[Kozic]

I have a Mangi 2, which seems to be perfectly fine. Perhaps one day I'll be able to hear some different amps, I'm just not ready to throw down money in that direction. As far as I'm concerned, the amp is there to boost the volume and nothing else. Of course, I'm telling myself that to appease my bank account. Thanks!

Like we all do......

 

[Hifihedgehog]

  Hi All! I'm a fairly new head-fier and have had some fun reading through this T90 tread.
 
For the best couple years I've, for the most part, been into Grado - which, I still love. But, I love headphones in general and I've sort of forced myself to move outside of the Grado line a bit and experience new things. After hours and hours of research and reading, I've decided the T90 would be a really good way to break into a new sound.
 
I received my T90s today and I'm really really enjoying them. The treble certainly 'sparkles', which I think is a good way to describe it. I still love my Grados (RS1 & PS500), but these t90s come off as a more serious, refined sound. The Grados are really fun - these are elegant (and super fun too). I think the PS500s still edge out the mid-bass, but it's certainly nice to have more sub-bass in the mix overall, which I'm not used to at all.
 
Anyways, I thought I'd just share some of my first impressions as someone coming from Grado and encourage anybody else who may be stuck in their Grado ways to try new things
 
Oh... and I've also learned that headphones can be comfortable!

Glad your enjoying them! Most people in the forums seem to feel the same way. I haven't even heard them yet for myself but I've got a sonic image in my head of what I think they'll sound like. I would have owned these earlier if I hadn't owned the Sennheiser HD600 just to give them a fair chance. I was pretty sure I wouldn't love the Sennheiser HD600 but I wanted to be open-minded and gain some experience with them. Going forward, I am sure the Sennheiser sound, that of warmth and gentleness, is not my thing, and I prefer something more neutral to slightly emphasized in the deep bass and high and extreme treble. I was a big fan of the DT860 and DT990 Premium, so I am sure these will do the trick quite nicely. Ultimately, with the T90, I am hoping for a less wooly midrange than the DT990, more deep bass than the DT990 and DT860 and more defined, crystalline treble than either. From what everyone's told me, that's exactly what makes the T90 such a thrill to listen to! Peace out and enjoy your T90's. I can't wait for the day that I actually have them on my own head and I can enjoy this aural awesomeness for myself!

 

[ToothyCow]

 
Glad your enjoying them! Most people in the forums seem to feel the same way. I haven't even heard them yet for myself but I've got a sonic image in my head of what I think they'll sound like. I would have owned these earlier if I hadn't owned the Sennheiser HD600 just to give them a fair chance. I was pretty sure I wouldn't love the Sennheiser HD600 but I wanted to be open-minded and gain some experience with them. Going forward, I am sure the Sennheiser sound, that of warmth and gentleness, is not my thing, and I prefer something more neutral to slightly emphasized in the deep bass and high and extreme treble. I was a big fan of the DT860 and DT990 Premium, so I am sure these will do the trick quite nicely. Ultimately, with the T90, I am hoping for a less wooly midrange than the DT990, more deep bass than the DT990 and DT860 and more defined, crystalline treble than either. From what everyone's told me, that's exactly what makes the T90 such a thrill to listen to! Peace out and enjoy your T90's. I can't wait for the day that I actually have them on my own head and I can enjoy this aural awesomeness for myself!

 
Funny - it came down to the T90 and HD600 after all my research, but I decided I'd like the T90 better based off of all the descriptions of it in this thread. I'd still love to hear the 600 and 650 soon though - I wish I had some nearby head-fiers to trade with!

 

[Hifihedgehog]

   
Funny - it came down to the T90 and HD600 after all my research, but I decided I'd like the T90 better based off of all the descriptions of it in this thread. I'd still love to hear the 600 and 650 soon though - I wish I had some nearby head-fiers to trade with!

