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beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro Headphone Review

Rate this headphone:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 45 19.7%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 118 51.5%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 43 18.8%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 23 10.0%

  • Total voters
    229
I use a beyer T90 and Amiron wireless, they sound both very good to me.
Some reviews of the T90 are not positive, but its my best headphone i ever used.
 
DT1990pro user here (with Dekoni Pads). Back then "solderdudes" review (amongst others) encouraged me to buy the DT1990pro.
It's a great sounding extremely informative headphone when EQed (and when listening to reasonable volume levels).
Personally I wouldn't use the fleece disc because - IMHO - the DT1990pro responds extremely well behaved to EQing.
Simply beacause a fleece disc is a broad correction while EQing can be more specific.

I wonder whether or not the over 100 "not terrible" voters actually listend to this headphone ;)
I'm usually one to EQ as well, but the "broad correction" of the fleece disc seems to be exactly the correction the DT 1990 Pro with Dekoni pads would need—at least when looking at solderdude's prior measurements with the Analytic pads. Comparing the db reduction of the fleece discs on his measurements to oratory1990's combined measurements of the DT 1990 Pro with Dekoni Elite Velour, it looks like they would get the treble right onto the target (except in the case of strong unit variance) without affecting the FR below 5kHz, potentially removing the need for fine-tuned EQ in the treble. Whether the additional damping in front of the driver creates other positive or negative effects in measurements is what I'm curious to see, especially CSD.
 
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The fleece discs are not the solution for the DT1990. Stacking discs like these will make the headphone sound dull. EQ or the passive filter is the way to go.
The Dekoni pads are tonally between the A and B pads and would be a reason to pick those pads (and maybe comfort).

The fleece disc work for the Stellar.45 drivers as these already have less of a treble peak... and even for the DT900 ProX that disc is not enough.
I don't have the TYGR nor DT900 ProX any more as the DT1990 (with EQ/filter) simply sounds better and did not see the value of owning those other Beyers.
 
The fleece discs are not the solution for the DT1990. Stacking discs like these will make the headphone sound dull. EQ or the passive filter is the way to go.
The Dekoni pads are tonally between the A and B pads and would be a reason to pick those pads (and maybe comfort).

The fleece disc work for the Stellar.45 drivers as these already have less of a treble peak... and even for the DT900 ProX that disc is not enough.
I don't have the TYGR nor DT900 ProX any more as the DT1990 (with EQ/filter) simply sounds better and did not see the value of owning those other Beyers.
Thanks for the quick reply! Now I know the way to go.
 
I wonder whether or not the over 100 "not terrible" voters actually listend to this headphone ;)

I think that is an issue with a lot of people in the audio world that they throw out opinions on things without actually listening to something but that's another topic (not implying that listening is more precise than measurements). However if voting strictly by measurements, there is room for improvement on the DT 1990 Pro (less distortion, more bass in the sub-bass region, no 8kHz peak etc). So in that sense they are not perfect by any means and they may be "not terrible", but with a bit of EQ/Passive filter they surpass their out-of-the box performance and I really doubt that anyone that listened to them with Amir's EQ or just using the Passive Filter would rate them as "not terrible" but rather very good.
 
I liked my beyers until I got something that doesn't have a treble peaks, now I can't stand them.
 
Just remove the treble peaks.... easy to do.

no correction I tried sounded good. easy to in an isolated setting but if you use them for tracking/monitoring you don't always have access to an eq, and their isolation was pretty poor.
 
DT1990 is an open headphone so there is no isolation by design, you can't fault it for that. With a passive filter the treble can be addressed without any EQ.
 
DT1990 is an open headphone so there is no isolation by design, you can't fault it for that. With a passive filter the treble can be addressed without any EQ.

it was dt770

also no I'm not bothering with that, prefer to just buy something that is already good rather than fix problems.
 
Ah .. totally different headphone (this is the DT1990 thread).

Yes, isolation of the DT770 is not that great and yes, also treble peak (fixable).

HD620S and Hi-X60 are 'better' but more expensive and not without faults either.
 
