[fafafa]

Greetings,
 
First, I consider myself a person who appreciates good quality sound. I love it. All my cds are properly, securely ripped to flac and I'm fairly educated on all that audio quality jazz.
 
I'm looking at the beyerdynamic dt990 as I've heard great things about them. The problem is, I can't really afford to dip into the high fi world just yet, and because of that I'm thinking about getting the 32 ohms version so I could easily drive them without a pricey amp, correct?
 
Will the 32 ohms sound just as good as the higher ohm versions? Is the difference substantial or minimal? Will I get sufficient volume from them when i plug them into an iMac? Or will I still need an amp to power them?
 
Or if anyone could convince me to go for the 250 ohms and suggest a cheap, yet solid amp for under $150 that would work flawlessly with an 09 iMac.
 
So basically, will the 32 ohms still be a great pair of headphones and worth the money? Do I need an amp for it?
 
Or
 
Should I go for the 250 ohms and just fork up more for an amp?
 
Any help is much appreciated.

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
Yes, the 32ohm version will work great without a serious amplifier. In fact, it will work without an amplifier. Does it get a little better with an amplifier? Sure. But we're not talking night & day. The improvement will be slightly marginal. A lot of the improvement is technical and not truly audible to most people (golden ears excluded). You will get plenty of volume from your iMac and any portable device in general. This is why Beyer releases 32 ohm versions of their series.
 
Personally I would not buy a $200~350 headphone and plug it into a computer without a discreet interface, such as a USB DAC/AMP. But that's just my preference. I find that to appreciate a good piece of audio rendering equipment, you really need to have a clean powered interface. That said, I would actually just suggest the DT990 PRO version, it's 250ohm, and cheaper than the Premium, but is the same headphone and sounds the same. With the cost difference, get yourself a Fiio E10 usb DAC/AMP. It will work on your iMac and any other computer and give you all the clean interface you need, plus power to drive the headphones and a much nicer volume control.
 
If you want it to work on a cell phone, portable device (DAP), etc, get the 32ohm version.
If you're primarily just going to be on the PC/MAC with it, get the PRO (250ohm) version and a Fiio E10 for probably the same cost so that you get the benefits of a good DAC and a decent amplifier.
 
Very best,

 

[CorwinGraves]

  If you want it to work on a cell phone, portable device (DAP), etc, get the 32ohm version.
If you're primarily just going to be on the PC/MAC with it, get the PRO (250ohm) version and a Fiio E10 for probably the same cost so that you get the benefits of a good DAC and a decent amplifier.
 
Very best,

 
I'm curious why one wouldn't also purchase the 250ohm version and DAC/Amp for use with a DAP, phone, tablet, etc. I happen to be in the market for something I can use with those devices and with my laptop on occasion. 

 

[MalVeauX]

   
I'm curious why one wouldn't also purchase the 250ohm version and DAC/Amp for use with a DAP, phone, tablet, etc. I happen to be in the market for something I can use with those devices and with my laptop on occasion. 

 
Heya,
 
Not everyone wants a 3rd device hooked into their tablet/DAP (and lots of droid devices simply don't work with USB options, and just plugging an amplifier into a headphone jack on these devices is not optimal). Using an amplifier with something that doesn't have line level output is not really worth getting to hung up on, because you're definitely not getting your cleanest and best signal to be amplified (again) from the device. Because most of those portable devices cannot raise voltage high enough, and still have enough current throughput, to get full dynamics out of the 250ohm impedance voice coil without an external amplifier. It will have volume on these devices, but you'll have to max the volume, and it probably still isn't going to be super loud, nor be fully driven so things that will suffer will firstly be bass response as it requires the majority of the diaphgram to generate, and takes more energy, which it will be lacking.
 
If you have a device that can utilize a USB DAC/AMP, then look into the Fiio e17 or Fiio E07k. Both will be good USB DAC/AMP's for the laptop (and any machine really), and can be used as dac/amps for some portable devices that support usb DAC's (usually Droid, later jellybean releases), or simply as an amp to any device with output (hopefully line out or line level out, such as docks, found often on i-stuff).
 
Very best,

 

[CorwinGraves]

Thanks - in that case I suppose that the 32ohm version would be best for someone that wants to use all of those source types. 

 

[cel4145]

If you have a device that can utilize a USB DAC/AMP, then look into the Fiio e17 or Fiio E07k. Both will be good USB DAC/AMP's for the laptop (and any machine really), and can be used as dac/amps for some portable devices that support usb DAC's (usually Droid, later jellybean releases), or simply as an amp to any device with output (hopefully line out or line level out, such as docks, found often on i-stuff).

The FiiO E17 is a problematic choice for using as a DAC with Android and USB audio output. Unless things have changed recently with an upgrade to Android (I haven't researched this in the last few months), the E17 only works on some phones using the USB Audio Recorder Pro player app. One cannot use their normal media player. I was unable to get it to work with a Galaxy Note 2 and standard media players, and have seen others say the same thing about the Galaxy S3 (for example). So do your research before buying an E17 (or any DAC, for that matter) with the expectation that is a good choice for USB audio out on a phone.

 

[Makiah S]

Either way, an external Dac/Amp from Fiio is going to be the best way for you to enjoy your Dt 990 pro 250ohm  
 
still I hope that others will be able to help you with getting a Dac to wrk with your cell phone! 

 

[fafafa]

alright. took the plunge and purchased the dt 990 250 ohms and Fiio e10 amp/dac. Bought the headphones from a third party (which seemed legit/reliable) because it was way cheaper than amazon's current price.
 
i'm excited. Can't wait. Hope I'm not disappointed coming from these Klipsch on ears!