Same here. Utah has few Head-Fi members and even fewer Hi-Fi shops carrying headphones (read that as ze-ro). I can try to answer to the best of my ability what the Sennheiser HD600 might sound like to you and the HD650 since I demoed it extensively. The HD600 isn't as veiled as people make it out to be. The midrange is the epitome of neutral, so clean, open, and precise that I prefer its midrange to that of HD800's. If you want perfect tonal quality in a headphone, I really don't know of any contenders. The bass is also neutral besides a very slight 2 decibel raise in the upper bass (100 Hz - 200 Hz), which gives it a very, very slight romantic sound and adds good warmth, and a 5 decibel drop in the deep bass (40 Hz - 20 Hz). The treble reaches high but needs a bright source to come to its own, as there is a 7 decibel drop beyond 10 KHz and everything after 6 KHz is also shelved by 2 decibels or so. It's ever so slightly warm which allows for extremely loud volumes with pesky recordings while still being a great all-arounder. The HD650 takes this idea of warmth a step further, for better and for worse. In the bass, there is no longer a bass roll-off essentially but instead that upper bass I was telling you about has now inflated to a 3 to 4 decibel boost. The midrange also develops a veiled quality because of the excessive warmth. In the high-end, the treble drop is now 10 decibels and 4 decibels. This works great and all for modern music that has been overly processed and the bass is great for rap, dubstep, R&B, dance and trance. It's just a bit slow and veiled with anything else and starts to struggle when any really technical music is being played and involves more than one or two instruments. Luckily, the HD650 is not as slow and veiled as the HD555 and it doesn't have that headphone's grainy sound, either. HD650 just goes slightly too far to the extreme to be a good recommendation.

 

[ToothyCow]

 
I can try to answer to the best of my ability what the Sennheiser HD600 might sound like to you and the HD650 since I demoed it extensively.

 
Wow, thanks for the explanation. That's great!

 

[DangerToast]

Hi All! I'm a fairly new head-fier and have had some fun reading through this T90 tread.

For the best couple years I've, for the most part, been into Grado - which, I still love. But, I love headphones in general and I've sort of forced myself to move outside of the Grado line a bit and experience new things. After hours and hours of research and reading, I've decided the T90 would be a really good way to break into a new sound.

I received my T90s today and I'm really really enjoying them. The treble certainly 'sparkles', which I think is a good way to describe it. I still love my Grados (RS1 & PS500), but these t90s come off as a more serious, refined sound. The Grados are really fun - these are elegant (and super fun too). I think the PS500s still edge out the mid-bass, but it's certainly nice to have more sub-bass in the mix overall, which I'm not used to at all.

Anyways, I thought I'd just share some of my first impressions as someone coming from Grado and encourage anybody else who may be stuck in their Grado ways to try new things

Oh... and I've also learned that headphones can be comfortable!

I love my T90 but I'm intrigued with the rs1, which I've only heard once. Mind giving a little more detail on how they compare?

 

[Hifihedgehog]

I love my T90 but I'm intrigued with the rs1, which I've only heard once. Mind giving a little more detail on how they compare?

I remember kinda liking the RS2. I'll love hearing this comparison.

 

[ToothyCow]

I love my T90 but I'm intrigued with the rs1, which I've only heard once. Mind giving a little more detail on how they compare?

 
I'll try the best I can with only a little bit of time with T90. I actually haven't had my RS1es very long either, but got a lot of listening in.
 
Let's start with Bass. I've read a lot about people write about bass, generally, in a way I think I've misunderstood. Many people complain about the bass response of Grados and I never understood that. I think I thought of bass as sort of an add on to the music. Like, only something you need if you're listening to hip hop or electronic music (which I do rarely). So, I sort of wrote it off as something that didn't interest me much. It's also worth noting - when I talk about bass, I mostly mean sub bass. The type of bass that you can tell is void from Grados response curves. The mid bass is actually pretty decent and punchy on Grados - especially on the PS500. (No experience with the PS1000)
 
Then enters the T90s. Wow... I was missing a lot in many songs I love and enjoy. There are entire sub bass parts that I just never knew existed. And, the quality of the bass all around on these T90s is just amazing.
 
