iāve been saying for a while that sundaras are a $150 headphone and iāll fite anyone over it
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if sundaras are worth 150 id hate to see how much you think every other well reviewed headphone is worth. i think they are very fairly priced compared to x2 HR and shp9500 or 4xx i dont think you get better sound until over 500$ such as aeon. oddly enough most reviewers say the gl2000 works better at 150 to 200 instead of the sundara. even Zeos raved about them for their price.
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I had the 4xx for $180. Good. Once I got the Sundaras they were better. Worth the money. After the GL2000 I think they are even better after burn in. Couldnāt say if its worth almost double the price as its the only headphone Iāve had over $400
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Thanks for doing those tracks, I listen to the same stuff. Extreme metal genres are a shitshow when it comes to mixes, some are superb and some are atrocious so wildly mixed results are definitely expected from album to album. Demolisher is on the better side of things so Iām glad it sounds solid through these.
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yeah the only major step up from the sundara is the aeon 2 closed that ive heard under 1000. i have a hard time believing the gl2000 is even close to the aeon 2 but ive yet to hear it and will not be buying it. but im glad its getting some controversy keeps things interesting.
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Classic metal sounds different from the contemporary electronically infused one, and of course those are revealing headphones, every peculiarity of the recording has been thrown into your face. For example Dio - Holy Diver sounds not bad, but a little hollow and shouty to me, the infamous 5k peak killing it. In contrast Manowar - Hail and Kill sounds spectacular. For educational purposes you can listen to Poppy - I Disagree. The whole album is highly compressed piece of excrement, but listen specifically to track 9 - Sick Of The Sun. Its dynamic range is 3, and replay gain is -12.84. GL2000 is very good at showing all of the recordingās unfulfilled promises to you. The irony is that this is actually not bad music at all, and a little more adequate sound engineering would make it a pleasurable listening, which those headphones bypass jovially.
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Hmm, dunno on that really. Post eq sundara is just as strong excluding the stage difference. Also having to eq the hell out of a headphone from the get go to make it good is a bad thing in my opinionā¦ really shouldnāt need to fix a $600+ price tag headphone
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I absolutely agree that eq shouldnāt be necessary and itās sad that for a lot of things the gl2k desperately needs it but it still does fit some things without it. Definitely not headphones for the masses.
Also I think the sundara separation is ass. Idk how it gets so congested with really busy tracks but it absolutely does.
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Zeos was not exaggerating when he said there was like 6 layers to the soundstage!
Hi everyone
As promised I have now received my Elex and they are working fine.
After comparing them to the GL2000 I prefer the Elex. I use them on a work computer with a Zen Dac so cannot install any EQ software. I love the fact that the Elex sound great out of the box and I donāt feel like Iām missing anything.
At first I thought the Elex were missing some top end compared to my trusty HD560S but after a few hours of listening I realised that the HD560S are a little too bright and the Elex have a great balance with much more detail than the HD560S and the GL2000. Also the Elex are more comfortable for long listening sessions.
The Dynamics are great and bass is textured, hits hard when needed and does not mess with the mids. Regarding clipping you have to play really low bass notes or turn them up to silly levels to make it happen. Listening to normal music you can turn them up quite loud and they stay perfectly composed. The vocals remind me of the HD560s/660s however the soundstage is deeper so they feel like they are in front of you rather than in your head. The GL2000 forced female vocals at you which became fatiguing very quickly.
The separation is also fantastic compared to GL2000 which seemed to meld some instruments. Every part of the music is given a place in front of you.
I just hope they continue to work well as I think this is the point where I stop buying open backed headphones.
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I appreciate your comparison. This is why I am trying to cancel my GL2K order and get the Elex instead. Problem is Drop is infuriating to deal withā¦as in they wonāt help.
Looks like Iāll be waiting till end of April to get the Elex instead if they are still on Drop.
Not to derail the topic here, so Iāll say that Iāve learned to really take in more reviews before purchasing another HP. Glad that those that like the GL2Ks like them though. Thatās all that matters!
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The female voice thing is facts.
