[kman1211]

  I have a friend sending me his NightHawk in a few days and another friend will be bringing over his 1990 in mid March so I'll be able to compare them.
 
My friend who is coming over with the 1990 had the NightHawk but sold them since he though it was too dark so the etched treble is something I'll try to be aware of.  I don't suspect it will bother me since I like my RS2e and modded SR-225e which are quite bright but so smooth.

Ah okay. Hope you enjoy the DT 1990. It was weird, but it really came to light after I spent more time with the Hawks and other headphones I noticed the treble. Problem is the treble etch distracts me from the dark sound signature. Similar issue I found on the Fostex woody phones. I'm still debating between the DT 1990 and Amiron. I am going to sell one of them. 

 

[Godel Von]

So how it sounds like compare with T1?

 

[DavidA]

  Ah okay. Hope you enjoy the DT 1990. It was weird, but it really came to light after I spent more time with the Hawks and other headphones I noticed the treble. Problem is the treble etch distracts me from the dark sound signature. Similar issue I found on the Fostex woody phones. I'm still debating between the DT 1990 and Amiron. I am going to sell one of them. 

I tried a TH-X00 and it was not as clean as the TH-600, didn't think it was etched treble but thinking about it now its a good way to describe it.  I think it had a lot to do with the stock ear pads which I found uncomfortable and didn't away get a good seal unlike the TH-600 pads which always gave me a good seal and much better comfort.

 

[kman1211]

  I tried a TH-X00 and it was not as clean as the TH-600, didn't think it was etched treble but thinking about it now its a good way to describe it.  I think it had a lot to do with the stock ear pads which I found uncomfortable and didn't away get a good seal unlike the TH-600 pads which always gave me a good seal and much better comfort.

I honestly found that's the problem with the Fostex-style Bio-cellulose drivers, of course it's worse in some than others. Though I do have to blame listening to my DT 480 for making me notice it so much. It's a weird experience adjusting to the DT 480 and going back, all the flaws of other headphones just become obvious as night and day despite the DT 480 being quite flawed itself. It's such a weird experience, but like the DT 48 I believe they are the only fully closed driver design in existence that means no ventilation in the earcups or magnets. One thing I realized is how little real body and solidity so many headphones have. On a lot of headphones, especially lower end ones, it's amazing how the sound just sounds like it's bloated up to sound bigger in the soundstage and/or bass and how flabby they sound. Then listening to my friends R10 in direct comparison to my headphones made things even worse. 
 
I actually have a lot of good things to say about the Hawks, my only real complaints was the slightly etched treble and the odd fatigue I got from them. 

 

[JerseyD]

  I have a friend sending me his NightHawk in a few days and another friend will be bringing over his 1990 in mid March so I'll be able to compare them.
 
My friend who is coming over with the 1990 had the NightHawk but sold them since he though it was too dark so the etched treble is something I'll try to be aware of.  I don't suspect it will bother me since I like my RS2e and modded SR-225e which are quite bright but so smooth.

If you like your Grados, I would predict that you will love the 1990 and find the NightHawk a bit too dark. I sell all three, and do enjoy all three with different types of music. Will be waiting to hear your thoughts!

 

[CBonUK]

Yay, 1990's arriving tomorrow.  Should never have returned the last ones.  Having tried the Amirons, I'm looking forward to the crunch of the 1990s.  And having bought them at £466 today, Amazon have already put the price back up to £483.  If they drop it significantly within 31 days I'm going to have a major hissy fit ! LOL.

 

[RedAnt poison]

Hi to all...
It's my first post but I'm following head-fi since 3 years ago when I started to be interested in the headphone world.
I proudly own the dt 990 and for me they outclass the ms2e alessandro and ath ws 99 despite of their many little flaws.
The only big downside of my dt 990 are the unmatched drivers and more important they can't handle bass heavy songs
despite of his bass quality they start to distort too early.
I'm thinking to upgrade that with the 1990.
My question is directed for those who own both.
Can the 1990 bass handle more EQ than 990?
 
