[Shaffer]

Are you certain the 250s simply didn't need to be burned in?

You cite a lack of personal experience and then you question mine. Clearly, my help is not needed. Good luck.

 

[DCofficehack]

Are you certain the 250s simply didn't need to be burned in?

You cite a lack of personal experience and then you question mine. Clearly, my help is not needed. Good luck.

Dude, don't be so defensive. I was just surprised that your response to the 250 was so negative, and your description matched the way people often describe early pre-burn impressions. I apologize.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Shaffer]

Dude, don't be so defensive. I was just surprised that your response to the 250 was so negative, and your description matched the way people often describe early pre-burn impressions. I apologize.

We'll write it off as a misunderstanding.

1. Be careful with recommendations that revolve around your musical taste. One person's idea of what Classical should sound like isn't the same as another's. Rather, try to define your sonic preferences and expectations, which leads us to point-2.

2. A cello sounding like a cello, as an example, can happen with some very carefully recorded, produced, and mastered audiophile recordings, but generally production values differ greatly. I guess I'm trying to say that it isn't necessarily a realistic expectation on an aggregate scale.

3. There are two general philosophies that cover the reproduction of a recording, "I want to hear what's on the record," and "I want every record to sound per my preference." You need to decide which side you're on. If it's the former, you'll love AKG's K/Q70X cans, provided you're willing to break them in for at least 300 hours. If your preference is the latter, then we're out of my area of expertise with headphones.

 

[god-bluff]

 
 
I know I want detail..I want to be able to identify specific things in ensemble classical music; I want a appropriate amount of bass when it should be there. Cello should sound like cello, but I also want to get the power of a chorus, pick out the soloists, and also feel the deep ground notes of an organ. And yeah, I want it to handle rock, too, but nailing classical is the priority. Hence my interest in the DT660s, the XPT 100, and the Shure's. Those are all regarded as neutral phones that do classical quite well.

Sounds like you do need the mighty DT150. The bass is an amazing thing but only when required and does not bleed in to the other frequencies. Brings real drama to classical recordings (I think a headphone does need bass to do justice to great orchestral works like Mahler and Beethoven) and every instrument sounds just right to me. Theyre equally good with rock even the most complex progressive type. They're  the opposite of what the DT250s have just been described ie they have great seperation, instrument placement  and detail retrieval. They are airy and very dynamic !
 
They're not for analysing like you might imagine a pro headphone to be just let you listen to the music in a natural way. Both they and the DT250 have been described as sounding like a closed HD600 but in the case of the 150 maybe better.
 
They do need a good amount of power to sound their best though but IMO, at least, not too choosy about different amps unlike some AKGs and Sennheisers.

 

[Shaffer]

[...]

They're not for analysing like you might imagine a pro headphone to be just let you listen to the music in a natural way. Both they and the DT250 have been described as sounding like a closed HD600 but in the case of the 150 maybe better.[...]

FWIW, I own HD600. They sound nothing like the DT250. At all.

 

[DCofficehack]

DT 150s look like overkill...at least judging by looks...
 
First of all, it's official. The doctor has ordered me to cut it out with my IEMs. I just came back from her office, where she had to irrigate my ears to remove compacted ear wax. For the second time in two years. She said that IEMs if worn too often do that because they mess with the ear's ability to clean itself. "Occasional use is fine." So, I need to save my IEMs for travel and get a pair of closed cans to replace them ASAP. I'm jonezing for music already; I need to make this decision quickly.
 
Second, Shaffer, your points about sound signature are great. I think what I'm trying to say is that I'm in the camp that wants the music to sound like the way it is recorded, which of course depends on how well it was done.  For recordings of live music, especially acoustic music, it is my understanding that the ideal is a recording that captures as best as possible what one would hear if one were present at the session, in the audience in a good seat in a good theater. The headphones should communicate that. With non-acoustic, "engineered" music, the ideal is to hear whatever it is that the producers/engineers want you to hear or at least, if they're not particularly careful, whatever it is they put on the disc. Even at a live rock concert, there's a sound board guy who's dabbling with the mix and controlling what the audience hears, right?
 
