beyerdynamic T5p: Photos and first impressions.

[fhuang]

my t5p

 

[Szadzik]

BI was listening last night trying to concentrate on the music a bit and trying to to anaolyze that whole getting used to/ burn-in and I noticed that indeed a lot of what I earlier would have considered as a burn-in thing was just in my head and I could still hear the brightness, it just was not bothering me anymore.
 
Ok, kill me now, crucify, but I still believe that both burn-in and getting used to some sound characteristics of a headphone both play a big role here.

 

[svyr]

BI was listening last night trying to concentrate on the music a bit and trying to to anaolyze that whole getting used to/ burn-in and I noticed that indeed a lot of what I earlier would have considered as a burn-in thing was just in my head and I could still hear the brightness, it just was not bothering me anymore.
 
Ok, kill me now, crucify, but I still believe that both burn-in and getting used to some sound characteristics of a headphone both play a big role here.

I'm pretty sure the sound sig hasn't changes, but after leaving mine to burn in for about 120h, in my spare room on the D2, the highs are less grainy (not grainy at all, but seemed so when I got them). (the irony is a couple of T1 reviews said T1 was one of the least affected HP with burn-in they had)

 

[Szadzik]

Quote:

Quote:

BI was listening last night trying to concentrate on the music a bit and trying to to anaolyze that whole getting used to/ burn-in and I noticed that indeed a lot of what I earlier would have considered as a burn-in thing was just in my head and I could still hear the brightness, it just was not bothering me anymore.
 
Ok, kill me now, crucify, but I still believe that both burn-in and getting used to some sound characteristics of a headphone both play a big role here.

I'm pretty sure the sound sig hasn't changes, but after leaving mine to burn in for about 120h, in my spare room on the D2, the highs are less grainy (not grainy at all, but seemed so when I got them). (the irony is a couple of T1 reviews said T1 was one of the least affected HP with burn-in they had)

 
The grainynessplus treble harshness was probably the biggest porblem that now seems to be gone.

 

[svyr]

 
The grainynessplus treble harshness was probably the biggest porblem that now seems to be gone.

lol, I just do

this to compensate for the bass roll off below 100hz as the avguide review suggests ('r-shaped' fr). EQed they have no problem producing the deeper bass and/or in ample amounts.
and then they sound flush. (or +2,+1 for neutral). I'm pretty sure the bass roll off is the main difference in the sound sig of T5p and T1 (though it's quite possible the treble is hotter on T5p as well).

 

[Szadzik]

Quote:

lol, I just do

this to compensate for the bass roll off below 100hz as the avguide review suggests ('r-shaped' fr). EQed they have no problem producing the deeper bass and/or in ample amounts.
and then they sound flush. (or +2,+1 for neutral). I'm pretty sure the bass roll off is the main difference in the sound sig of T5p and T1 (though it's quite possible the treble is hotter on T5p as well).

I do the same thing
 

 

[googleli]

I am totally happy with the T5P and Hifiman HM801 as my office rig. Not nearly close to my Esoteric D07 -> Leben CS300XS -> Edition 10 combo, but sounds good. In terms of vocal I actually prefer my ES5 / UE18 Pro straight out of my iphone 4, nonetheless, the smoothness of Beyerdynamic is quite attractive. The most important thing is that I can let some of my colleagues listen to the T5P while I can't share my customs with them.

 

[iieeann]

Just got the Headzone base station. Not supporting 96kHz. The sound quality is obviously better than my Onkyo 876 AVR. The surround mode has different experience but i prefer bypass mode for music.

Also had a short time testnig with DT 880 (both 250 & 32 ohm) new units in the shop. Bypass mode. In overall DT 880 has deeper and stronger bass than T5P; grrr I just hope T5P to have bass at least close to 880 and i will be very happy with the combo.  The shop has no T1 at that moment for comparison.

The cable is a little bit too short connecting to the base station; or need to put the station really close to me.

Surround effect under DD/DTS is ok, for maximum room side and ambience setting the sound stage is moving away from head, not far though. It is quite easy to identify the 5 potitions with ac3 individual channel test but it is not likely able to simulate sound behind the head. Watching movie with this combo is an enjoyable experience.

I am not getting the head tracker, i can't see any use of it.
 

 

[fhuang]

not enough bass... probably right.  here's my part 1 of my impression, or my t5p experience with portable amps
 
i feel, i don't really hear enough bass.  probably the least i've heard from a beyer, not counting dt48 of course.  the treble isn't harsh like when i first got them.  the mid?  when there isn't a lot of bass and treble isn't dominating.  t5p really show the mids.  the soundstage is huge for a closed headphone.  imaging is great. 
 
 
 
 
 
part one didn't sound like a beyer right?  it didn't.  so now part two,  t5p with home amp, mostly rp010b and mostly comparing to t1
 
 
i didn't really believe the one i've heard.  not saying they're bad. just not what i expected.  once i plugged them to the amp.  wow.  the bass is back. treble is there.  everything is back.  the difference was, they're a bit darker than t1.  maybe a dash more bass?  don't know how to describe it but i like the t1 bass a bit more though.  the mids is similar.  treble not extent as t1.  do the t1 have more detail?  or show more detail?  i think so.
 
 
to me, t5p sound more similar to t1 than dt880 to dt990.  i didn't really compare them side to side.  i did the listening(i can't even call it a test) based on two night with 3 exact same cds.  t1 the first night and t5p the second.  the cds are not exactly audiophile cd but just albums that i love so much that i don't mind hear them again for two night in a row. 
 
 
p.s.:  i'm not sure why i know/see there are lots of beyer fans around but they don't seem to have too much interest in these headphones.  my intention of getting t5p is a)i want a closed headphones because during summer time i need to turn the air condition on and the noise from the a/c did bother me with open headphones and b) i want a portable headphone. i perfectly fine with jh16 but, i think i'm more of a headphone guy.  i prefer the sound of a headphone. 

