Denon AH-D7000 Ultra Reference Over-Ear Headphones (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)The AH-D7000 is the newest flagship reference headphone from Denon, a company usually known for their home theater electronics. Denon made a mark in the headphone market a couple of years ago when they introduced the AH-D1001, AH-D2000, AH-D5000 providing a well-rounded sound quality in the crowded market of premium headphone makers like Sennheiser, AKG, Audio Technica.
What I noted in my D2000/D1001 review is they are good headphones which have no glaring faults. They tend to have a very musically pleasing sound quality that doesn't dull the performance quality of the music, with their authoritative bass, clear and sparkly highs, but they don't overdo it either. They seem to do justice to most music types. So this "ultra reference" model carries on that tradition. The MSRP of this headphone is $999, and that puts it in the "ultra-expensive" category, but fortunately, you can actually find it discounted fairly steeply sometimes which brings the price down to earth a bit (but still orbiting). The main difference in this model over the lesser but similar wood-construction D5000 is an improved driver (higher efficiency) and a better finished wood earcup (now polished finish and nickel lettering that can't wear off). Looking at the spec sheets, there isn't much to differentiate it from the D5000 model to justify the $300 premium. Oh yes, but you do get a nicer box: A cardboard affair with leather-like panels, with a cloth material covering the main storage cradle. You don't even get an adapter to plug the ¼" plug into the 1/8" jack of portable devices, which I guess sends the message, don't even bother using these with your iPod.
Ok, enough with the small talk.
Is this thing worth $1000? In many ways, no. On the surface, it's three times more expensive than the very competent AH-D2000 model which I reviewed and gave five stars to. For the extra money, you get a nicer box and the luxurious look of the polished wood cups. You get a less unruly cable which is stated to be of higher quality. But the headphone is still `Made In China', so it's not as if you are paying Japanese craftsmen descended from a long line of great Asian artisans to craft your headphone. The headband and swivel arm hardware is basically the same as far as I can tell. Even the ear pad itself looks and feels about the same. The difference between these and the AH-D5000 is even less apparent, as the D5000 is also made of high quality wood earcups. While you can easily justify that the D5000 costs more than the D2000 due to the solid wood earcups (rigidity is good to prevent resonances) the D7000 doesn't really seem to go much farther than the D5000 to justify that it costs almost 50% more. Besides the minor appearance differences, the only real tangible difference mentioned in the marketing blurbs is that the D7000 has a stronger magnet. If you try these headphones, you will find they mostly sound similar, the familiar sound signature clearly indicate that they are all from Denon, you won't be mistaking these for the warm polite sound of a Sennheiser, or the more clinical sound of some AKGs, or the energetic snappy bright sound of a Grado Labs model.
But hey, what are you REALLY getting in terms of the sound quality?
Since the D7000 has the same basic design as the D2000, I will say that they do sound similar in quite a few ways. The bass is strong and deep. Some people think the bass is too strong and uncontrolled, more of a flatulent sound than true accurate bass, but I disagree. The bass is strong to be sure, but I feel it's very well controlled. Maybe the fact that I have a big head helps, as these headphones are known to fit loosely, but on my head, they feel relatively stable and secure, but still supremely comfortable. But here's where one difference starts to be apparent as you compare the two. The D7000's bass quality is more punchy, more tuneful, seems to have no lower frequency limit, but still has good damping or control...like listening to a high end stereo system with a carefully manually equalized Velodyne DD-18 subwoofer that costs thousands. Whereas the D2000 has very good bass that is missing in some other brands' models, the D7000 takes it up a notch further. And then there are the highs, the D7000 seems to be more pristine, just slightly clearer and more detailed through, just a bit more sparkle overall. Again, these are pretty subtle differences overall, but they are there if you listen carefully, have a good system, and have good recordings that can highlight the differences. Other things like the soundstaging (placement of instruments/staging of the music) is pretty much similar; the D7000 has a richer, bigger overall sound in general
Where does that leave the D5000? The differences between the D2000 and D7000 can be somewhat subtle already, but the D5000 and D7000 are even smaller. I can notice that the D5000 does feel like a middle ground, the bass isn't as punchy or tight as the D7000, and the highs aren't as well controlled as the D7000. What does this come down to: I'll admit it, the D7000 is, like most higher end audio gear, a clear case of diminishing returns. You are paying a premium to get Denon's best effort, and luxury construction and presentation. The actual physical and engineering differences don't really reflect the price differential. The sonic differences are subtle for the most part, if I was blindfolded, I don't think I would be able to predict that I could identify which was which 100% of the time. But does that mean it's a waste of money? I would say no to that. If you take headphone listening seriously like I do, already spent good money building up a good system, a headphone like this just rounds out your listening experience. Even though it's diminishing returns to buy a headphone like this, I do appreciate that these do noticeably improve on the excellent D2000's which I loved and cherished for a year before I upgraded to these. Even though I describe the differences as subtle, I do appreciate the differences that I can hear.
Overall, these headphones has a completeness to the sound. The bass is indeed strong, and in fact, if you aren't use to listening to truly full range loudspeakers, you might find that these headphones do seem to go *way* over the top with their bass, and may seem to drown out the midrange compared to what you are used to. However, that doesn't mean I am implying that every other headphone is wrong and these are right though. If I was to try to analyze it, I think the D7000's do seem to go about 10-15% over the top with their bass and treble energy, but for me, it's erring on the side of offering a "fun" sound but without going overboard. I wouldn't master music with these headphones, but I'd still select these over many other headphones in their price range in terms of their overall musical accuracy. Every headphone has particular strengths and weaknesses. I do find these headphones are great for popular music, jazzy nightclub performances, electronic/dance, big band, but slightly less good for huge orchestral pieces (partly due to the closed nature, they sound a bit less 3 dimensional compared to the best open style headphones). As closed headphones, these don't leak that much sound.
So the bottom line is: for the most part, these headphones don't make any sense, but if your love of music runs deep, you like sound that is biased toward "fun" over purely clinically accurate sound quality, don't mind paying a bit more to get that luxurious look, then these are as good of choice as any other $1000 headphone that I can think of. The only other thing I should mention is that these headphones do have a very slight tendency to emphasize the upper midrange. Depending on the vocalist, there is just a tad bit of edginess to the voice. This could be a limitation of my system (as it usually is in most cases), but it's something to watch out for if you are sensitive to treble artifacts. All in all, the treble has a slightly more lively sound than average headphone I've owned over the years.
For the most part, I don't think I really want to try to convince anybody that these headphones are worth every penny, and that you shouldn't consider the cheaper D1001/D2000/D5000 models. You should because those are all great choices in their respective price ranges. I think these D7000's can compete against any other $1000 headphone, but like all things in the top 3% percentile pricewise, it's made for the fanatic or hobbyist that doesn't mind paying big dollars for the privilege of owning a top model to squeeze out that extra 3% of improvement. For the most part, I think the D2000 is a sweet spot and you should probably check these out first if you just want an enjoyable, excellent sounding, high quality, comfortable set of cans for general use.

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