[mosi]

Hi,

I'm kind of interested in the Beyerdynamic DT 990 2005 edition.
From what I've read here, the DT 990 line seems to be a bit more into the fun-listening department.
Already over a year ago my good ole HD600 started to get the dratted intermittency problems and are getting harder and harder to fix so I'm thinking about replacing them.
I like their very airy signature but this intermittency stuff is driving me nuts and I don't feel like listening 50% of the time and 50% of the time repairing them.

What I couldn't get from the quite extensive reviews was the "how open is open" part named isolation. I also own some Ety ER-6 which I bought mainly for the isolation part when I'm at some lan-party or somewhere with higher background noise. When I have the ER-6 on or rather "in" the rest of the world is almost gone. Using the HD600 it almost makes no difference between wearing them and not wearing them, outside sound is seemingly not blocked at all. Not very surprising as I can more or less look through the bowls.

Could anyone give me a clue how the DT990 compare to those in terms of isolation?

 

[fewtch]

Dunno about the DT990, but the DT880 blocks a bit of outside noise (not much, but enough to help a little) and IMO is an upgrade on the HD600 in quite a number of ways. Just to let ya know...

 

[cheechoz]

Pretty open, considering they are fairly bright sounding cans!

 

[3lusiv3]

I'm talking about the older DT 990's, but hopefully it will help anyway. They isolate more than the open Senns. They are open but they still isolate a little bit. I don't find them bright at all, maybe it's my amp? They are on the bassy side of things. I like 'em.

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

The new 990 seems pretty open to me---and brutally bright. Yeah, yeah, I tend to shy away from the bright side more than others maybe, but BOY they're tipped up on top. The new 770 is more balanced---still on the bright side though---and they're sealed. Might be worth considering them. I'm currently evaluating them and will post impressions soon.

 

[augustwest]

The 990's are less open than the Senn 600's, or Grado models. I don't find them bright at all when compared to the Grados. They are perhaps brighter than the Senn's, however. Over all I find them to be one of the most "fun" headphone you can buy.

I think the brightness issue has more to do with how you amp them than anything else.

- augustwest

 

[mosi]

If I'm lucky they have some Beyer lineup at a local store round here. I'd drop by there to hear for myself like right now but theres some public holiday today.. darn.

I just wonder how many Ohm would be best to have it powered via my trusty m-audio audiophile usb. Standard seems to be 250 but theres also 32 and 600.

Somehow I'm still trying to make up a real reason to go for new headphones since I still have the ER-6. I fear I'll come up with something...something fishy but what the hell...

 

[Alu]

I found the old 990 to be pretty bright alright, and even to an extent that I really didn't like it. Way too much treble in there. I compared those to the HD650 and the HD600 which is quite the difference, and it may have been this extreme change in sonic signatures that caused my disliking the beyers.

 

[appar111]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheechoz Pretty open, considering they are fairly bright sounding cans!

what does brightness have to do with openness?

 

[appar111]

I'm actually selling my DT990's (the 2005 version before the re-design). What's funny is they don't sound bright unless I directly a/b them with another set of cans. My brain sort of "re-sets" itself after a few minutes.

I've found they're really good w/ my HA-1 at low volume to be able to pick up alot of detail without having to crank the volume.

 

[mosi]

Ehm, I just noticed i forgot to click the reply button yesterday. whoops

Well i had no luck with the stores around, they could throw truckloads of Senns, AKG's and other stuff at me but no one seems to have Beyers.
I'm kind of back to the drawing board trying to figure out if i should go for the 990, and if then standard or 32 Ohm or something completely different.

I just listened to my old Senns last evening and theyre still sounding plain beautiful, could use a little more to the low end but the rest is fine.
Well except for the crackling noises as soon as i move my head.

I tried some mp3's that are supposed to be a little more revealing in terms of details and out of some reason i can't make out a difference if the senns are hooked up to my audiophile-usb or to my marantz receiver. Either the force is weak in me or there really is none.