Head towards a better sound quality

S serious audiophiles will agree that a good pair of earphones can be critical for your music experience. Here are two latest pairs of audio delights that we stumbled upon. 

Denon
Price: Rs 37,000

Denon’s AH-D7000 stands out of the crowd with its real mahogany earcups and fitting leather cushions. It is due to these mahogany housings that you get a rich, natural sound. Mahogany is a very popular acoustic material because of its high integrity and capability to produce warm tones. 

The adjustment mechanisms (for the earcups and headband) are made from machined magnesium for light weight, and have been engineered with the precision of a camera mechanism. The pressure from the earcups against your head pressure is evenly distributed around your ears, so there are no “pressure points” that cause discomfort during long sessions of use. Overall, the headphone screams “high-end” from every angle.

But it’s really about the sound, so what does the D7000 deliver? If there is one phrase to describe the sound quality of the Denon, it is “jaw-dropping.” We know the major drawback of most headphones is their inability to produce low bass. Most headphones are not able to do so because of the small size of their drivers and the small volume of air movment. The D7000, albeit with proper amplification from your music source, can turn this paradigm on its head. 

Clearly, for those who demand the very best, there is no replacing the D7000. These come at a price of about Rs 37,000 (from online shopping sites, shipping costs extra).

Sennheiser 
Price: Rs 2,900 for HD 418 and Rs 3,900 for HD448

If you are interested in something more affordable, yet stylish, which also delivers a punch, Sennheiser HD 418 is your answer. Priced at Rs 2,900, the HD 418 is a full-size pair of headphones with closed earcups. It has a fabric-covered padding on the earcups and headband. The headphones have too much clamping force when brand new, or at least we found them to be so. We found that treble muffled, cutting out some detail from vocals during playback on HD 418. But, if you’re listening to downloaded MP3 music files, you probably won’t notice any issues, as these files are already compressed to low-quality levels.

But, it was Sennheiser’s HD 448, which came out as an incredibly good and all-purpose headphone, and easily the biggest audio ‘bang-for-the-buck’ Sennheiser has ever released. 

Great musical detail, accurate tonal textures and quick dynamic range extension only compliment its friendly price of Rs 3,900. During our review, we realised it was HD 448’s neodymium driver elements and lightweight diaphragm that helped it produce an airy, yet rich, tone full of correct musical detail, pristine tonal textures and well-extended dynamics. The single-sided (no messy Y-cord tangles) headphone cable exits at the left earcup and most audiophiles would appreciate the fact that HD 448 is supplied as standard, not only with a detachable 1.4-metre long cable, but also with an additional 1.6-metre long extension cable.