German Maestro GMP 8.35 D Headphone Review

[Matt_Holland]

Is this is good headphone ? No
Is it suited for music enjoyment ? No
Does it isolate well, is it sensitive, is it rugged, is the midrange good enough for monitoring ? Yes to all.

Ok so since the manufacturer’s audio performance claims are not met, it’s a sub par product. Or are you saying that ASR members should vote by applying context based on additional research into the product? Or should we vote based on only the information in the review?

If the manufacturer made reasonable performance claims and justified the data with use case context, and this was made part of Amir’s presentation, I would happily have voted more positively.

 

[solderdude]

Ok so since the manufacturer’s audio performance claims are not met, it’s a sub par product. Or are you saying that ASR members should vote by applying context based on additional research into the product? Or should we vote based on only the information in the review?

Everyone should vote as they see fit.
It won't influence any decisions I make anyway.

Sometimes really bad stuff still receives some 'great' votes and perfectly fine devices as 'crap'.

This particular headphone should be voted 'poor' by anyone desiring 'good hi-fi' sound quality.
Those looking for a monitor headphone for say instrumentalists or singers and require something they can toss around, connect to nearly everything in which the plug will fit, don't care about looks and want very good isolation they might 'fine'.
Just 'fine' and not 'great' because there are better and cheaper ones out there.

It all depends on what one needs or thinks about the product.

People voting 'great' are either German Maestro fanboys, accidentally voted or just like to f#kc with ASR for the fun of it.

If the manufacturer made reasonable performance claims and justified the data with use case context, and this was made part of Amir’s presentation, I would happily have voted more positively.

Manufacturers and the claims they make .....

 

[geol]

It's precisely in the bass, with a flat and extended frequency response curve free from distortion, that the difference lies compared to headphones costing a few tens of dollars. Missed opportunity!
But the name is pretty strange, I wouldn't have thought of it!

 

[Igor_S]

But the name is pretty strange, I wouldn't have thought of it!

Imho name "Austrian Artist" will suit this device better

 

[Matt_Holland]

Everyone should vote as they see fit.
It won't influence any decisions I make anyway.

Sometimes really bad stuff still receives some 'great' votes and perfectly fine devices as 'crap'.

This particular headphone should be voted 'poor' by anyone desiring 'good hi-fi' sound quality.
Those looking for a monitor headphone for say instrumentalists or singers and require something they can toss around, connect to nearly everything in which the plug will fit, don't care about looks and want very good isolation they might 'fine'.
Just 'fine' and not 'great' because there are better and cheaper ones out there.

It all depends on what one needs or thinks about the product.

People voting 'great' are either German Maestro fanboys, accidentally voted or just like to f#kc with ASR for the fun of it.


Manufacturers and the claims they make .....

Good points, dude.

 

[YSC]

Somehow thislooked similar to the Ultimatet Ears UERR response I saw somewhere back in the days, but that is in ear response vs over ear response so I am not sure it will sound the same

 

[oratory1990]

I see these headphones all the time in record stores here in Europe! I always thought they sounded awful, but I was never sure how much of that was just due to the headphones being in constant use and being completely neglected by the staff (they are often missing their earpads...)

 

[techgod92]

Thank you for reviewing these headphones @amirm

I contacted them years ago, asking for measurements and they told me to basically "trust them, because the sound quality was that good."

 

[ripmixburn]

In fairness, this headphone design is decades old and was widely used with CD listening stations in music stores. A Canadian company rebranded them and paired them with Nakamichi CD listening stations, which were used by major chains such as HMV—not just in Canada.

They were extremely durable and generally sounded much better than most other headphones used in listening stations at the time. Remarkably, both products are still shown on the company’s website:

Headphones: http://dbiint.com/index.php/dbi-products/dbi-pro-headphones/

Nakamichi listening stations: http://dbiint.com/index.php/dbi-products/nakamichi-2/

 

[829]

Props to German Maestro to submit their product for review despite knowing it might not be favorable (per @amirm ’s warning). It’s good to get a new brand represented here!

