Headphones

A home headphone that strikes a balance between comfort and sound quality is essential for the best listening experience, and the AH-D7200 over-ear offering from Denon aims to deliver on both fronts. 

Open the packaging and you can really appreciate the solid quality of the design right from the start. From the soft sheepskin leather-covered memory foam earpads to the click stops for adjusting the earcup positioning along the sumptuous leather headband, this is opulent stuff. The headband frame is made out of aluminium, making the Denon feel reasonably light at 385g, and comfortable to wear. Fitted with 50mm dynamic drivers mounted inside the walnut enclosures, it looks the part too – and the real wooden earcups really add to the classic, straightforward design and give it a truly luxury high-quality feel.

A 3m-long braided cable fitted with a 6.35mm jack plug is supplied that can be detached from the ear cups, thanks to the two 3.5mm jack plugs designated for left and right earpieces, should you need to replace or upgrade at a later date. Inline controls are absent here of course, as this headphone is a full-size model intended to be used in a home/studio environment, plugged into a dedicated headphone amplifier – there’s no 6.35mm-to-3.5mm jack adapter supplied either.

Sound quality

As part of Denon’s reference range, the D7200 claims a relatively flat frequency response, offering accurate sound – just as the artists intended. Listening to a variety of music genres, the sound is clear and detailed, with punchy but not overbearing bass, and its natural clarity is surely aided by the real-wood ear cups.

The wide soundscape in Wilderness by Explosions In The Sky really puts the D7200 to the test. It does a great job of reproducing the upper mids and highs in the track’s build up and provides just the right amount of bass to the low end. This balanced sound signature allows it to perfectly capture the subtle background sound effects in Jungle’s Accelerate, while keeping the vocals and treble of the guitar clear. The bass is still punchy without the mix getting muddy.

Listening to more vocal-focused material, the warm-tones of the guitar and bass in the lower end are perfect on Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours, however, I can detect the occasional touch of harshness in higher frequencies at times. Toto’s Africa is a fairly mellow eighties recording and sounds brilliant with the Denon delicately reproducing each instrument with clarity and nicely controlled bass. 

Conclusion

To wrap things up, the Denon AH-D7200 is a well-rounded, solid headphone. It delivers good amounts of bass that is well judged and never too overpowering, great midrange and treble with precise detail and clarity. Its balanced handling across all frequencies means it suits a broad range of musical styles and is comfortable enough to wear even during longer listening sessions. The price tag may seem a bit steep, particularly as it finds itself in a strong and competitive area of the headphone market, but in overall terms of comfort, build and sound quality it will make a very worthwhile addition to any audition list. LT