I'm sure I will get bombed on, but complaining about distortion measurements at 114dB is kind of silly. I have HD600, HD6xx, HD58x, DT880 600ohm and Tygr 300r. I generally don't ever listen to any of them since the DT1990 are so much better. I have listened to the 1990 with the stock pads and favor the balanced pads for most situations. I have tried Dekoni Hybrid Elite and the Velour. The Dekoni pads do tame some of the treble peak, but they also take away what I love about these headphones, which is speed and slam. Compared to the HD6-whatevers they have a much more powerful delivery. More like live music. The HD series is easier to listen to, but also more boring. I love the bass on the 1990, it doesn't bleed into the midbass or lower mids and has impact. So just keep the volume lower than 114dB and you should be fine :facepalm: lol. Half the people hating on these have never even listened to them, which I also don't understand.
 
I'm sure I will get bombed on, but complaining about distortion measurements at 114dB is kind of silly. I have HD600, HD6xx, HD58x, DT880 600ohm and Tygr 300r. I generally don't ever listen to any of them since the DT1990 are so much better. I have listened to the 1990 with the stock pads and favor the balanced pads for most situations. I have tried Dekoni Hybrid Elite and the Velour. The Dekoni pads do tame some of the treble peak, but they also take away what I love about these headphones, which is speed and slam. Compared to the HD6-whatevers they have a much more powerful delivery. More like live music. The HD series is easier to listen to, but also more boring. I love the bass on the 1990, it doesn't bleed into the midbass or lower mids and has impact. So just keep the volume lower than 114dB and you should be fine :facepalm: lol. Half the people hating on these have never even listened to them, which I also don't understand.
Amirm measured the DT1990 with the „analytical“ pads.
Now, the DT1990 is a work horse for studio use in the first place, not a „fun“ headphone.
And the „analytical“ pads are there for this particular purpose.
In the studio context you'll find nobody listening at extreme volume levels.

Solely by swapping the pads - eg. to the balanced Pads that are part of the DT1990 package - you add around 6dB to the bass range of the headphone.
These pads turn the DT1990 more into a „fun“ headphone and with these pads the measurements would look quite different.
Also Amirms conclusion would look different.
Not really cool to judge stuff outside of its intended use conditions. Horses of courses.

Yesterday I’ve tested my DT1990 with the Dekoni Pads and with the included DT1990 Balanced Pads and I can go crazy loud without any distortion.
So if listening at very loud levels is your thing, simply swap the pads and have „fun“.
 
Amirm measured the DT1990 with the „analytical“ pads.
Now, the DT1990 is a work horse for studio use in the first place, not a „fun“ headphone.
And the „analytical“ pads are there for this particular purpose.
While I do partially agree with this as I believe both pads were made with the purpose of studio use just for different scenarios (take a look at HD 490 Pro for example). I for example much prefer the Analytical to Balanced pads (even in stock form) as I find the balanced pads too "boomy" and thus are harder for me to listen to. About the part where analytical pads are more suited for studio use - yes, but if your hearing is fine the 8kHz peak exaggerates sibilance and hi-hat aftershocks to unrealistic levels on a lot of busy tracks or just badly mastered tracks. The average consumer that uses headphones without the peak would not even notice these elements so the mixing engineer might make the mix/master too dark to overcompensate for the treble peak of the headphones which will not correlate with real-world usage for the consumer.

Solely by swapping the pads - eg. to the balanced Pads that are part of the DT1990 package - you add around 6dB to the bass range of the headphone.
Per Solderdude it's closer to 5dB but still to my ears because it acts like a low shelf filter that heavily exaggerates 100-300Hz range and makes them too boomy for my taste:

1720093177819.png


Some other measurements show a 1-3dB boost in the lows but the mids get slightly recessed to the same extent:
Screenshot 2024-07-04 134927.png

The 8kHz peak is obviously still there but it is slightly less aparent when listening due to the bass being boosted.

Yesterday I’ve tested my DT1990 with the Dekoni Pads and with the included DT1990 Balanced Pads and I can go crazy loud without any distortion.
So if listening at very loud levels is your thing, simply swap the pads and have „fun“.
I've done a test myself with analytical pads (you can see it a few comments above) and I can confirm that even with Amir's EQ (which is amazing btw), I do not encounter distortion with the way I listen to music at all. When testing it the way Amir tests all of his headphones for reviews you will encounter distortion for sure (at really high listening levels at least for myself).
 
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While I do partially agree with this as I believe both pads were made with the purpose of studio use just for different scenarios (take a look at HD 490 Pro for example). I for example much prefer the Analytical to Balanced pads (even in stock form) as I find the balanced pads too "boomy" and thus are harder for me to listen to. About the part where analytical pads are more suited for studio use - yes, but if your hearing is fine the 8kHz peak exaggerates sibilance and hi-hat aftershocks to unrealistic levels on a lot of busy tracks or just badly mastered tracks. The average consumer that uses headphones without the peak would not even notice these elements so the mixing engineer might make the mix/master too dark to overcompensate for the treble peak of the headphones which will not correlate with real-world usage for the consumer.


