[TJ Max]

   
 
I think there might be variations in units.   If you heard my T5p you would understand why so many people love this model (and why there are some that say that it absolutely sucks). 

 
I've been thinking about that. There is a review on YouTube , this guys description is of a completly different headphone than what I have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKMkkV636Oo
 
Arttt,
 
The T5p was 3x the price of the T70p at launch, so its expected to sounds better. I'm just not feeling it. I was listening to an album by Ginger Baker called Why? I know the recording is really good and has great dynamics, But the bass instrument sounds like someone plucking a rubber band and not a big wooden string instrument. I can hardly detect the transients of the percussion. But on my T70p everything sounds very natural.
 
As for the best of my source, I'm streaming Flac, to a Teac UD-501 DAC  and a Beyerdynamic A2. Which sounds great with my T90 and T1. I'm wondering if I should replace the pads, because leather pads haven't sound good on any of my other Beyerdynamic headphones.

 

[rasmushorn]

  ... t70p is not even close in terms of transparency ...
 
the only advantage t70p has on t5p is treble energy , its simply has higher treble energy and that makes sound more specious, but also more bright and thin...
 
comparing to t70p
t5p has more body
larger soundstage
more transparency
more detail
better controlled and tighter and deeper lowend that is amazingly well layered ( but theres no much bass in quantity )
mids are  more refine and theres better micro detail level
better seperation
better image
 
t5p is a superior headphone in almost every way  , and personaly i prefer it to t1
its smooth dark character and subwoofer bass makes t5p great headphone for layback sessions , when i don't want to be impressed by the sound... just chill and yet have a quality sound.
t5p grows on you with time , it also need lots of burning in before it settles ...
 
 
 
now i am thinking maybe the problem is your source ?
in a setup every part of a chain have to be on the same level.   it pointless to have a high end headphone and a high end amp if you use average source... 
Bring your t5p to  local hifi store and plug it in a high end rig and see what happens.

 
To me the T70p and T5p difference is not as big as you describe them.
 
I had a hard time deciding which one I liked best. I had both of them for some time and I ended up keeping the T5p because it is the more versatile headphone. But I did not think T5p was much more detailed. Also I found that transparency was better with T70p than T5p. I also felt the bass was tighter and faster with T70p than T5p but T5p has a bit more bass-impact and more body as you say. So it is a matter of taste. To me the technicality of T70p is just as good as T5p, except the T5p feels more luxurious with its leather and so on. I do miss the T70 once in a while. They are a very special headphone and have a unique character unlike any other headphone I have heard. There was a very clear and defined soundstage in T70, even clearer and more layered than T5p to my ears. 
 
One thing that won me over was the way T5p plays cello and voices. I could easily live with the T70(p) instead of the T5p though. 
 
I feel that with the Quickstep I have found a great portable amplifier for the T5p. The Quickstep drives the T5p almost as good as my desktop Classic amplifier. I can only recommend the Meier amps for T5p. 

 

[Arttt]

First pair i got was amazing! It felt like a luxurious item , everything was made with such care ,great attention to details, build was solid!   But after few weeks i thought , nahhhh wheres the bass...t5p sounds to polite , i don't want to pay 1000 $..
so i send them back..
 
after few days i started to miss them )
so i placed a new order in another shop, the pair that came looked nothing like the one i had before.
It has poor leather quality and no clamp force at all , headphone falled off my head whenever i moved head or get off the chair.... ear pads were shallow and leather was slippery , couldn't get a good seal.
 
i send them back after arguing a lot with dealer.
 
i went back to the store i got my first pair from and placed an order, 3rd pair came , it was better than  2nd but not as good as 1st.  But i thought whatever , close enough , than after 1 week left channel started ti buzz and disappear when cable is moved.
 
so i send them back and demanded a new pair, i got a 4th pair , no problems with cable but it sounded very different from all the previous pairs.
sound was very bassy , muddy , and flat , sounded like a cheap mid fi headphone.  after longer listening sessions i even get pain in ears from that drilling subbass that was crazy...
 
after i contacted shop for the 4th time they thought i am a crazy person  
the best deal i could get is get my 3rd pair back, they repaired it and sended to me.
 
