supersonic395
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The DT 1770 mkIIs beat out the T5.3 for comfort. I like the sound of the T5.3, but the small earpad openings are verging on deal breaker territory. Will give it more time.
Beyerdynamic T5 (3rd Generation)
- Thread starter Malevolent
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Schmackofatz
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Whats the difference between T5.2 and T5.3? I have the 2nd gen now.
supersonic395
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T1.3 is beating out the T5.3 from current listening comparisons - the T5.3's smaller pads are not helping matters. Hope that improves, but T1.3 is leading for now.
supersonic395
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That'll change the tuning so don't want to do that.
Dalmonegrig
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I see in your signature there is Beyerdynamic T5.3 and HE-R10P Stealth. It would be interesting to hear your opinion on these two in comparison.
Thank you for the information.
Thank you for the information.
streets112
Head-Fier
They are quite different, T5 is more of a generalist headphone - with Dekoni Choice Suede pads it works with almost any source and I don't think it has any noticeable drawbacks considering the price. It is the only closed-back headphone I'll ever need (I already own 3 of them).
I also keep R10P because it's the most technically proficient closed-back. Detail retrieval and size of the soundstage are incredible. I think it blows DCA Steath out of the water and only Caldera Closed comes close it in terms of technical performance. I have a big head though and Caldera Closed already felt uncomfortable after just 20 min. of listening, so I quickly got rid of it. With R10P I have no such comfort issues.
However, if I'd had to choose between T5 or R10P, I'd still pick T5, because I think it's overall a better headphone (Dekoni Choice Suede pads for T5 are a must in opinion, without them T5 is average at best).
Dalmonegrig
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In your opinion, in what characteristic of sound quality are the Beyerdynamic T5.3 superior (or close) to the HE-R10P Stealth?
Thank you for the information.
Thank you for the information.
streets112
Head-Fier
That's easy - bass quantity. In my opinion R10P lacks in that department, plus T5 is a dynamic which gives it that satisfying weighty punch in the midbass (however R10P has a higher quality bass though and it goes deeper than T5).
Also T5 with Dekoni Choice Suede pads has no sibilance at all, regardless of the source. R10P can get sharp in the upper midrange for me (doesn't happen often though).
Regarding my previous post, if I have to sum it up, I'd say that R10P is a headphone that wows you with it's technical presentation and leaves you with goosebumps, but T5 is the headphone that puts a smile on your face and let's you get lost in the music.
Dalmonegrig
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Dekoni Choice Suede pads, I see they have many other pad options on their website (there are 6 of them), do you have any experience using other pads with Beyerdynamic T5.3? Share your sound impressions from using them compared to the standard Beyerdynamic T5.3 pads?
Thank you for the information.
Thank you for the information.
streets112
Head-Fier
I tried all Elite pads.
Dekoni Choice Suede pads, I see they have many other pad options on their website (there are 6 of them), do you have any experience using other pads with Beyerdynamic T5.3? Share your sound impressions from using them compared to the standard Beyerdynamic T5.3 pads?
Thank you for the information.
When I got my first T5.3, I think it was early 2021 and didn't have much experience with headphones. I only had one one closed-back headphone at that time - DT1770Pro and I used it straight out of an LG V50 and later V60 for a period of 2 years. Both of those phones couldn't drive DT1770Pro properly, but I was completely clueless back then and I thought the sound I was getting out DT1770Pro was how it was supposed to be. Later I found out how clueless I was, so decided to switch to a DAP and get a headphone that could use balanced connection - I got two headphones, D9200 and T5.3.
I didn't much like T5.3 at the beginning, I though it sound pretty much the same as DT1770Pro out of an ADI-2 DAC, but it was 3 times as expensive. However a DAP could drive it just as well, unlike DT1770Pro, which sounded much worse out of a DAP, so I decided not to return it.
I've already had Elite Hybrid pads, which I used for DT1770Pro. It made the sound much spacious, but also increased sibilance - I fixed the sibilance with a basic graphic EQ adjustment (at 6k or 8k, -2 or -3dB ... can't remember correctly).
When I moved Elite Hybrid pads to T5.3 it wasn't as good as DT1770Pro. Soundstage increased in size too, bass and midrange was very similar to stock pads, but upper midrange and treble got much worse than DT1770Pro and I couldn't even fix it with the usual EQ adjustment. I tried all kinds of adjustments, but nothing worked and I didn't have parametric EQ on my DAP at that time.
I decided to try other pads. Elite Fenestrated Sheepskin was even worse - it was just as sharp in the upper frequencies and on top of that the bass was gone. Elite Velour fixed upper frequencies but bass was gone and lastly I tried Elite Sheepskin, which fixed upper frequencies but also turned bass to eleven, so much so that it started clearly bleeding into midrange. I had a very bass lean DAP at that time - iBasso DX240, so it kind of worked with Elite Sheepskin pads and I used it like that for a while.
Later I decided to upgrade DAP to DX320 and it was not good anymore. DX320 had noticeably more bass, especially subbass and it no longer worked with Elite Sheepskin. This combo turned T5 into a full on bass cannon - I like bass very much, but this was just way over the top.
At that point I almost sold T5 again, but saw some Dekoni video where they tried some pads with DMS. There were different headphones (don't remember exactly), but with the closed-back Beyerdynamic, DMS preferred Choice Suede pads. At that time I didn't even know there was another line of Dekoni pads for Beyerdynamic headphones, but I decided to give it one more chance and it was perfect. To this day I still can't believe how good this sounds.
To me, every Dekoni pad expands the soundstage, but only Choice Suede pads calm the upper frequencies without sacrificing the bass - every other pad has some tradeoffs. I also think that Choice Suede pads bring midrange just a tiny bit forward and pull bass a bit back to make the overall presentation more balanced, but this is not as noticeable.
After switching pads to Choice Suede, T5 slowly became my favorite closed-back. After getting into headphones I went on a spending spree and over the years I owned almost all of the notable closed-backs and one by one I sold or traded all of them. Yes, there are better sounding closed-backs, but they often sacrifice in other areas, like comfort, driveability, sources pairing etc.
Can you share a link to these pads?
streets112
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HiddenSquid
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Have Anyone compared t5 3rd gen with zmf bokeh?
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