 

[svyr]

>i didn't really believe the one i've heard. not saying they're bad. just not what i expected. once i plugged them to the amp. wow. the bass is back. treble is there. everything is back. the difference was, they're a bit darker than t1. maybe a dash more bass? don't know how to describe it but i like the t1 bass a bit more though. the mids is similar. treble not extent as t1. do the t1 have more detail? or show more detail? i think so.


maybe we're just not cooking our ones right. I thought it was similar to T1, but brighter... Then again - re: amp.


>p.s.: i'm not sure why i know/see there are lots of beyer fans around but they don't seem to have too much interest in these headphones. my intention of getting t5p is a)i want a closed headphones because during summer time i need to turn the air condition on and the noise from the a/c did bother me with open headphones and b) i want a portable headphone. i perfectly fine with jh16 but, i think i'm more of a headphone guy. i prefer the sound of a headphone.

people don't seem to appreciate that they're closed and low impedance. Plus they're waiting for the new beyer hp announced but not described. Plus T5p don't seem to be easy to 'drive right' despite being low impedance.

 

[fhuang]

i meant the t5p were darker than t1, umm..... not saying t5p are dark at all
 
and i always thought higher impedance headphones are easier(or should i say not as hard) to drive than low impedance headphones because once your amp has enough juice, you're half way there.  and for lower impedance, you need mostly current instead of voltage.  tube amps usually can give you lots of voltage, and you can get a tube amp cheap nowadays too. 

 

[svyr]

i meant the t5p were darker than t1, umm..... not saying t5p are dark at all
 
and i always thought higher impedance headphones are easier(or should i say not as hard) to drive than low impedance headphones because once your amp has enough juice, you're half way there.  and for lower impedance, you need mostly current instead of voltage.  tube amps usually can give you lots of voltage, and you can get a tube amp cheap nowadays too. 

I actually thought T1 out of DAC1/SPL Auditor was 'dark'... T5p is relatively bright to me. Interesting point about lower impedance HP... M, I've seen people use T1 quite successfully with cheaper tube amps.

 

[Szadzik]

 
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by fhuang
part one didn't sound like a beyer right?  it didn't.  so now part two,  t5p with home amp, mostly rp010b and mostly comparing to t1
 
 
i didn't really believe the one i've heard.  not saying they're bad. just not what i expected.  once i plugged them to the amp.  wow.  the bass is back. treble is there.  everything is back.  the difference was, they're a bit darker than t1.  maybe a dash more bass?  don't know how to describe it but i like the t1 bass a bit more though.  the mids is similar.  treble not extent as t1.  do the t1 have more detail?  or show more detail?  i think so.

 

 
Quote:

Originally Posted by fhuang
and i always thought higher impedance headphones are easier(or should i say not as hard) to drive than low impedance headphones because once your amp has enough juice, you're half way there. and for lower impedance, you need mostly current instead of voltage. tube amps usually can give you lots of voltage, and you can get a tube amp cheap nowadays too. 

 
 
 
I have to agree with these two statements completely. T5ps are horribly dificult to drive and require lots of power. I have been using them with my Meier Audio Stepdance and the results are pretty good, but now you got me thinking that maybe I should buy a home amp. 
 
The question here, however, would be - what is a good amp for these? What kind of current is required to drive them properly in your opinion? 
 
I am not following your statement about tube amps - do they provide the current or the voltage? Will a tube amp be a good choice for T5ps or not?
 
 
Quote:

p.s.:  i'm not sure why i know/see there are lots of beyer fans around but they don't seem to have too much interest in these headphones.  my intention of getting t5p is a)i want a closed headphones because during summer time i need to turn the air condition on and the noise from the a/c did bother me with open headphones and b) i want a portable headphone. i perfectly fine with jh16 but, i think i'm more of a headphone guy.  i prefer the sound of a headphone. 

 
One of the few full-size high-end phones that can be considered portable. I have the same problem with IEMs as you.

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

I am not following your statement about tube amps either - do they provide the current or the voltage? Will a tube amp be a goo choice for T5ps or not?
 

Maybe, maybe not.  On paper you'd want a high current design which would usually be either a pure solid state or a tube/SS hybrid.  There are also a few transformer coupled tube amps out there which have that much current and aren't stupidly expensive.  What you want to avoid is a OTL (output transformer-less) tube amp.  That would almost certainly be a poor match.

 

[Szadzik]

 
Quote:

Maybe, maybe not.  On paper you'd want a high current design which would usually be either a pure solid state or a tube/SS hybrid.  There are also a few transformer coupled tube amps out there which have that much current and aren't stupidly expensive.  What you want to avoid is a OTL (output transformer-less) tube amp.  That would almost certainly be a poor match.

Any recommendations for an SS amp?
 
I stumbled upon this:
 
Pro-Ject Head Box SE II
http://www.iheadphones.co.uk/pro-ject-head-box-se-ii-black.html
 
and my favourite so far:
Burson HA-160
 
And also bought a Fischer Audio HA-02
 
I will be checking the full-size amp forum too, to check what my options are.