This is a review, listening tests, EQ and detailed measurements of the beyerdynamic DT1990 Pro open-back headphone. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $529.
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The feel of the metal cup holders is not great but you forget about it the moment you put the headphone on your head. It is light, has large cups and very comfortable. It nicely comes with two cables, one coiled and one not.
I put the headphone on my GRAS 45CA headphone measurement rig and initial seating was perfect! I suspect this provides good consistency for different listeners.
beyerdynamic DT1990 Pro Measurements
As usual we start with our headphone frequency response measurements:
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I was pleasantly surprised by the good compliance with our target from 100 Hz to 4 kHz. Bass is flat/drooping a bit which some people like. The main glaring deviation is around 7.8 KHz. Here is the deviation for equalization development:
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Since we need to boost bass, I was disappointed by the rising distortion there and driver limiting at 114 dBSPL:
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Impedance is close to rated 250 Ohm but rises rapidly in bass indicating you need good amount of voltage to drive the headphone:
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Especially since sensitivity is below average:
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Group delay is uneventful:
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beyerdynamic DT1990 Pro Listening Tests and Equalization
First impression was pleasant indicating that the content I was listening to didn't have a lot of spectrum around 8 kHz. The sound was light due to lack of bass so I EQed from left to right:
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With all the filters in place, performance was surprisingly good, sounding excellent on most of my clips. Sadly, sub-bass and high-playback levels in general brought out static and other types of distortion indicating driver limiting. For everyday playing it is fine but for the few minutes you may want to crank it up, it is going to sound poor.
Conclusions
If I am not mistaken, the DT1990 Pro has the most target compliance of any beyerdynamic headphone I have tested and it shows. Deviations is only at the extremes of frequency response so out of performance is not bad. What is wrong with it, can be fixed with EQ but the dynamic range is not there to handle more bass. Comfort is there so good for "everyday listening" with equalization.
I can't recommend the beyerdyanamic DT 1990 Pro. I would have with EQ if it didn't get so distorted.
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