Per Solderdude it's closer to 5dB but still to my ears because it acts like a low shelf filter that heavily exaggerates 80-200 range and makes them too boomy for my taste:

View attachment 378959

Some other measurements show a 1-3dB boost in the lows but the mids get slightly recessed to the same extent:
View attachment 378975
The 8kHz peak is obviously still there but it is slightly less aparent when listening due to the bass being boosted.


I've done a test myself with analytical pads (you can see it a few comments above) and I can confirm that even with Amir's EQ (which is amazing btw), I do not encounter distortion with the way I listen to music at all. When testing it the way Amir tests all of his headphones for reviews you will encounter distortion for sure (at really high listening levels at least for myself).
Here's oratory1990's data for reference (raw data downloaded from the AutoEQ GitHub, then uploaded to squig.link for graphing):
Screenshot_20240704-140248_Chrome.png
 
While I do partially agree with this as I believe both pads were made with the purpose of studio use just for different scenarios (take a look at HD 490 Pro for example). I for example much prefer the Analytical to Balanced pads (even in stock form) as I find the balanced pads too "boomy" and thus are harder for me to listen to. About the part where analytical pads are more suited for studio use - yes, but if your hearing is fine the 8kHz peak exaggerates sibilance and hi-hat aftershocks to unrealistic levels on a lot of busy tracks or just badly mastered tracks. The average consumer that uses headphones without the peak would not even notice these elements so the mixing engineer might make the mix/master too dark to overcompensate for the treble peak of the headphones which will not correlate with real-world usage for the consumer.


Per Solderdude it's closer to 5dB but still to my ears because it acts like a low shelf filter that heavily exaggerates 100-300Hz range and makes them too boomy for my taste:


Some other measurements show a 1-3dB boost in the lows but the mids get slightly recessed to the same extent:

The 8kHz peak is obviously still there but it is slightly less aparent when listening due to the bass being boosted.


I've done a test myself with analytical pads (you can see it a few comments above) and I can confirm that even with Amir's EQ (which is amazing btw), I do not encounter distortion with the way I listen to music at all. When testing it the way Amir tests all of his headphones for reviews you will encounter distortion for sure (at really high listening levels at least for myself).
My post was more or less in reply to the "distortion" aspect in the OP ->
Simply by swapping pads you gain some headroom to avoid distortion and if you use the analytical pads use them as intended.
Basically I agree with you. But since I always use EQ (in particular to fix the treble peak) I can also live very well with the balanced pads because the EQ also fixes the boomy low mids. Generally I use the Dekoni pads (although yesterday I was too lazy to swap pads again and therefore left the balanced pads on the headphones for the time being; these days I mainly use another headphone anyway).

not sure I can really agree with this piece ;-) : "Amir's EQ (which is amazing btw)"
 
My post was more or less in reply to the "distortion" aspect in the OP ->
Simply by swapping pads you gain some headroom to avoid distortion and if you use the analytical pads use them as intended.
We agree on that yes, that's a fact.

Basically I agree with you. But since I always use EQ (in particular to fix the treble peak) I can also live very well with the balanced pads because the EQ also fixes the boomy low mids.
Yeah only a few filters are needed for either pad to get the most out of them.

not sure I can really agree with this piece ;-) : "Amir's EQ (which is amazing btw)"
I don't know what your preference curve is, but I know for sure that I am not a fan of AutoEQ or Oratory1990 presets. They try to strictly match the Harman curve and thus have some bogus values here and there (like +-1dB here or there which in some cases is not really obvious or noticeable). The part I hate the most about it is when they touch above 10kHz with a negative value high-shelf filter just so they can match the target (to be fair they usually say adjust to preference, but I truly can't believe someone listened and said that headphones with that filter in place sound good).

I developed an EQ by myself before Amir released the review and it was pretty close to what Amir posted here (apart from me having a bit less sub-bass boost). So it seems I have a pretty similar preference to him (I did find his sub-bass boost an improvement). Overall, the only filter from his EQ I don't find too necessary is the 210Hz filter probably because it's already within my preference bounds as is and it's not a drastic change.

I wonder though what your EQ is for the balanced pads (except for 8kHz that's obvious) and why you wouldn't agree that Amir's EQ is not good? Too much sub-bass or something else?
 