The sound is good but , it doesn't have that thick luxury leather , solid build , and soft butter smooth ear pads  of the first pair , and sound is not as good 2 ...
 
But i had enough and decided to settle with this pair after all , its still a cool headphone )

 

[Arttt]

@rasmushorn 
 
we will have to agree to disagree then )
2my ears difference between t70p and t5p is night and day!  
 
i really like t70p , but after i heard t5p i sold t70p because there was nothing t70p could do for me...

 

[Arttt]

as for the leather pads.
usually leather pads add bass impact but make sound kind of "halish" 
 
with velour pads sound usually lose in bass and gets treble focused, sounds more open 2.
 
Its because leather reflex sound waves inside the cup and keeps it closed in and velour absorbs reflections and lets out some...

 

[rasmushorn]

  @rasmushorn 
 
we will have to agree to disagree then )
2my ears difference between t70p and t5p is night and day!  
 
i really like t70p , but after i heard t5p i sold t70p because there was nothing t70p could do for me...

Maybe it is the difference in versions? What is the serial number of your T5p? Mine is 8590.
I have only heard my own T5p so I might be missing out on an even better version? I am not going to search for another headphone though, T5p is still offering me a lot of listening pleasure again and again. So yeah, the T5p is a better headphone, which is also why I ended up with T5p after all. 
 
One thing I did notice though was that when turning the crossfeed function on/off on my Meier Classic amplifier it was much more clear to tell the difference with T70 than it is with T5p. So there might be some head related transfer function issues where the T70 just suits my head and ears better?

 

[TJ Max]

Would a long burn in make any difference? I could run pink noise through it for about 12hours. My serial no. is fairly high over yours 20173

 

[elvergun]

  Would a long burn in make any difference? I could run pink noise through it for about 12hours. My serial no. is fairly high over yours 20173

 
 
I have a bunch of stuff to do this weekend, but if you want we can meet somewhere next Saturday so you can listen to my pair. 

 

[TJ Max]

   
 
I have a bunch of stuff to do this weekend, but if you want we can meet somewhere next Saturday so you can listen to my pair. 

 
Actually I'm in the Monterey area for now,

 

[EricRamberg]

Hi everyone, first time poster here!
 
I recently bought the T5P´s since I had read a lot of online praise and I need a closed headphone. This is my first truly high end pair of headphone so I am fairly new at this level.
The issue I am having is that the sound from the headphones feels really flat and very thin with virtually no bass. Im testing to switch between my old Sennheizer momentum and the 5Tp´s from the same source and the momentum packs a better punch. Im no bass-head but the sound is very dull without any bass. Since it is advertised as a portable headphone I didn't think I needed a powerful DAC/headphone amp, so I bought a iFi Audio nano iDSD which I suspect was a huge misstake. Can this amp be so bad to make the headphone sound so dull? Could a better amp really save it or are my pair defect? If I should try with another DAC/Headphone amp, which one should I go with, I saw a recommendation for the "beyerdynamic A1" but its quite old and does not have USB which would be a problem since I mostly use my computer as source. So any recommendations are gladly accepted!
 
I could really use some help here from you experienced people, thank you very much!
 
-Eric

 

[Allanmarcus]

  Hi everyone, first time poster here!
 
I recently bought the T5P´s since I had read a lot of online praise and I need a closed headphone. This is my first truly high end pair of headphone so I am fairly new at this level.
The issue I am having is that the sound from the headphones feels really flat and very thin with virtually no bass. Im testing to switch between my old Sennheizer momentum and the 5Tp´s from the same source and the momentum packs a better punch. Im no bass-head but the sound is very dull without any bass. Since it is advertised as a portable headphone I didn't think I needed a powerful DAC/headphone amp, so I bought a iFi Audio nano iDSD which I suspect was a huge misstake. Can this amp be so bad to make the headphone sound so dull? Could a better amp really save it or are my pair defect? If I should try with another DAC/Headphone amp, which one should I go with, I saw a recommendation for the "beyerdynamic A1" but its quite old and does not have USB which would be a problem since I mostly use my computer as source. So any recommendations are gladly accepted!
 
I could really use some help here from you experienced people, thank you very much!
 
