DT-900 Pro X have landed. I let 'em breathe for a couple hours with some aggressive material at a volume I'd have been quite uncomfortable listening at but which was still very much below their rated power handling, just to be past any initial differences, and since then I've had them on listening to some favorite material that I know well.
I'm using my Schiit stack - Magni+, Modi+, Loki Mini+. I'll say right off the bat, these are incredibly easy to drive headphones and likely do not have any substantial amplification requirements to speak of, as others have stated quite plentifully and as Beyer emphasizes when talking about the Stellar.45 drivers as well. That's in very sharp contrast to the 600ohm Edition headphones, which do need amplification and I reckon scale with the amp's ability to provide good voltage under demanding conditions (but which are doing well from my little stack, gratefully - I feel like they lose more than just volume going to a voltage starved source, like the headphone out from one of my USB audio interfaces for example).
Initial impression of their overall frequency response tuning is very favorable. The frequency response makes me think of using a good studio monitoring setup. They're still brighter in the treble than my Senns and I'd be shocked to find otherwise, honestly, being Beyer cans. Bass has great extension and feels strong. Distorted guitar sounds great on them, percussion has the qualities I expect in terms of accurate but also exciting reproduction. Vocals sound accurate, maybe slightly airy depending on the recording but not troubling or sibilant. The drivers seem very fast and well controlled overall, which I believe is what they were going for with the longer voice coil & overall design here. I don't find the 600ohm DT-880/DT-990 deficient in that regard, by the way, they're quick and accurate especially when amplified, but achieving similar or even superior performance in that regard with these very easy to drive cans is impressive for sure. And I do think these DT-900 Pro X show superior performance, especially when listening closely for things like how distinctly audible individual parts of doubled vocal tracks are during busy passages in a dense mix, while also listening for the pick attack on a guitar part mixed really low & blending into a synth passage. With the DT-900 Pro X, I can hear all of that distinctly. I was able to discern some details in a very familiar track that I had not heard so clearly before, always cool - I think these will be useful in the studio.
They're notably less open-backed than the DT-880/990, with more apparent sound isolation coming in, but they still leak audio quite freely out. I reckon part of the improved isolation is due to the considerably more forceful clamp plus the more conforming & isolating foam on these versus the DT-880/990. Putting them on day one, the DT-880/DT-990 Editions with their low clamping force and soft pads are more comfortable (to be fair, they also stand out among all the cans I've owned). I expect the clamp to lessen slightly as the physical parts of the headphone get more worn in. The overall build is very sturdy and they creak way less than the 880/990 Edition with head movement. I like that Beyer included a short cable among the two removable cables (also a nice touch vs. the fixed cables on the 880/990 Edition).
Positional audio is less wide than the DT-880 or especially the DT-990. There is more of an intimate presentation overall which is an interesting pairing with the still quite forward sound (akin to a narrow field made of closely positioned nearfield monitors, where stereo detail is still fully discernible and the mix has relative space, but not as wide as it can get with mid-field or farther monitoring). Positional audio is still accurate, though, nice and easy to get a relative sense of where things are panned, but I think I'm gonna give the soundstage advantage to the 600ohm Editions. I wonder how much of that has to do with their lesser clamp, maybe the drivers are farther away - not sure, but they have what I would consider a very good conventional headphone soundstage with quite accurate positioning and detail. Not as wide as some others that truly specialize in that but nonetheless very good. Not sure how I consider the DT-900 Pro X there, I would not call them deficient in this either as there are moments when certain mix elements will really leap apart depending on what all is going on sonically at that time, but generally it's a closer spread overall than their forebears.
I think these feel more like a DT-880 descendant than a DT-990 one, to me. The midrange presentation and treble emphases differs substantially from the DT-990 Edition, and low frequencies are powerful but leaner than the (nicely!) hyped DT-990. But then again, DT-900 Pro X is only 20 more than 880, as opposed to 90 away from 990. I'm overthinking this, haha.
I have a lot more listening to do before I consider any of my thoughts final here but I don't feel the DT-880/990 are totally outclassed here overall; they do perhaps begin to show their age in some particulars, but they are still strong performers and offer excellent value. But the DT-900 Pro X are pretty impressive to me
