beyerdynamic DT 1990 PRO - no sound?

[disasterpiece]

Hello. im new to this website or forums in general to be honest. so not sure if i sellected correct section forgive me.

so i bought used beyerdynamic DT 1990 PRO from ebay. seller does not seem to be scammer or something like that cause they have a lot of listings and sold stuff. so this headset came with 2 cables and also with bigger jack adapter that screws into small jack, one is curved cable or whatever its called and other one is normal cable, they have both exact same plugs on both side, one side audio jack and other side some 3 holed plug dont know the name. 3 holed plug goes into headset and jack goes into PC front or back (tried both). i get no sound. i looked into sound settings, tried many settings still nothing. i tested it with my old dell laptop and still no sound there , like zero sign of life not even buzzing or any disorted sound when you plug it in. i also bought MIX AMP or whatever its called , its not arrived yet. so am i doing something wrong ? does it work only with DAC? or its just dead and seller just gave me broken headsets even tho they have a lot of good feedbacks. btw physically everything looks good headset and cables.

 

[twsecrest]

I would contact the seller, tell them the headphones appear to be non-functional and would like to return the DT1990 for a refund.

 

[disasterpiece]

Yeah, thing is, im using fraight forwarder company to shop on ebay, i live in Georgia country. its gonna cost me half of the headsets price to return it.

 

[twsecrest]

Yeah, thing is, im using fraight forwarder company to shop on ebay, i live in Georgia country. its gonna cost me half of the headsets price to return it.

If the seller will do the refund, then I guess your only going to be getting half your money back. the other half covering the return shipping.
Or the seller might not want defective headphones and would not require the return shipping.

 

[disasterpiece]

its just too much hassle to ship anything from here, rather keep it and try to repair, bring it to good electrician or something. i still hope it works but needs DAC to power it, so i will wait until my dac arrives and test it on it. i was just hoping i did something wrong so i posted here

 

[twsecrest]

its just too much hassle to ship anything from here, rather keep it and try to repair, bring it to good electrician or something. i still hope it works but needs DAC to power it, so i will wait until my dac arrives and test it on it. i was just hoping i did something wrong so i posted here

If you have tried the headphones in more then one source and get zero sound, then I doubt any DAC is going to solve the no sound issue.
And smart phone or laptop headphone jack would give the DT1990 decent loudness.
Could be the seller never tested the headphones before putting them up for sale?

 

[beeface]

i don't know if it makes much of a difference, but which version do you have? mk 1 (250 ohm) or mk 2 (30 ohm)?

 

[disasterpiece]

i don't know if it makes much of a difference, but which version do you have? mk 1 (250 ohm) or mk 2 (30 ohm)?

its 250 ohm. also my question is, when i plug this headset, windows recognizes it as realtek something something, so it should not be dead right? probably not getting enough power from PC and also from my laptop? but how others make them work without DAC (if they do)

 

[disasterpiece]

If you have tried the headphones in more then one source and get zero sound, then I doubt any DAC is going to solve the no sound issue.
And smart phone or laptop headphone jack would give the DT1990 decent loudness.
Could be the seller never tested the headphones before putting them up for sale?

They claim that its tested. they are very big , a lot of sales, a lot of feedbacks, 99% positive. yeah but it appears in windows sound settings when i plug headset as realtek, dead headphone would not appear right?

 

[LTig]

They claim that its tested. they are very big , a lot of sales, a lot of feedbacks, 99% positive. yeah but it appears in windows sound settings when i plug headset as realtek, dead headphone would not appear right?

You could probably plugin just a connector without any cable and the driver would detect a headphone.

Do you (or a relative, friend, colleague, ...) have any other device with a headphone output which is not a PC where you could try the DT1990 to make sure whether it's broken or not? If it also doesn't work elsewhere it could still be the cable. AFAIK it comes with two cables so you can try the other one.

EDIT: the 3 pin connector on the headphone site is called Mini-XLR.

 

[disasterpiece]

i tried both cables, no sound on both. i tried on my old dell laptop its like 8th gen i7 (if it matters) and exactly same result, shows in windows sound settings but no sound on both cable. also i remember i had old poco x3 android which had audio port, i tested it on that and also no audio. the jack, which you can see on picture, is it how it suppose to be? like not all the way in because of this fat golden screw thing at the end of the jack?

 

[staticV3]

its 250 ohm. also my question is, when i plug this headset, windows recognizes it as realtek something something, so it should not be dead right? probably not getting enough power from PC and also from my laptop? but how others make them work without DAC (if they do)

Your motherboard's sound card (Realtek) recognizes when you plug in a 3.5mm plug, and that's what the pop-up means.

