[jupitreas]

They use the exact same driver as the Premium version and their driver is very similar to the ones used in the DT880 and DT770. People who own all three cans love to post about how different they are but in reality, they sound very similar to each other due to how similar their designs are. The DT990 has slightly more bass and treble than the DT880, which is in comparison far more neutral and flat. The differences are not enormous though. 
 
They can't realistically be compared to the ATH-M50 because they are open headphones, unlike the Audio Techinica, which is closed. The ATH-M50 has more bass but the DT990 actually has some of the best bass amongst open-back headphones - fairly pronounced and impactful while being quite controlled as well. The DT990 has far better imaging and soundstage and it is also more crisp and clear in the high frequencies (a feature that the DT880 and DT770 also have, its the Beyerdynamic trademark orthodynamic-esque speed and crispness that all these models share). Even with all this treble emphasis, the DT990 is very rarely sibilant, whereas the ATH-M50 actually does occasionally venture into sibilance. 
 
I own the DT990 Pro myself and they are my favorite can so far. I like their slightly smiley frequency response curve and they are still flat enough for monitoring use. I love how they are a combination of the amazing refinement and treble details of the DT880 with a slightly darker sound signature due to the boosted bass - you get the best of both worlds in one can. The disadvantage of this situation is that the mids are a little recessed compared to the other frequencies but this is only in comparison with the DT880 - if we are to evaluate the DT990 without comparing it to its brother, the mids are actually still really good.
 
Finally, the DT990 Pro is priced extremely well. It uses the same drivers as the Premium model and it is just as refined as you'd expect a previous Beyerdynamic flagship / reference headphone to be. This is quite a good bargain at the price that it is going for.

 

[carledwards]

Love mine. They are particularly great with rock and the Woo3.

 

[nothing4me]

Quote:

They use the exact same driver as the Premium version and their driver is very similar to the ones used in the DT880 and DT770. People who own all three cans love to post about how different they are but in reality, they sound very similar to each other due to how similar their designs are. The DT990 has slightly more bass and treble than the DT880, which is in comparison far more neutral and flat. The differences are not enormous though. 
 
They can't realistically be compared to the ATH-M50 because they are open headphones, unlike the Audio Techinica, which is closed. The ATH-M50 has more bass but the DT990 actually has some of the best bass amongst open-back headphones - fairly pronounced and impactful while being quite controlled as well. The DT990 has far better imaging and soundstage and it is also more crisp and clear in the high frequencies (a feature that the DT880 and DT770 also have, its the Beyerdynamic trademark orthodynamic-esque speed and crispness that all these models share). Even with all this treble emphasis, the DT990 is very rarely sibilant, whereas the ATH-M50 actually does occasionally venture into sibilance. 
 
I own the DT990 Pro myself and they are my favorite can so far. I like their slightly smiley frequency response curve and they are still flat enough for monitoring use. I love how they are a combination of the amazing refinement and treble details of the DT880 with a slightly darker sound signature due to the boosted bass - you get the best of both worlds in one can. The disadvantage of this situation is that the mids are a little recessed compared to the other frequencies but this is only in comparison with the DT880 - if we are to evaluate the DT990 without comparing it to its brother, the mids are actually still really good.
 
Finally, the DT990 Pro is priced extremely well. It uses the same drivers as the Premium model and it is just as refined as you'd expect a previous Beyerdynamic flagship / reference headphone to be. This is quite a good bargain at the price that it is going for.

Thank you so much for the comparison. I will be getting the DT 990.

 

[lucozade]

Thanks for the detailed review ,it has helped me decide which breyer to get , the dt990 pro will be added to my collection .

Quote:

They use the exact same driver as the Premium version and their driver is very similar to the ones used in the DT880 and DT770. People who own all three cans love to post about how different they are but in reality, they sound very similar to each other due to how similar their designs are. The DT990 has slightly more bass and treble than the DT880, which is in comparison far more neutral and flat. The differences are not enormous though. 
 
They can't realistically be compared to the ATH-M50 because they are open headphones, unlike the Audio Techinica, which is closed. The ATH-M50 has more bass but the DT990 actually has some of the best bass amongst open-back headphones - fairly pronounced and impactful while being quite controlled as well. The DT990 has far better imaging and soundstage and it is also more crisp and clear in the high frequencies (a feature that the DT880 and DT770 also have, its the Beyerdynamic trademark orthodynamic-esque speed and crispness that all these models share). Even with all this treble emphasis, the DT990 is very rarely sibilant, whereas the ATH-M50 actually does occasionally venture into sibilance. 
 
I own the DT990 Pro myself and they are my favorite can so far. I like their slightly smiley frequency response curve and they are still flat enough for monitoring use. I love how they are a combination of the amazing refinement and treble details of the DT880 with a slightly darker sound signature due to the boosted bass - you get the best of both worlds in one can. The disadvantage of this situation is that the mids are a little recessed compared to the other frequencies but this is only in comparison with the DT880 - if we are to evaluate the DT990 without comparing it to its brother, the mids are actually still really good.
 
Finally, the DT990 Pro is priced extremely well. It uses the same drivers as the Premium model and it is just as refined as you'd expect a previous Beyerdynamic flagship / reference headphone to be. This is quite a good bargain at the price that it is going for.

