[The Other Allen]

Received a reply to my e-mail: "These are 50 ohm." Did they even make a 50 Ohm version at one time? I'll know when they are delivered tomorrow.

 

[The Other Allen]

They are here but I don't have time to listen to them. They are grey, 50 ohm.
I will be running pink noise through them for the next couple of days. Based on a quick listen, they are indeed studio phones -- definitely flat and neutral sounding. More to follow.

 

[klamP]

Let us know ASAP, been thinking about a pair of these as new production headphones.

 

[mypasswordis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Other Allen /img/forum/go_quote.gif they are indeed studio phones -- definitely flat and neutral sounding

Just what I like in a headphone. Could you specifically let us know how "closed" they sound and roughly how big the drivers are? I might be looking at buying one to use as a fosterphone for some ortho drivers. Of course, if they sound good with stock drivers, I won't purposely screw up a good thing.

 

[d.phens]

Hey, I own a pair with one driver blown. Infinite resistance, unrepairable. Quite sad that I haven't heard them properly amped yet. I loaned them to my friend for a live session recording and somehow he had the volume up while he plugged them in. I don't think an SFI driver would fit in without some rough modifications of the enclosure. The original driver is cca. half the diameter of an SFI and there's a tight clamp it fits on. It might be a lot easier to replace the flat baffle part which holds the driver - with a DIY clone.

 

[mypasswordis]

Wow, and I thought the SFI driver was small. Thanks for the info. Could you post a pic of the baffle?

 

[The Other Allen]

Well, finally spent some time listening to these. I ran pink noise through them for 48 hours while I was away this weekend and have listened to them the past two nights. Bottom line here is that these are not the next FOTM and I honestly couldn't recommend their purchase. I mainly listened to electronic music and also tried some 80s rock. The mids sound flat and the vocals congested and they emphasize the echo in songs beyond all the other phones I have. I've been trying to put my finger on what doesn't sound right and that's the best I've comeup with as far as being able to describe the sound. There is decent bass when the song has some and the highs are clear
and not sibilant. The mids seem to be balanced in relation to the bass and highs. I tried these through my HP4 amp and the headphone jack of my 80s era Yamaha receiver with similar results. YMMV.

 

[mypasswordis]

Sounds to me like a typical case of closed headphone-itis. The insides of the cups probably need damping. I'm not sure how easy it would be to line them with some good wool felt, since I don't know how it's constructed, but it's worth a try. Does the treble at least sound a little wonky?

Edit: Also, could someone measure the dimensions of the insides of the cups? I'm thinking of trying a rather large driver transplant and need to find some donor frames.

 

[d.phens]

I COULD. I WILL. But I have no access to my DT100 until the end of December. Just remind me. I posted a question regarding those in the Orthodynamic Roundup (one driver died on mine so I'm thinking about transplanting a smaller diameter ortho driver inside).

Bump here if forget to and, even better, send me a PM 2 weeks later...

 

[The Other Allen]

I'll see if I can do that this weekend and also post some additional thoughts on the phones.

 

[The Other Allen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mypasswordis /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sounds to me like a typical case of closed headphone-itis. The insides of the cups probably need damping. I'm not sure how easy it would be to line them with some good wool felt, since I don't know how it's constructed, but it's worth a try. Does the treble at least sound a little wonky? Edit: Also, could someone measure the dimensions of the insides of the cups? I'm thinking of trying a rather large driver transplant and need to find some donor frames.

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...n/IMGP7260.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...n/IMGP7262.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...n/IMGP7263.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...n/IMGP7264.jpg

From the front edge of the frame to the back of the driver is ~7/8" As you can see the cup is not all that deep. Hope this helps.

 

[The Other Allen]

Additional comments. I’ve continued to listen to these since posting my initial impressions and have some further feedback after further burn-in and use. I ran pink noise through them for over 100 hours before taking a second listen. I have found that for me at least, the repositioning of the phones on my head improves the sonic signature to something much more pleasing. After moving the headband around my head from the center of the cranium to both forward and backward, they lose much of the echo characteristic that was one of my primary complaints. I've listened to some of my electronic music more closely and determined that a lot of it has an echoey sound signature to begin with. Removing the padded snap on headband further improved the sound, at a slight loss in comfort. In comparison to my 240M/600, the bass is better and tighter on the DT100/50 and mids and highs are quite nice. These still let you know they are closed phones and are mildly congested in comparison with the AKGs. I think the soundstage is smaller with the Beyers, too. (though some songs had me toe tapping along with the beat.) I think these need an amp to get the full benefit of the bass and highs. So between the burn-in, repositioning on my head, and a good amp, these are much better to listen to than in my initial impressions. I’ll be selling these shortly, mainly because they are a bit less fun that I like in my phones and one can only have so many pairs at a time. I have a pair of DT770/80 on order and a new set of K271S MK2 that are just better to listen to than the Beyers.