One of the reasons I bought my DBA-002 IEMs was because one of the reviewers (LFF?) wrote a lot about how he used as his reference recordings material he judged to be particularly well recorded. His reference for cello, for example, was a particular recording of Janos Starker doing Bach cello suites which he judged to be particularly well engineered such that, with the right headphone (he insisted that the Fischer IEMs were just that), one could hear Starker's cello the way it would sound if one were sitting in front of him, or as close as one can get for a Lossless recording played by a Macbook through a $200 IEM.
 
It seems that there's no consensus on the Beyerdynamic offerings...some strong opinions for, some strong opinions against.
 
Shaffer, the only AKG I see that has a closed back is the 553...I'll take a look at that. Regrettably I need a closed can.

 

[MrPanda]

There's a sort of consensus that Beyer is a brand you should definitely check out.  They make a variety of headphones, all good, with some key differences between them. 
Here in PA/NJ they're pretty easy to check out because Guitar Center, Sam Ash, etc, carry them.  I wonder if someone familiar with their similarities and differences could do a quick comparison.

 

[DCofficehack]

  There's a sort of consensus that Beyer is a brand you should definitely check out.  They make a variety of headphones, all good, with some key differences between them. 
Here in PA/NJ they're pretty easy to check out because Guitar Center, Sam Ash, etc, carry them.  I wonder if someone familiar with their similarities and differences could do a quick comparison.

 
Yes, that's clear. Beyer cans keep getting recommended, although it almost seems that for every two recommendations there's one negative review. The models people recommend are the 150, the 250, and the 660. The negative reviews are also pretty damning, like Shaffer's remarks on the 250 above. With the 660s, there's a bunch of people who rave about it as perfect for classic, and then some voices that say, no, not at all, only some kinds...
 
The odds of my getting to a Guitar Center anytime soon is low...you know, the crazy thing is that I work next to a large mall with several stores that sell headphones, and none of them offers anything of interest: just Beats, Bose, a few low-end Sennheisers, and Skullcandy.

 

[MrPanda]

I've had the Beyers for years, and really have nothing bad to say about them, other than the fact they don't have a detachable cable.  I really don't see the bass as a problem with them, more as a kind of asset.  The texture of solo cello, for example, is just downright excellent.  If they lack anything, it's soundstage, but that's generally true for any closed design.

 

[Shaffer]

Which Beyers, exactly, are we talking about? I'm asking, because I own DT990 and DT880/600.

 

[DCofficehack]

Which Beyers, exactly, are we talking about? I'm asking, because I own DT990 and DT880/600.

 
The ones that have been recommended to me are the 150, 250, and the 660.
 
Shaffer, am I right that the AKGs you like are all open-backed? 

 

[Shaffer]

The ones that have been recommended to me are the 150, 250, and the 660.

Shaffer, am I right that the AKGs you like are all open-backed? 

Yes. the AKGs are open. Mind you, I'm only suggesting those if you prefer to hear what's on the record, good and bad. Are you looking for a closed headphone?

 

[DCofficehack]

Yes, closed. I will be wearing them in my office.

 

[Shaffer]

Yes, closed. I will be wearing them in my office.

Ahh...then I'm no help at all. I've only owned 3 closed cans and wouldn't recommend any of them to you. Some of the more experienced listeners really like the DT150. I have not heard it.

 

[CJG888]

The DT250 is the only headphone I sent back. It sounded congested, undynamic, veiled, lacked resolution and detail, and virtually no extension at the frequency extremes. Very disappointing, especially after reading all the accolades on the forum.

OP, what sort of tonal balance do you prefer? Given your the content of your post, I'd be inclined to recommend an AKG 70X variant, but if you prefer a relatively warm presentation they wouldn't be right for your taste.

I have no such problems with my DT250s, but the I am driving them variously with a powerful tube/MOSFET hybrid portable and the Audio-gd SA31 (which will drive HE-6s, and has a high electrical damping factor). Mine, incidentally, are the 250 ohm version.

I have not heard the 80 ohm version, so I can't comment on any potential SQ differences.

Please bear in mind though, (and I'm speaking as a major Beyer fan and regular DT48 user!) that Beyer seem to have an issue with batch-to-batch sample consistency. I have seen this on the DT1350, for instance (which is why I didn't buy them). This is rather unfortunate on what is supposed to be a studio monitoring can. I had hoped for a similar consistency to, say, an LS3/5A (theoretically, you can take any LS3/5A and pair it up with another one of similar impedance and vintage, and you will have a matched pair...).