Beyerdynamic T90 Review
Headphone - Beyerdynamic Tesla90 {250 Ohm} [Open]
Portable Amplifier – iFi iCan Nano
Player Source – Lenovo Y470
Music Source – 16/44.1kHz CD FLAC & 24/192kHz FLAC
Music Bands – Eric Clapton , Westlife , Michael Buble , Jason Mraz , Chris Daughtry, David Cook, Maroon5 , Taylor Swift , Green Day , Avenged Sevenfold.
Introduction
Having done research on the leading products on Hi Fi headphones over the past few months, I’ve audited a small group of Hi Fi headphones, such as the Senn HD800, Beyer T1, Beyer T5, Beyer DT990, AKG 701, AKG 702 etc. Every one of these headphones showcased very different sound signatures and built quality. I have read online reviews regarding these high end headphones and weighed their pros and cons before deciding to lie my money on them. Measured Graphical Statistics of these headphones from companies like Golden Ears, Head Fi & Inner Fidelity were also taken note of. The T90’s definitely stood out from the rest with its price to performance ratio, where I bought it on the second time I audited them.
First Impressions
Design
These headphones looks like they have a bold statement to deliver when you first look at them , most of the parts which look like metal , are metal . The construction is very rigid, looks durable and feels good with a premium weight in your hands. The headband and ear pads are microfiber velvet, comfortable to put on over extended periods of time, the headband and ear pads are fully removable, allowing it to be easily exchanged at a small cost. The earpads felt like they are filled with memory foam and are thick enough to provide comfortable cushioning and prevents your ear from touching the headphone driver felt padding (which was a problem for the DT series) It is very comfortable and fits like a glove with the aids of multiple swivels. The opening for the drivers on the outer side has a beautiful tight weave which prevents dust from interfering whilst maintaining its open headphone properties. You cannot see through the Headphones or see the driver itself like other headphones, however it is quite evident that it is open due to the sound produced where I would touch on later in the review. The headband could be extended in notches, discretely cut. The cable is a 3m fixed rubber insulated cable which prevents one from changing cable types for sound tweaking, it extends out to a 3.5mm audio jack with a ¼ inch audio plug screw on. Overall Design felt exquisite and felt like no corners were cut during the assembly process. The Beyerdynamic T90s were Designed, Hand assembled and Tested in Germany.
Frequency Response of the headphones were wonderfully and tastefully tuned , having low bass reach whilst keeping it minimally amplified to make the music interesting . The mid-range were good and have a slight warm tint. The treble reach is good, it is well controlled and do not cause discomfort with sharp piercing spikes like some other HiFi headphones, it is bright enough to keep the treble realistic and believable, it does have very well presence in the music and occasionally tells you “hey I’m here!” Overall a rather “fun” sounding headphone, not boringly balanced, but yet enough to keep the listeners looking for “fun” and critical listening smiling. The Beyerdynamic line of headphones generally have a very unique sound signature they have kept over decades, this unique sound signature kept in an interesting manner that one will only understand after trying a few from their DT or T line of headphones.
Sound Stage is one of the thing which sets this T90 apart from Closed headphones, from my experience, Open headphones will definitely have a wider soundstage than Closed headphones, that was the main objective of Open headphones from the start, to recreate a broader sound stage. They were truly impressive, the sound stage was wide. You are no longer confined in the small room of which Closed headphones were limited to, you felt that there is a sudden space between the music and you, making it a very pleasurable listening experience, echoes and reverberations becomes present in realistic amounts making it natural and absolutely satisfying. Each instrument has it’s space and you could hear them being displayed very beautifully as itself. The depth and resolution is simply a treat, an audio bliss.
Instrumental Imaging is of a high calibre with the T90 , and I am not exaggerating it just because I’ve spent good money on them , because the instrumental imaging is of a very high standard, perhaps one of the first few things you would naturally take into notice when running them, immediately you know how many instruments are present in your music, upon that, you know exactly what key each individual instrument is on, at which angle the instruments are placed and played, at what distance these instruments are played in relative to other instruments, are the more forward or backward, it’s very clearly evident and superbly enjoyable to be able to pin point all of the instruments present in the music, that is also the reason why new electric music never caught my ear, they were veiled and had no depth and resolution in them . The instrument details and textures were stunningly true, guitar’s strums and plucks were so real, you could picture the strings vibrating, piano were so clear, you could feel the hammer striking the piano strings, Violins were smooth and beautifully displayed, Drum bass kicks has a wholesome body and head to it. Snares tight and impactful, Hi Hats and Crashes were neither confused nor disorientated, but well controlled and delivered even when the other instruments were present. Rides were true with the ring, Bells rang clear like a bell. It is undoubtedly a very pleasant listening experience, as you know very clearly each instrument is doing its job, the imaging of the T90 is very close to its flagship brother T1 with about 90% resemblance in my opinion. And that also was backed up by a number of other critical listeners whom have owned them both.
Clarity, as claimed by the manufacturer the total harmonic distortion is of 0.05%, as you already know, many companies do put false frequency response range, rounded off impedance, and similarly the low 0.05% should not be taken too seriously. But however, the music sounds neat and black were black, there were no noticeable sibilance and it could perform as it is even in higher volumes with no change in personality Detail Retrieval is good with minor nuances being picked up and delivered with great realism, everything feels just right with the T90 and there were little or nothing to complain about.
Music Genre Handling were interestingly good, they could handle a vast variety of music genres and display them wonderfully for your pleasure. They could handle most of the genres thrown at them with great results. They will sound as they should be displayed. However they are
very sensitive to poor recordings and will hiss and spike in poor recordings to tell you explicitly that they are not its cup of tea. Hence, lossless or high quality music must be fed to it, or you will have a rather terrible time with these headphones too. But clear enough, if you play mp3, it’s clear that you will not achieve the depth, detail, imaging, realism and quality as compared to a quality audio file.
Isolation, being an open headphone, it is obvious that it isolates minimal environmental noise, which means, in trade of the wide sound stage, you get a headphone where you could only use at home, in a quiet environment, and end up disturbing the quiet environment with your music. As an open headphone, you could hear the chatters that happen outside of your headphones and the people outside can too, hear your music very clearly. Running at my comfortable volume, the sound could be heard clearly throughout my room even when I have the headphone on. And my little brother sleeping a meter away could easily tell the title of the song I just played. Hence, these headphones are meant for home and to stay home.
Amp Preference, I’ve heard that the T90 performs very differently with different amplifiers and if you manage to find one that suits your preference, you’re in for an immersive good time. I am currently using a good solid state portable amplifier, but I will go on and give tube amps and other solid states a go, to double this theory and to discover the potential of which the T90 holds.
Conclusion
“ Everyone whom have owned these pair of headphones come back to tell me of their new found love “ The T90s are better sounding than the more expensive HD700 , it fought tiers up and resides on the Beyerdynamic T1’s shoulder. Overall Delivery is an interesting, unique pair of headphones which is both enjoyable for pleasure listening and detailed for critical listening. I do strongly recommend this for audio enthusiasts who are interested to know how a high end headphone sound like, and are in for a preview of high end audio from headphones.
Review Updated as of 26/3/14
(Singapore Only)
Auditioned Various headphones at Jaben & Stereo. Do check their stores out, Headphones, inEars, Amplifiers, DACs and more could be auditioned just by asking, both companies has great customer service, items which Stereo do not carry, high chances are that Jaben does. Jaben allows bundles and bargains, making them a recommended place to check out if you are buying more than 1 item per trip. Stereo has more lucky draws, Fixed Prices or Occasionally Fixed Discounts.
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