Ramtha604
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2002
- Posts
- 255
- Likes
- 12
Lets start with some history:
I found Head-Fi about 1 year ago during internet research, when my old cheapo-Sonys broke and I decided I needed a new, decent pair of headphones for my computer. I kept lurking for about a month, then after posting a thread, asking for advice, I settled on the Porta CORDA + Beyerdynamic DT 250-250, both of which I'm very fond of.
After almost two weeks of burning them in from time to time and doing some initial listening I started noticing a grattle in the right cup of my DT 250-250's, again asked for advice and sent them to Beyerdynamic Germany after mailing them, describing my problem to them. I got them back repaired after about 2 weeks to find out I had to pay ~50 € for the repair (still don't know why, as nothing concerning warranty or the void thereof was stated on the bill), but didn't want to post a thread just to whine about it; it's out now anyway.
I've been using the EX70 for about 1.5 years and the DT 250-250 and Porta Corda for 10 months and feel ready to post my impressions on all three of them:
My sources at home are mp3s from my PC with a Hercules Fortissimo II soundcard and an old JVC XL-E34 CD Player I borrowed from my mom; my portable source is a Sony mz-r70 md recorder.
The Beyerdynmaic DT 250-250:
Specifications: (taken from the .pdf)
Transducer type: Dynamic, closed
Transmission range: 10 - 30.000 Hz
Nominal Impredance: 250 ohms
Nominal sound pressure level at 1 kHz 98 db SPL at 1 mW
Nominal power rating: 100 mW
Ambient noise insulation: approx. 16 dBA
Average pressure on ears: 4.5 N
Weight without cable: 242 g
Picture: here
Build Quality: In one word: Sturdy. I'm transporting my DT 250-250 in my backpack without any packaging all the time without any problems. I've also worn them outside numerous times and due to their closed nature neither coldness nor wind nor some drops of rain here and there do them any harm.
Comfort: Unless you've got kinda big ears like me the DT 250-250 should be perfectly comfortable, but even for me comfort is great, now that I'm more used to them. Right when I got them that very sensitive spot right at the top of the skull started to hurt after 20 or so minutes of wearing them, but now I can wear them for hours without problems, just taking them off every few hours for a few minutes.
Looks: Personally I like their plain cold technical look and I've never noticed getting any strange looks when I started wearing them outside, the last few weeks. Them keeping my ears warm when it's cold outside is a plus, too.
Isolation: Their specs are 16 db isolation from the outside. They're isolating ambient noises good enough to warrant a pleasant listening experience at practically any volume, but you won't be able to talk to people at moderate to high volumes.
Sound: My impression is that these are very flat headphones. Everything seems to be there in the right proportions. Really deep, controlled, visceral bass, a liquid midrange and crisp, airy highs with no part of the frequency spectrum sounding somehow disjointed from the rest or emphasized/recessed. So far really anything (view my profile for info on my musical tastes) I've listened to on the DT 250-250 sounded great. I think they're really musical, although not in the sense of excessive warmth or at the cost of a sacrifice in detail. Their soundstage just sounds right to my (inexperienced) ears, that combined with their transparency makes it seem very easy to pinpoint instruments or follow sounds as they move around.
Efficency: Having an impedance rating of 250 Ohms neither the Hercules Fortissimo II nor the Sony MZ-R70 are able to drive the DT 250-250's beyond low moderate volumes. Only the JVC CD Player seems to be able to drive them with authority even without the Porta Corda. I never noticed them sounding really worse without additional amplification, but as already stated the volume suffers.
The Sony MDR-EX70LP:
Specifications: (taken from www.sonystyle.com)
Type: Lateral, In-the-ear, Closed, Dynamic
Driver Unit: 9mm diameter
Diaphragm: PET, long-throw
Magnet: 400 kJ/m high-power Neodymium
Cord: OFC; Neck Chain, 4 feet (1.2 m)
Plug: Gold-plated, L-Shaped, Stereo Mini Plug
Impedance: 16 ohms at 1 kHz
Sensitivity: 100 db/mW
Frequency Response: 6 - 23.000 Hz
Weight: 0.1 oz. (4g), without cord
Picture: here
Build Quality: They're not as fragile as they look, however I've lost one of the medium sized earpieces because it somehow slipped off unnoticed while I wore them below the pullover.
Comfort: Personally I don't feel perfectly comfortable sticking something into my ears, though apart from that they are not uncomfortable and stay in place securely.
