Denon AH-D9200 Review

Denon has been a brand that I’ve really come to admire. Their closed-back wooden headphones have offered me an enticing listening experience that not a lot of other reference-based headphones can replicate. The AH-D5200 and AH-D7200 are both great closed-back headphone options that are worthy of their respective price ranges. The AH-D9200 is their flagship model that I have been eagerly awaiting to listen to. Its other most premium design, costing the high-end price of $1,599. Now that I’ve been able to finally hear the D9200, is it really one of their best headphones?

What You Get

• AH-D9200 headphones
• Two cables
  • 3.5mm cable with dual-ended 3.5mm plugs
  • Quarter-inch cable with dual-ended 3.5mm plugs
• Cleaning cloth
• Quarter-inch adapter
• Manual

Look and Feel

You can always count on Denon to deliver a fantastic build, with a set of high-grade materials that complete a durable design. Its main highlight is its wooden earcups, made from Japanese bamboo, which give the D9200 extra dampening properties in hopes of a more natural sound. This shell also offers a lighter coloration to its outside, making the D9200 more distinct than its previous models. One similarity it does have to the other designs is its sturdy aluminum frames that make up its yoke and headband, bringing the headphone parts together with flexibility. The leather padded headband does a good job alleviating pressure, but the earpads don’t offer a ton of isolation. With that being said, the D9200 is still extremely comfortable to wear for long periods of time and gives your ears a ton of room to breathe.

Design

Denon uses FreeEdge drivers for their headphones which use Neodymium magnets to significantly decrease distortion. It’s a 50mm dynamic unit that has the job of eliminating unwanted resonance, only producing the most accurate response possible.

Soundstage

In terms of closed-back soundstages, I’ve always felt that Denon was ahead of the curve. The only other brand that comes close to its level is Kennerton, but Denon is more reliable for its tighter precision within its imaging. On the D9200, the soundstage showcases Denon’s best efforts, providing a sensational width between its left and right channels. You also get some great depth, with the headphone’s ability to layer a ton of sound elements articulately. Its separation brings the imaging out of a linear space, and into a much more dome-like headspace that wraps around you like a great open-back headphone. For the D9200, the soundstage and spatial imaging bring the sound signature together greatly.

Low End

Denon’s ability to bring you a detailed bass response is echoed throughout each of their headphone models. The D9200 presents its best bass timbre yet, with a tonality that gives you realism while also allowing the frequencies to jump out and grab you. Their thickness is a lot more refined, especially in the sub-bass where the sound signature is granted some smooth vibration extending the depth of this response. It’s great clarity with no compromise.

Mids

The midrange has a commanding forwardness that properly emphasizes the exact right amount of detail to be accurate and engaging. It provides its transparency by offering a stable balance between its more driven frequency bands, and the ones that are kept flat. This evenness is spaced out greatly, featuring rich textures that compliment the presence of many instruments and vocals. This is a headphone that will sound great with any genre, but I particularly liked the way a lot of hard rock tracks were portrayed. Listening to a lot of Foo Fighters tracks kept me very engaged with the D9200’s excellent energy, especially on the track “Bridge Burning” where the distorted guitars and screaming vocals were presented as pure and clear as they seemed like they possibly could.

Highs

These highs are not afraid to show peaks of brightness in some areas. However, this treble extension gives its timbre great control, making sure to never appear harsh. There’s a sense of crispness to its profile that accentuates instrumentals, like high strings and synths. This way you feel like the tracks are a lot more complete, while at the same time granting some bite to the sound signature as a whole. As somewhat of a treble-head, this was a major highlight of the D9200, as the clarity in this region felt so pristine.

Summary

I had highs hopes for the AH-D9200, and those hopes were never once put into question. The D9200 is a fantastic closed-back option in its price range, offering a premium listening experience that feels true. This price range is normally dominated by a lot of open-back planar headphones, so it’s nice to see a closed-back headphone reach the same type of prestige and feel worth it.

The Denon AH-D9200 is available at Audio46.