 

[Pedro Oliveira]

Hi guys... sorry for taking over this thread but in order not to create another thread i am going to post my doubts here...
 
Here's the deal....
 
I never had a open back headphone and i am now interested in buying one....
 
My previous headphones were.... Sennheiser momentum, mdr 1r, Cal!, ath m50 and hd25.....
 
Sold the momentums because of the confort (so far these were the ones i liked the most in terms of sound quality), sold the 1r because it sounded muffled and and not very clear to my ears (also the bass response when compared to the momentums was lacking, great soundstage though...), ath m50 were too big not very comfortable (weird pads) and there were no mids and the treble was a bit odd (plasticky).... sold the cal!'s when i got the momentums (the momentums did the same but better, also expected more when i got the cals... not bad at all but not wow... still i liked them more than the m50s....)....  i stil have the hd25's.... like them very much... would just add a tiny bit of bass but they are ok the way they are.... although as you guys now, confort and soundstage are not good at all.
 
So basically my top 3 cans overall are....
 
1-momentum
2-hd25
3-cal
 
I listen mostly to pop rock indie and edm.....
 
As an open can for home use first i though of the hd598's but they dont have enough low end for me (also to my ears the momentum are better...)
 
I also had the akg k550 but damn that did not workout very well.... steryle, bad fit, lacking bass.... not for me at all....
 
This week i got a proposal on a dt990 premium (32 ohm version).... What do you guys think of this can for me taking into account my headphone history so far?
 
I am mostly going to use them on mobile devices such as my xperia arc s, my nexus 7 or ipod touch....
 
Do you guys think this is a safe bet for me? I can get them for 140 euros, mint condition, recipt, etc....
 
Othe options? Good or bad deal?
 
Hope you guys can help me please...
 
Cheers....
 
PS: Oh by the way, i have no amps and i am not planning on buying one at least for now....

 

[Pedro Oliveira]

Hi guys... sorry for taking over this thread but in order not to create another thread i am going to post my doubts here...

Here's the deal....

I never had a open back headphone and i am now interested in buying one....

My previous headphones were.... Sennheiser momentum, mdr 1r, Cal!, ath m50 and hd25.....

Sold the momentums because of the confort (so far these were the ones i liked the most in terms of sound quality), sold the 1r because it sounded muffled and and not very clear to my ears (also the bass response when compared to the momentums was lacking, great soundstage though...), ath m50 were too big not very comfortable (weird pads) and there were no mids and the treble was a bit odd (plasticky).... sold the cal!'s when i got the momentums (the momentums did the same but better, also expected more when i got the cals... not bad at all but not wow... still i liked them more than the m50s....)....  i stil have the hd25's.... like them very much... would just add a tiny bit of bass but they are ok the way they are.... although as you guys now, confort and soundstage are not good at all.

So basically my top 3 cans overall are....

1-momentum
2-hd25
3-cal

I listen mostly to pop rock indie and edm.....

As an open can for home use first i though of the hd598's but they dont have enough low end for me (also to my ears the momentum are better...)

I also had the akg k550 but damn that did not workout very well.... steryle, bad fit, lacking bass.... not for me at all....

This week i got a proposal on a dt990 premium (32 ohm version).... What do you guys think of this can for me taking into account my headphone history so far?

I am mostly going to use them on mobile devices such as my xperia arc s, my nexus 7 or ipod touch....

Do you guys think this is a safe bet for me? I can get them for 140 euros, mint condition, recipt, etc....

Othe options? Good or bad deal?

Hope you guys can help me please...

Cheers....

PS: Oh by the way, i have no amps and i am not planning on buying one at least for now....

Anyone please? :'(

 

[Pedro Oliveira]

No one?

 

[UNIFi]

Considering the momentum is a darker headphone and you have preference for bass in an open headphone you may like to consider the Philip X1.
 
The X1 are very easy to drive and have a bassier/darker sound with a bit of treble sparkle. My main concern with recommending you the DT990 is that the treble is fairly elevated and can be fairly hard on the ears with some recordings, as well as the midrange being a bit weaker overall. The DT990 does have fairly strong bass for the open nature and price, but its a far cry from the momentum, which is closer to the X1 overall. I liked what I heard from them when trying some Daft Punk and also some softer rock acts. Although the DT990 will be more detailed due to elevated treble.

 

[Pedro Oliveira]

  Considering the momentum is a darker headphone and you have preference for bass in an open headphone you may like to consider the Philip X1.
 
The X1 are very easy to drive and have a bassier/darker sound with a bit of treble sparkle. My main concern with recommending you the DT990 is that the treble is fairly elevated and can be fairly hard on the ears with some recordings, as well as the midrange being a bit weaker overall. The DT990 does have fairly strong bass for the open nature and price, but its a far cry from the momentum, which is closer to the X1 overall. I liked what I heard from them when trying some Daft Punk and also some softer rock acts. Although the DT990 will be more detailed due to elevated treble.

Thanks Unifi. And the x1 does not need an amp?
 
I like the momentum and the hd25's.... they are both equally good just different. Although being warm i like the momentums because it is very close to neutral.... its is not muddy or muffled like for example the sony mdr 1 r to my ears.

 

[UNIFi]

It might improve with an amp a bit, but it should be pretty well powered volume wise even out of a ipod or phone.
 
The DT990 is far from neutral, the X1 is not totally flat either but sounded much closer to the Momentum to my ears.