Beyerdynamic T1 Review (V2 headphone)

[respice finem]

One of the reasons to be cautious about "one size fits all" EQ... About the same here, but with the v2 (having heard both I tend to say the v1 is more treble-emphasizing, if not by much). I think, depending on what your age is, age related hearing loss may be at least a part of this perception. Our hearing is not linear, nor staying as we got it at birth:
https://earaidnepal.org/education/teachingimages/Audiometry_files/page37-1005-full.jpg
The diagram does not quite apply to every population but this is the one I could google in English quickly. Your mileage may vary depending on your work and your hearing habits, but more or less our hearing deteriorates with age. Look how early it starts. BTW, standard audiometry goes only to 8 kHz, since it was established mainly to assess workplace-related hearing loss, which is even worse. No reason to believe, however, that it's any better above 8 kHz...
/edit: Here's one for Germany (left side for women, right side for men) https://www.deutsche-apotheker-zeit...98c404d64935/052_3000_cae_Bilharz-800x381.jpg from this publication https://www.deutsche-apotheker-zeitung.de/daz-az/2012/daz-45-2012/hoeren-im-alter

 

[bb8]

That is a good reminder.. maybe need to listen to the T1's less after looking at that chart

 

[respice finem]

Less? Less loud, maybe

 

[IdleTalk]

Not entirely true.
Most of music's energy is in the bass area.
As an amp is a voltage source this means most of the energy is into the freq range where the impedance is between 600 and 900 Ohm.
Effectively the current consumption using music is lower than one would expect based on the voltage/nominal impedance.
Effectively the impedance thus is higher than 600 Ohm.
Power wise the efficiency of the headphone using music is higher than at 1kHz and easier to drive as less current is needed.

I would not call it 'worse' impedance. Instead a higher impedance or higher power efficiency. Sounds more positive than worse impedance.
To me 16 Ohm is a worse impedance than 2kohm. The reason is that amps usually have higher distortion at lower impedances and less distortion in higher impedances. Based on that a higher impedance is 'better' rather than worse.

What a friendly interpretation of a not-so-correct sentence!
I can agree that a "real" or "effective" impedance, if it should be named that way, may differ from the nominal impedance.
However it turns out to be better thing, not worse.

 

[IdleTalk]

Sorry, the word was confused and I swapped peak impeadance and nominal impeadance.

There is no need to be sorry!
Actually, I want to say thank you for bumping my comment up.

 

[vkvedam]

As I was running the distortion tests against some other headphones, I listened to a few seconds to AKG K371 and Ether AEON RT Closed. Oh what revelation those two headphones were compared to T1. Beautiful tonality with no sign of the distortion I was chasing above. That's when I decided the T1 is a failure.

Yo bossman @amirm, purely based on the sound quality alone would we benefit any going from K371 to AEON RT? I suppose we don't have that extra layer of transparency similar to the HD800S. If not I shall get AKG and save a bit of dough

 

[escalibur]

My DT 1990 Pros just died Yesteday I was cleaning them from dust and today when I tried to use them volume was very very weak. I tried to switch cables and such and nothing seem to help. I even tried two different amps, nah same thing. Even after cranking amp almost to the maximum volume was very low.

I decided to open them and have a look inside and all the cables were in place. I couldn't see any visible damage. However when I moved the internal cable once or twice soldering of white cable got cut.

Spoiler: Picture

Shortly the red was also cut. I can't believe that the quality is really this low. We are talking about Beyerdynamics here. Now I have to ask around for a soldering iron to fix this by myself.

After two weeks (damn, it felt like forever ago) I got them repaired by the local seller I bought from for no cost. Reason: both drivers were dead and soldering had to be replaced as well.

Have a guess did Beyerdynamic ever replied to my support RMA I've sent on the same day? These supposed to be professional equipment.

 

[respice finem]

Good dealer. If the drivers were really knackered, he probably has his ways with BD, they're not cheap as spare parts. Looks like a major production screwup they don't want to see the light of day... I'm slightly worried regarding my pair - so far all is well, and I'm not eager to dismantle them to look (if it works don't fix it).

 

[celroid]

I equate German engineering with excellence

I don't. I think this is a long running myth that gets disproven over and over. This is just another case.

 

[respice finem]

True, same as for made in {insert random country here}. I've occasionally seen very solid quality from countries I wouldn't expect it and the opposite as well. Another (sad) fact, the better a company is in terms of quality/longevity, the faster it may get into trouble. Think of a fridge lasting 50 years (the old ones sometimes did), or a TV lasting 20 years (OK the standards wars fix this problem already). Our world suffers from "growth disease", everybody wants to sell more stuff each year, everybody must grow or die, and the growth itself must grow too...