Looks: Unobtrusive, unspectacular.
Isolation: No specifications given, but they seem to isolate slightly better than the DT 250-250.
Sound: Overall they're lacking some detail and transparency due to the various flaws in their frequency response, specifically the emphasized highs, a recessed midrange and a rolled off subbass. I only rarely use them anymore since I started using the DT 250-250 for portable applications, too. I don't find them unpleasant to listen to, but they aren't worth the ~50 € I paid for them by far.
Efficency: From the specs they seem to be quite efficient with 100 db/mW at a mere 16 ohms, though strangely enough psychoacoustically the DT 250-250 seem to provide more volume given the same amplification.
The Porta CORDA:
Specifications: (taken from www.meier-audio.com)
Measures: 11.8 x 6.5 x 2.3 cm
Weight without battery: 100 gr.
Supply voltage: 6 .. (9) .. 28 Volts DC
Mean current uptake: 5 mA (4 mA LED OFF, 10 mA class-A mode)
Frequency range: 0 .. 100 kHz (DC-coupled)
Maximal amplification: 17 dB
Input impedance: 43 kOhm
Output impedance: 0 / 120* Ohm * plus adapter
Picture: here
Build Quality: Solid. I don't think it will ever just fall apart in my pocket. It survived a drop from 1 meter onto solid ground without any problems (as one would expect).
Looks: Functional.
Sound: With a fully charged accu the Porta CORDA drives the DT 250-250 as well as the EX70LP off the mz-r70 to maximum volume without trouble. At home I'm plugging it into a modded cheapo 26 volts power supply and it drives both my Headphones to any desired volume with full authority.
Crossfeed: Personally I could have lived without it, but nonetheless it is a nice feature to have, that I usually and mostly use for gaming, for better sound positioning, which works great. Used for music listening it moves the soundstage from around your head to before your head, making pinpointing instruments/following sounds around even easier in addition to seemingly making the DT 250-250 ever-so-slightly even more transparent, at the cost of a (maybe just psychoacoustically, I can't really tell) slightly weakened lowest bass octave.
That's it. I hope you enjoyed reading or at least weren't bored.
I'm curious to see if the DT 250-250 finally manages to jump out of the shadow of the easy-to-drive 250-80's (which I haven't heard myself until now) and finds some followers; I really think it deserves it.
Questions, comments and feed back appreciated.
I found Head-Fi about 1 year ago during internet research, when my old cheapo-Sonys broke and I decided I needed a new, decent pair of headphones for my computer. I kept lurking for about a month, then after posting a thread, asking for advice, I settled on the Porta CORDA + Beyerdynamic DT 250-250, both of which I'm very fond of.
After almost two weeks of burning them in from time to time and doing some initial listening I started noticing a grattle in the right cup of my DT 250-250's, again asked for advice and sent them to Beyerdynamic Germany after mailing them, describing my problem to them. I got them back repaired after about 2 weeks to find out I had to pay ~50 € for the repair (still don't know why, as nothing concerning warranty or the void thereof was stated on the bill), but didn't want to post a thread just to whine about it; it's out now anyway.
I've been using the EX70 for about 1.5 years and the DT 250-250 and Porta Corda for 10 months and feel ready to post my impressions on all three of them:
My sources at home are mp3s from my PC with a Hercules Fortissimo II soundcard and an old JVC XL-E34 CD Player I borrowed from my mom; my portable source is a Sony mz-r70 md recorder.
The Beyerdynmaic DT 250-250:
Specifications: (taken from the .pdf)
Transducer type: Dynamic, closed
Transmission range: 10 - 30.000 Hz
Nominal Impredance: 250 ohms
Nominal sound pressure level at 1 kHz 98 db SPL at 1 mW
Nominal power rating: 100 mW
Ambient noise insulation: approx. 16 dBA
Average pressure on ears: 4.5 N
Weight without cable: 242 g
Picture: here
Build Quality: In one word: Sturdy. I'm transporting my DT 250-250 in my backpack without any packaging all the time without any problems. I've also worn them outside numerous times and due to their closed nature neither coldness nor wind nor some drops of rain here and there do them any harm.
Comfort: Unless you've got kinda big ears like me the DT 250-250 should be perfectly comfortable, but even for me comfort is great, now that I'm more used to them. Right when I got them that very sensitive spot right at the top of the skull started to hurt after 20 or so minutes of wearing them, but now I can wear them for hours without problems, just taking them off every few hours for a few minutes.
