[Jonne Haven]

Yesterday at the Mitteldeutsche Hifi Days in Leipzig (Germany) I was able to compare my DT1990Pro and DT1770Pro with different headphones. Unfortunately, from different sources, which made the comparison incredibly difficult. But I knew some titles and was able to form an opinion. The choices were Sennheiser HD 800S, Sennheiser HD820, Focal Celestee, Focal Clear Mg and finally Dan Clark Audio Stealth.

The Sennheisers, especially the HD800S, couldn't hold a candle to the Beyerdynamic. The HD820 failed completely because the midbass was thick and imprecise. I don't know why these headphones are so hyped everywhere. In my opinion, the price for both headphones is completely unjustified.

The Focal, especially the Clear MG, are great and impress with their fine resolution and spatiality. What really bothered me there was the high frequency range, which became tiring over time. More with Celestee than with Clear Mg.

The Dan Clark Audio Stealth was absolutely outstanding. I have never heard such fantastic headphones. And that as closed headphones. Not at all intrusive, finely defined and not over-emphasized in any frequency range with a nice and precise bass foundation, which should by no means be considered over-emphasized. The high-quality workmanship and fit match this, although I would rather have headphones that I don't have to readjust to my head every time, because there is no permanent locking mechanism. But all in all, this would currently be the Holy Grail for me if it weren't for the fact that it's ten times the price of my Beyerdynamic.

So I continue to practice humility and abstinence, am happy about the Beyerdynamic, which is inexpensive for its quality, and maybe try the Audeze LCD-XC or LCD-X.

Hey @Diethard Kuehrt,

You mention the price:value ratio of the DT1990 which I agree is quite high. So if you're interested in bang for the buck...read on!

If you have heard of Resolve (the headphone reviewer and EQer) from over at (one of the other headphone dot coms), he made a rating list of headphones for different categories. He explains how the considerations he took in ranking them and differentiates between headphones that "need" EQ and those fine without. I know it's just his opinion but it is a generally widely respected opinion and at the very least an interesting read and brave of him to actually post it!

The LCD-X 2021 was rated #2 in "High end value".
and the LCD-XC 2021 was rated #1 in Closed Backed "End Game Potential"

It's a very interesting list with brief explanations for each entry!

Resolve's Headphone Rankings

Blessings,
-J

 

[hierobryan]

Good luck with the Stealth...if it's soundstage you're after you may have found your planar!
JFYI (from my experience with the similarly shaped Ananda you might find that you'll want to make sure it fits snug on your head and doesn't move too much because if there is the slightest gap between your head and the pads the sound changes considerably)

But if you do find the Stealth unsatisfactory...or perfect for that matter, I'd loved to know what you like and/or dislike about it as I've never heard them!!!

Blessings,
-J

My Stealth arrived a day ago. Initial impressions after a few hours: Impressed. Very very detailed. It may even beat the Diana TC in treble detail, though electric guitars (Interpol, Editors, The Killers) can sound a bit ear piercing sometimes. I may EQ this out on the ADI-2. TC never needs EQ. Stealth and TC both go equally deep into the sub bass but TC's bass feels more full with better head rumble and is what I prefer. Maybe that's from the TC's looser, comfier fit. Sounds excellent for hip-hop, phonk, k-pop, etc. Seems built very well and is very light but clamp force is just a bit tight. I have until Jan 31 to return but I'll probably keep them as a beater.

 

[Diethard Kuehrt]

I congratulate you on the purchase and I'll be honest, I'm a little jealous.

A tip from me or the SPL (Sound Performance Lab) team. They let their Stealth play for around 14 days, 24 hours a day at medium volume. The difference before/after must have been huge in a positive sense. I spoke to them again on the phone on Monday because I was so impressed by the headphones.

 

[lowrider007]

This is precisely why I don't use this headphone so much anymore. Why would I want to find all of the faults in the music I enjoy? It's like somebody that points out all the faults of your friends.
"Let me introduce you to my best friend!"
"That's your best friend? Interesting. He really talks a lot, you can't get a word in edgewise around him. You should have less talkative friends."
"Oh, okay. I guess. Well, anyway, this is my wife."
"You married her? She's much too muscular. She's disproportionate. You look like a pipsqueak next to her."

I'd honestly rather have a few white lies and get along with the music that I love.

