beyer T50p: beyerdynamic Announces The T50p Portable Tesla Headphones - Page 56

Go easy with the burn-in...mine died after two days (right driver ist tod).  Otherwise I'd be all over this thread, lol.  I was burning them in with pink noise and high frequency sweeps and techno music, with a five minute rest every hour.  Not driving them hard, just a little louder than listening levels.  Fine one night, dead that morning.  Out of the box they were very bright, but only an hour or two of break-in and they were sounding great.

Replacing them was easy however...the place I bought them from were out of course, so they referred me to Pete Carini, Beyer US's customer service rep.  I called him, explained what happened, and he said no problem, send them to me and I'll replace them right away.  Done.  The amazing part is I told him that I really needed them asap, because I was leaving on Thursday, and they were to be a gift (I'm hoping my father in law doeswn't like them though, because I do!).  This was on Monday.  Pete sent them via UPS on Tuesday, and they are due to arrive tomorrow...two day air.  Not a cheap shipping method, but he wanted to take care of his customer, an dI truly appreciate his going the extra mile.

I also got the ESW9A's recently, and I really like them both.  Polar opposites in nearly every way, but they both sound fantastic.  It's very hard to go from one to the other though, lol.  After a little while you get accustomed to the sound of whichever phone you're using and they sound fine.  Yes, the AT's are much warmer, darker, laid back, and slower while the T50p's are fast, bright, and clean/clear.  I think they both have their niches, but if I had to take one or the other, I'd stick with the Beyers.

 oh my

Doing almost the same thing; pink noise, white noise, freq.sweep, 5 min. silence per hour.

Turning that volume down right away, thanks for sharing this 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Proglover 

The sound sig of the Beyers is just way more what I like, than the dissapointing ESW9's I had. Never heard the 10 though. I do miss the 9's lamb skin.pads.

 

If anyone has ideas of where I could get the T50 recabled in Europe, please share..

I have been looking for a EU recabler ever since I got them but havn't found any. I have also tried to do it myself. I would gladly do it if I could only figure out how to open them without causing terrible damage. 
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by rasmushorn 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Proglover 

The sound sig of the Beyers is just way more what I like, than the dissapointing ESW9's I had. Never heard the 10 though. I do miss the 9's lamb skin.pads.

 

If anyone has ideas of where I could get the T50 recabled in Europe, please share..

 

I have been looking for a EU recabler ever since I got them but havn't found any. I have also tried to do it myself. I would gladly do it if I could only figure out how to open them without causing terrible damage. 
 

You could ask aloaudio how they recabled their T50P

Rasmus If you would figure it out (doing it yourself or have an adres), let me know please:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Proglover 

 oh my

Doing almost the same thing; pink noise, white noise, freq.sweep, 5 min. silence per hour.

 

Turning that volume down right away, thanks for sharing this 

Don't exagerate the volume, but no need to put it lower than listening level. If they're going to break, better sooner than later.

Yeah I just broke mine in with old fashioned music at normal to slightly higher volumes. Nothing my ears wouldn't handle. I just left them burning in for 10 days straight, listening to them when I had the chance. I agree, if they're going to break, they would have under normal use because they're meant to pump music through the drivers at human tolerances.

They fit my ears, but look silly on my head. I have little somethin' being delivered by Santa UPS that will compete with the T50p. The looser gets sold on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by plainsong 

Yeah I just broke mine in with old fashioned music at normal to slightly higher volumes. Nothing my ears wouldn't handle. I just left them burning in for 10 days straight, listening to them when I had the chance. I agree, if they're going to break, they would have under normal use because they're meant to pump music through the drivers at human tolerances.

 

They fit my ears, but look silly on my head. I have little somethin' being delivered by Santa UPS that will compete with the T50p. The looser gets sold on.

Oh?  I wonder what it is!  Please tell :D  is it the TMA-1?

Yeah, you got me. Hopefully they'll get delivered today. They were supposed to come yesterday, but at the end of the day the status was refreshed to say that it was rescheduled due to adverse weather conditions. It's only adverse if they were driving off-road, or UPS doesn't use winter tires. The roads are clear. Just love UPS.