Thanks Amir!

Thank you for reviewing these headphones @amirm

I contacted them years ago, asking for measurements and they told me to basically "trust them, because the sound quality was that good."

In the best scenario company realised something is wrong with the product (maybe high returns or diminishing sales), had a change of mind, wanted to get accurate external analysis (at no a cost) and will provide us with a much improved new headphone early next year.

Thanks for testing @amirm!

 

[dark132]

I once owned the MB Quart Q240; it had a very "monitor-like" sound that virtually filtered out the low frequencies. While it was decent for classical music, it was outperformed by the AKG K501, which was in the same price range.

 

[dark132]

Among the QB headphones I’ve auditioned, the qp400 is the one I find most intolerable; it features extremely exaggerated high frequencies—even more so than the typical Beyerdynamic sound signature—and is worse in this regard than the QT990 Pro.

 

[Watire]

I found a lot of similarities in the sonic signature of the GMP 8.35 D with the Sennheiser HD430 measured there on the diyaudioheaven blog.
It's clearly a sound that made sense forty-five years ago. It will probably be right at home in a vintage stereo setup with a couple of Casablanca records.

 

[KSTR]

I think this product belongs to the same type category where stuff like JBL Control 1 and Yamaha NS-10 speakers ended up. Not great at all but it happened to become sort of a standard.

 

[Joachim Herbert]

Their ancestors were designed for taking any kind of abuse in high school language labs and record stores. They are probably worth every cent in harsh environments. The way they sound makes sure the do not get stolen easily.

 

[Billy Budapest]

I voted “not terrible” on the basis for their intended application. For hi- fi listening, they would be “poor.” Similar to many Crown amps in that respect.

 

[Miley_B]

I didn't know who manufactured them until now but the intercom headset variant of these is very common in the UK under a different brand name, I even have a pair of them in front of me right now.
They are pretty bullet proof and stand up incredibly well to being thrown around and generally not looked after. I don't find them terribly comfortable and I've never considered using them for listening to music!

 

[NemoNobody]

I have a variation of these called the Auditek VST200, which I picked up for around $15. The graph pretty much matches my impression of them: virtually no sub-bass, and no amount of EQ seems able to fix it. That said, I still find them quite enjoyable with certain genres, particularly blues rock.

 

[lewdish]

Imo they measure better than Beyers for a german headphone design. I think the tuning is actually good for the response, maybe dated driver design which is why they have high distortion, im glad that they reached out and asked for a response because theyve been around for so long and theyve stuck to their guns, but i do hope they make a new model w/ more "modern" components.

For a closed back its its actually surprisingly low in bass energy, roll off under 200 is something you expect of open backs, but if they could flatten it out completely in a future model that would be great, I do think they do seem very much on the right track for a reference studio headphone. If anything this actually makes me excited for the brand even more. I dont think this measures all that poorly tbh.

 

[DimaZveroboy]

Yes, by placing damping materials (rather thick felt) in front of the driver which has a double sword edge as it lowers the high treble peak and increases the resistance of the acoustic resistors in the baffle for higher frequencies lowering/preventing almost perfect nulling. Most (closed model) Beyerdynamics(certainly not all) also are plagued with the 4kHz dip.
I don't think it is caused by cone break-up but this might add to the problem. Fortunately the output level at 4kHz is also very low.
Looks like a driver problem mostly.


Yep, and/or with acoustic feedback in the cups.

I recently bought a pair of MB Quart K800 (400 Ohm) headphones and modified the baffle (due to the intended use case, the engineers had buried the driver in plastic, effectively killing all the high frequencies). Today, I decided to check for audible distortion in the 4 kHz range using my ears and a tone generator and I found it! The issue was in the 4300–4700 Hz range; I tried placing some teased-out cotton wool inside, and the distortion dropped significantly. The housing is clearly a factor here—do you have any suggestions for what else I could try instead of cotton wool? I was planning to order some wool felt, cut it into thin sheets (1–2 mm), and line the inside of the ear cup with it, as well as add some vibration damping material