So, there's some specifics on the T90 bass vs the general Grado sound. To me, the RS1s are just a sort of high quality archetype of the Grado house sound. I have a pair of MS1i's that I like and they get me about 85% of the way to the RS1. They're great phones, but after I heard the T90s, I could tell they were just on another level. Or, perhaps for another purpose. I know we all shy away from saying one headphone is better than another (they're just different, right?) But, I can't help to have the opinion that the T90s are just an altogether better headphone in many ways. I continue to think this is a great upgrade path for folks who want to experience headphones outside of the Grado line. You can have your nice sparkling, high res highs that Grado listers are used to, and then benefit in every other aspect of the listening experience at the same time.
 
With all that said - I still think the PS500s are something really special in the Grado line. Everybody needs to give those a listen.
 
Anyways - maybe that helps shed some light. I know I didn't talk too much about the specifics of the RS1s, but I'm not great at translating sound into words as some of you can. 

 

[DangerToast]

I'll try the best I can with only a little bit of time with T90. I actually haven't had my RS1es very long either, but got a lot of listening in.

Let's start with Bass. I've read a lot about people write about bass, generally, in a way I think I've misunderstood. Many people complain about the bass response of Grados and I never understood that. I think I thought of bass as sort of an add on to the music. Like, only something you need if you're listening to hip hop or electronic music (which I do rarely). So, I sort of wrote it off as something that didn't interest me much. It's also worth noting - when I talk about bass, I mostly mean sub bass. The type of bass that you can tell is void from Grados response curves. The mid bass is actually pretty decent and punchy on Grados - especially on the PS500. (No experience with the PS1000)

Then enters the T90s. Wow... I was missing a lot in many songs I love and enjoy. There are entire sub bass parts that I just never knew existed. And, the quality of the bass all around on these T90s is just amazing.

So, there's some specifics on the T90 bass vs the general Grado sound. To me, the RS1s are just a sort of high quality archetype of the Grado house sound. I have a pair of MS1i's that I like and they get me about 85% of the way to the RS1. They're great phones, but after I heard the T90s, I could tell they were just on another level. Or, perhaps for another purpose. I know we all shy away from saying one headphone is better than another (they're just different, right?) But, I can't help to have the opinion that the T90s are just an altogether better headphone in many ways. I continue to think this is a great upgrade path for folks who want to experience headphones outside of the Grado line. You can have your nice sparkling, high res highs that Grado listers are used to, and then benefit in every other aspect of the listening experience at the same time.

With all that said - I still think the PS500s are something really special in the Grado line. Everybody needs to give those a listen.

Anyways - maybe that helps shed some light. I know I didn't talk too much about the specifics of the RS1s, but I'm not great at translating sound into words as some of you can. 

Thanks! Now I gotta go hear that ps500!

 

[jamesng45678]

The T90 headphones pairs very well with Lehmann audio BCL as both of them are a match made in heaven. Most importantly, feed the Lehmann amplifier with a wonderful source and upgrade the power cord of the amplifier. The T90 will turn into such a wonderful headphone.  

 

[plakat]

  The T90 headphones pairs very well with Lehmann audio BCL as both of them are a match made in heaven. Most importantly, feed the Lehmann amplifier with a wonderful source and upgrade the power cord of the amplifier. The T90 will turn into such a wonderful headphone.  

The source makes a difference, the power cable not...
I have yet to hear the BCL with any Beyerdynamic, had them only with the K812 so far.

 

[jamesng45678]

 
The source makes a difference, the power cable not...
I have yet to hear the BCL with any Beyerdynamic, had them only with the K812 so far.

The power cable does make a huge difference to noise floor and details.

 

[plakat]

  The power cable does make a huge difference to noise floor and details.

No. And I'm not going to discuss something like that any further. If you believe that -- fine. But don't talk others into buying expensive power cables.

 

[adydula]

I have NEVER heard HUGE differences with different power cords.....OMG.
 
A.

 

[PETEREK]

It's kind of odd that these are called T90's and not T80's really. The structure of the insides of the cups is identical to the DT880, not the DT990. I wonder what made them call it the T90.