I am not a fan of AutoEQ or Oratory1990 presets. They try to strictly match the Harman curve and thus have some bogus values here and there (like +-1dB here or there which in some cases is not really obvious or noticeable). The part I hate the most about it is when they touch above 10kHz with a negative value high-shelf filter just so they can match the target (to be fair they usually say adjust to preference, but I truly can't believe someone listened and said that headphones with that filter in place sound good).
Agreed on the strange values here and there.
However, I mostly take Oratory1990 as a starting point and modify the settings; mostly to adjust too steep Q values and also to tame down the 3k region a bit (depending on the headphone; for the DT1990 with balanced pads the level of the high mids in Oratorys settings are fine with me)

I wonder though what your EQ is for the balanced pads (except for 8kHz that's obvious) and why you wouldn't agree that Amir's EQ is not good? Too much sub-bass or something else?
The steep 4k250 peak is a pain for me; the headphone overall sounds pretty liveless to my ears with these settings.
Attached my settings (the pic shows mine red and Oratory green).
Depening on the recording I apply additional linear tilts (to make it more or less bright/dark); a -1dB downard tilt attached (you can of course simply copy the values in the DT1990 setting).
 

Attachments

  • DT1990 B-Pds EQs.jpg
    DT1990 B-Pds EQs.jpg
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  • _DT1990pro B-Pads - redux.txt
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  • TILT-1.0dB.txt
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Hi, I'm new here but I want to share my experience with this headphone even though I don't have any specific equipment, apart from my trained ears (I'm a classical musician, but not an audiophile)
First, I use Dekoni Velour pads, zen dac v2 and equalizer APO of course.

I must say I don't have any peak at 8k on my dt1990, all my troubles resides around 6900-7400hz
It happens too often that sibilance is all over the place, and even Oratory(pdf)/crinacle/autoEQ presets have never solved anything for me
Their presets only go very hard on 8k and above, removing details, airiness and a bit of soundstage in my case, but not the sibilance.

Using tone generators, spectrum analizers, specific tracks that I know shouldn't be sibilant, equalizing by ear I identified the problem in this range around 6900-7400
That's where the headphone transforms into a drill, meanwhile 8k is still present but not piercing at all.


I decided to ignore the presets and do my own EQ, using Oratory as inspiration but tuned to my taste/findings.

- a modest bass boost
- a little dip around 140-400 for less muddiness
- maybe there's a bit too much at 2.5k
- more of presence around 4-6k
- and finally a "filter" between 6900-8000, but more aggressive around 7k and less approaching 8k (while the usual presets do the opposite)
- I don't like high shelves

this is how my EQ looks like now, but I will test AMIRM and MAIKY presets soon

Preamp: -4 dB
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 70 Hz Gain -0.5 dB Q 0.7
Filter 2: ON LSC Fc 105 Hz Gain 4 dB Q 0.71
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 220 Hz Gain -2.5 dB Q 0.8
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 700 Hz Gain 1 dB Q 1
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 1250 Hz Gain 0.5 dB Q 1
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 2500 Hz Gain -2 dB Q 2.5
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 4000 Hz Gain 3.5 dB Q 1
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 5000 Hz Gain -2.5 dB Q 4
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 6000 Hz Gain 1.5 dB Q 4
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 6900 Hz Gain -5 dB Q 4
Filter 11: ON PK Fc 8000 Hz Gain -4.5 dB Q 2.8
 
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I use Dekoni Velour pads
I will test AMIRM and MAIKY presets soon
Dekoni Velour earpads change the DT1990's tonality:
Screenshot_20240708-101247_Chrome.png

As a result, Amir's and Maiky's presets designed for the analytical pads are not valid for your headphones - you will hear a sound that was not intended.

Edit:
Instead, try oratory's PEQ preset designed for the Dekoni pads: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/cebi....pdf?rlkey=i70lxp14abdsbs5rocgwjq4j9&e=2&dl=0

(Txt version attached below).

Lastly, a tip for Equalizer APO:
Try separating your Preamp and EQ by adding a Preamp block first, then an Include configuration file block second (and no preamp value in your EQ preset .txt):
Screenshot 2023-11-22 161053 (2) (1).jpg

That way, you can toggle just the EQ On/Off without a change in volume.

Makes it much easier to ascertain the EQ quality.
 

Attachments

  • DT1990 (Dekoni Elite Velour) (oratory1990) (-5,0dB).txt
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