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.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![]()
Thanks for the quick reply! Now I know the way to go.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.
I wonder whether or not the over 100 "not terrible" voters actually listend to this headphone![]()
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.
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.
Amirm measured the DT1990 with the „analytical“ pads.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 finelol. Half the people hating on these have never even listened to them, which I also don't understand.
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.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.
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: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.
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).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“.
Here's oratory1990's data for reference (raw data downloaded from the AutoEQ GitHub, then uploaded to squig.link for graphing):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).
My post was more or less in reply to the "distortion" aspect in the OP ->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).
We agree on that yes, that's a fact.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.
Yeah only a few filters are needed for either pad to get the most out of them.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.
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).not sure I can really agree with this piece ;-) : "Amir's EQ (which is amazing btw)"
Agreed on the strange values here and there.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).
The steep 4k250 peak is a pain for me; the headphone overall sounds pretty liveless to my ears with these settings.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?
Dekoni Velour earpads change the DT1990's tonality:I use Dekoni Velour pads
I will test AMIRM and MAIKY presets soon