I'd like to also thank all of you who have posted reviews on Head-Fi. I never quite appreciated your effort until I realized that folks might be making buying decisions based on my comments. It's a more responsibility that most of us want to commit to, especially when the product doesn't lend itself to gushing, "buy now", reviews.

 

[mypasswordis]

Thanks for the pics and the comments! I probably won't be buying a pair, now that whatever discontinued stock was on the 'bay is now gone and so I can't get a pair for cheap, and the way that the drivers are held into place makes it very hard to put in SFI ortho drivers, which I believe have a larger diameter. Might have made for a good studio 'phone but I believe my modded Fostexen are better for that, too. Yes, indeed, I don't gain anything from reviews which only state the good things and don't give a clear picture on how the headphones really sound, so thanks for that.

 

[(gregor)]

tl;dr = read the bold stuff for my bare impressions

---

Not trying to drag up a zombie thread, but I just noticed a PM from other allen asking if I could give my impressions about this set of cans. To be fair to him, he sent it in late 2008; to be fair to me, I have been broke until not long ago, and couldn't bear to be on head-fi watching all the audio development, knowing I couldn't partake.
 
First, I got mine for $1.99 at a goodwill store in town b/c no one there knew what these ugly headphones were worth (I also got a free, crappy, 1/4" headphone splitter, fools). Second, I had no idea what they were and went through a very similar process of reading everything I could, finding nothing, and then listening to whatever I could with them. Third, I have no freaking idea when they were manufactured, but I do know that their impedence is TWO THOUSAND OHMS; the little badge on the side reads "2kΩ x 2" which in Beyer nomenclature means TWO [explicit] THOUSAND.
 
Obvious concerns: how do you drive that beast? what can you even listen to? why the [deleted] don't you sell them to someone who could drive them, and get them off the kitchen counter, like your wife is constantly nagging you to do? Responses in order: Sometimes, when I feel like punishing my little 2move, I jam it into "high impedence" mode, and turn the knob to 11, it works, sort of; I can listen to whatever I want, thank you; I don't sell them b/c I got them SUPER cheap, and I kind of like them; also they got me into my dt150's which I absolutely love.
 
Seriously, though, I find them to be the thinnest, most reducing set of headphones I have ever used. Unamped they tamp everything (everything) down to its barest electrical impulse; I can hear all the notes, nothing is missing, and they are at the correct frequencies, but all I can really tell is that the note happened, nothing of what it really sounds like, even less of what the music should be. Rock song + dt100 = beat poetry recording. This makes them super fun for amateur monitoring, though to be fair, the only real world application I have found, so far, is settling bets about what the singer is saying, or what-notes-come-when in a passage of music. Amped, music sounds a little more like music, but it is still super flat; there is no "hump" anywhere (I don't mean on a response graph, I mean in my brain), and nothing is overpresent, or underpresent. Well, that isn't entirely true: everything is underpresent, these are the antithesis of fully flavored headphones like Grado et al.
 
That other thing I use them for: video games. When the wife is studying / doing anything productive, and I want to play some modern warfare 2, I plug these bad boys in and turn the TV volume to "ask greg for mercy." I swear I can hear EVERYTHING the game puts out, and where it is relative to me. This is useful, and makes them worth well more than the $2.10 (after tax). Also since the chasis is identical to the dt150, so I have fun from time to time swapping parts and seeing what the earpads, cables, and headbands feel like in new combination.
 
A brief comment about seal. These things suction to my head sufficiently that, when music is playing outside noise is even flatter than what comes out of the cans. I can see your mouth moving, but...
 
Anyway, hope my rambling review gave some reader a powerful reason to find these at a thrift shop, or pay me $500 for my pair.

 

[(gregor)]

Oh, I guess I should mention that I actually do like them, and enjoy them on a fairly regualr basis, but I wouldn't spend more than $100 on them. But, um, you totally should if you are buying my classic / antique / ga-jillion ohm pair.