[Macedo]

Never ever use headphones for mixing or mastering, specially the dt990pros they are very good for listening to music in general (specially for the price point) but they are far from neutral. What you want for mixing mastering is monitor speakers and use your headphones as a reference for light ajustments. Otherwise you will make a fool of yourself (like me) showing you friends your awesome new song that sounds like it was recorded in the sewers.

 

[dabtpa]

I am going to give you my opinion and realize, it is just that, an opinion. I have the DT990 Pros and love them. I use them strictly at home with a Schiit Asgard 2 and Little Dot 1+.  For starters, they are semi-open so not the best choice if you are going to be out in public where people can hear what you are listening to. Secondly, I read the description of the x3 and it talks about all its' wonderful features (and it has tons) but no mention of its' raw amp power. At 250 ohms and moderate sensitivity level, I think the DT990s may be under powered by the 3. I have yet to be able to find phones that can do "double duty" both inside and on the road the right way. For the future, if you are looking to get a good "road phone" Buy Sonic has the Beyer T51i for $199 (usually $300-$400). You would then have the best of both worlds.

 

[Ash Telecaster]

Never ever use headphones for mixing or mastering, specially the dt990pros they are very good for listening to music in general (specially for the price point) but they are far from neutral. What you want for mixing mastering is monitor speakers and use your headphones as a reference for light ajustments. Otherwise you will make a fool of yourself (like me) showing you friends your awesome new song that sounds like it was recorded in the sewers.

Thanks Macebo,

I do my mixing and mastering with bookshelf speakers, then give my mixes the car stereo test which always results in adjustments. The headphones are a different test. I want my recordings to have depth and detail. It's a turn off the lights and get swept away by the music thing. That has resulted in mix changes too.

There are things I love and hate about the various cans I own. They serve me well in the studio but fail the critical listening test. So far the DT 990's are failing that test too but they are breaking in quickly and I'm hoping with a couple more days of use they will deliver the performance I am hoping for.

I am a difficult case though as I listen with great intensity and can't stand to be distracted by the quirks of the headphone.

There is a possibility I will have to save up and buy something significantly more expensive.

 

[Ash Telecaster]

I am going to give you my opinion and realize, it is just that, an opinion. I have the DT990 Pros and love them. I use them strictly at home with a Schiit Asgard 2 and Little Dot 1+.  For starters, they are semi-open so not the best choice if you are going to be out in public where people can hear what you are listening to. Secondly, I read the description of the x3 and it talks about all its' wonderful features (and it has tons) but no mention of its' raw amp power. At 250 ohms and moderate sensitivity level, I think the DT990s may be under powered by the 3. I have yet to be able to find phones that can do "double duty" both inside and on the road the right way. For the future, if you are looking to get a good "road phone" Buy Sonic has the Beyer T51i for $199 (usually $300-$400). You would then have the best of both worlds.

Hi Dabtpa,

From everything I've read the x3 has a pretty good amp and can drive up to 300 ohm cans. The DT 990's are 250 ohms but it is possible I will need an amp to be satisfied with the Beyers.

 

[Macedo]

You have to be aware of the hype, the only sound system I listen to and am blown away by the detail, balance and overall sound quality is my grandfathers old hifi system with a Garrard turntable and a really good Shure head. The dt990pros are a very good pair of headphones but I was disappointed when I recieved them after so much hype.

 

[cdma2k]

 

Never ever use headphones for mixing or mastering, specially the dt990pros they are very good for listening to music in general (specially for the price point) but they are far from neutral. What you want for mixing mastering is monitor speakers and use your headphones as a reference for light ajustments. Otherwise you will make a fool of yourself (like me) showing you friends your awesome new song that sounds like it was recorded in the sewers.

Thanks Macebo,

I do my mixing and mastering with bookshelf speakers, then give my mixes the car stereo test which always results in adjustments. The headphones are a different test. I want my recordings to have depth and detail. It's a turn off the lights and get swept away by the music thing. That has resulted in mix changes too.

There are things I love and hate about the various cans I own. They serve me well in the studio but fail the critical listening test. So far the DT 990's are failing that test too but they are breaking in quickly and I'm hoping with a couple more days of use they will deliver the performance I am hoping for.

I am a difficult case though as I listen with great intensity and can't stand to be distracted by the quirks of the headphone.

There is a possibility I will have to save up and buy something significantly more expensive.

agreed with Macebo on "they are very good for listening to music in general (specially for the price point) but they are far from neutral".
 
Maybe you don't have to to save up and buy something significantly more expensive. For mixing and mastering, give K612 a try.

 

[xaval]

There are a few threads discussing heaphones adequate for mixing/mastering/monitoring that should be helpful. DT990 most certainly should not be on tha list, imo.

 

[Macedo]

Guys, it's Macedo not Macebo. That's my last name and in my language Macebo means a negative thing xD

 

[cdma2k]

  Guys, it's Macedo not Macebo. That's my last name and in my language Macebo means a negative thing xD

Oops, sorry for the typo propogation!

