[the1andonly]

for anyone interested, pair of ZMF uni fen's on classifieds

 

[arielext]

I transplanted the foam inlay from my TYGR-300Rs to my DT-1990. I did that about a week ago and ever since I think I have found a new favourite of mine. The foam inlay reduces just enough of the peak to make these my new daily driver.
I'll pull out the big ol planars for the "special" moments but even then I am eyeing the DT 1990.

 

[the1andonly]

I transplanted the foam inlay from my TYGR-300Rs to my DT-1990. I did that about a week ago and ever since I think I have found a new favourite of mine. The foam inlay reduces just enough of the peak to make these my new daily driver.
I'll pull out the big ol planars for the "special" moments but even then I am eyeing the DT 1990.

consider the Dekoni Elite Velours, they are also hella comfy
blue - B
green - Dekoni's
red - A

Also no graph to back it up by my personal favorite on the last page I posted info is the ZMF Universal Fenestrated pads.... they are insanely good and I personally never heard the peak

 

[Chastity]

consider the Dekoni Elite Velours, they are also hella comfy
blue - B
green - Dekoni's
red - A

Also no graph to back it up by my personal favorite on the last page I posted info is the ZMF Universal Fenestrated pads.... they are insanely good and I personally never heard the peak

Dekoni pads be like "Why the dip @4600Hz yo? Why the peak, yo?"

 

[shampoosuicide]

I wrote about the newly-released DT 900 Pro X recently, and was so impressed that I decided to give the DT 1990 a go, despite my misgivings regarding the tonality of the DT 770 (80 ohm and 250 ohm), DT 880 600 ohm, and DT 990 600 ohm (too lean; too treble-forward; metallic / steely timbre) and the decidedly bloated DT 1770 (note that the unit I owned belonged to one of the earliest batches, serial number ~800, and sounded very different to a newer unit I auditioned side-by-side at the store a while back) and T5p G2. The only Beyer I'd actually loved until then was the DT 150, and perhaps my favourite headphone of all time tonality-wise.

I was an avowed closed-back basshead fiend for most of my return to Head-Fi (my staple for almost two years was the Fostex x Massdrop TH-X00, then the E-MU Teak). Having decided to venture into open-back territory, I've spent the past year searching for a mid-fi open-back, and have owned most of the standards: AKG K7XX, Hifiman Sundara, Sennheiser HD 650, Audio-Technica R70x, Beyerdynamic DT 880 600 ohm. None of them seemed to fit the bill for one reason or another. I was just about ready to spring for a Focal Clear, when I thought, heck, why not give the DT 1990 a shot.

With the TYGR / Amiron Wireless foam discs installed and fitted with A-pads, these pretty much have their tuning and tonality nailed for my tastes. They also do bass like none of the other open-back models I've owned (excluding Beyer's own DT 900 Pro X). With the Dekoni Elite Velour pads installed, the tuning shifts towards a very pleasant mild U-shape, with the added bonus of a significantly larger soundstage, much larger than the already fairly impressive staging of the stock Analytical pads. Great attack, dynamics, slam, and extension at both ends, and zero ear-shearing treble or metallic sheen. They also exceed pretty much all the other open-backs I've owned in terms of clarity, separation, imaging, and detail retrieval. Did I mention they're built like a tank and comfortable as heck?

What else can I say? I'm in love.

 

[ST33L]

The DT1990 checks all the boxes for me

 

[the1andonly]

The DT1990 checks all the boxes for me

try with ZMF fenestrated sheepskins

crazy good

 

[arielext]

I got my Dekoni Choice Suede pads: bass-cannons
Perhaps I need to try them with their stock foam discs. The amiron wireless discs + choice suede is lean on top and massive down low.
The comfort of these pads though... legendary!

 

[GPJ7]

Beyerdynamic DT-1990 Pro, DT-1770 Pro Driver Wiring​

Anyone that has been inside of the 1770 or 1990 driver cups knows that Beyer uses socketed PCB's as an interface to the driver voice coils. This is an excellent design that can keep those of us modders that are not soldering experts from destroying the voice coils. I have personally destroyed a couple of the older Beyer drivers by burning up the voice coils.