 

 

[phileguy]

i completely disagre,set of cans own audio technica ath-ad700, sennheiser hd 650,akg k702,audio technica ath-ad900,audio technica m50 ,ultrasone edition 8,and my piercing high and overly recessed mids beyerdynamics dt990 pro.i purchased the dt 990 pro because of iresponsible reviews.normally i always audition headphones first.i googled dt 990 pro and it is the dt880 pro with emphasis on low and piercing highs,overly recessed mids.dt 990 pro is not flat nor neutral its v shape EQ.they say dt 990 pro frequency response is 5hz to 35 kz but they distort because ot their v shape frequency not on the level of my other cans and will sell or give away

 

[Thommohawk]

Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro are the best headphones currently in my possession, which isn't saying much, but I can't imagine a more clear and more fun headphone. The bass and trebles are strong on these and the soundstage is nice and wide. The sound can be fatiguing for music listening in long stretches, but that doesn't mean to say that it IS fatiguing. But some will find it to be just that, it's a subjective personal thing.
 
The thing I love about the DT 990 Pros are that the bass and treble are so good that in movies you really feel like you're there in the scene such is the brilliance of the clarity of spoken word and ambient sounds.
 
I also love how they're fairly well detailed for music too whilst not lacking for bass. 
 
What I don't like however, is the internal cable wiring. It's shoddy. I've been through 2 pairs in the last year and a half. Not good! 

 

[dukeskd]

Quote:

i completely disagre,set of cans own audio technica ath-ad700, sennheiser hd 650,akg k702,audio technica ath-ad900,audio technica m50 ,ultrasone edition 8,and my piercing high and overly recessed mids beyerdynamics dt990 pro.i purchased the dt 990 pro because of iresponsible reviews.normally i always audition headphones first.i googled dt 990 pro and it is the dt880 pro with emphasis on low and piercing highs,overly recessed mids.dt 990 pro is not flat nor neutral its v shape EQ.they say dt 990 pro frequency response is 5hz to 35 kz but they distort because ot their v shape frequency not on the level of my other cans and will sell or give away

I definitely agree with this. The 990 Pros sound good until you try out other high-end cans. When comparing, it will be clear what the weaknesses that the 990 pro have and one of the first you will notice is the lack of neutrality/flatness.

 

[Eargasmo]

Quote:

I definitely agree with this. The 990 Pros sound good until you try out other high-end cans. When comparing, it will be clear what the weaknesses that the 990 pro have and one of the first you will notice is the lack of neutrality/flatness.

I love the DT990 Pros.  They are a good compliment to the HD650s.  As many others have posted, don't get fooled by the 250ohm rating, they require a lot of power to bring out the low-end.  They have a pretty pronounced V sound signature.  But they fill in nicely with a good amp.

 

[Parula]

I have 770's, 880's and 990's and I find them to all have a different sound. That being said, I enjoy all of them, especially for rock music. They all have good bass and good treble although the treble can be a bit harsh ... especially with the 990's. All are super comfortable and well built. I'm driving them with a Beyer A1 Amp. Next spring, I'm looking forward to purchasing T1's.

 I am aware of the "V" shaped sound of these ... especially the 990's. When I was a teen I had a car stereo called a Pioneer SuperTuner which had a built-in equalizer. I always found myself increasing the bass and treble and slightly reducing the mids ... effectively creating that V-shaped sound. Some people enjoy that EQ.

 

[p!atduma]

While searching for the dt 990 pro, i've seen 2 designs, i'm awar that there are premium, pro, black edition models, but i saw different designs on 2 pro models, one has "beyerdynamic" written on the sides, while the other one, the most common, has "DT 990 PRO" written. I just want to know what's up with that. Is there a difference? Hope someone could help. Thanks!

 

[Humblepie]

While searching for the dt 990 pro, i've seen 2 designs, i'm awar that there are premium, pro, black edition models, but i saw different designs on 2 pro models, one has "beyerdynamic" written on the sides, while the other one, the most common, has "DT 990 PRO" written. I just want to know what's up with that. Is there a difference? Hope someone could help. Thanks!

Well for the thread necro question, admittedly there isn't a lot of threads covering these headphones here on head-fi anymore, I'll answer.

DT 990 PRO is basically a 250ohms version of the drivers. The higher resistance drivers tend to have less oscillations upon movement and return to neutral faster. This means less ringing when done right. Less ringing means the treble doesnt' sound as harsh, nor the bass as loose/bloomy. Regions of sound bleed less into other regions.

The basic build for all the DT XXX series headphones are practically the same. Some minor differences though. The DT 990, as an example, comes in PRO and PREMIUM flavors. The PRO is only the 250 ohms variant, and the normal PREMIUM can come in 32 ohms (easy to drive), 250 ohms (harder to drive), and 600 ohms. There is also a special chrome edition premium version that is only 600 ohms. The good thing about the PRO or the special edition premium is that they don't come with those weird sharp cheese graders metal wings on the side of the headband.

As far as the drivers go, they are all the same. Just different housing. The driver in the 770, 880, and 990 are literally all the same when looking at their matched impedance values. The different housing changes the sound signature though as you go from closed to semi open to almost fully open. The DT990s aren't quite fully open which does hurt their sound stage. That and not having an angle driver baffle.

The DT XXX lineup is a slightly U shaped headphone. Sub bass rolls off, the bass and mid bass are boosted, the mids recess a bit but are flat, and the treble has some extra energy in some regions. The U shape is greater as they open up so 770 is less U than 880 which are less U than 990. To some the 990, especially in 32 ohm version, are very harsh on the treble. I own the 600 ohm 880 and 990 which are no where near as harsh sounding as the lesser ohm versions. They do take a lot more power, as I already mentioned, to drive those higher ohm values properly. That being said, they are all very detailed, revealing, and fairly fast on the response. They do make great studio/monitoring headphones and are used professionally as such. The U shaped sound does mean they aren't completely neutral, but they are close enough to do good work with.

To answer the original question again, not counting impedance differences and housing differences, all the other differences are cosmetic. So I would pick what you need in either closed, semi, or mostly open setup.