joelongwood
Keeper of the 'Phones
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2001
- Posts
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Disclaimer: Everything here relating to the sound of these headphones is entirely my opinion. Please take into account the fact that my ears are 54 years old, although I still think I hear damned good. My wife would disagree.
Well, I finally got a pair of Beyerdynamic headphones. After my acquisition of Grados, Senns, AKGs, Stax, Sony, and Koss, I figured it was time to pick up a pair of Beyers. When I saw a mint pair in the For Sale Forum, I jumped on it. Thank you, jpelg.
I had listened to the 831s and 931s at the NYC Stereophile Show last year, but was not overly impressed. The Stax Omega II and the Sony CD3000 were the winners for me at that time.
So I basically forgot about the Beyers until the thread appeared touting the DT770s at $75........and I like bargains. By the time I got around to ordering them they were all gone at that price. So when jpelgÕs showed up, I was thrilled.
I picked them up last weekend at the NYC Head-Fi Meet at Grado Labs, but didnÕt listen to them until I got home. IÕve been listening to them every day since, trying them with different amps to get the right match, as I believe each headphone has a perfect mate in amps. And IÕm sure there is a perfect IC as well, and a perfect source, but I havenÕt begun down those roads just yet.
Anyway, here are a few impressions after about 3 days of fairly intensive listening:
First off, the build quality appears excellent. A bit plasticky, but these things are REAL headphones. They are closed design, and leak almost no sound.......in or out. They are very comfortable, with a nice padded headband and velour earpads. Not as comfy as Sony CD3000 or CD1700, but on a par with the Senn HD-600. I donÕt experience any of the clamping effect that others have cited, but maybe my head isnÕt as big.....at least physically.
I tried them first with the Sugden Headmaster and the Earmax Pro. If one word could characterize the sound of these Ôphones with both those amps, it would be BASS! Man, these things pump out the bass.........visceral bass that makes you feel like thereÕs a subwoofer on in the room. You rock and rollers out there (and you hip hop and rap guys as well), look no further than the DT770 Pros. These have, by far, the deepest bass I have ever heard. All my other Ôphones pale in comparison in this regard.
What about the rest of the frequency spectrum? Well, itÕs there, but itÕs overwhelmed by the bass. No matter what type of music I listened to, the bass just became the predominant part of the music. It was deep and rather well controlled, but it was just tooooooooooo much of a good thing. So I figured I had just spent a C note to find out I didnÕt really like these things. Then I spied the Wing modded (no negative feedback) MG head DT sitting forlorn on the shelf. I had not used this in quite awhile since I traded my senn HD600s to williamgoody. I didnÕt like how it paired with any of my other Ôphones, as it sounded rather thin, with little bass.
So I fired it up, put on some Eagles, and plugged in the Beyers...........WOW!!!!!!!!!! I couldnÕt believe these were the same Ôphones. Still a bit bassy, but the midrange and high end was just about balanced with the low end. The bass was still deep and well controlled, but now the other parts of the audio spectrum were there as well. The bass didnÕt overpower the top end. So I figured IÕd try and tame the bass a bit further with a little tube rolling. I substituted the stock output tubes for the Ei EL84s that I had in there. The Ei tubes seem to help the bass on the Head, but I felt the Beyers didnÕt need any extra help in that department. I let them warm up a bit and then gave a listen........aahhh, thatÕs better. Bass was not nearly as prominent as before. Then I figured IÕd give the top end a bit of a boost by substituting a Mazda Chrome Plate 12AX7 for the Mullard that was there...............sonic bliss.
IÕve been listening to the Rolling Stones, Eagles, Steely Dan, Van Morrison non-stop with these Ôphones, and the word that now characterizes them is FUN! I tried them with my other favorite musical genres, namely acoustic, vocal, folk, early jazz, and, to my ears, they sound good, just not as good as some of my other Õphones for that purpose.
But for good old fashioned rock and roll, or just plain rock, these Ôphones are now my weapon of choice. Now IÕm off to rediscover my youth!
