beyerdynamic T5p: Photos and first impressions. - Page 32

Quote:

Originally Posted by beyerlove 

Hi guys.

 

Recently added the T5p to my headphones inventory.

Not being properly burnt in though, I'm very happy with these phones. 

T5p's sufficient and fuller bass was a nice surprise for me. 

And they look really gorgeous. especially black anodized yokes and grayish stained leather pads.

 

http://www.head-fi.org/g/a/705625/beyerdynamic-t5p/null

Congrats! Those are great shots of a beautiful headphone. 

Thanks!

I enjoy burn-in process with my T5p now.

I do not know if it is just me and my memory of the HD650? But somehow I find that the T5p-signature reminds me more and more of the HD650(with the APuresound Mod and a silver cable) I had and sold last year. Am I completely wrong? 

How much difference in sound is there between the T5p and the shure SRH940? Is the T5p worth the extra money?

Originally Posted by daniel521 

How much difference in sound is there between the T5p and the shure SRH940? Is the T5p worth the extra money?

It depends on what kind of sound you want, if you're fine with light and thin sound you may even prefer the SRH-940 or T70p, if you want more immersive sound you'll prefer the T5p.

If you like bass and looks, ATH-ES10 (with lamb-skin or velour pads is nice), if you like intimacy and layering, UM Miracle, the list continues.

If you want a quick answer, let's say the SRH-940 sounds like $500 and the T5p $750, so will you pay $700 for the extra $250?  

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiteki 

 

It depends on what kind of sound you want, if you're fine with light and thin sound you may even prefer the SRH-940 or T70p, if you want more immersive sound you'll prefer the T5p.

 

If you like bass and looks, ATH-ES10 (with lamb-skin or velour pads is nice), if you like intimacy and layering, UM Miracle, the list continues.

 

If you want a quick answer, let's say the SRH-940 sounds like $500 and the T5p $750, so will you pay $700 for the extra $250?  

One of the drawbacks of a basslight headphone is the "thin" sound, and your saying the T5p doesn't sound thin? That's awesome! I think I might actually get it.

The T5p doesn't sound thin at all, it's thick like butter and honey on waffles with salt.

The signature is r-shaped, but the bass is quite like a sub-woofer on low volume.  It's not bass-light in the same sense an open-air Audio Technica or Sony.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiteki 

The T5p doesn't sound thin at all, it's thick like butter and honey on waffles with salt.

 

The signature is r-shaped, but the bass is quite like a sub-woofer on low volume.  It's not bass-light in the same sense an open-air Audio Technica or Sony.

I am placing the T5p close to but just a little bit brighter than HD650. I think that says a lot. If it is the butter on waffles the waffles are hot and the butter melted. So I would not say it is THAT thick.

I am trying a T5p right now (still burning it in...), but am on the fence and probably will return them.  I don't have a separate headphone amp and was hoping it would work well straight from an iPhone, and in a sense it does.  The airiness, clarity and separation are wonderful, but, at least un-amped from my iPhone, it is too bass-shy for my tastes.  It gets better when plugged into my laptop, which I assume has a stronger headphone circuit.  Indeed, a lot of tracks sound really wonderful out of my laptop.  But, to echo another post on these headphones from somewhere on this site, although the bass is fine at louder volumes, it gets lost at lower volumes.  To be clear, I'm not a bass-head and picked these up because my current headphones (Sennheiser Momentum) are too bass-emphasized on some tracks.

The best comparison I can make is to the Etymotic ER-4 (and its variants), which has incredibly clarity, which I loved.  Unfortunately, they were too bass-shy to keep, and I eventually ended up with a Westone ES5 (unbelievable mids/clarity, very nice bass, and recessed treble...I guess you can't have everything).  The T5p has mids that remind me of my ES5, but with much nicer separation and sense of space, but with a sound that is recessed at the other end of the spectrum.

I certainly could pick up a nice portable amp (I'm considering ALO's National), but the tradeoff (compared to the Momentums) in complexity, cost and comfort (they are only "OK" with glasses) probably is not going to be worth it for me.  Even though I got a great deal on the T5Ps, for that kind of money, you really expect a set of headphones that are close to perfect for their application, and here I don't really believe that these are truly "portable" headphones for several reasons, sound included.  Hopefully, one of the top manufacturers will continue the trend of high-quality headphones at the $250-$400 level geared towards iPhones and the like, but with a sound signature that is more neutral, prioritizing clarity over bass.

To be clear, there is no question to me that the T5ps have much better sound quality than the Momentums, even with the recessed bass.  But the Momentums are quite nice (great, even) in their own right for their target use, and the cons to the T5p make it a much closer call than I had been expecting.  We'll see...

Spend some time with them and get used to the amount of bass impact they have. As soon as your ears and brain adjust you will no longer focus on what you think is lacking and all the good things will start to show. I had the opposite problem with T5p. I thought they had too much bass - I came from the T70 but the T5p is technically a better headphone in every way. Of cource the price can always be the reason not to keep a headphone and there can be just as much listening pleasure in cheaper headphones - the DT-1350 for instance. 

My T5p required 50hrs burn-in time, or my ears got used to it after that time.

Anyway, My T5p now sounds awesome to me.

Really spectacular headphone and I'll treasure it.

The bass amount of T5p is just fine for me (I came from T70/T90).

Rasmushorn and Beyerlove - Thanks for the comments.  I am burning them in (not continuously, but in 5-8 hours stretches), and doing periodic comparisons.  There's no question that the T5p has tremendous positive qualities, even straight from my iPhone.  I'm not taking notes to record how they are changing over time, but they certainly sound wonderful in many respects, and on bass-heavy tracks, sound great.  But there are just too many tracks where the bass seems to just disappear at even moderate volumes (again, the sound is not thin, but comparing them to my ES5, you lose the bass tracks almost completely).  Again, the clarity is just amazing.  I'll see where I am at about 50+ hours of burn in, maybe 100 hours if necessary.

Obviously, technology marches on continuously, and it is possible that the next generation or two will get closer to what I am looking for.

Jules,

Apparently you need proper amping. Otherwise, like you mentioned above, T5p is not cup of your tea.

I respect your style of rig without amping, but if you stick to that you'll be happier with more low impedance IEMs.