Because most all of my headphones are terminated with a 4 pin XLR plug, I wanted to convert my 1770 and 1990 from a 3 pin to 4 pin XLR connection. I am not going to go into detail about dismantling the headphones to access the drivers, however, Beyer design allows easy disassembly. Where I will start is at the driver itself.

When apart, I discovered the PCB's, for the left and right drivers on both pair of phones, are identically constructed. Two sockets and identical trace routing connected to the voice coil wires as seen in Figure 1.

For stock 3 pin 1770, the wiring path was like that seen in Figure 2 below. The 3 pin XLR jack is wired to the right socket of the left driver. As shown, the red wire (2) is the ring and passes through the PCB continuing through the red wire to the left socket of the right side PCB and then to the voice coil wire. This is the right driver signal. The jack white wire (3) is the tip and passes directly into the left driver voice coil wire. This is the left driver signal. The black wire (1, sleeve) is the ground path for the voice coils of both drivers. Beyer chose to use a red and white wire to connect both drivers (through the headband) instead of a red and black wire. All that needs to be known is the white wire is the ground wire for the right driver. By following point to point, it can be seen grounds meet at the left socket of the left driver.

To convert the headphone jack to a 4 pin connector, I split the wiring as shown in Figure 3 below. I decided to stick with Beyer's wire and micro plugs because the quality is adequate and ease of modification. All I did was de-solder the 3 wires from the 3 pin stock jack. Next, I removed the red wire completely and then soldered the white (1) and black (2) wires to the new 4 pin jack. This preserves the correct signal routing for the left driver. I then cut the plug off of the red (3) and white (4) wire that runs to the right driver and then stripped and soldered the wires to the remaining spots on the 4 pin XLR jack. This preserved the correct signal routing for the right driver.

After all the above modification was completed, the headphones worked correctly when plugged into a headphone amplifier 4 pin output jack. A note of interest is that if the plugs for the PCB are plugged incorrectly, the driver polarity changes. Example, if the plug is moved from the left socket to the right socket on either PCB, the signal and ground wires will be reversed. That can be confirmed by studying the PCB. I didn't try the swap with both drivers but I did try it with one driver and yes indeed the audio heard was a mess. It is important to keep the plugs in the proper sockets.

Here is a photo of the actual PCB and the solder blobs that are used to connect the voice coil wires to it. As I mentioned, they are identical for both drivers. Personally, I never ever want to mess with these .

Anyway, I will continue with DT-1990 wiring. I was surprised to see it was different!

 

[GPJ7]

Continuing with where I left off in the prior thread, I will show the wiring for the DT-1990 Pro. What needs to be kept in mind is this may only apply to my set of headphones. Or it could be that Beyer has indeed wired the drivers of the 1770 Pro and 1990 Pro differently. It is up to the individual to figure this out because I can't say for certain. What I do know for certain is that the plugs for the PCB sockets must be in the correct spot or the driver polarity will be messed up.

Anyway, the figure below shows the the stock 3 pin wiring of my DT-1990 Pro.

As can be seen, the wiring for 1990 varies from that of the 1770. Instead of the jack being wired to the right socket of the left driver, it is wired to the left socket. Also, the right driver wiring is connected to the right socket of the left driver. The right driver PCB is wired the same.

Again, if you place the plugs into the other sockets, the signal and ground will be reversed.

The wiring for a 4 pin XLR jack ended up like shown in the figure below.

Actual 1990 stock 3 pin PCB wiring.

Anyway, hopefully this can help someone who desires to convert their 1770 or 1990 from a 3 pin XLR to 4 pin XLR jack. I'll leave the subjective part out, but I will say the either way gives excellent performance. I wanted only to take advantage of my 4 pin amplifier jacks.

 

[shampoosuicide]

I wrote about the newly-released DT 900 Pro X recently, and was so impressed that I decided to give the DT 1990 a go, despite my misgivings regarding the tonality of the DT 770 (80 ohm and 250 ohm), DT 880 600 ohm, and DT 990 600 ohm (too lean; too treble-forward; metallic / steely timbre) and the decidedly bloated DT 1770 (note that the unit I owned belonged to one of the earliest batches, serial number ~800, and sounded very different to a newer unit I auditioned side-by-side at the store a while back) and T5p G2. The only Beyer I'd actually loved until then was the DT 150, and perhaps my favourite headphone of all time tonality-wise.

