Freddyfreaker
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- Sep 13, 2023
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Hmm that’s strange. I actually read all of this thread right after I had placed my order for a pair of 900x after reading so many stellar reviews. The only thing I was hesitant about was the couple comments above regarding not being able to adjust the clamp force on these, since the headband is a different design than the 770s/990s and I have a head on the larger size.
With the 990s I was easily able to bend the middle area a bit and they loosened up. Just now tried on the 900x and they were tighter as some here have mentioned. I simply began to bend the center of the band to an almost invert bend. They are tough, very well built- so bending this part prob makes a lot of people nervous to overdo it but it’s more malleable than I initially thought.
This plastic covering the metal band is more resilient in its memory shape than the 770/990, BUT I was able to get them to near perfect clamp force in under 5 minutes. In fact I almost OVERDID it lol, and bent them back in a bit. Keep in mind the exposed metal clamps on both sides can also be slightly attentuated/bent in a subtle way that will also increase breathing room for those of us with larger domes lol.
The ear cups feel perfect. I almost forgot they were open backs, as the sound isolation is quite brilliant, as well as the low end presence is u like any open back I’ve experienced. I’ve got them eq’d slightly in the lower region to see what they would do and it’s clean, deep bass- much more presence than even the 560s or Fidelio x2 as a comparison.
Holy hell these 900x sound INSANE compared to the older 990s (the bass on 900x is clean, yet all I can say is velvet in its release? It’s clean bass, allowing the mids/highs to continue to soar while the low end is somehow pushing air in a way I can only imagine top tier planar headphones can.)
I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to adjust the clamp force because the sound signature of these is the cleanest, most clear I’ve heard in a headphone under 400$.
I’m also a musician/producer and have several others including Sennhesier 560s for critical reference mixing, the Slate premiums VSX for critical reference mixing, Fidelio X2 (for more bass and soundstage/casual listening)- I’m afraid I won’t want to use those any longer as the 900x has this instantly “alive” feel that the other cans don’t exactly transfer to my ears, except the Fidelios do often give me a vibe of low end air pressure that has a wide soundstage, but don’t seem to have the immediacy and clarity that these 900x do- nor are they as comfortable and much heavier.
The sennheiser 560s actually hurt my head in a way that no others do, as it’s the design of the headphone itself that causes it to clamp on front area of the ear in an unbalanced way. Because they are all plastic, I had no luck EVER adjusting the 560s to a comfortable clamp, there’s also less space for my ears to breathe in them so I get hot wearing them.
With the 900x, the earcups are deeper than sennheiser, softer, and are evenly balanced on my head so no uneven clamping pressure. The veil has been lifted as they say.
I saw a physical breakdown of these cans by a guy on Reddit/imgr and he was shocked because it was the first time he had deconstructed a set of headphones and there was no solder to be found anywhere. It’s a solderless design. A consideration if a driver ever needs to be replaced. It’s absolutely clean internally, there isn’t even foam stuffed inside the ear cups, as opposed to heavy foam use on the 770s/990s.
Even listening to a 320 k track on Spotify (specifically lower frequency bass (in sections) yet very open and dynamic, well engineered/produced tracks like: Rufus Du Sol - “Innerbloom” or “On My Knees” was so instantly engaging I had to sit down and just stop what I was doing as soon as it started. The soundstage is gorgeous and once the low end came in, I experienced the bliss of just getting lost inside the track for 7 minutes. This reminded me why I even got into music in the first place. To feel it.) Then switched to a more organic track like Chris Isaak - “Wicked Games” and felt like I was hearing it in a way that I had not before. The thing I keep noticing about these 900x’s is how articulate the instrumentation separation is. As a producer/musician, I’ve developed an obsession for instrumentation placement in my own arrangements and by default notice it more on other tracks. There’s something going on with the separation (perhaps less distortion compared to my other cans?) that is crystal clear. For comparison, I did not care for the treble peaks in the Dt 990. Conversely, the 900x transmits upper frequency clarity with out harshness, perhaps the new 45 drivers are achieving this? I’m sure others will disagree but to my ears, these sparkle.
These are somehow reference quality headphones I will be using for mixing, but are also drivable on an iPhone and still are fun to listen to music with. Neither the sennhesier or Slate vsx are what I would call “fun”, these 900x feel “alive.” I feel like I owe Beyerdynamic a thank you card, well done engineers and cheers to great sound! Now my only problem is now that I’ve been exposed to this new found clarity, this may be the gateway drug that inevitably leads me to the Beyerdynamic T1. God help me and my bank account lol
* I only wrote this lengthy and detailed review because I greatly benefited from those of you here who did the same for me.
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