Beyerdynamic T1 Review (V2 headphone)

[solderdude]

They are warm, laid-back sounding headphones with smooth but elevated and at times sharp treble up top.
These do not suck on pop music and older rock recordings. The 'dip' between 1kHz and 5kHz helps in this case.
Not that far off from DT1990 with B pads and the Amiron tonally, the T1 has different driver placement.
Personally I find them too warm on better recordings but the take EQ quite well.
Only 6kHz-15kHz needs to be pulled down and the broad hump (centered around 200Hz between 30Hz and 800Hz) if you want less warmth.

 

[milosz]

dt880 will be better

Really? That's interesting. I have a pair of 600 ohm DT880's which I find "fun" and like the way they sound on my Bottlehead Crack + Speedball amp. It's not a transparent sound, but I still like it. I think there must be "harmonic sweetening" going on. The 600 ohm DT880's sound better on the Crack amp than the older ones I had - I guess they were 250 ohms? I doubt they were 16 ohms, because if they were the Crack would not have been able to drive them at all.

Aside from being fun to listen to, the DT880's are very comfortable, to my way of thinking.

I listened to a pair of T1's at Axpona and found them to be very bright sounding. I was not interested in them. I had to get rid of my Sennheiser HD-800's because they were so bright that they hurt my ears. I have hyperacusis to some degree and any amount of boost or ringing at 5~8 kHz hurts my ears.

 

[Jimbob54]

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

Join the club!

 

[solderdude]

I listened to a pair of T1's at Axpona and found them to be very bright sounding. I was not interested in them. I had to get rid of my Sennheiser HD-800's because they were so bright that they hurt my ears. I have hyperacusis to some degree and any amount of boost or ringing at 5~8 kHz hurts my ears.

T1(mkII) vs HD800

HD800 has 10dB ! more presence in the sibilance area (6kHz) both are similar in the 'sharpness' range (8-12kHz)
Yes, the T1 is 'sharp' rather than sibilant)

With the treble peak removed (easy to do) the HD800 is quite a notch above the T1 IMO.

 

[Luke Lemke]

They are warm, laid-back sounding headphones with smooth but elevated and at times sharp treble up top.
These do not suck on pop music and older rock recordings. The 'dip' between 1kHz and 5kHz helps in this case.
Not that far off from DT1990 with B pads and the Amiron tonally, the T1 has different driver placement.
Personally I find them too warm on better recordings but the take EQ quite well.
Only 6kHz-15kHz needs to be pulled down and the broad hump (centered around 200Hz between 30Hz and 800Hz) if you want less warmth.

Which one do you prefer, T1 or DT 1990? Are you the guy from DIY Audio Heaven? If so, I bought the Dekoni Elite Velour pads for my Dt 1990 because of you.

 

[solderdude]

I prefer the DT1990 with A pads.
The Dekoni's have a tonal character right between A and B pads.
They came with the DT1990 when I bought it 2nd hand.
Using the A pads without filter is impossible for me.

 

[Luke Lemke]

Really? That's interesting. I have a pair of 600 ohm DT880's which I find "fun" and like the way they sound on my Bottlehead Crack + Speedball amp. It's not a transparent sound, but I still like it. I think there must be "harmonic sweetening" going on. The 600 ohm DT880's sound better on the Crack amp than the older ones I had - I guess they were 250 ohms? I doubt they were 16 ohms, because if they were the Crack would not have been able to drive them at all.

Aside from being fun to listen to, the DT880's are very comfortable, to my way of thinking.

I listened to a pair of T1's at Axpona and found them to be very bright sounding. I was not interested in them. I had to get rid of my Sennheiser HD-800's because they were so bright that they hurt my ears. I have hyperacusis to some degree and any amount of boost or ringing at 5~8 kHz hurts my ears.

You probably had a 250ohms DT 880. I've never heard the 600 ohms version but most people say it's the best one. I think I will get one to compare with my T1 which is supposed to arrive next week. And yes, they are super comfortable IMO.