Looks: Personally I like their plain cold technical look and I've never noticed getting any strange looks when I started wearing them outside, the last few weeks. Them keeping my ears warm when it's cold outside is a plus, too.
Isolation: Their specs are 16 db isolation from the outside. They're isolating ambient noises good enough to warrant a pleasant listening experience at practically any volume, but you won't be able to talk to people at moderate to high volumes.
Sound: My impression is that these are very flat headphones. Everything seems to be there in the right proportions. Really deep, controlled, visceral bass, a liquid midrange and crisp, airy highs with no part of the frequency spectrum sounding somehow disjointed from the rest or emphasized/recessed. So far really anything (view my profile for info on my musical tastes) I've listened to on the DT 250-250 sounded great. I think they're really musical, although not in the sense of excessive warmth or at the cost of a sacrifice in detail. Their soundstage just sounds right to my (inexperienced) ears, that combined with their transparency makes it seem very easy to pinpoint instruments or follow sounds as they move around.
Efficency: Having an impedance rating of 250 Ohms neither the Hercules Fortissimo II nor the Sony MZ-R70 are able to drive the DT 250-250's beyond low moderate volumes. Only the JVC CD Player seems to be able to drive them with authority even without the Porta Corda. I never noticed them sounding really worse without additional amplification, but as already stated the volume suffers.
The Sony MDR-EX70LP:
Specifications: (taken from www.sonystyle.com)
Type: Lateral, In-the-ear, Closed, Dynamic
Driver Unit: 9mm diameter
Diaphragm: PET, long-throw
Magnet: 400 kJ/m high-power Neodymium
Cord: OFC; Neck Chain, 4 feet (1.2 m)
Plug: Gold-plated, L-Shaped, Stereo Mini Plug
Impedance: 16 ohms at 1 kHz
Sensitivity: 100 db/mW
Frequency Response: 6 - 23.000 Hz
Weight: 0.1 oz. (4g), without cord
Picture: here
Build Quality: They're not as fragile as they look, however I've lost one of the medium sized earpieces because it somehow slipped off unnoticed while I wore them below the pullover.
Comfort: Personally I don't feel perfectly comfortable sticking something into my ears, though apart from that they are not uncomfortable and stay in place securely.
Looks: Unobtrusive, unspectacular.
Isolation: No specifications given, but they seem to isolate slightly better than the DT 250-250.
Sound: Overall they're lacking some detail and transparency due to the various flaws in their frequency response, specifically the emphasized highs, a recessed midrange and a rolled off subbass. I only rarely use them anymore since I started using the DT 250-250 for portable applications, too. I don't find them unpleasant to listen to, but they aren't worth the ~50 € I paid for them by far.
Efficency: From the specs they seem to be quite efficient with 100 db/mW at a mere 16 ohms, though strangely enough psychoacoustically the DT 250-250 seem to provide more volume given the same amplification.
The Porta CORDA:
Specifications: (taken from www.meier-audio.com)
Measures: 11.8 x 6.5 x 2.3 cm
Weight without battery: 100 gr.
Supply voltage: 6 .. (9) .. 28 Volts DC
Mean current uptake: 5 mA (4 mA LED OFF, 10 mA class-A mode)
Frequency range: 0 .. 100 kHz (DC-coupled)
Maximal amplification: 17 dB
Input impedance: 43 kOhm
Output impedance: 0 / 120* Ohm * plus adapter
Picture: here
Build Quality: Solid. I don't think it will ever just fall apart in my pocket. It survived a drop from 1 meter onto solid ground without any problems (as one would expect).
Looks: Functional.
Sound: With a fully charged accu the Porta CORDA drives the DT 250-250 as well as the EX70LP off the mz-r70 to maximum volume without trouble. At home I'm plugging it into a modded cheapo 26 volts power supply and it drives both my Headphones to any desired volume with full authority.
Crossfeed: Personally I could have lived without it, but nonetheless it is a nice feature to have, that I usually and mostly use for gaming, for better sound positioning, which works great. Used for music listening it moves the soundstage from around your head to before your head, making pinpointing instruments/following sounds around even easier in addition to seemingly making the DT 250-250 ever-so-slightly even more transparent, at the cost of a (maybe just psychoacoustically, I can't really tell) slightly weakened lowest bass octave.
That's it. I hope you enjoyed reading or at least weren't bored.
Questions, comments and feed back appreciated.