 

[jdpark]

The DT990 pros are excellent for the price, but probably at that price point you would want to go with the dt 880s which have a bit less mid-bass and more prominent mids. 
 
At the next price point, yeah, if and only if you have a great amplifier, you probably should try the AKG K702 phones. Make sure not to get the Q-series, as they're meant more for enjoying music. Ken Rockwell has a great review of them, you can search for online.
 
You don't want an overly 'fun' headphone for music-making, but you do want phones that give you what's there. 
 
The amplifier thing is a big deal, though. 
 
Also, if you stick with the DT990 pros, you will learn their strengths and weaknesses and you can compensate accordingly. They're not as colored as most mass-marketed phones, and in some ways maybe you should consider them an important tool in your repertoire, depending on the target audience and/or venue of your music.
 
Obviously you don't want recordings that lack sparkle in the high-end, and have no bass, which is what you might get if you take the DT990s at face value.
 
However, the space, imaging, layering, and overall detail is pretty good--and they're pretty fun phones with a good amp. 

 

[Macedo]

No problem it is kind of funny xD

 

[derbigpr]

  I wanted a step up form the M50's. Nice headphones but I wanted greater clarity. I am assessing master mixes of my own music. I took a chance on these....well, because I got a good price. Thats it, read some reviews but otherwise took a stab in the dark. Beyerdynamics are a respected mfg so I figured the risk was minimal.
 
I have to say I just cracked open the box and I'm sure these things need a decent break in period. Right now they are nothing but bass in your face. I've often read of them being tinny and even shrill but so far it's hard to hear much brightness or midrange past the overwhelming bass.
 
I'm going to keep running music through them over the weekend and hope they open up some.
 
I'm running them off a Fiio x3. The amp "should" be adequate for running them but perhaps I really need an amp. The phones are the 250 Ohm Pros.

 
 
 
You need a proper source and a proper amp. These are serious headphones on a level comparable to HD650's or AKG K701's, therefore a portable player won't bring them anywhere near their potential, and they scale extremely well.  In my opinion, and I've heard pretty much all of the Beyerdynamic's (owned pretty much the entire 770, 880 and 990 lineup, plus the T1's), 990 Pro's are the 2nd best open back Beyerdynamic headphones after T1's, even besting T90's, since those are simply too bright and can't even begin to match the timbre and naturalness of the 990's.
 
They don't sound bass heavy to me AT ALL, I don't know why everyone says they have boosted bass. Might be product variation, but comparing them side-by-side with K701's (which I did about half a year ago), they had only a fraction more bass presence, and otherwise sounded 90% identical, literally like someone took the K701's and added a bit of bass and a bit more natural soundstage without the 2kHz spike that AKG's have that makes the vocals sound a bit artificial and tries to fake a bigger soundstage.

 

[derbigpr]

  There are a few threads discussing heaphones adequate for mixing/mastering/monitoring that should be helpful. DT990 most certainly should not be on tha list, imo.

 
IMHO, they most certainly should be, as one of the most natural sounding headphones out there anywhere near their price. Would you suggest the K701/702 as pro headphones? Well, taking 990's off and putting K701's on makes them sound a bit plasticky in the mids in comparison, although very, very similar overall. Basically, DT990 is like the improved version of a K701, with more natural and realistic mids and a more realistic bass quantity. 
They're better than K701's for studio use in every single way, yet, most people would still recommend then K701's instead. They might be a bit bass heavy (although light years away from the "bassy" or "muddy" descriptions) at first if you come from the usual studio headphones with thin bass and poor bass extension, but with a good amp and source, they're as natural and real sounding as it gets for the price. HD650's have more bass for example, yet people don't call them bass heavy.  Even T1's are not exactly bass light compared to 990Pro's.

 

[derbigpr]

Never ever use headphones for mixing or mastering, specially the dt990pros they are very good for listening to music in general (specially for the price point) but they are far from neutral. What you want for mixing mastering is monitor speakers and use your headphones as a reference for light ajustments. Otherwise you will make a fool of yourself (like me) showing you friends your awesome new song that sounds like it was recorded in the sewers.

 
 
They are not perfectly neutral in terms of their frequency response (but then again, no headphones are, especially not the many well recommended studio models which almost as a rule have very aggressive bass roll-off and spikes in the mids and highs), but they are natural sounding.  To me there's a difference between something that measures flat and sounds real, 990's are one of those rare headphones that make something sound real if it's properly mastered. Simply said, from my experience, what sounds good on 990s will sound good on almost everything, and what sounds bad on them...is, well, bad. That's why I feel they're ideal for checking out whether something sounds good or not on headphones in the studio, and you certainly can't go wrong, or can't get anything better at the same price range. Being a little bit more than half the price of K701's or HD650's, but totally on the same level or better than either, they might the best bargain in the <500 dollar range of open-back headphones. 

 

[Grave]

Use the HD 580/600's obviously, forget Beyerdynamics. :|