D8000: Pro vs OG
@flashbolt and I were talking about the differences between the D8000 and D8000 Pro and I figured I may as well just post my impressions publicly.
My Gear Preferences
I think its important to understand someone's tastes to truly understand how they describe a headphone. I will start by saying I am not a stickler for harman. Instead I prefer what I would refer to as a "fairly balanced signature". This means that bass boost vs flat and bright vs dark treble don't really matter to me so long as the sections are balanced within themselves and flow together without sounding disjointed. The three tonal dislikes I have are: lack of sub bass extension, thin mids, and uneven treble (I get some massive fatigue issues with some treble tunings but it doesn't seem to be tied to bright/dark).
Outside of tonality I pretty highly value timbre (and especially timbre of horns/wood winds) and reproduction of room reverb. While I raw detail retrieval isn’t the dead top of my list, I do highly value it and don’t tend to use headphones below TOTL levels of it regardless of my love for anything/everything else about them. Lastly, stage size doesn’t play a particular role in my enjoyment of a can (so long as its not miniscule at least) but separation and layering absolutely do.
Lastly, I listen quite soft. I generally turn cans up to where they sound best, but I do tend to prefer cans that play well at my extremely low listening levels of mid 50dB peaks (yes, you read that right) over cans that need to be louder. Luckily most stuff has a pretty even playing field here as the only two cans I have found that perform exceptionally at these volumes are LCD-R and Soli P. Not even utopia likes playing that low. Everything else gets cranked till it sounds great (typically average of ~70-75dB)
As for music I listen to, its honestly just about everything. I am not a massive fan of trap/harder rap but do have some in my library anyways. My most listened to genres are likely older jazz (everything from big band/bebop to rat pack/fitzgerald), Lofi (of basically any kind be it acoustic cafe jazz or hiphop), neo-soul (Saela Sue/Winehouse/Raphael Saadiq), and finaly modern electronic rock (think anything between synthwave and Tasha Sultan)
So just off the bat, the D8000 and D8000 Pro are very very different headphones. It is to the point that if they didnt come in the same chassis you couldn’t possibly guess they were related to each other. Because I feel the Pros are better known in the west I will start with them.
D8000 Pro
Overall a well balanced true TOTL can with extraordinary texture that is both source transparent and one of the most source forgiving TOTL cans I have used (they generally sound better on SS than tubes IMO but they are yet to really not play well with something). They are quite neutral with good extension and are easy to run. IMO the incredible texture they offer while not having any gret misgivings absolutely allows them to compete with the greats such as Susava, Utopia, and Solitaire P.
Sound Break Down
Tonality: Overall the Pros are a very neutral can. Well extended with ever so slightly thin mids (though significantly more tonally dense than hifiman), I personally think the only tonal ‘misstep’ (if you can even call it that when compared to the competition) is that the treble can get slightly hot on some setups (though I still find them less fatiguing than susvara or utopia).
Stage: I would consider them fairly middle of the road. While not grand and expansive (like HD800S or Solitaire P) they also aren’t exceptionally narrow (Diana V2 with a full seal) and have very solid depth (not quite as deep as DV2 but I would put it similar to utopia).
Detail: This is also quite middle of the road (for a TOTL can). A comfortable competitor to Utopia and a step above DV2 on most setups, but still half a step behind something like susvara I find it absolutely within the range of TOTL cans but not the outright champ.
Timbre: Once again I find the Pros very middle of the road. They don’t have shocking timbre like susvara or raal but they also don’t have major misgivings with it like Utopia and Solitaire P.
Texture: IMO, this is where the pros truly stand out. Even amongst heavyweights like susvara and utopia it is truly unrivaled by anything else I’ve ever owned.
And yes, I know many will not like the usage of this term due to it being so hard to quantify. Its not detail or timbre, but it somehow incorporates both. Honestly, I am not going to do a good job explaining what texture is so I will leave that to someone else. Ultimately though, I think most with TOTL experience will at least know what I am referring to
Honestly, I do absolutely have cans I subjectively prefer over the Pros, but I still don’t see them leaving my collection any time soon anyways. Their absurd source transparency and general forgivingness make them excellent for evaluating gear. Pair this with texture I haven’t even found in susvara and I think they make a lot of sense to keep around. My personal misgivings with the Pros are pretty minimal if I am honest. I would like a bit more body in the mids and these cans dont sound their best at lower volumes (mids can get even thinner and the treble peak becomes more prominent), but they are honestly in my top 5 for low level play as is anyways.
D8000 (OG)
Laid back, vast, and rich the D8000s truly nail emotion within music. Honestly, the D8000s have what may be the best tuning I’ve heard. Think Empy but bigger stage, better usage of the stage and no fatigue, all while having better technical performance to boot. People often say that the Pros sound like dynamic drivers, and I do get where they are coming from, but IMO the D8000s sound far far more like dynamics than the pros (and I find that a very good thing). Source wise they arent as agnostic as the Pros but they are still fairly forgiving and tube excellently.
Sound Break Down
I ran out of time to write this section today. Ill bump the post when I get a chance to do it (hopefully by the end of the week? but not positive)
Tonality:
Stage:
Detail:
Timbre:
Texture:
If I am completely honest, my entire personal misgivings with the D8000s is just that I am massively spoiled from a technical perspective. With similar detail and separation as cans such as Arya/Clear/etc, I just find myself looking for a bit more. In areas such as organicness/liquidity, texture, timbre, and dynamics I do think that the D8000 pulls ahead of these cans enough to be completely justifiable (at least at its used costs), but the loss of detail is simply past my personal level of acceptance when comparing to cans such as utopia, Susvara, Solitaire P, and even the Pros themselves.
Comparison
This is just going to be a rough comparison between the cans. If you would like me to add anything to it specifically just ask.
| Category |
Ranking |
| Tonality |
Subjective, but I prefer OG |
| Stage Width |
OG >>> Pro |
| Stage Depth |
OG << Pro |
| Detail |
OG <<< Pro |
| Timbre |
OG > Pro |
| Texture |
OG < Pro |