-the man who sold the world cover by emel.
Look up that song and try getting through it with the GL2k. I cannot get through that song unless putting volume really low, which by itself is not pleasant. I want to enjoy the beautiful voice, but I cannot. Hurts my ears.
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Itās very interesting to me how a few comments now have stated they donāt like what the female voices sound like on the GL2k.
I actually like the unique behavior of voices and other sounds made by these headphones. Thereās a quirky but very pleasing strange quality to them, in the best of ways.
Moving back to the HD800S from these, itās a nice difference in tastes to play with.
I see the GL2k as a complement in a collection of headphones, not a neutral standalone.
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First of all, Iām no audiophile, I canāt really compare the highs, mids and lows. I can only describe how they sound to me. Secondly, back to the point that Iām no audiophile, pardon me if I use any terms wrongly. Lastly, this is merely my opinion and how the cans sound to me, many may disagree with me. So itās just my 2 cents below, comparing GL2000 to DT1990 Pro, both of which I own.
GL2000 burned in for at least 50 hours. Perhaps the expectation was too high, Im not as impressed as I hoped to be. Not saying that itās not a good headphone, itās probably priced just right to me, wouldnāt say that itās the best I can get below 1k and I also wouldnāt compare it to $300 headphones. Soundstage and separation are impressive, music sounds cleaner and more effortless to me as compared to DT1990. So I find that it sounds more exciting? I keep reading about this compression thing above, Iām not exactly sure what that is. However what DMS shared is true, vocal sounds more nasally and a little thinner. I would also prefer a little more bass, thus the xbass on hip dac is fun when I go portable with this headphone. Overall its still fun and comfortable to listen to for long duration.
Iāve owned DT1990 for many months, my first can that got me down this expensive path of owning multiple headphones. Vocal on Dt1990 as compared to GL2000 is much fuller and engaging in a sense. At the same time the overall sound feels more muddy instead of the tight and clean response on GL2000. Itās probably because one is a dynamic can and the other one is a planar. Of course its well known that the treble for Dt1990 is on the bright side. Iām very sensitive to treble and sibilance, so Iāve swapped it with dekoni hybrid pads. It helps but the treble is still a little too bright without any eq for me, whereas I find the treble in Gl2000 just right for me, enough sparkle but not too much that it irritates me.
I have GL2000, DT1990 Pro, HD58X, M1060 and SHP9600. I like music to sound fun and not linear or analytical. I enjoy both Gl2000 and DT1990. since they are drastically different sounding headphones, Iām glad to have both of them for different genre of music and simply choose them based on my mood that day! Haha
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I have a strong suspicion that people arenāt powering these and having 600ohm beyer sibiliance style problems where almost no power is enough to make the highs plenty loud and people adjust their volume so they can hear the rest but it just ends up making the highs way too loud.
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Hmm potentially but it does have some brightnessā¦ Iād wager its more along treble intolerances. Granted this headphone has hit spots on treble that get rather uncomfortable for me and I use t1.2 regularly. Shouldnāt really have a bright headphone very loud anyway imo
Hard agree with Drop support being an absolute pain. Trying to cancel an order through them at the moment and they are purposefully not helpful.
It just differs.
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Mad Child (rapper) has a very nasal, kind of higher pitch voice. Canāt listen to any of his songs as it hurts my ears.
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Danzig - how the gods kill. When he sings very loud itās very piercing.
Other voices can be totally okay. I can really like what the headphone does but these things are a bit rough.
I have to bass boost though, other wise I feel they are extremely flat. I listen to much hiphop or 80ās-90ās metal. Guitars and drums have no presence at all when thereās no bass boost. When you do boost it though it can be just fine depending on the song.
But thatās just me and I donāt run em off of high power.
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most planars need over a watt of power at least for reserve bass hits. liquid spark minimum i would say you can get one used for like 80$ worth a try. sounds like these headphones arent for you though
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I have an Atom so aside from just better quality higher end amps, Iām wondering if the watt of power is not enough to make these shine since I believe these were recommended to have at least 2 watts from your amp.