Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro Review

[dan.gheorghe]

I have to say that I recently bought a pair of AKG K550s and have to say how thuroughly disappointing they were.  Bass sounded like a tin can, they didn't sound open at all despite how much people raved about them, and there was a sharp peak in the upper mid ranges that forced me to constantly listen to music at unenjoyable volumes, and just knowing it was there made me shake my head in disgust.

I had the same impressions when I first listened to it. The friend that brought them said that maybe I had the known seal issue. These headphones (akg k550) are made for people with really big heads . I went to a cart race and couldn't get any helmet smaller than XL on my head, so I am not small headed but these headphones did not stay well on the smallest setting. I don't know what headphones designers AKG has: 
 
 

 
 
My friend said that I should press the headphones a little to increase the seal. The sound changed drasticly, I couldn't believe it. Now I own one
After I bought them I applied this mod to them. I enjoy them very much now.

 

[Sweden]

Quote:

I had the same impressions when I first listened to it. The friend that brought them said that maybe I had the known seal issue. These headphones (akg k550) are made for people with really big heads . I went to a cart race and couldn't get any headphone smaller than XL on my head, so I am not small headed but these headphones did not stay well on the smallest setting. I don't know what headphones designers AKG has: 
 
 

 
 
My friend said that I should press the headphones a little to increase the seal. The sound changed drastically, I couldn't believe it. Now I own one
After I bought them I applied this mod to them. I enjoy them very much now.

 
Didn't know Tyll Hertsens was the AKG headphone designer.

 That guy have a serious melon.
 
Even though I got a perfect seal, they really fitted my head and ears perfectly, they sounded meh to me.
The highs where a bit to unrefined. They had an overall thin-ness to them which comes from the decay and tonality. I say the sounded a bit AKG-ish simply put. 

 

[dan.gheorghe]

Quote:

 
Didn't know Tyll Hertsens was the AKG headphone designer.

 That guy have a serious melon.
 
Even though I got a perfect seal, they really fitted my head and ears perfectly, they sounded meh to me.
The highs where a bit to unrefined. They had an overall thin-ness to them which comes from the decay and tonality. I say the sounded a bit AKG-ish simply put. 

I thought It fitted too. I insist with this because i was as reticent as you when my friend told me to do that. When you get the chance to listen again to one of those please a little on the cups to get them a little titter and then tell me of the result, as I am curios . Or maybe you are right and you just don't like AKG house sound.


 

Didn't know Tyll Hertsens was the AKG headphone designer. 

 That guy have a serious melon.

 

[Sweden]

Quote:

I thought It fitted too. I insist with this because i was as reticent as you when my friend told me to do that. When you get the chance to listen again to one of those please a little on the cups to get them a little titter and then tell me of the result, as I am curios . Or maybe you are right and you just don't like AKG house sound.


 

 

 
Just for you I will give them a second chance! They are beautifully built cans so I want to like them.

 

[MichaelLaing]

I have to disagree about the COP's sounding muddy.  They are definitely not the most detailed sounding headphone but the sound really only gets seriously muddy when the headphone has the bass slider fully open.  As I have said before, they do need quite a burn in to sound at there best.  I don't think that the headphones are without fault and are not the most even sounding headphone, with quite withdrawn mids but the sound is not nearly as bad to my ear as you are making out.

 

[iAmCalm]

Quote:

I have to disagree about the COP's sounding muddy.  They are definitely not the most detailed sounding headphone but the sound really only gets seriously muddy when the headphone has the bass slider fully open.  As I have said before, they do need quite a burn in to sound at there best.  I don't think that the headphones are without fault and are not the most even sounding headphone, with quite withdrawn mids but the sound is not nearly as bad to my ear as you are making out.

 
It's entirely possible that when I tried these out, the bass slider was in the position you're describing.  
The headphones weren't "bad".  
However, on that day, I was testing (closed back) headphones across an extremely broad range; price range, manufacturer, those intended for portable use, as well as beefier stuff.  The COP's were not my favorite.
I also tried the Focal Spirit and the noise cancelling PSB's that day. Both of which are getting positive press right now, and I didn't really like those either.
 
It was a completely random, unstructured, "unfair" test.
I don't have a chance to try much where I live, so I was just hunting for a taste of the most attractive sound I could find.
 
I suppose it's hard to appreciate a Ford Mustang after you've driven a Lamborghini...
 
Knowing that slider exists, I'd like to try the COP's on again and run through the settings.  
By contrast to the COP's, I thought the T70p's were far superior right off the bat.  But the T70's cost twice as much.
Perhaps at a different setting the COP's might sound more attractive, and therefore be an affordable option for quality sound.  I can tell from the feedback they are indeed popular.

 

[Sweden]

The COP and T70 are truly polar opposite headphones.
The T70 is a dry, very clear, fast, airy and detailed headphone. At is also totally anemic and to me soul-less and unsuitable for enjoying music with. It's a hifi headphone where they took it too far on the analytical side of things. The COP is a bombastic and fun sounding headphone for an average young consumer in mind.
You should try some modern electronic or any urban music with the COP, because that is what they where designed for.
 
