Can't justify Denon's £1,000 AH-D7100s? Perhaps the new AH-D600s are more your thing, at £500. Wired.co.uk takes an exclusive first look and listen.
The first thing I noticed about the D600s is that they're significantly different to the £500 Denon AH-D5000s that predate them by several years -- gone are the all-wood enclosures and the natural, smooth sound that came with them. In their place are lightweight synthetic enclosures and an impressive sound quality.
They give particular emphasis to the bass and treble. Ever put a "rock" EQ setting on your iPod or media player and liked the resulting effect? That's close to what you're getting here. They're a bright headphone -- cymbals sound like they glisten and shimmer; the beeps, twinkles and swishes of electronic music sound so clear it's as if you're hearing them from studio monitors. In many ways the overall sound quality is reminiscent of Denon's old metal-encased earphones (the AH-C700s, for example), which offered an enormous benefit to electronic music fans. But not exclusively, as we'll explore shortly.
Read more: The best headphones for any budget in 2021
Two cables come in the box, both are detachable from the headphones themselves, meaning Hi-Fi aficionados will be able to choose and fit their own cabling. The shorter of the two cables features an in-line remote and microphone for use with the iPhone, making them suitable for portable use. Another tick under that heading comes as a result of the D600s' 25-ohm impedance, which means phones and MP3 players won't have much trouble powering the 50mm drivers inside the extremely soft, comfortable earcups. I tested mostly using an iBasso D10 DAC and amp, with lossless audio ripped into iTunes from original CDs.
These are physically lightweight headphones at 365g, but sonically bass-heavy, and respond to frequencies down to 5Hz (that's low -- the human ear typically can only hear down to 20Hz).
They will take your kickdrums and your dirty dubstep basslines and smash you over the head with them; they'll roar like an unmedicated maniac on his first day as a hospital escapee. They're powerful, hard-hitting cans tuned to make electronic music in particular sound like it's being screamed by Odin's own otherwordly turntables.
Testing with Pendulum's The Island Pt 2, the D600s had all the power, bass punch and force of two Marshall amps strapped to the side of your face and turned up to 11. Yet they're a remarkable detailed headphone, with subtle synthesised sounds revealing themselves on a crystal clear soundstage; the delicate synth organ in the centre of this song's mix was separated well enough to be identified and enjoyed on its own. The drivers will respond to frequencies right up to 45,000Hz, too (that's very high -- the human ear typically can hear up to 20,000Hz). No sound gets left veiled and left behind.
Away from electronic sounds, the D600s maintain commendable strength. I listened to a few tracks by The Dave Weckl Band -- although its sound wasn't as warm as the competition (see:
Sennheiser's HD 650s), it was beautifully clear. Every pluck of the smooth bass guitar was separated effortlessly from the drums. This track also highlighted the strengths of that open soundstage noted earlier: subtle ghost notes on Weckl's snare drum rolled off the D600s' figurative tongue with ease. The D600s give a real sensation of being in the studio during recording. At higher volumes this only gets better.
Heavier still, Pantera's The Great Southern Trendkill -- with its crunchy guitars and fierce drums -- sounded clean, powerful and exactly what metal fans should be after. The same went for a few choice Lamb of God tracks, -- some relentless double bass drum fills of Chris Adler delighted with their intensity through the D600s.
There's not as much midrange punch on offer as the Sennheiser equivalent, and as such aren't necessarily as true to vocals and acoustic instruments as some other headphones. They're certainly by no means weak, however. Diablo Rojo by Rodrigo y Gabriela, a speedy all-acoustic guitar offering, was delivered with a sweet tone; every string plucked, every percussive slap of the hand on the guitar's body was reproduced clearly and with tremendous detail. But I've heard more honest sounds from competitors, where a slightly less bright high-end sound quality kept acoustic instruments sounding a little more natural, more faithful to the instrument's natural tonal qualities.
All that combines into an extremely comfortable pair of powerful headphones, geared towards modern rock, electronic and pop; a headphone suitable as much for on-the-go use as sitting at home in an armchair catching up on the latest SACD releases from contemporary jazz musicians. They might not be as balanced in tone as Sennheiser's HD 700s for example, but they're arguably more suitable for the twenty-something audio fan who got into higher-end audio with Beats by Dr Dre and is looking to take a step up into a more true Hi-Fi experience. Expensive, but worth the investment.
The Denon AH-D600s will be on sale in the Autumn for £500.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