For example this song with bass boost on on ifi ican micro start to distort at mid/high Volume.
 

 
Could you guys make a comparision?

 

[DavidA]

@RedAnt poison, I tried the song on my DT-990 premium and the bass at times sounded distorted so I tried on my HE-560 and LCD-2, even on these to headphones it sounds distorted so it might just be the song.  Since you don't have a dB level of what you consider mid/high volume, for me mid level is 55-65dB, high is 65-75.  There is distortion in the song even at the 65-75dB level to me so its not your headphones that is distorting unless you are at a much higher listening level.

 

[RedAnt poison]

umh...
It's very strange,with my ws 99 I can turn on the bass boos on the Ifi at max and also increase further 5 db from 31 to 125 hz and they don't distort minimally .I don't expect that results on the the 1990 and other more refined hp but the 990 start to distort too early on a lot of bass heavy songs.
Later I'll post more examples

 

[DavidA]

umh...
It's very strange,with my ws 99 I can turn on the bass boos on the Ifi at max and also increase further 5 db from 31 to 125 hz and they don't distort minimallyI don't expect that results on the the 1990 and other refined hp bit the 990 start to distort to early on a lot of songs.
Later I'll post more examples

The WS99 is a closed back headphone so the driver has some resistance while the DT-990 is an open back headphone so the driver has no resistance and you are pushing them to distort with the amount of bass boost you are adding which can damage them.  If you want that much bass I would suggest a different closed back headphone since I don't know of any open back that will not distort with that much added bass boost.
I would suggest looking here: http://www.head-fi.org/t/716711/the-hardest-hitting-headphones-are-the-extreme-bass-club
hope this helps

 

[RedAnt poison]

David don't get me wrong..
I know the sonically differences from closed to open headphones.
I don't like a lot the hitting sound directly in your head,I prefer more the airy and detailed sound with big soundstage.
My question in my first post is facing to who have both the 990 and 1990 for a comparison.
Who can handle more bass before thay start to distort?

 

[DavidA]

  David don't get me wrong..
I know the sonically differences from closed to open headphones.
I don't like a lot the hitting sound directly in your head,I prefer more the airy and detailed sound with big soundstage.
My question in my first post is facing to who have both the 990 and 1990 for a comparison.
Who can handle more bass before thay start to distort?

got it, I'll be able to give you an answer hopefully in the middle of Mar when my friend will be bring over his DT-1990 and another with a Nighthawk.
 
Surprised others have not responded to your question since I have seen some comparisons of both on this thread a while back.

 

[Arniesb]

The WS99 is a closed back headphone so the driver has some resistance while the DT-990 is an open back headphone so the driver has no resistance and you are pushing them to distort with the amount of bass boost you are adding which can damage them.  If you want that much bass I would suggest a different closed back headphone since I don't know of any open back that will not distort with that much added bass boost.
I would suggest looking here: http://www.head-fi.org/t/716711/the-hardest-hitting-headphones-are-the-extreme-bass-club
hope this helps

Even T1 rattle at certain bass wolumes, dt990 very early, HD800S never. Even HD650 never. Never buy headphones that rattle at certain wolumes again.

 

[RedAnt poison]

Even T1 rattle at certain bass wolumes, dt990 very early, HD800S never. Even HD650 never. Never buy headphones that rattle at certain wolumes again.

really?
good to know that.
Could you suggest me and to commutiny opens and semiopen HPs with quality bass and sub bass that don't rattle in that department and have at same time wide soundstage,airy,clarity and a layered sound?
I think that one strong point of dt990 is  the separation between the instruments and the coherence in the mix(right tuning and the impact of every single sound in a certain song).
On the other hand I'm really interested in the dt1990 because I think with the dt990 i'm in the right direction and I'm little afraid to make a new chioce with a different company and start again from zero.
My questions is mainly faced to DarktoreS user...he has both ifi ican and dt990/1990

 

[Piperman]

I have ifi iDSD Micro and 1990, I have never been able to make them distort from just sound level.  I can drive them pretty hard before I have to turn them down too.