Cascade headphones

cascade headphones are good for edm and techno music ? i want bass that is punchy and strong with short bass decay.
thanks for the helpers

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what’s your budget, so if there are better options, they can be shared with you.

also, do you have a DAC and headphone amp? those are very important parts of the chain that help provide the punch and short decay you’re looking for. :slight_smile:

edit - also, welcome!

thanks for the comment.
my budget can be stretched for maximum of 900$ and i dont have an headphone amp or dac.
my goal is portable headphones that can be my all in one solution -travel , gaming, work , music , movies .
that is why the cascade apeael to me at first . they are easy to drive , everyone praises their bass, and very good clarity despite the heavy bass.
if you have some ideas i would like to hear.

I think you are good with the cascades and your goals but what I would recommend is a stout portable amp to make sure you are getting the best out of your investment.
Recommendations-
Fiio BTR5
Ifi hip dac
Earstudio ES100

I had the cascades and the low end was too much. I ended up selling them. Everything else is very nice, amazing build quality, easy to drive and very comfortable.

what do you think about emu teak , in case i dont want to break the bank

I think they are great, personally. More natural sounding to me than the Elegia and much thicker low-end. Great for EDM… a little brighter up top, but not overly so.

I don’t think they’re as portable as some other closed-back options though… still not the worst option in that way.

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The Teaks, and by extension all of the foster biodynamic variants are semi open and don’t isolate well. They are also quite large and, while well built, are not durable enough for portable use imo.

If you are looking for great bass, the E-MU Teaks with a set of purple heart cups (also from E-MU) is your best option for around $500, but they will probably not work for portable use. Maybe you can get a good set of IEMs to use portable and keep the E-MU for at home use.

Never any action on this thread. Do we have any Cascade owners on this forum?

If so, would you like to share your experiences?

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yes i bought them ,
i use them with ifi xdsd which retails at 500$ in my country.
brief review-
bulid quality is the best i have seen .
sound qaulity - i use them without any filter on .
bass is fast and good , but not mind
blowing like everyone says ,in my sony wh1000xm2 there was the same amount of bass more or less.
the cascade maybe hits a little bit lower and has more amphasize on the sub bass.
midrange has very good tonality and great resolution
higs are great but not mind blowing. very organic tone.
soundstage is relatively small , but i think this is what campfire aimed at. the music feel intimate and inside your head.
imaging and saparation are superb.
detailed but not in some extraordinary way , better than the xm2, depened on song.
clarity is exellent.
they are not the best at travel in bus or plain, when i walk in the street with them i hear every car passing by.
my score - 7/10
they are fine headphones and very fun to listen to with a lot to offer , but absolutely not worth 800$.
i belive they worth at least half of that , between 400-500$ and then they were 10/10

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I got my Cascades today. First off, very bassy, very comfortable (see note) and a little messy.

First, the bass: WOW! That is some serious bass. Blows away Fostex TH-610’s, Meze 99 Classic’s and Sony Z7’s.
Listening to the Bass Lovers thread through the Cascades using just my phone made me Giggle repeatedly. With some music, it is a bit messy, but I wonder if burn-in will affect that? Or will I adjust to it?

Comfort wise the ear cups are awesome. However the whole headphone sits on about one inch of skull and after about 1/2 an hour it was starting to hurt. After reading the Head-Fi thread, I knew this was coming. I took the manufacturers advice and bent the headband a little bit to share the load. Better now and I will keep adjusting, as needed.

Sound wise so far (one day in), these are the bassy 'phones I have been looking for. I am really impressed! I am currently playing some Two Feet. Pretty much everything sounds bigger, fuller and more exciting. Some stuff has sounded a little messy but that seems to be happening less and less. Probably just me adjusting to it.

These are SUPER easy to drive. My tube amp can’t get past 9:00-9:30 (with Schiit Loki in the chain).
My Violectric amp has the dip switches set to -12Db’s. And then the wheel can only go 10:00-11:00.

Lastly, I just tried the 4.4mm cable straight into my Sony DAP (NW-ZX300) and the sound was great! I have to keep it in low gain and can’t go past 65 out of a max of 120. Just did two songs and then put it on the charger.

Looks good, sounds good and I am a very happy camper.

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Sounds like you’ve got yourself a killer pair of on-the-go bass cannons! I’m also not ashamed to admit that I’ve giggled sometimes on sick bass tracks with good gear. There’s nothing like it. Enjoy!

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For the last year and more all my listening is at home. But yes, whenever I do get a job, these will be the ticket.

In my collection, these are the polar opposites of my Grado GH2’s. I like variety so these are a Very nice addition to the collection.
Now to spend all of January listening and then make some decisions.

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Do any of you find that your ears rub the inside of the pads or are the pads too small?

I must have small ears because these fit my ears just fine.
I had planned on buying the cloth and XL pads, but now I don’t think so. I don’t need the XL and I don’t want to lose Any bass with the cloths.

Well I just finished day 8 of my Cascades introduction. I haven’t been this impressed with new 'phones since I got my Focal Elex’s.

I LOVE the sound! These are the closed backs that I have been searching for over the last six years. The bass is outstanding without being overwhelming. The mids, while not forward, are present and sound very full and detailed. I don’t notice any bass bleed into the mids.

No headphone is perfect and, unsurprisingly, the high end on these is nothing special. If you like female singers that can wail, these won’t go all the way. Same with sax’s, trumpets, etc. Where my Grado’s can sometimes go too high and get a little too piercing, these stop just short of peak highs. GREAT combo to own with the Grado’s.

To me, these blow away the Sony Z7’s, Shure 1540’s, Meze 99 Classic’s, the Fostex TH-610’s (with driver mod) and every other closed back I have ever tried.

To me, the Grado’s are Great at mids and above. These are Great at mids and below. And the Elex’s are very good at highs, mids and lows.

These will definitely be staying in my collection.

Now I have to take them off. I still have to get a feel for the new LCD-2 Classic’s and the repaired DT880’s.

Also, these will even take some EQ nicely. I have been using the Schiit Loki to feed my tube amp and it is a great, bassy partnership.

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Well then, I guess I’m going to need to start saving for a pair as I’ve been searching for bass cannons with these attributes. I hope this will be the pair that ends my decade long search for bass cannons since the mids don’t sound too recessed and buried by the heavy slamming bass from what i have been reading.

Thanks for the impressions!

Keep in mind that we all hear differently. Many people hear these different than I do. By the same token, I have bought several pairs of “acclaimed” headphones and have been VERY disappointed.

And my choice of music is new rock, classic rock, blues, horn jazz and a touch of Motown.

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My wife was getting a little noisy tonight so I popped these on. MAN, do I Love these headphones!

I was getting back into my Drop Edition XX’s and comparing them to my LCD-2 Classic’s. I was impressed with the bass from my XX’s and thinking “These are pretty damn good”.

Then I put the Cascades on and it’s like, “You don’t know what real bass is!”

DMB sounds even better, if that’s possible. :grin:

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Well I snagged a good deal on a pair with extra pads and i’m thrilled. The cascades bring me closer to a complete package of what I want for bass cannons. Weird to say but I think they are too refined for my ears right now. From first audition without burn in, they do sound sloppy but not sloppy enough… I guess my old sony xb500 really conditioned me for bass farts straight to the ears.

Burn in is really helping the bass improve from what I can notice. These headphones are starting to disappear on my head and I’m just getting lost in the bass and surprising comfort and ability of these cans.

i completely agree with your impressions with the cascades and its helped me a lot in making this decision. Thanks

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