beyerynamic DT 150 Compact Closed Headphone (250 Ohms)

My Crack w speedball sounds great with my HD 650s. But with the stock tubes, there is just not enough definition in the high end. Relaxing and warm, but my brain gets frustrated when I can't make out the harmonics, the treble, the subtle riffs. I decided it was time to either roll the tubes or get some different headphones or both.

Ive heard closed back headphones dont hold up compared to open back... as a result I actually have collected 3 sets of open back headphones

But my wife complains when I use them during TV time so I opted for a closed back set. I wanted high impedance ones to go with my crack, and scoured the web for a list. Actually not a lot of high impedance closed backs available.
I was worried the DT770 Pro 250 ohm would be too bright, piercing. Well, on the Crack w speedball and stock tubes, they are amazing. I can hear all of the detail I was looking for without fatigue. I used them straight off the DAC and found them a little recessed in the mids which frustrates my ears a little, but with the Crack I can't complain.

These are sometimes recommended for 'people who want lots of bass'. Well, I'm certainly one of those, and to me, DT-150 had hardly any bass at all. You can't feel the subbass; and when you EQ them to the point that the subbass is strong enough to be felt consistently throughout the whole song, it's still not perfect, and other frequencies suffer - as if their price was $5. I listen to trance and house, and can't stand hearing my favorite tracks without proper bass. My soundcard was Asus Xonar D1, so it's not like it couldn't drive DT-150 at all. Surely, I could've bought something better than Xonar D1, but I bet it wouldn't make much difference as far as the subbass is concerned. However, I'm happy to stand corrected if someone proves to me that that wouldn't be the case.
 
As far as the mids and highs are concerned, I had no problem with them, and was happy that the vocals weren't hissing (persistent problem with Ultrasone HFI-580, which I had before DT-150). But that is not what I bought these for - I'd exchange somewhat hissing vocals for quality subbass any day of the week.
 
They're made like a tank - durable, but look really ugly. Not that it's very important, just saying.
 
Overall rating: 4/5. I rate the bass 1/5, as DT-150 are sometimes misrepresented as 'bassy headphones', which they aren't. Not by any basshead standards.
 
If you like to feel the subbass, stay away from those, as they'll be nothing short of a let-down.

 
A name unfamiliar to most. DT150 is not something that is on everyone's radar partly because it was made from the stuff of the future in 1968 and comes from a Legend whose track record and contribution to the industry is overlooked to such an extent it makes me loose hope and instill a sense of understanding that if you think it's classy not to speak much, you won't ever get the recognition for your work if you had done the opposite instead. From the sole perpetrator of the Polymeric revolution for his Electrodynamic contribution, DT150 is the earliest examples dating back to that revolution.
This very perpetrator has taught me many things, given me many clues and made me understand certain things without actually doing any of the following. Although I can't make the feeble-minded bevy understand, I can at least preface this review with the above, although irrelevant I said it because, I wanted to. 
 

 

 

 
Build - Works, nice textured Injection Molded ABS body with slightly altered Monomer permutations to get the right impact, corrosion and wear resistance. I'm personally not a huge fan of the Sliding adjustments, not because of time wear which is irrelevant since I have a 1970 example with me and has shown almost negligible changes in bite and movement, it has to do with my OCD more than anything else, because of this system there is no side articulation, you would imagine such brilliant Engineers would have taken the time to get the fit right but I guess they had other important things to do. This side articulation problem affects the seal dramatically and is variable for head sizes and shapes, nothing unknown in my wordings but the changes with even slight variances can have significant overall change in seal which most modern designs have eliminated. Of course, nothing natural Earpad break-in can't solve.  
 
Comfort - I personally don't like Leather or Pleather on my face, the sensation reminds of strapping condoms (Of course, I haven't done that) on my face and I'm personally not a fan of that sensation although you could be. Sure, you can remedy the issue by changing the Earpads from Beyerdynamic itself (Velour or Cotton)  or take the Aftermarket route for which information is abundant on this very site, just search through the DT150 thread. Validity of the information is not something I can assure cause people have interesting opinions but knock yourself out.  
Headband is of the same material you find on other "PRO" DT Models, the new revised composition which became standard just a few years ago, the previous century material was prone to tearing and weathering, new material is better at those mentioned tasks. 
Clamping is low for me, I would have preferred more clamping to fix the seal problems, it also suffers from the same issue that can be referenced in my HD598 Review which is stability on your head. Slight movement will affect positioning and seal issue due to the Inertia caused by the Headband being unnecessarily large and wide. This can't be remedied because I think Beyerdynamic has used an Elastomer which has a very high elastic modulus but low shore hardness which means you can't change the clamping unless you change the chemistry or just use a different mold shape. 
 

 
 
 
 

 

 
 
Sound - 

This correction was done against average response of the greatest transducers ever made by man, reference papers and overall response which is the least priority as we are trying to combat the natural resonant frequency as much as we can with references and then FR can be taken into picture with resonant frequency S-D markers to better understand while correcting, this SHOULD not be taken as 100% neutral correction. 

The system runs out of excursion space below 50Hz and then any correction will be rendered useless with only gain being unnecessary accentuation which doesn't take away from the overall timbre and tone until you go up in the frequency band till maybe 100Hz, above that there is significant disturbance. Although I have done +15db at 30Hz and +3db at 60Hz kept 80-500 cycles almost flat as this band is very sensitive to changes and takes away from overall fidelity even if correction is required for neutral correction.  
The upper bands are very strange as the resonant frequencies are hidden and can only be heard at a certain SPL even if the system is running at it's signal frequency matching natural frequency, I don't have the right equipment for such correction right now so I held myself back and will update this review once I do. Anyway, we have -2db at 2000 and 7-8000 cycles keeping 3000 to 6000 flat and finally a gradual rise of +4db from 15kHz to 16kHz. 
With such corrections you can essentially open up the sound and hear the overall sense of space better, that isn't the priority here cause we are not here for minuscule Stage improvements in a limited chamber design, that's not worth talking about, if you want flowery explanations for that then read other reviews. 
Overall fidelity is variable with correction, having a reference fidelity target is not possible until I get the above mentioned equipment but still, it's as good as it gets. 


 
A legend, certainly an overlooked one but no less than a Legend. Beyerdynamic DT150. 
 
YouTube (Review) -