 

[AnalogSteph]

That being said, this cannot possibly continue forever. You cannot reduce your carbon emissions to zero and keep cranking out stuff like there's no tomorrow at the same time. Not happening.

I reckon we will be cursing the mistakes made in current products for a long time to come. My advice if you are producing anything, build it as if you may not get to make another. Which may very well be the case if any semblance of economy of scale is to be kept up. A public archive of knowledge is going to be important for avoiding reinventing the wheel.

 

[respice finem]

That is a larger problem, probably we (humans) are soon too many for our planet, regardless how "ecologically" we might try to be, but that's offtopic here so... What for me is an example of how to do it the right way, is the PC ISA/ATX standard (and later ones). This modular standard saves a lot of stuff that would otherwise have to be recycled. I've got computers at work with components / PCI cards ets. from 15 years ago, the enclosures anyway. As somehow the power supplies tend to fail more often than anything else, I always have one spare, which is quickly built in when needed. The same could be done in Hi-Fi if the manufacturers could agree on such a modular standard. Like, the DAC/AMP module fails in an active speaker, the manufacturer sends me a new one, I send the old one back for repair.
And then I woke up

 

[Oukkidoukki]

I do have T1 2nd gen and use to own Beyer's A20 Amp. I sold A20 because Atom was audibly better than A20. I have listened Beyer T1 2nd gen via L30, archel2-5-pro and Atom. For some magical reason, aforementioned GESHELLI sounds good together with T1.

How can this be?..........a20 is especially designed for beyerdynamic headphones....other might not sound good but beyers should sound suberb...........some reviewer said that a 20 was clear step up from jds o2.........now, they say here o2 and atom are almost the same.......so whats going o.......are t1 600 ohm like dt 880? .......if i understand right a20 is one of rare amps that can drive 600 ohm right.....

 

[Anmol]

How can this be?..........a20 is especially designed for beyerdynamic headphones....other might not sound good but beyers should sound suberb...........some reviewer said that a 20 was clear step up from jds o2.........now, they say here o2 and atom are almost the same.......so whats going o.......are t1 600 ohm like dt 880? .......if i understand right a20 is one of rare amps that can drive 600 ohm right.....

I was sold the same cool aid till I opened by eyes(and ears). When I got atom and compared a20 side by side at same volume using same source using same recording (bass track of paul Simon's alternate take on diamonds on soul of her shoes), I could clearly hear higher amount of distortion through a20 9/10 accurately blind tested with help of my daughter who changed amps without letting me know which one is playing. While I would not describe my test as a scientifically controlled test verified by external neutral parties but it is good enough for me.
I put a20 for sale next day with a degree of guilt for poor buyer who wanted magical synergy between beyer products.
PS - If you are looking for a step up from atom, there aren't huge step ups available over atom as it's a great amp but I could consider picking geshilli's amps (newer 2.5) . US made and genuine, warm folks. Amir recommended aforementioned 2.5 amp version for higher impedance headphones.
PS- if you are in mood to spend some money (US$350)- Topping A30 Pro operates in class A mode if your headphone is over 250 Ohms impedance. Amir tested early product and found to measure top of the class. It is a new product so we do not have data on manufacturing quality control. there are easy refund or return options with 2 years warranty on product.

 

[Luke Lemke]

It would be interesting to measure the DT 880 600ohms and compare it with the T1...

 

[JohnYang1997]

It would be interesting to measure the DT 880 600ohms and compare it with the T1...

dt880 will be better

 

[Luke Lemke]

dt880 will be better

That is scary. I bought the T1 2nd gen 2 days before I saw this review. At least I bought a used one, paid $500,00 for it. Most headphones I own are getting destroyed by Amir... LOL

 

[Anmol]

That is scary. I bought the T1 2nd gen 2 days before I saw this review. At least I bought a used one, paid $500,00 for it. Most headphones I own are getting destroyed by Amir... LOL

if you like the sound and cant hear distortion in it then roll with it, you can resell too , T1 seems to have ok resale value. dt880 600ohms can be bought fairly cheap.

 

[Moonhead]

That is scary. I bought the T1 2nd gen 2 days before I saw this review. At least I bought a used one, paid $500,00 for it. Most headphones I own are getting destroyed by Amir... LOL

Get up and get out

 

[Luke Lemke]

Get up and get out

These are Beyerdynamic's flagship headphones. I refuse to believe they suck. I will trick my brain into loving them!! LOL