There's likely a broken connection somewhere in the cable or headphone, which is why there's no sound despite the pop-up notification.

You could likely use a cheap multimeter to find where the damage is, it's probably not that hard to repair.

Btw, you have a DAC.

There's a DAC inside your PC and also a DAC inside your laptop.

Its impossible to listen to digital audio without a DAC, so whenever you're listening to digitally stored audio, you know that you're using a DAC in that moment.

No, you do not need a special DAC to use the DT1990.
The DAC inside your PC, your laptop, or even the one in your phone or iPod will work just fine, as long as the headphone is in working order.

the jack, which you can see on picture, is it how it suppose to be? like not all the way in because of this fat golden screw thing at the end of the jack?

Yes, that's fine. The threaded part is supposed to be outside of the headphone port.

It's possible that both cables are damaged, it's also possible that the defect is in the headphone's internal wiring.

 

[solderdude]

When it happens with both cables and on different sources then it isn't likely to be both cables nor one of the sources.
It is not easy to blow both drivers up but it is the most likely scenario if other headphones work fine on said headphone outs.

 

[disasterpiece]

Your motherboard's sound card (Realtek) recognizes when you plug in a 3.5mm plug, and that's what the pop-up means.

There's likely a broken connection somewhere in the cable or headphone, which is why there's no sound despite the pop-up notification.

You could likely use a cheap multimeter to find where the damage is, it's probably not that hard to repair.

Btw, you have a DAC.

There's a DAC inside your PC and also a DAC inside your laptop.

Its impossible to listen to digital audio without a DAC, so whenever you're listening to digitally stored audio, you know that you're using a DAC in that moment.

No, you do not need a special DAC to use the DT1990.
The DAC inside your PC, your laptop, or even the one in your phone or iPod will work just fine, as long as the headphone is in working order.


Yes, that's fine. The threaded part is supposed to be outside of the headphone port.

It's possible that both cables are damaged, it's also possible that the defect is in the headphone's internal wiring.

Yes i have good multimeter. i will test it with multimeter using AI cause im not very good at it. i will report back

 

[LTig]

Yes i have good multimeter. i will test it with multimeter using AI cause im not very good at it. i will report back

Set the multimeter to measure resistance (Ohm). Measure between 2 contacts, these are 3 measurements all together (1-2, 2-3, 1-3). At least two of them should measure 250 Ohm, one should measure 500 Ohm.

 

[Alan O]

Not sure it's any use, but I have a pair of Beyer Dynamic DT 990 PRO headphones. They're not 1990 PRO, but they are 250 ohm - and they work fine with any source, including 3.5mm computer output.

 

[solderdude]

Yes i have good multimeter. i will test it with multimeter using AI cause im not very good at it. i will report back

Set your multimeter to ohm ( Ω )setting.
When it has several ohm settings set it to 2kΩ.

Then hold the test leads against each other. Meter should go from OL to a few Ω.
This means meter and test leads are O.K.

Screw the 6.3mm adapter on the cable.

Black lead to the 'sleeve' (the large contact near the connector body).
+ Red lead on the 'tip'.
The meter should read around 230-250Ω

Then switch the red lead to the 'ring' (while holding the black lead to the 'sleeve).
The meter should also read around 230-250Ω

When you measure between tip and ring the meter should read around 500Ω
When you read the mentioned values then the headphone is potentially O.K.

If the meter reads OL in all cases with both cables the drivers have been blown.

 

[disasterpiece]

Thanks everyone. i can see the problem here and seller pretty much just lied to me that it was tested / working. looks like im gonna have to figure it out how to make seller pay for the return or give at least partial refund without return because i live in Georgia (country) and its a big pain in the a** to ship stuff from here to USA. im using freight forwarder to shop on ebay. again, thank you everyone for your responses.

 

[LTig]

Oops - broken wiring. I wonder what you need to do to the DT1990 to achieve it. But if you're lucky the drivers are still fine. I don't know though how difficult it is to fix the wiring.

 

[twsecrest]

its 250 ohm. also my question is, when i plug this headset, windows recognizes it as realtek something something, so it should not be dead right? probably not getting enough power from PC and also from my laptop? but how others make them work without DAC (if they do)

Realtek is the audio DSP chip and software that your computer uses for audio sound.
The computer recognizes that headphones are plugged into the headphone computer's headphone kack, even if your headphones are not functional.
My $25 FIIO portable headphone amplifier can decently drive 250-Ohm Beyerdynamic headphones.
So there is not a power issue, it's your headphones are not functioning.