 

[m8o]

in the sibilance area (6kHz)

I always thought that was around 8KHz.

 

[solderdude]

Sibilance is in the 5-8 kHz range, sharpness 8-12kHz.

 

[respice finem]

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

Same here. But I really do still like them, which means, I can't hear many of their "sins" (OK apart from slightly EQing down the worst of them). Realizing own imperfections is mitigating the "upgrade greed", mine at least.

 

[JWAmerica]

This is very disappointing. I loved my DT880s for what they were. I would expect better bass response at this price point.

 

[Luke Lemke]

I've finally got my T1 2nd Gen. All I have to say is: I love them. Natural bass, refined treble and nice spatial effects. Yes, the treble will be piercing for most people (as most Beyer headphones), but I use a little bit of EQ. I understand Amir's main complaint in his review was the distortion. I'm no expert, but measuring distortion levels at a volume of 114 db is very weird. In my humble opinion, most people listening to these headphones will not hear any distortion what so ever, even with EQ. Now, are they worth ~$800? Nope. But then again, which headphones are really worth that kind of money?

 

[Anmol]

I've finally got my T1 2nd Gen. All I have to say is: I love them. Natural bass, refined treble and nice spatial effects. Yes, the treble will be piercing for most people (as most Beyer headphones), but I use a little bit of EQ. I understand Amir's main complaint in his review was the distortion. I'm no expert, but measuring distortion levels at a volume of 114 db is very weird. In my humble opinion, most people listening to these headphones will not hear any distortion what so ever, even with EQ. Now, are they worth ~$800? Nope. But then again, which headphones are really worth that kind of money?

He6se, hd800s, some of the focal ones.
I did own t1 for a few years and couldnt hear distortion either. T1 tonality is not natural. Eq fixes some of frequency responce issues with things like shrillness in highs. Regardless of drawbacks, for some reason I liked t1. May be my hearing isnt good anymore given ~ 50 years old now.

 

[respice finem]

Explanation to be found somewhere in this thread: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...nt-thread-about-headphone-measurements.18451/
I got the T1Mk2 as well (long before the review) and I like it too, and I've no illusions of hearing everything.
That said, it's disappointing to see it having worse measurement data than many headphones at 1/5 of the price.
If I will buy different headphones in a few years, I'll wait for how they measure, yes, but still, my main criterion is a good fit on my head, and there are not so many to do it well.

 

[Luke Lemke]

Explanation to be found somewhere in this thread: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...nt-thread-about-headphone-measurements.18451/
I got the T1Mk2 as well (long before the review) and I like it too, and I've no illusions of hearing everything.
That said, it's disappointing to see it having worse measurement data than many headphones at 1/5 of the price.
If I will buy different headphones in a few years, I'll wait for how they measure, yes, but still, my main criterion is a good fit on my head, and there are not so many to do it well.

Yes, I have to agree the T1 should have top notch measurements. I can't think of a objective reason one should get the T1 if the DT880 is 1/3 of the price. Still, I think the T1 sounds better, but I can't explain why...

 

[respice finem]

Because you know it should But seriously, I think the angled drivers may play a role sometimes.

 

[Luke Lemke]

Because you know it should But seriously, I think the angled drivers may play a role sometimes.

Exactly, I "want it" to sound better... LOL. Yes, the angled driver may be what improves the "soundstage", whatever sound stage is anyway...

 

[respice finem]

Acknowledging we can't hear everything makes life so much easier... That said, the T1 spend more "idle" time since I got the Neumanns.

 

[Luke Lemke]

Acknowledging we can't hear everything makes life so much easier... That said, the T1 spend more "idle" time since I got the Neumanns.

Which ones? Never heard any Neumanns yet...

 

[respice finem]

These: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...neumann-kh-310a-review-powered-monitor.17723/
I might not need any other for the rest of my life (seriously).