Also, analytical pads suck. There I said it. Bass FTW.

These headphones are obviously quite polarizing due to the two pads supplied with them, basically it makes it two different headphones appealing to two very different listeners, as I've mentioned before I personally find the 'analytical pads' very balanced sounding, I think Beyerdynamic made a mistake with the naming convention with these pads tbh as the 'balanced pads' are in my opinion no way balanced, they are warm and v-shaped, "fun", which if you like that sound signature great.

 

[Diethard Kuehrt]

These headphones are obviously quite polarizing due the two pads supplied with them, basically it make it two different headphones appealing to two very different listeners, as I've mentioned before I personally find the 'analytical pads' very balanced sounding, I think Beyerdynamic made a mistake with the naming convention with these pads tbh as the 'balanced pads' are in my opinion no way balanced, they are warm and v-shaped, "fun", which if you like that sound signature great.

Well, I use the DT1990Pro as more or less “hi-fi headphones”. The slightly V-shaped tuning of the balanced pads is just right for me. It shouldn't be less bass. But the bass is still clean, dry and clearly contoured. When I listen to electronic music or pop from the 1980s, I prefer the DT1770Pro, and for classical and older rock titles with a lot of guitar or my favorite band Pink Floyd, I definitely choose the DT1990Pro. I define older rock titles along the lines of Metallica's Black Album.

 

[Jonne Haven]

Hey All!

Peter Verbeek (creator of P.E.A.C.E.) is going to include, amongst a few other headphone EQs I've made, the DT 1990 Pro (Analytical Pad) EQ I've just improved before he releases it along side the newest update to PEACE which comes out very soon!

It is attached for you to try/preview if you like!

Blessings,
-J

 

[darmok]

Picked up one of these recently shipped from Thomman to the US. In the past week prices in the US dropped to more or less what I paid to order from Europe, oh well. A few quick hits:

• The cables stink, literally. They smell like cheap shoe rubber and the smell seeps into the headphone. I've got them in the Ziplog Bag of Shame right now and a cheapo replacement from Amazon hooked up instead.
• I must have Dumbo ears because it's yet another pair of cans where the driver touches my ears. The foam doesn't do a lot to make this more comfortable. I'm hoping that if the clamp force loosens a touch over time it won't put so much pressure on my ears.
• Pad swapping was way harder at first than other people made it seem, even with the notch. I eventually found that the trick is to keep one thumb on the notch where you're feeding the pad in and the other on the first point where the lip of the pad went under the notch, which is the point where I apply rotational force to get the pad on.
• Still deciding between the B and A pads. At first I thought the A pads were better voiced, but I've got the B pads on again and am enjoying them, so who knows what I'll settle on. I'm wondering if I might actually end up with A pads plus the Amiron foam, which I have on order.
• Based on comments here and elsewhere, I was excited to try the Dekoni Elite Velours. I have them on my HE6se V2 and Deva Pros and they improve both sound and comfort, as do the Dekoni Custom Velours on my Grado GW100x. They don't work at all on Sennheisers, but that is their reputation. The good news is that they brought down the treble peak. The bad news is that they also ruined any sense of detail and my ears still touch the driver. I tried messing with the seal and taking off my glasses and it just didn't help much. Fit aside I'm not sure I could pass a blind test between the DT 1990s with the Dekonis and the 6XX with same.
• Lots of comments here and elsewhere to the effect that the treble peak creates "fake detail" on Beyers (and Grados, and Klipsch speakers, etc). It's true and false. Bringing up the treble won't fix detail retrieval in a grainy headphone. Frequency response is also super important to instrument separation/layering, soundstage, and imaging. I find that the treble peak on the DT 1990s does help a lot with separation, especially with pulling hi hats away from the rest of the mix, and I'm betting that this helps explain the popularity of the DT series in studios. What's left after that separation is really solid. I'd say it's more detailed than the 6XX, on a par with the Aeon Closed X, and less detailed than the HE6se.
• Also a lot of comments about the treble being fatiguing. If I want a comfy old pair of moccassains, the 6XX is there for me. I don't always want to kick back and relax. These are for hype music and for "lean forward" listening.

