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Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro Review (headphone)

paulraphael

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"It took all of a few seconds to want to rip the DT 990 off my head as I always start with female vocals and this headphone shred the vocals to pieces. And proceeded to drill into your head with those shards!"

This was exactly my experience of the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pros. I thought a little eq would fix the shrieking highs, but my eq kung-fu was not up to the task. They went back into the box 10 minutes after I unpacked them.
 

restorer-john

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Therefore, I fail to see any reason for you to add the claim that this headphone needs to be connected to an amplifier with very low output impedance.

They don't. In fact, I'd be experimenting with typical "normal" headphone feeds on proper amplifiers/receivers which have series resistors of 220-560R on the amplifier outputs. You have plenty of voltage swing, the noise is diminished and the bottom end will likely fill out from less damping and the treble may also even out.

It seems they have DT-990s in 250R, 80R and 32R models for varying capability sources.
 
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Atratusnex

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All those Beyers are limited in max. excursions.
The very early (high impedance ones) even had zener diodes in anti-series to prevent maximum excursions.
Later on Beyer realized this was a bad idea when connecting it to a power amp.:facepalm:

Mount Beyer ... some like it, some don't.
All Beyers are equally 'flawed' when they are driven to points they weren't designed for.
114dB = their maximum continuous power rating (100mW)
Your own site shows that the dt 880 600 ohm ( lower than senn 650) has at least ok distortion ( the dt 990 pro has no distortion measurement) ... its looks and sounds way more positive than you sound over here....
 

HereYaGo

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Atratusnex

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I always thought the 'trinity' was K702, HD600 and DT880.

I tried all three years ago (see avatar pic) and kept the K702.
you're right. The holy Trinity of the old big three was always k701/2, Hd600/50 and dt 880. Depending on taste. The dt 990 was never part of it. At least here in Germany.
 

restorer-john

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The very early (high impedance ones) even had zener diodes in anti-series to prevent maximum excursions.
Later on Beyer realized this was a bad idea when connecting it to a power amp.

It's was perfectly sensible until people decided they would build headphone amplifiers with no series resistors and no DC/short circuit protection, something actual "power amp designers" had been doing for many decades.

I'm all for headphone manufacturers protecting their products (and their customer's ears) against stupid implementations and upstream failures.
 

HereYaGo

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you're right. The holy Trinity of the old big three was always k701/2, Hd600/50 and dt 880. Depending on taste. The dt 990 was never part of it. At least here in Germany.
Seems like dt880 sales are not on par with dt990
 

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Atratusnex

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wwenze

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That fr target is the subjective / preference Harman target

And choosing to not go for one subjective target curve, but instead going for another subjective target which has a similar shape but shifted right by roughly one octave, if that isn't subjective designing, I don't know what is.

But I guess the users get to say "Oooo lots of details and controlled bass"
 

marcelorider

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Damn, I just registred myself just to comment here. I'm so glad i've seen this review! Been looking all over the place about these headphones and got recomendations from a friend on these, was right about to pull the trigger but something said to me it wouldn't be the ideal ones.
And yet this confirms where my mind was, the trebble. I'm kinda a basshead myself, love that punch. And hope I've made a good decision and went on with the Meze 99 Neo.
Thanks for stoping all the hype around these, at least for me they are done.

I've also seen that @amirm would be probably doing a review on the Meze 99 Classics sometime soon?
 

AndreaT

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Disappointing. I own a pair, never really look for them. May I ask why too many headphones have a sagged frequency response between 3 and 20 kHz? Some sort of resonances of the diaphragm (larger that the typical tweeter)? Would it help to place a bass/midrange larger unit and a coaxial tweeter in the ear-cups?
 

Promit

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I owned the DT 990 and this review is dead on. Some of the absolute worst garbage cans on the market.
 

Atratusnex

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And choosing to not go for one subjective target curve, but instead going for another subjective target which has a similar shape but shifted right by roughly one octave, if that isn't subjective designing, I don't know what is.

But I guess the users get to say "Oooo lots of details and controlled bass"

If they like it that way and prefer it, I don't see anything wrong about this. It's not HIFI but audiophile. Its nothing openly stupid like vinyl or tube amps. It's just a different preference in a matter of taste
 
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