Just Dug Out My Old Beyerdynamic DT990's!! Holy Frak!!! - Page 4

I took out about a half of the wool:

The lower pad is with the old amount, a slight bit bigger.

 

The effect isn't quite optimal. On one hand, taking out a bit of the wool helps combat the wool's muffling effect, but on the other hand it increases sibilance and kills the soundstage.

 

Beyer must have put some serious thought into tweaking this model's pads and felts to agree with its other acoustic properties.

I just dug out my dad's Beyerdynamic DT 990 (circa 1985) headphones. I seem to have everyone's problem with the pads being deflated. I was wondering, can I just buy replacement pads for the new DT 990 and just put them on these wonderful cans? 

 

Also, the connector jack is screwed up. It needs to be held just right to produce audio. I've done work with electronics before, but I'm just worried about ruining a very nice pair of headphones. Can I just replace the male jack, or should I send it somewhere to be fixed?

 

Thank you. I can't wait to listen to my dad's SuperAudio CDs. I'm hoping Holst will sound amazing.

If you find the break, and it leaves enough length, you could reterminate it pretty easily. If you can't find the break, it would be pointless to do that as you could still have the same problem and have a shortened cable. A recable would be your next option.

The problem is at the junction of the jack and the cable. I've fixed headphones before, but Im just a little wary of the flat cords the DT 990s have.

Well since nobody that has actually used flat cable will chime in here, I'll blindly guess here, and say it's just as easy to redo the connection as with any cable, but getting a good looking finish when you seal it all up will be a little bit tougher since you have to deal with strain relief or shells that are going to be expecting round cable.

I finally got new pads for the vintage DT990s. The model number is 926.679, and according to the "produktinformation" leaflet, they should be good for 511/770/880/990/531/801/831/901/811/911/931/440/660/860 and "Aviation Headsets" (whatever those are).

 

I have to say, I don't like the new pads at all. The sound becomes sibilant and the sparkling highs are rendered metallic and terrible. Ugh.

 

The sound in general does improve when I press the phones tighter against my ears, but the highs aren't mended at all by doing that, which for me is absolutely a reason to put back the original pads.

 

Old + new (camera phones aren't too good for evening shots):

 

Need to get around to sewing the old pads back together so the cotton stays in better.

If you don´t like them, send them to me.

In time they will become flatter and softer. Use them with the foam inserts, to calm down the highs.

 

Edited by Calypso - 12/20/11 at 2:04pm

I tried the foam things too, and they did help out, but for some reason the highs just aren't working for me with the new pads. With the old pads back in place, the sound is so much more to my liking, and they're seriously comfortable as well.

 

I won't give the pads to you for free, but I might sell them. Drop me a PM if you're into that. (I'll keep the foam discs, though, they'll be useful for an AKG.)

I've been measuring all sorts of headphone-related frequency things to try and build up some experience in doing that sort of thing.

 

This evening I measured the vintage DT 990's original vs. modern pads, as there was some discussion of them in this thread last time.

 

[17 Mar '12 note: updated to a more correctly-calibrated graph measured some weeks ago.]

 

The measurements were made using a fake ear (including a modeled ear canal), and a diffuse field HRTF compensation was used. I took three measurements of each pad configuration and averaged them out (ear was placed [1] in the middle of the cup, [2] a bit towards the top and [3] a bit towards the bottom). From what I've read, one should do five measurements, but that's a bit too much effort for now. My recording setup is homely, and so these graphs are only indicative. They correlate roughly with what I hear in a sine sweep – the original pads generally have a downwards curve after 4 kHz or so, while the modern ones have a rising one.

 

(For any person who's seen my earlier graphs, this one has a slight mic-related correction [a hump] made to the area between ~1.4 and ~2.5 kHz. The corrected graph seems to roughly agree with what I hear – my earlier graphs of other phones tended to recess that area by about 5 or so dB too much.)

 

My original 990 pads no longer have the foam filling, but are instead filled very lightly with cotton: the uncompressed pad is a bit less than 2 cm thick and compresses to about 1 cm or less. I think I could add some more cotton, and I used to have it that way, but I reduced it at some point for whatever reason. (A picture possibly of their current level of filling in this post, the top pad.)

 

The modern pads are not using their foam discs, since I don't have them anymore. I tried the foam discs earlier (in my above post), but I believe the highs were still harsh.

 

Anyways, I definitely perceived the modern pads to be trebly, and some others seemed to be of that opinion as well. The graphs agree on that.

 

I also read somewhere (no idea where) that the vintage DT 990s are diffuse field equalized, and, looking at raw measurement data, I'm pretty sure they are. The treble area curve is similar to the diffuse field HRTF curve, and it reduces into a relatively flat treble in the compensated graph with the original pads. (I'm not sure how much having cotton in the old pads changes the sound vs. having the original foam, though, but I believe you're hard-pressed to find original pads with intact foam these days..)

 

The graphs suggest that the new pads reduce bass. I hear it as well when I have one cup with an old pad and the other one a modern pad. Probably due to the driver being closer to the ear with the flatter old pad.

Edited by vid - 3/17/12 at 3:43pm

Should've done this a while ago.

 

 

Looking at the pictures here, the original DT 990 pads were somewhat deep. The modern pads are somewhat deep, too, so I cut them open and transferred their foam into the old pads. It fits alright. Sound is less trebly & more balanced than with the modern pads. Soundstage seems a bit more coherent, but could be placebo.

Edited by vid - 3/17/12 at 3:01pm

 

Those are EDT 990 V's. How about the EDT 990 S (pleather) ? These pads are apparently for older models made before 2005.

 

Man those are just sweet!! Rocking the old school dt990's. I hope that mine are still going 10 years from now...

 

No idea, except that the vintage DT 880 (early 80s) seem to have used pleather while the DT 990 (late 80s) seem to have used cloth (or something like it).