (3.5mm) stereo minijack connection.
Denon makes a big deal about the headphones' microfiber diaphragms--the drivers that create the sound waves that your ears hear. According to Denon, the microfiber can be thinner than the cellulose drivers normally used in headphones, but is very dense. This means that the driver can be rigid enough to produce the necessary sound waves, while being more agile and therefore more responsive, which theoretically should help it to produce more realistic sounds. In practice, these headphones produce nice, deep bass with clear definition, while producing crisp high frequencies and a smooth midrange. For example, when I listened to "Candela" by the Buena Vista Social Club, the D2000's did a great job of keeping up with the deep driving bass part, while preserving the crisp slaps of the fast-paced percussion. The staccato plucking on guitar strings in the beginning of the track sounded quite realistic, and Ibrahim Ferrer's vocals practically sound as though he's in the room, while the multipart harmonies retained the characteristics of each of the singer's voices rather than becoming one big muddy batch.
Put another way, the Denon AH-D2000s are a great set of home headphones. However, are they worth their $350 asking price? I had the opportunity to compare them with the Sennheiser HD 600s, which can be had for about the same price. The Sennheisers have an open-air design and cloth-covered ear pads, but I ended up enjoying the Denons more. I think I enjoyed the Denons more mostly because they delivered more powerful bass than the Sennheisers, though their closed design might have something to do with that. However, the Sennheisers also aren't nearly as comfortable to wear, despite the fact that they are lighter then the AH-D2000s. Can you get a pair of headphones that delivers a more pleasing sound quality? Probably--there are plenty of worthwhile candidates available. However, given high-end audio's rule of diminishing returns, you may pay quite a bit more for the incremental improvement. In the meantime, the Denon AH-D2000s should satisfy even the most demanding audiophiles.
User reviews
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Simply Amazing!
by mhybers on May 11, 2008
Pros: Very well balanced
Cons: Flying saucers right on your head
Summary: I have been purchasing high end headphones for quite some time. Sennheiser has typically been my can of choice. I do own Dennon home systems however, so when I saw ...
Summary: I have been purchasing high end headphones for quite some time. Sennheiser has typically been my can of choice. I do own Dennon home systems however, so when I saw they made a headphone, I had to try. These headphones have achieved something that closed headphones (all that I have heard) have failed to do. They deliver a remarkably open sound. I have a pair of 280 Pro, and they are very good, but they do tend to make you feel rather closed in. The Dennon's are more along the lines of an open back headphone, such as the HD595. But the base is a bit better. They are also VERY COMFORTABLE!! If you love music and you can spare the money, buy these headphones. They are truly in a league of their own for a closed ear headphone.
3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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The Best Sound I Have Ever Head. Ever.
by chimpanzeenator on October 17, 2007
Pros: Great range, no distortion, comfortable, solid bass and sparkly highs
Cons: Too big for my taste, super-duper thick wire, no noise-cancellation
Summary: I have a good ear and I've listened to everything. Bose, Shure, you name it. My house is crawling with speakers. I'm a sound quality fanatic. I'm ...
Summary: I have a good ear and I've listened to everything. Bose, Shure, you name it. My house is crawling with speakers. I'm a sound quality fanatic. I'm coming from Shure E2C Earbuds as my primary portable audio source, fantastic little things in a small package, and I thought that those would be the best sound I should ever hear. Until of course, I came across these cans, which United Airlines gave me for free in exchange for 30,000 airmiles
The headphones are silky soft and a dream to wear. For their size they're very light and the cushy leather cups fit snuggly over your ears. You put them on, play some tunes, and you can just close your eyes and you'll forget where you are. The sound stage is that incredibly realistic. The bass is solid, punchy, and NEVER MUDDY; it never blocks out your trebles or vocals, nothing is compromised. Just rich sound. The rumbling of cinematic soundtracks (Perfect Storm, Gladiator) comes through deep and rich, never cloudy and mushy. Highs are also unbelievably ringy dingy and rich. It's almost as if you can hear every little hair hitting a drum, ever little rattle of a shaker crystal clear. My music, whether it's in 64/128 kbps MP3s or CDs or Super HD quality, all comes to life with these cans. And it's not even only the super dynamic, soft'n'soothin stuff that sounds great, either. Even the modern-day punkier tunes (MCR, FOB) make me melt in my seat. Every layer of Gerard's vocal harmonies and guitar riffs are well-defined.
Movies are a pleasure to watch with these babies. Dialogue is powerful and dramatic - now you can hear every little breath the actors take, every little creak of the ship in Pirates. Explosions and shattering glass have never been so joyful and pleasant to hear
pair these with a little CSS, Halo, Half-Life 2, and you'll never play games the same way again either. Bullets whizz right past your head, as if to brush through your hair. Shots are crystal clear, explosions rattle the vicinity, and with a good sound card, the sound positioning can be so accurate you'll hear your enemy sneaking up to you before they even notice your existence.
A few problems - the wire is GIMONGUS. A mile long, and an inch thick. ALMOST.
Also, these do not feature noise-cancellation, so they don't match up to the Bose experience when it comes to an airplane ride.
These seriously beat anything I've ever heard. I swear it. They beat my Shures, my Bose speaker systems (both of them). Well - I AM getting myself a Companion 3 Series II ^ ^ and we'll see how those compare, but as far as portable listening goes, look no further than the Denon AH-D2000s.
FYI - I pair these with my Samsung YP-K5 MP3 player and my Creative X-Fi Xtremegamer sound card.2 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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CNET PLEASE REVIEW THESE AWESOME HEADPHONES........
by shehzad on June 6, 2007
Pros: Awesome sound quality, very comfortable
Cons: none.........
Summary: Cnet please review these headphones and BTW these are realy awesome new cans......
Summary: Cnet please review these headphones and BTW these are realy awesome new cans......
0 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Denon Electronics Ltd.
- Part number: AH-D2000
- Description: DENON has become a world leader in the manufacture of high quality audio and audio/video equipment and software products for the entertainment and information industries. Its professional-use and consumer-use equipment and software products are recognized internationally for their originality and standards of quality, durability and innovation. DENON is recognized internationally as Japan's leading manufacturer of high-quality audio and audio-visual products, and is the only company in the industry involved in the development and production of both hardware and software.
General
- Product Type Headphones
- Weight 12.3 oz
- Additional Features Gold-plated plug
Headphones
- Headphones Type Headphones - Binaural
- Headphones Form Factor Ear-cup
- Connectivity Technology Wired
- Sound Output Mode Stereo
- Response Bandwidth 5 - 45000 Hz
- Sensitivity 106 dB/mW
- Impedance 25 Ohm
- Diaphragm 2 in
- Magnet Material Neodymium
Remote Control
- Type None
Connections
- Connector Type 1 x Headphones ( Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm )
Miscellaneous
- Cables Included 1 x Headphones cable - 10 ft
- Included Accessories 6.3 mm (1/4") stereo adapter
Power
- Power Device None
- Battery None
Manufacturer info
- Denon Electronics Ltd.
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Denon Electronics Ltd. products on Shopper.com
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- Website: http://www.usa.denon.com/
- Address:
P.O. Box 867, Pine Brook, NJ 07058-0867 - Phone: (973) 396-0810
- Fax: 973-396-7448