PS....thanks for reading. I can't understand why my wife doesn't want to discuss this stuff.
Well, I finally got a pair of Beyerdynamic headphones. After my acquisition of Grados, Senns, AKGs, Stax, Sony, and Koss, I figured it was time to pick up a pair of Beyers. When I saw a mint pair in the For Sale Forum, I jumped on it. Thank you, jpelg.
I had listened to the 831s and 931s at the NYC Stereophile Show last year, but was not overly impressed. The Stax Omega II and the Sony CD3000 were the winners for me at that time.
So I basically forgot about the Beyers until the thread appeared touting the DT770s at $75........and I like bargains. By the time I got around to ordering them they were all gone at that price. So when jpelgÕs showed up, I was thrilled.
I picked them up last weekend at the NYC Head-Fi Meet at Grado Labs, but didnÕt listen to them until I got home. IÕve been listening to them every day since, trying them with different amps to get the right match, as I believe each headphone has a perfect mate in amps. And IÕm sure there is a perfect IC as well, and a perfect source, but I havenÕt begun down those roads just yet.
Anyway, here are a few impressions after about 3 days of fairly intensive listening:
First off, the build quality appears excellent. A bit plasticky, but these things are REAL headphones. They are closed design, and leak almost no sound.......in or out. They are very comfortable, with a nice padded headband and velour earpads. Not as comfy as Sony CD3000 or CD1700, but on a par with the Senn HD-600. I donÕt experience any of the clamping effect that others have cited, but maybe my head isnÕt as big.....at least physically.
I tried them first with the Sugden Headmaster and the Earmax Pro. If one word could characterize the sound of these Ôphones with both those amps, it would be BASS! Man, these things pump out the bass.........visceral bass that makes you feel like thereÕs a subwoofer on in the room. You rock and rollers out there (and you hip hop and rap guys as well), look no further than the DT770 Pros. These have, by far, the deepest bass I have ever heard. All my other Ôphones pale in comparison in this regard.
What about the rest of the frequency spectrum? Well, itÕs there, but itÕs overwhelmed by the bass. No matter what type of music I listened to, the bass just became the predominant part of the music. It was deep and rather well controlled, but it was just tooooooooooo much of a good thing. So I figured I had just spent a C note to find out I didnÕt really like these things. Then I spied the Wing modded (no negative feedback) MG head DT sitting forlorn on the shelf. I had not used this in quite awhile since I traded my senn HD600s to williamgoody. I didnÕt like how it paired with any of my other Ôphones, as it sounded rather thin, with little bass.
So I fired it up, put on some Eagles, and plugged in the Beyers...........WOW!!!!!!!!!! I couldnÕt believe these were the same Ôphones. Still a bit bassy, but the midrange and high end was just about balanced with the low end. The bass was still deep and well controlled, but now the other parts of the audio spectrum were there as well. The bass didnÕt overpower the top end. So I figured IÕd try and tame the bass a bit further with a little tube rolling. I substituted the stock output tubes for the Ei EL84s that I had in there. The Ei tubes seem to help the bass on the Head, but I felt the Beyers didnÕt need any extra help in that department. I let them warm up a bit and then gave a listen........aahhh, thatÕs better. Bass was not nearly as prominent as before. Then I figured IÕd give the top end a bit of a boost by substituting a Mazda Chrome Plate 12AX7 for the Mullard that was there...............sonic bliss.
IÕve been listening to the Rolling Stones, Eagles, Steely Dan, Van Morrison non-stop with these Ôphones, and the word that now characterizes them is FUN! I tried them with my other favorite musical genres, namely acoustic, vocal, folk, early jazz, and, to my ears, they sound good, just not as good as some of my other Õphones for that purpose.
But for good old fashioned rock and roll, or just plain rock, these Ôphones are now my weapon of choice. Now IÕm off to rediscover my youth!
PS....thanks for reading. I can't understand why my wife doesn't want to discuss this stuff.
