First off, I'm not an audiophile, I'm a musician and a music lover - and my interest in HiFi stuff and headphones comes from there.
So:
I've known those phones for years, they have been the in-store headphones of a German record chain, and apparently they simply don't break. So when I found a DT220 clean, fully working and cheap on eBay I couldn't resist.
With the old pads the sound was reasonably detailled, but rather low-mid heavy with a slightly pronounced bass. Treble sounded pretty accurate though unassuming. Anyway, a very pleasing sound, if slightly fatiguing. Also, soundstage is more or less a non-issue, it all plays pretty much within the listener's head. Still - not bad for such an old design!
The classic Beyer layout with the metal headband makes it easy to adjust the phones to the head, however, the old pads had gone extremely soft, which caused the elliptical rubber parts to exert some pressure on my ears. Not very comfortable!
Good news: Beyer still sells replacement pads for €15 a pair. I ordered them and a new cable (the dual-entry cable of the DT211/411 fits, but make sure to order sleeves with the cable!). That's what you call customer service!
With the new pads in place, it's amazing how comfortable those things are. The DT220 gets close to the classic AKGs, which fit my head perfectly. Changing the cable was a piece of cake, the screws for disassembly hide under the pads, contacts for soldering are marked, so this isn't really a big deal.
However, the pad replacement changed the sound, too. Compared to what it was before, it is now almost amazingly linear and even with a much leaner/more natural bass response. It took some time for me to get used to it - actually even some time in which I didn't listen to the DT220 at all - to forget the old sound signature.
Anyway, it changed for the better, it's less fatiguing now, sounds more natural. Isolation stayed pretty much the same I think - reasonable but nothing special.
Apparently, the impedance of my unit is 400Ω. They do work on basically everything, even my Macbook and my Sony Walkman MP3 player, but they sound a lot better with my old JVC CD deck.
If you can get them cheap, go for them. Also, they come from one of the nicest and friendliest companies I know in the audio business - so if there's a problem, they are happy to help.
So:
I've known those phones for years, they have been the in-store headphones of a German record chain, and apparently they simply don't break. So when I found a DT220 clean, fully working and cheap on eBay I couldn't resist.
With the old pads the sound was reasonably detailled, but rather low-mid heavy with a slightly pronounced bass. Treble sounded pretty accurate though unassuming. Anyway, a very pleasing sound, if slightly fatiguing. Also, soundstage is more or less a non-issue, it all plays pretty much within the listener's head. Still - not bad for such an old design!
The classic Beyer layout with the metal headband makes it easy to adjust the phones to the head, however, the old pads had gone extremely soft, which caused the elliptical rubber parts to exert some pressure on my ears. Not very comfortable!
Good news: Beyer still sells replacement pads for €15 a pair. I ordered them and a new cable (the dual-entry cable of the DT211/411 fits, but make sure to order sleeves with the cable!). That's what you call customer service!
With the new pads in place, it's amazing how comfortable those things are. The DT220 gets close to the classic AKGs, which fit my head perfectly. Changing the cable was a piece of cake, the screws for disassembly hide under the pads, contacts for soldering are marked, so this isn't really a big deal.
However, the pad replacement changed the sound, too. Compared to what it was before, it is now almost amazingly linear and even with a much leaner/more natural bass response. It took some time for me to get used to it - actually even some time in which I didn't listen to the DT220 at all - to forget the old sound signature.
Anyway, it changed for the better, it's less fatiguing now, sounds more natural. Isolation stayed pretty much the same I think - reasonable but nothing special.
Apparently, the impedance of my unit is 400Ω. They do work on basically everything, even my Macbook and my Sony Walkman MP3 player, but they sound a lot better with my old JVC CD deck.
If you can get them cheap, go for them. Also, they come from one of the nicest and friendliest companies I know in the audio business - so if there's a problem, they are happy to help.