The funny thing is from every upgrade or change I’ve made, the DAC made the biggest difference by far. I have noticed a slight improvement in sound quality but most of what I notice is I have about 50% INCREASE in volume over my “studio quality” motherboard DAC.
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Like the other guy said, probably the problem is, that you compare a DJ headphone with crazy boosted bass to the audiophile headphones. And you said, you coming from a car audio background, if I remember right. You can’t expect from a headphone to sound like you are having whatever amount of subwoofers and big speakers 20 cm behind your head. With headphones you obviously can’t feel the bass frequency in your body. Think that makes a big difference…
would a nighthawk or a fostex have any more boomy bass?? i was schocked by how viceral the hawk bass wass, and how deep and alive it felt. i always said, the hawks sound like what i would imagine a beats sounded like (when i was a kid beats were the most expensive thing i ever saw so assumed they were amazing, havent heard them still so i cant comment). and ive heard really good things about fostex for bassheads
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The Purpleheart’s would be my choice too.
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I hate to post graphs but this is the FR for the Sennheiser HD8’s he likes
He’s going to have to EQ to get near that, if he’s really listening loud enough to cause the drivers to distort on the Beyers (I wish he’s take a measurement, so we had some idea), then I’m not sure he’s going to be able to add that sort of bass boost, without having the same issue on other headphones.
He might get away with some of the Dan Clark Planar’s, those are already designed for high volume levels and take well to EQ, but that’s an expensive experiment.
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Haah! i freaking knew it!
Coming from the same background with loud bass and lots of power and subs (not that much quality). But since then, i got smart.
You can have tons more sound quality and play it loud, while still having low and loud bass AND everything being adjustable for “flavour of day” type of setup. Not in headphones.
Not in a million years can a tiny headphone do that or even be near it.
Even with all the EQ, maybe have sub-bass, maybe bass, maybe have treble and mid-range but all at once…? While playing it absurdly loud. Nope.
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Using a dB app on my phone, it looks like for the DT 177X Go the bass begins to distort around 46 dB which is pretty damn weak. Using Basement Jaxx - Something About You to test. The peak dB is around 76 dB with vocals. If I exceed that volume, the drivers start to rattle or just “whiff.”
Like when the low end hits on that song, it sounds like a “PUH!” sound instead of “BOOM!” The drivers moves violently to produce low end slam, but there’s no sound just the sound of the driver moving.
I feel like from what people are saying, and from reviews of these headphones, that they should not be doing that. Could it possibly be an issue with my amp? Because it did arrive banged up and used. I also requested a return (they wouldn’t allow cancellation, even though it was just sitting in their warehouse with a shipping label on it) before they shipped it, instead they shipped it a few days later. So I feel like maybe they’re trying to dump a defective unit on on me. It also had a LOT of noise, which I only recently got rid of with balanced cables.
I recorded the driver distortion on the DT 1990 Pro. According to the dB app this is around 50 dB which is moderate volume. The right driver distorts loudly making a terrible rattling noise lol. This was recorded on my cheap Android phone so the music quality is really bad.
The same for the DT 177X Go. The right driver distorts, and turning up the volume on the amp a little, the left driver begins distorting. At this point I would say it’s closer to 80 dB though.
Yea, that sound pretty bad. Drivers are being on the limit, trying to do something they cannot.
What it the song? Would like to test.
Basement Jaxx - Something About
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That’s somehow so f-ked up track that it hurts my ears.
There is something really weird stuff happening. Along the track there are some 45Hz point plank high spikes that are really boosted, like a bass hummm. Also in the 95Hz region…high spikes.
The thing that really get’s me. Is the 1.8kHz and 3.5kHz spikes…not that high but still there.
I just feel/hear them instantly, causing pain and instant fatigue (sibilance?)
When the fast bass hit’s, right after the “clap” sound. It kinda sounds/feel’s like distortion is happening. Wierd all over.
E: Played with EQ little and it might in the ~500Hz area.
Watched the track with spectrum analyser (RTA240, 44.1khz) and listened, recorder + odd part over and over… it just is… horrible to my ears. Cannot even listen it loud. It’s all pain.
Good part was in the 3:30, low notes in the 45Hz range and last lyrics before the end.
I was determined to get some Argons to replace the DT 1990 Pro, but didn’t realize there was a 14 WEEK lead time. Yikes. Had to cancel my order. If I have to wait that long I might as well wait 4 weeks until I have the money for the Fostex TH909. I’m sure I’ll love those.
Even one reviewer said “If you like concert sound, you will love these.” LOL. The first line of my original post is “I’m looking for concert sound…” 
The TH909s are also much easier to drive than planars and can get nice and loud without distortion, namely with bass.
Actually the music playing in that driver distortion file is from the Interstellar soundtrack:
Interstellar - Full Soundtrack (Hans Zimmer)
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Are we still faffing?.. Purplehearts or if you have the 
then TH900… job done 
You’re a great beginner! Haha money go brrrr (excuse this attempt of writing a meme) lol. But seriously, I will use the recommendations here someday!
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Something to consider if you haven’t is actually getting into the IEM world. Something like the Empire Ears X series of IEMs and if you really want a great experience with a lot of bass, the Empire Ears Legend X is great for that.
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IIRC, the 909s are a little more amp picky? If so, just watch out for that in the event that route is chosen.
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I was actually thinking a similar thing. It seems counter intuitive but some of the biggest bass I have heard has been from IEMs. And not expensive ones either. The Shozy 1.1 has a powerful sounding bass, and I’ve heard that the Campfire Atlas and Polaris II are both bass monsters. Don’t know if it was mentioned yet, but for over ears the Campfire Cascade might be worth looking at as well for some solid bass.
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Yeah I was considering that too.