... after two weeks with the T 50 P connected to my Hifiman HM-801 ...
(... if you think Hifiman HM-801 owner are liar who bought junk "high end" from ripoff manufacturers, you should perhaps stop reading here ...
... ( ... oh my this smiley is just too brutal ...)
I will just state some personal findings (my findings and opinions) and I won't describe their sound in detail because I feel not comfortable and competent enough yet to use this sound describing vocabulary. You test yourself, read a lot and listen to as many opinions as possible.
-- Adjustment to get it fit and sound right is (a great deal) more complicated than with IEMs especially regarding the lower end of the frequency scale.
-- You have to adjust the ear-pieces vertically, horizontally and around their vertical/horizontal axis to get the fit for optimal sound, and unfortunately you get really different sound depending on minute positioning changes...
-- After about one week testing with different positions I found the optimal position (for me) at last, which is the headband band extended with 5 holes left, almost center of my ears, a little bit set back and the ear-pieces slightly swiveled backwards so that the pressure is optimum.
-- It was more easy to put them on right again then, because after a while you can feel the correct position and hear/feel it ... even with no music on.
-- In this position they are very comfortable and sound just great.
-- Unfortunately the whole thing is very touch sensitive. So e.g. if you lie in bed with your head on a thick pillow and the T 50 P on, you can't move your head without having distracting noises in your ears.
-- I found that not the cable itself is very sensitive to touching (I can tap the lower part hard with no effect whatsoever), but the headphones itself and cable outlet is, to the extent that the tense metal construction seems to transfer external frequencies in some way. Really not too well in very noisy ambiences.
-- Acoustic shielding is also not satisfactory when e.g. wearing them in a train listening to very silent or highly dynamic music with lots of very silent parts.
-- In fact I had the impression low vibrations form the train were more present with the headphones on than without them.
-- Personally that's not a problem for me, since I use them mostly in hotel rooms or at my office desk.
-- The headband pads are too small to fit the headband tight to your head ... In one position I got headache and skin indentation wearing them too tight (...after finding the right position, no problem anymore ...)
-- Also no problem for me since I don't like to listen to music while walking, running, making sports, etc. (... I like it more to experience all the sounds around me ... being around with your ears plugged all the time how could you develop a sense for natural acoustics and sound ...)
-- Because I'm not in possession of a plethora of headphones and don't buy different ones regularly I can't compare the T 50 P sound to anything else apart from my DT 880 Pro, my older Sony/Sennheiser in-ears, the DT 990 Edition and the mentioned sounds of live around me.
-- All listening with these headphones is done to WAV/FLAC files playing via the Hifiman HM-801!
-- Well, they sound easily better than the in-ears.
-- Naturally they sound different from the DT 880 Pro not only because these are half open and circumaural and have much higher impedance (... e.g. DT 880 Pro --> more detail, more air, more stage, very clear sound ...).
-- But as portable they just sound very good and fun to me in connection with the HM-801 and the GAME card (for "serious" listening I would use the DT 880 Pro though with the original standard card).
-- From the short impressions I had of the DT 990 Edition I would say the T 50 P tend in their sound signature more to these then to the DT 880 Pro.
-- I like the general sound vocabulary definitions and description for the T 50 P given here (
http://www.hifi-forum.de/viewthread-211-182.html), though I have no problem with the mentioned mid peak at the transition from the key tones to the harmonics.
-- Another factor for one or the other headphone/manufacturer is trust.
I don't have the time to test over month and years many many headphones (against the T 50 P) until I will find the "perfect" one. So I just trust that e.g. beyerdynamic is able to build very good quality headphones, which sound as described (and they do so far).
-- Regarding beyerdynamic website I also found the technical explanations on their FAQ very informative.
-- I will keep the T 50 P despite their described shortcomings because I'm just very comfortable with how they sound and I like their design.
-- For my purpose as "portable" I would like the sound of the 880 Pro still more, but these are not very "portable" when traveling with small baggage ...).
-- The T 50 P may not be perfect (what is?), but right now I love them nevertheless, and if you love some you accept their faults
-- Well, but maybe I will try different headphones as they arise (like the AIAIAI TMA-1); I'm in love with the T 50 P but I'm not a headphone monogamist
-- I discovered that they indeed have a very strong magnetic field ... see here
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/485854/beyerdynamic-t50p/60#post_7041349