I was an avowed closed-back basshead fiend for most of my return to Head-Fi (my staple for almost two years was the Fostex x Massdrop TH-X00, then the E-MU Teak). Having decided to venture into open-back territory, I've spent the past year searching for a mid-fi open-back, and have owned most of the standards: AKG K7XX, Hifiman Sundara, Sennheiser HD 650, Audio-Technica R70x, Beyerdynamic DT 880 600 ohm. None of them seemed to fit the bill for one reason or another. I was just about ready to spring for a Focal Clear, when I thought, heck, why not give the DT 1990 a shot.

With the TYGR / Amiron Wireless foam discs installed and fitted with A-pads, these pretty much have their tuning and tonality nailed for my tastes. They also do bass like none of the other open-back models I've owned (excluding Beyer's own DT 900 Pro X). With the Dekoni Elite Velour pads installed, the tuning shifts towards a very pleasant mild U-shape, with the added bonus of a significantly larger soundstage, much larger than the already fairly impressive staging of the stock Analytical pads. Great attack, dynamics, slam, and extension at both ends, and zero ear-shearing treble or metallic sheen. They also exceed pretty much all the other open-backs I've owned in terms of clarity, separation, imaging, and detail retrieval. Did I mention they're built like a tank and comfortable as heck?

What else can I say? I'm in love.

Just did a quick swap back to the stock foam discs and Balanced pads. I'm really liking this configuration too. Treble is surprisingly well-behaved, with no traces of peakiness, harshness, or abrasiveness to my ears. I'm not hearing any muddiness or bloatedness in the bass either. Definitely much more lively and energetic than the Analytical pads + TYGR foam discus, and more precise and 'focussed' than the Dekoni Elite Velours. Even in their 'stock' configuration, I'd take them over the R70x / Sundara / HD 650 any day. Either way, I can't complain with the options for different configurations to suit different moods / genres.

 

[frustin]

I got my Dekoni Choice Suede pads: bass-cannons
Perhaps I need to try them with their stock foam discs. The amiron wireless discs + choice suede is lean on top and massive down low.
The comfort of these pads though... legendary!

I looked at these as well. I'm using the ifi DAC V2 to drive my 1990's. do you find that it's still clean bass? I love EDM and rock, which i know benefit from heavier sub bass etc, but the ifi DAC with TruBass switched on, it's amazing!

 

[arielext]

I looked at these as well. I'm using the ifi DAC V2 to drive my 1990's. do you find that it's still clean bass? I love EDM and rock, which i know benefit from heavier sub bass etc, but the ifi DAC with TruBass switched on, it's amazing!

It adds about 6dB which is quite a lot but it stays clean. The added dip before the 8khz peak made it less pleasant and why I switched back to stock balanced pads (and amiron wireless foam discs). The discs + suede pads just remove way to much from the treble for my taste.

 

[Sphere 57]

I looked at these as well. I'm using the ifi DAC V2 to drive my 1990's. do you find that it's still clean bass? I love EDM and rock, which i know benefit from heavier sub bass etc, but the ifi DAC with TruBass switched on, it's amazing!

I have a different opinion to arielext. I found the suede pads to have a muddying effect, bass had timbral problems as well as being louder. Another issue which was a big problem for me, is that the Dekoni suedes are microphonic. Every time they brushed against my collar, or against my pillow when I was in bed, there was a 'ripping' noise.

 

[frustin]

I have a different opinion to arielext. I found the suede pads to have a muddying effect, bass had timbral problems as well as being louder. Another issue which was a big problem for me, is that the Dekoni suedes are microphonic. Every time they brushed against my collar, or against my pillow when I was in bed, there was a 'ripping' noise.

thanks, i read that you'd said that in a previous comment. i only got my cans yesterday so it's early days before i think about whether i'm going to change the default sound. I've come from a nearly 10 year old set of Fidelo X1's (the pads had started to come apart and they werent replaceable) and the sound difference is really amazing.