Update: They're here now, and the box is silently mocking me. Gotta wait until tomorrow night! But I feel like no matter the outcome, I've already won. The T50p has been spectacular but for the ergonomics. So if the TMA-1's don't pan out, then I know what I prefer. If they do pan out, then someone can nab some already-burned-in T50p's.

can't wait for your comparison :D

My replacements came today, and they do indeed have the newer pads.  They are thinner in thickness, but larger in diameter and in the opening.  They feel a lot better actually, and are easier to seat and get a good seal...not nearly as picky as the old ones.  Burning in (again) now!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twinster 

Ok I finally recable my T50p. You basically just remove the earpad by pulling on them gently (they are glued with reusable glue) and with a sharp knife just gently remove the driver. It's only snap in place. I have used 24 Gage silver plated copper wire with teflon braided in round litz. It's too early for a clear review but on my first 20 minutes before leaving for party I was not disappointed. I think I can say that the bass had more impact and the high and
Mid kept their details and smoothness.

Cheer

I did remove the earpads but could not figure out which part is the speaker cones inside. If you are able to share some pictures from the process I would love to see them here. 

After having tried electrostatic headphones for the first time during last week, I now realise why I miss the T50p quite much now that I'm temporarily back to my ESW10. The T50p has this surprising capability to sound so effortless in comparison to most other dynamics I tried. In comparison, the ESW10 is borderline harsh and quite grainy (and I though it was one of the most liquid headphones I tried until now).

So if the Tesla driver might not be that efficient in terms of volume response, it definitely is in some way. It seems to require much less power to sound substantially refined than other kinds of drivers.

Okiedokie, I've had the TMA-1 since Christmas, and gave them about 30 hours of burn-in. Is it better than the T50p? The answer is a glorified "It depends."

In the looks and ergonomics department:

The smaller cups on the t50p fit my ears very nicely. It's not at all fiddly to get a good fit without thinking about it. BUT, the headband is a bit big for my head. Although they're smaller than the TMA-1, they look sillier on me. For my uses, that doesn't work. If I was at home or somehow using these mostly isolated from people, it wouldn't matter.

The TMA-1 is larger, but they have a classic headphone design to them, so it's fine to be seen in public with these. The size of the cups makes it more fiddly on my ears. If it sounds horrible to you, move them backwards. Speaking of ergonomics - I LOVED the foam earpads. Then I pressed play. What were they thinking with those? A single-sided cable is also nice. And bonus: they fit nicely into the iPad-sized Waterfield Muzetto bag. What a nice larger-headphone bag that makes. They'll also fit into one of the inner pockets of the Tom Bihn Imago, the greatest messenger bag ever made (the t50p obviously fits as well, I was just surprised that the TMA-1 did).

Some thoughts on sound:

Isolation? My unscientific test feels that they're about the same.

My thoughts on sound can be summed up as: When listening to the TMA-1, I felt the t50p may have been more refined. When listening with the t50p, I felt the TMA-1 was a bigger, more well-rounded sound. So listening to the one makes you like the other. That's how close it is. They're so very different, but somehow also close.

Both unamped, from an iPhone 4, using Apple Lossless on a variety of music. I started forming my full conclusions with some Kingston Wall though. The bass on the T50p tries very hard to mimic visceral impact. It tries to reach into you, and that might put some people off. It tries a total package of high highs and visceral lows, with vocals a tad recessed in order to give you a feeling of lots of space. 

The TMA-1 uses bigger drivers (I believe the t50p isn't 40mm? It does sound smaller.) to sound: surprise! bigger. It's more forward in the mid and especially mid-bass. Couple that with huge bass and recessed (but still present!) treble, and it may not be for everyone. The first impression is going to be that it's muffled, _especially_ if you wear them too far forward, which you might do with a supra-aural headphone.

Headfonia is right: If your DAP has mostly hotly mixed music, the TMA-1 will work well. And if I'm honest, my iPhone 4 has mostly hotly mixed stuff. On the stuff that isn't, the darkness is more apparent. 

So the TMA-1 is bigger and sounds it. It's lovely and refined, but in a dark way. That would be polar opposite of the T50p. Which is better? It depends on your needs. If you have a portable setup with a nice amp, it becomes even tougher. I didn't compare with amp because I don't use one portably, but the t50p upscales. The TMA-1 not-so-much. And I think when judging a headphone, it's important to take not just the sound into account. The TMA-1 might be too big for your needs. Or the t50p be too small, or the look of either one might be right. Or you might have an amp, which might give some edge to the t50p. It's so close between these two, that those criteria come into play. 

They are so different, but it's a close call to say which is better. For my needs, given that I have dt250s for home closed computer use, the edge goes to the TMA-1. But I defend the honor of the t50p as a damn fine headphone.