Denon AH-D5200

Audiophile headphones with rare wood finish

The Denon AH-D5200 stand out with their closed acoustic design and stylish zebrano wood cups. It is an exotic species of extremely durable wood with a texture reminiscent of zebra stripes. Together with the wood-matched brown leather headband, the headphones look 11 out of 10. Instead of fast food music from the Spotify charts for the Denon AH-D5200, you want to set aside a separate day, hit nostalgia, collect your favorite records and not be distracted by anything but music. Moreover, the design of the headphones turned out to be extremely comfortable, and the foam-filled ear cushions fit on the ears like native ones. We suspect that durability is also in order here - the aluminium frame and metal arms look reliable.

Minimum overtones and frequency range from 5 to 40,000 Hz

Now back to the zebrano tree, which performs not only decorative functions. It is characterized by a high density of the material and, accordingly, better handles with the resonances of the cabinet, making the sound clearer. It would certainly have been used more often if not for the complexity of processing. However, Japanese designers went even further, building diaphragms for 50mm drivers from some tricky light and at the same time very rigid material that dampens vibrations in the diaphragm. And the speakers themselves were fixed on special vibration damping suspensions. Such a set of measures made it possible to minimize resonances and parasitic overtones, achieving a dynamic and accurate sound in the spectrum from 5 to 40,000 Hz.

They sound great both with an expensive amplifier and with a simple smartphone

Another thing that surprises. Many headphones were made with an eye to certain equipment. So to say, "street" models with high sensitivity can sound unpleasant on a thoroughbred amplifier, and high-impedance audiophile models, on the contrary, will not be able to swing properly on a smartphone. In this regard, the Denon AH-D5200 sit on two chairs without any problems, working both as headphones for a smartphone / laptop, and when connected to an amplifier. In both cases, the headphones deliver excellent tonal balance with well-accentuated bass, neat, tidy mids, and extremely detailed highs. For some, such detail will even be a minus, since MP3 compression artifacts will crawl from everywhere. All things considered, the price of the Denon AH-D5200 is impressive. Don't get me wrong, $500 for headphones is a lot, but a couple of years ago, the company's audiophile models cost twice as much.