Never been sharing my impressions on this forum since now, but let's start...
To begin with, let's go back in time... 'till 1979... when my mom (can you believe that ?) bought a pair of Beyerdynamic DT-440 600 Ohms (I guess the 250 Ohms ones weren't existing at that time) for listening to her recorded sophrology classes, along with a Marantz tape player/recorder and a HiFi microphone...
My father never admitted it, but I s'ppose he was part of these choices, whatever he saws now ^^
After six months of duty, the headphones went back in the box, and the box in a closet...
At that time, my father was more likely using vinyl and a monaural tube amp (hard to remember which ones exactly, I hardly remember them working).
Going further in time, here I come
In the late 1990s I rediscover those headphones in the dust of a closet, and also the Marantz player. As I didn't already have a computer, I used them for music listening with those good old Philips tapes... Even if the lather for the ears had disappeared long ago, they were usable... and enjoyable, but the comfort wasn't quite good
As a student, I had'nt much cash to spend on music, so with my first computer I began downloading mp3s and all the **** we could find on the net in the 2000s... I even ripped original CDs in mp3 (argh)...
Then... slowly... I began to discover the obscure world of lossless audio (it came along with the increasing HDD capacities... remember your 20 Gb Maxtor were Windows occupied 10% of the available space ? lol)...
On the source side, I began with a Philips Acoustic Edge 501 (?), which was a decent AC97 soundcard, offering digital in and out coaxial ! (used the digital in for TV on my computer with my Freebox V2, you need to be French to understand).
Without having a clue if it would work, I one day plugged my DT-440 on the line-out. As strange as it sounds, the soundcard was able to drive it correctly with modern pop-rock CDs. For classical music it wasn't that good, as it lacked some decent amplification...
I could then rediscover all my music... what a pleasure...
As I already had put an ear or two in HiFi the infernal cycle began... I upgraded my soundcard as soon as my financials could support it, and my choice went on an Onkyo SE-150 (seemed pretty decent back then)...
Another experience began : listening classical music was then comfortable, and all what I had listened to before sounded new to me (there were cymbals in the background there ? I don't remember hearing the singer breathing, etc.).
But can an audiophile newbie stop there ? Impossible, once you get in you only get out when you're deaf... and even in that case i'm not quite sure about it. ^^
So I went on... and decided I needed new headphones.
I stuck with Beyer, after reading dozens of pages on Head-Fi, and here came my DT-880 600 Ohms at the end of 2008.
Again, event though I already had some good improvements, a new world of listening opened to me... More stereo, more bass, more clarity, raaah lovely (again you need to be French, Gotlib inside).
Now having a decent salary, I could make the next move : buying an headphone amp to plug after my Onkyo soundcard (speaking of wich, she became an SE-200, before it went radioactive in Japan, I think I liked the caps on the photos at the time... don't take me wrong, it's a great musical sound card with bit-perfect but no HDCP support :'( )
We were in 2009, and long before it resurfaced in the HiFi world, I chose the A1, again from Beyer... and again after reading Head-Fi, but not only, 'cause it was hard to find some decent reviews about it back then... I liked the headphones sound, why wouldn't I like the amp afterall ? (stupid idea I guess, I could have
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At last listening to classical music was comfortable... and the bass improvement also non-neglectible... and the better resolution in some songs... it took a bit of time for the DT-880 to burn in, but after that time, I never regretted buying all these components.
And there we were, in autumn 2011... it was time to buy something useless I didn't really need... a pair of Beyer T1
)))
I had the cash (approximately the same amount that I throw away with the A1), the desire, the hope it will sound better, I spoke some bits of German... I was ready to burn out my credit card !
I gave up reading all that had been said on Head-Fi (page 110, but if you cut the useless comments, we could go down to... hum... maybe 30 pages ? Already too long if it's not raining during a month). After a small hesitation with the HD800 from Sennheiser (just writing that for the fun), I made the mistake of choosing DHL standard for the delivery.
For the price, Beyer support is following the tracking for you, and I was quite confident at the beginning with the two weeks delay.
But suddenly... all went wrong... Beyer told me they needed the entry code (why the hell the delevery boy didn't asked the caretaker ? Guess he never really entered the backyard), which I gave them feverishly...
And then... nothing... when I asked Beyer for the tracking number some days later, I discovered it wasn't DHL, but DPD (pronounced in French it's as if you where saying "a bunch of faggots"), and the smart deliverey boy hadn't found anyone at home the second time, even if I had told to give the package to the caretaker :'(
But as in all uncle Walt stories there's an happy ending... and if it wasn't the case I guess I wouldn't be writing all this
Tonight, I'm proud of announcing it... I finally received my T1s !!!
Let's pass on the metal box, completely useless and ugly, but it's a good protection during transport...
Let's also not talk about the small notice on how Beyer began manufacturing in 1924 and blahhhh... not even in color... for the price I would have expected something more interesting about their Tesla technology (we are far away from the Sony HiFi brochures of the 1970s)...
Then... the T1s... really comfortable... and I must say far better than the DT880... but harder to position on your head, especially with the inclination of the drivers.
Classy design, but I don't give a ****, I rarely look at myself in the mirror when listening to music
The first minutes were quite disappointing... an expanded stereo image compared to the DT880s... a bit more bassy... but nothing exceptionnal... was I another fool having trashed his money on a chimera ?
Then I realised the volume was a bit low
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Old habits from the DT880... BTW it seems completely wrong thinking these T1s are more esay to drive because of the Tesla thingy as I've read it somewhere... you clearly need to push a bit more the volume... and it's a joy to do that as it's so good hearing the music with them...
How to sum it ? Impossible... almost another world (don't take me wrong, DT880 were great, but now I can't imagine putting them back on my head... don't event want to compare...).
First, the increased space between your ears and the drivers is certainly part of the expanded stereo image.
Beyer has also thought about getting rid of the lather, which is quite a good thing... afterall it messes a lot with sound on the DT880.
After... more detailed instruments... classical music is exceptionnal with them (the Bach Suites played by Yoyoma are wonderful with all the details of the music from of the cello)... the bass are really, really good (Growing Up from Peter Gabriel, The Art of Noise or Black Eyed Peas, back in Black), and also very fast... hearing the drums is completely different...
The voices ? Ahhhh... a joy... really... The Consortium Vocale in 24bit 96kHz is simply gorgeous... I can even hear a little larsen at the end of the recording I never noticed before... to bad there are so few of these recordings at the present moment...
The rendering of movies OST like Batman (old and new one), the Planet of the Apes, le Roi et l'Oiseau, is superb... it's almost like if you were in front of the screen at the theater... the rendering of the bass part being what it is with headphones... you cannot go against physic laws...
It's quite simple... I put them on my head almost 3 hours ago and wasn't able to do anything else than trying to listen to all the music being stored on my computer... it's like a drug... and I know I'm pushing the volume to high... but it's so good to hear the music in this never like before way... currently listening to a piano-voice by William Sheller and it's terrific...
Dunno if you've ever been hearing a hang in the street, but it's almost the same than in reality with the T1s (of course you need a good recording)...
But if you're only listening to recent pop-rock CDs you can stick with your current headphones, the T1s will only emphasize all the defects of the bad mastering... on the contrary it glows with those pressed in the 80s... and surely with some SACD... but as they cannot be played on computers...
So... all this ******** to say I'm fully satisfied with what I'm hearing... another useless comment
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NB : sorry for the poor English... but I'm French
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