Beyerdynamic quality

[Graph Feppar]

How bad is Beyerdynamic driver reliability and headphone to headphone consistency? Word quality is broad term, Beyerdynamic is famous for being build like tanks and great comfort. By word quality I dont mean what materials they use, I mean the channel matching, distortion and driver reliability. I read very large number of bad things about Beyer, I read about drivers failing, extreme headphone to headphone inconsistency and many other bad things.

Treble rape frequency response aside, are high end Beyers like DT 1990 or T1 gen2 good buy or would you advice me to not spend that kind of money becose of Beyer quality control issues? I prefer the Beyer comfort and sturdy build quality over Sennheiser but I read so many bad things I fear buying Beyer.

 

[solderdude]

Beyerdynamic and Sennheiser have sold millions of headphones over decades.
There is bound to be some defects.
Afterall drivers have very very thin wires.
Easy to abuse some of them as well. Not everyone treats them nicely.
Some like the sound, others don't.
A nice mix to get folks to love and crap on a brand or type of headphone.

My personal experience with Beyer is that there is nothing wrong with their quality.
The DT250-250 is known to have L/R differences (mechanical issue) and had my DT990-600 (bought about 2 decades ago) crap out on one driver.

The Beyerpeak is very real and most (but not all) models have this.
Some are fine with Beyer treble others detest it and will never listen to them again.
This is NOT production spread but preference.
Also there are many different DT770, DT880 and DT990 versions around measuring and sounding different.
Then there are many people that hear different or may have seal issues.

They respond well to proper EQ is my experience.

There really is ONLY one way to find out if YOU like it... that is to try it.

 

[SiW]

I was originally against Beyer due to the reviews but ended up with DT990 Edition and love them!

 

[Graph Feppar]

Sure they sell alot headphones but Sennheiser does too and there is far less reports of problems with their headphones than Beyers.

 

[JJB70]

I have a pair of T5P 2's and a pair of DT1990's. Both look a bit homespun for the price and some of the materials used on the T5P feel a bit low rent for the price however they are proving to be durable, reliable and extremely comfortable headphones. Te simple homespun design may look a bit yesterday and basic but it actually works extremely well in being simple but comfortable and easy to adjust. The sound is what it is, I actually like the Beyerdynamic sound.

 

[JJB70]

On price, I would not have paid the SRP for my T5P 2's, I bought them as B stock for £399 from the UK Beyerdynamic distributor. At that price I'd recommend them and I really love them. At the SRP I think they're over priced but to be honest I think that is equally true for almost all high end statement headphones which has rapidly become the new playground for those chasing mystique and exclusivity rather than good engineering and sound quality IMO.

 

[Graph Feppar]

I am thinking about buying the discontinued T70. On Innerfidelity there are 3 pairs measured and the distortion is extremly low across the whole spectrum, also sensitivity is extremly high, highest I ever seen in full size over ear headphone.

Only thing that worries me are reports of drivers dying, I wonder if the low impedance P version is better in this regard than the normal 300 ohm version.

 

[flipflop]

They respond well to proper EQ

The same could be said about the vast majority of headphones. Only certain IEM and earbud models don't.

 

[Graph Feppar]

The same could be said about the vast majority of headphones. Only certain IEM and earbud models don't.

I disagree but thats solely becose the term "well" is very vague. What makes headphone respond well to EQ in my opinion is smooth frequency response, low distortion, clean CSD, good channel matching and low sensitivity to head position induced frequency response changes.

Sure all headphones can benefit from EQ but some EQ much better than others. HD800 is best EQing headphone in the world becose its outstandingly good in all the above mentioned factors.

 

[solderdude]

The same could be said about the vast majority of headphones. Only certain IEM and earbud models don't.

A lot of headphones react well to EQ but certainly not all of them. With EQ there are some 'improvements' with tonal balance but other aspects may not improve much making them still mediocre.
The better headphones usually improve only.

 

[kman1211]

I personally will take a Beyer over most Senns in terms of sound quality, the treble if it's a bother can be fixed and I find Beyers respond extremely well to modding and EQ, to a degree most dynamics don't. I've owned numerous Beyers and they have been reliable with good channel matching. I found their channel matching and driver reliability better than Sennheiser in my experience and I also found their distortion lower overall. In terms of Beyers I currently own the Beyerdynamic Amiron Home and a heavily modded DT 480(my endgame headphone, nothing has topped this headphone for me, it's hyper revealing of gear and almost everything sounds at least somewhat distorted, unnatural, and grainy compared to it).

 

[atarione]

I love beyerdynamic.. I have a 6~yr old pair of DT770 Pro 80's that get used daily (ear pads replaced annually) they are still in excellent condition (only thing is a bit of wear on the white lettering on earcups..but meh..

I also have 4yr~ old DT880 Premium headphones.. that were/are cheaper than the Senn HD600/650 while sounding better (to me) and being much more comfortable.

with my beyers the quality of the source material matters and the charateristics of the amp driving them ... avoid bright amps /dacs and you'll be ok.