 

[darmok]

Just a few days in and the left driver started buzzing like mad. I was afraid the driver had blown, but I'd been listening on a very underpowered source which couldn't blow a driver even if it tried (Sony NW-A306). The trick in this thread worked and the left side has stopped buzzing, but I'm miffed that this problem developed right away. If the problem reoccurs during the return period I'll get them exchanged.

 

[jonathan c]

Just a few days in and the left driver started buzzing like mad. I was afraid the driver had blown, but I'd been listening on a very underpowered source which couldn't blow a driver even if it tried (Sony NW-A306).*** The trick in this thread worked and the left side has stopped buzzing, but I'm miffed that this problem developed right away. If the problem reoccurs during the return period I'll get them exchanged.

*** Don’t underestimate the damage that can be wrought when headphone / loudspeaker driver is hooked up to ‘very underpowered source’ …

 

[darmok]

*** Don’t underestimate the damage that can be wrought when headphone / loudspeaker driver is hooked up to ‘very underpowered source’ …

The Sony is voltage capped for regulatory reasons. Within that voltage cap its class D amplifier can deliver sufficient current, especially for a hi-Z headphone like this.

 

[Diethard Kuehrt]

The Sony is voltage capped for regulatory reasons. Within that voltage cap its class D amplifier can deliver sufficient current, especially for a hi-Z headphone like this.

Mobile players and high-impedance headphones are actually always mutually exclusive. It's not for nothing that many headphone manufacturers are now building low-impedance models. The Sony Sony NW-A306 mentioned here has 0.4 - 1.1 mW (mind you, milliwatts and not watts) at 32 ohms. I operate the DT1990Pro on a Phonitor X and it has a whopping 2x 5 watts at 250 ohms or 2x 1 watts at 32 ohms. And there I turn the volume control to about 1/3. So the Sony is probably hopelessly overwhelmed here. I wouldn't bash the headphones here, but rather look for the cause in the player.

 

[megabigeye]

Mobile players and high-impedance headphones are actually always mutually exclusive. It's not for nothing that many headphone manufacturers are now building low-impedance models. The Sony Sony NW-A306 mentioned here has 0.4 - 1.1 mW (mind you, milliwatts and not watts) at 32 ohms. I operate the DT1990Pro on a Phonitor X and it has a whopping 2x 5 watts at 250 ohms or 2x 1 watts at 32 ohms. And there I turn the volume control to about 1/3. So the Sony is probably hopelessly overwhelmed here. I wouldn't bash the headphones here, but rather look for the cause in the player.

Eh, no.
I was using my DT 1990 with my iPhone/Lightning dongle last night. No clipping. No complaints whatsoever about sound quality.

If you listen to your music with peaks lower that 102dB, then you're using less than 1mW. If these headphone ever saw anywhere even remotely close to 5,000mW, your ear drums would explode and then the headphones would incinerate on your head.

 

[Diethard Kuehrt]

Eh, no.
I was using my DT 1990 with my iPhone/Lightning dongle last night. No clipping. No complaints whatsoever about sound quality.

If you listen to your music with peaks lower that 102dB, then you're using less than 1mW. If these headphone ever saw anywhere even remotely close to 5,000mW, your ear drums would explode and then the headphones would incinerate on your head.

I have never heard as much bad stuff as “darmok” writes about the DT1990Pro. Either a Monday model or transport damage. I am always surprised by the quality of Beyerdynamic.

 

[megabigeye]

I have never heard as much bad stuff as “darmok” writes about the DT1990Pro. Either a Monday model or transport damage. I am always surprised by the quality of Beyerdynamic.

So he doesn't like it. So what? But what you posted was demonstrably false.

 

[audiobomber]

So he doesn't like it.

Where did he say he doesn't like it? I read that he had a buzzing sound in one earcup. Clearly something was wrong. I would have returned them for exchange instead of trying to repair.

I have used the DT 1990 with my LG G8 ThinQ and an AK300 DAP. Both devices have sufficient power to play louder than I would want to listen, although the phone volume was maxed out. Both sounded OK, neither sounded good.

Volume is a function of voltage, and as you mention, you don't need a lot of voltage to get loud with the DT 1990. Impedance impedes current, and that is where an external headphone amplifier outdoes the grand majority of mobile devices. Insufficient current (i.e. current clipping), doesn't cause nasty distortion like voltage clipping. Current clipping causes poor PRaT, mushy bass, harsh treble and a compressed soundstage.