 
 
 
Quote:

 
It's entirely possible that when I tried these out, the bass slider was in the position you're describing.  
The headphones weren't "bad".  
However, on that day, I was testing (closed back) headphones across an extremely broad range; price range, manufacturer, those intended for portable use, as well as beefier stuff.  The COP's were not my favorite.
I also tried the Focal Spirit and the noise cancelling PSB's that day. Both of which are getting positive press right now, and I didn't really like those either.
 
It was a completely random, unstructured, "unfair" test.
I don't have a chance to try much where I live, so I was just hunting for a taste of the most attractive sound I could find.
 
I suppose it's hard to appreciate a Ford Mustang after you've driven a Lamborghini...
 
Knowing that slider exists, I'd like to try the COP's on again and run through the settings.  
By contrast to the COP's, I thought the T70p's were far superior right off the bat.  But the T70's cost twice as much.
Perhaps at a different setting the COP's might sound more attractive, and therefore be an affordable option for quality sound.  I can tell from the feedback they are indeed popular.

 

[MichaelLaing]

I haven't heard the Beyerdynamic T70, so can't really compare but from what I read they are very different from the COP.  The COP's have been designed to go up against fashion headphones and in this task I think they both succeed and completely fail.  The sound quality is easily better than most of the fashion headphones.  The bass is good quite bassy and a little boomy,  not particularly punchy to my ear.  The mids are rather more recessed than I like and the sound whilst not particularly muddy does slightly lose the battle with bass.  The highs are perfectly acceptable, they don't stand out much, which to me is good.  With a lot of burn in the soundstage of the COP's has improved a lot and I would define the sound from these headphones as being quite warm).  I would say that these headphones are not really an all round headphone for sound and only suits certain kinds of music (for me trance and big beat, these headphones do sound good).  I also have to say that the sound is not particularly loud,  I have found that much of this might be down to the cable and I might recommend that these would sound better with a different cable.  

For me, the design of the COP's is one of its biggest problems, if comparing to other fashion headphones.  Beyerdynamic have designed these headphones to compete again other fashion headphones but they are impractical to wear outside because of their size.  If for some reason I have to take them off, to talk to someone, they feel awkward and if warn around the neck, it feels like wearing a neck brace.  I also found that with the pleather pads, the bottom of the pads put pressure, under my ear on my jaw line. I did manage to help the situation by bending out the headband to take away the clamping pressure,  Also being over ear headphones I  found the pads became excessively hot, when walking around.  I have now changed the pads to the DT770 pads and they are much more comfortable.  I found the passive noise isolation and sound leakage to be very good with these headphones and better than any other passive noise fashion headphone I have tried, which is to be expected considering the over ear, closed back design.

So as you can see I have a very mixed view of these headphone.



 

 

[Sweden]

I think you nailed it pretty much. The size and inability to fold up is a big negative aspect when using them a portable can.
When you say the bass in not the punchiest do you compare them so something like a TMA-1 (Studio)? To my ears the bass impact is really good.

 

[localredhead]

Quote:

I think you nailed it pretty much. The size and inability to fold up is a big negative aspect when using them a portable can.
When you say the bass in not the punchiest do you compare them so something like a TMA-1 (Studio)? To my ears the bass impact is really good.

I own both the COPS and the TMA-1 Studios and the COPS is better of every level of comparison.  Seal, Sound signature, microphonics, comfort, etc.

 

[Sweden]

Quote:

I own both the COPS and the TMA-1 Studios and the COPS is better of every level of comparison.  Seal, Sound signature, microphonics, comfort, etc.

 
I haven't done a direct comparison but the TMA-1 Studio have an almost rubbery quality to the bass in it's punch and impact. How do you think the TMA-1 sounds compared to the COP when you use EQ to correct the poor treble response of the Aiaia? 

 

[MichaelLaing]

I am comparing it to the V-moda M-80, which is quite a bit less bassy but for me, definitely has a little more punch.

 

[Sweden]

Quote:

I am comparing it to the V-moda M-80, which is quite a bit less bassy but for me, definitely has a little more punch.

 
It could be an amp related thing but the COP had some serious punch when you use the 2 and 3 setting. With punch I'm talking about bass impact, maybe you are talking about something else?

 

[MichaelLaing]

Of the 4 settings, two and three are definitely the best bass settings for the headphones.  I probably have them in between the 2 two settings, probably more than anything, it just adds a little more bass than 2 but doesn't go over the top.  Instead of the word punchy I will say that the bass sound of the M-80' s felt more defined and detailed than the COP's, though the M-80's lacked the bass power of the COP's.

 

[ARealHero]

Not sure if this was discussed somewhere in this thread (too lazy to read it all) but how does the bass of these compare to that of the ATH-M50? I bought some of those on XMas expecting a bass-heavy headphone that would punch with the kind of music that I listen to but was very disappointed when I heard them, I have tried equalizing and have already burned them in for over 50 hours so I don't think they will improve over time. I'm now looking into buying these if I can successfully return my M50s on ebay.