-Eric

I just got mine today too, and The bass issue worried me too. I have a Corda DACCord/Classic combo, so no shortage of power into the cans. The iFi should be plenty. My best advice is to listen to the for a week. Don't listen to anything else, if you can help it. After a week listen to you other headphone(s) and T5p, then decide. 
 
Also, if you headphones are brand new, not used, you should burn them in. I wasn't a believer in burn-in until I heard the difference myself with my Ether-Cs. 
 
Mostly your brain needs to "burn-in" to the new sound. beyerdynamic (always spells lowercase is known for a bright, clear sound, that may take some getting used to.
 
hope this helps.

 

[rasmushorn]

I agree to what Allanmarcus said. Getting used to lesser bass impact is always hard and will take some time. You should spend some time with the T5p and get to where you start to appreciate the details and natural timber of the instruments. I am sure T5p will give you more listening pleasure than you can get from many other headphones. Except if skull breaking dubstep or other bass-heavy genres are the only genres you listen to...

 

[rasmushorn]

I would also like to add here that the cushions of T5p (or any headphone) have a big effect on the sound. Specially if you do not get a prefect seal around the ear, bass will lack impact. If you wear glasses there is an open air flow to the out side. So with just a bit of wear the cushions will soften and you will get a better seal. Also pay attention to the area under your ear on the side of your neck / jaw. Here you might have a big air flow also if the headphone does not seal perfectly. This will cause the headphone to change character big time. 
 
Cushions like the ones on T5p made form leather and some foam material inside will always be different from batch to batch. The density of the foam and the thickness and stiffness of the leather will change the sound. This is probably the major reason for differences between different units. 

 

[Arttt]

Amp is not only about power! With an amp its not only about making your headphone sound "louder" , its about driving them proper, to its full potential , with good dynamics.
High end headphones don't match with low fi / mid fi gear, because midfi gear don't bring all there is in high end headphones, period!
 
t5p scale great with high end gear, dac is just as important as amp! So make sure its on the same level as t5p. If you spend 1k$ on a headphone , be prepared to spend 1k$ on amp and 1k$ on dac , simply speaking , every component of your rig have to be on the same level!
 
i also recommend Hegel HD12 with t5p , its a dac/amp combo. But as i already stated , i tried t5p with many high end amps and dac/amp combos , and i was disappointed.
To the point i was listening to t5p from my ipad air ...couldnt find right amp for t5p for a long time, it sound as you all mentioned , no bass , thin , flat , lifeless , dull ...
 
2my ears only from A1 t5p sound lush, liquid , very dynamic, huge soundstage , open and wide , with lots of body , mids are very intim and warm.
if i plug t5p to something else it will be like a air balloon that lost half of air ...
 
As for burn in.
 
t5p changed sonically more than any other of my headphones during burn in...
it also took long time for them to settle , about 600 hours or so ...
 
I recommend burn in on different volume levels , don't leave it on the same volume level while burning in.
change music genders , variaty is good!  Jazz with vocals , classic music (piano , violin , orchestra ) metal with lots of cymbals and drums , electronic music- psy trance is good for shaking drivers, you get the idea ...
 
burn in for 8 hours then let drivers rest for 1-2 hours , after 200 hours sound becomes more relaxed , less tense , mids will open up and gain some body , highs will smooth over and bass kicks in...
 
 
Now for the bass , t5p won't have a lot of bass , no matter how much you burn in or what amp/dac you use.
But with high end source and amp you will get very engaging sound , very musical , you will notice stuff in your old recordings that you haven't heard before... its another way of listening to music , t5p is very revealing and creates atmosphere of music around your ears , it let you feel the mood of the song ... it doesn't impress you with punchy bass like lower end gear , instead it reach you and engage you emotionaly into the music )
 
comparing t5p in terms of bass to other headphones , i would say t5p has very interesting bass , theres headphones that have more bass ,specialy midfi headphones that try to impress you with quantity and punch of lowend, like dt770 or momentum but that bass sounds dull comparing to t5p.
 
I agree  , t5p is not for everyone and it takes time to get used to its sonic character , its a matter of taste and how you listen to music ...

 

[Arttt]

True , good seal with t5p is crucial! without a perfect seal sound is ruined...
In the beginning it took me few minutes to get the good seal, so the headphones sit right , center of ear towards center of driver...
 
now i get it done in a matter of seconds )