[Battou62]

  Do you care to share with us what differences you heard between the two?  Were you tempted to get the Premium version by any chance?  BTW, how does your O2 match up with it in comparison.  I hope to get my DT990 Pros this week. 

 
Sure I will do what I can. No, I was not tempted in the least to get the premiums. The price premium is just too much for me. The 770's and 990's sound very different to me. The first thing I noticed when I listened to the 990's the first time was the open design. I could still very much hear all the background noise in the room, and surprisingly this is why I wanted them. The 990's have more prominent highs and the bass seems slightly louder than on the 770's. The 770's have more prominent sub bass though, but the mids and highs seem slightly recessed when compared to the 990's. The 990's sound like a more balanced headphone when you compare them to the 770's. I should also mention that the 990's I received in a trade had been modded as seen here: 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/662176/possible-to-get-dt990-and-dt880-for-the-price-of-one-you-bet-frequency-response-testing-included
 
I have not yet opened the headphones to reverse this mod to see what they would sound like by default. I would describe the 990's as having slightly prominent bass and highs while not being congested in any area. I would say at this point that I enjoy the sound of the 990's better, though I am still exploring and getting used to them. The O2 combo is imo the perfect dac/amp for these headphones. The O2 has a well documented design that adds nor takes anything anyway from the 990's. I use the 1X gain setting on the O2, and the comfortable listening level is about 40% on the volume knob. I hope this helps as I am not very good at describing how headphones sound.

 

[TheGame]

  New 990 Pro owner here. I traded my 770's for a pair of 990 Pro's. Very comfy headphone. 

Yes I have to agree! I have owned the DT 990 Pros for about a year and a half and they are still the most comfortable cans I own. I have been listening to only the HD650's for the last few months, but last night I decided to watch a Dream Theater concert on Blu-ray and listened to it with the DT 990 Pros with a Fiio E09K amp hooked up to the TV. Even though the HD650's are rather comfortable in their own right, putting on the DT990 Pros after not wearing them for a few months felt awesome. I have smaller ears so the ear cups completley surround my entire ears very comfortably, and I really LOVE the velour ear-cups, very very comfy indeed! I wish more cans used velour padding like the DT 990 pros!

 

[Schonen]

  I found them here as well.

That is a reasonable price but unfortunately USA and not Canada, thx anyway.

 

[Schonen]

I know a lot of people who like to run these off a receiver so you should be fine.

Yep, even though I have dedicated tube headphone amp I find the SQ out of both my Denon and Onkyo receivers quite good and in hindsight never really needed a headphone amp, or PC soundcard.  Some people say soundcard>receiver for SQ but I just don't hear that so say BS to them. For sondcards I have EMU 0404 USB, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, Chaintech AV10, and Creative X-Fi and none sound better than using digital out from mb to either of my receivers, not to my ears anyway.

 

[razor5cl]

To me they sound pretty much identical straight out of my Nexus 7 or Sony VAIO E Series and my Creative X-Fi HD USB DAC and Headphone Amp, with 320kbps MP3. Am I missing something?

 

[seag33k]

To me they sound pretty much identical straight out of my Nexus 7 or Sony VAIO E Series and my Creative X-Fi HD USB DAC and Headphone Amp, with 320kbps MP3. Am I missing something?

Your Nexus 7 can power the DT990s sufficiently? I can tell a difference with my Custom One Pros (COP) when using my FiiO E17 vs. straight out of my Macbook Pro.  The DT990s should be harder to drive than my COPs so I am curious what differences I'll hear between my laptop and with the E17 once they arrive.

 

[jeremy205100]

The COPs sound significantly worse with my phone than with my laptop. The 600 Ohm DT 990s are likely going to be pathetic on either, which is why I haven't bothered trying yet. Keep in mind that they might have the 32 Ohm version. That version likely works somewhat better with phones and tablets.

 

[Simcon]

To me they sound pretty much identical straight out of my Nexus 7 or Sony VAIO E Series and my Creative X-Fi HD USB DAC and Headphone Amp, with 320kbps MP3. Am I missing something?

Your Nexus 7 can power the DT990s sufficiently? I can tell a difference with my Custom One Pros (COP) when using my FiiO E17 vs. straight out of my Macbook Pro.  The DT990s should be harder to drive than my COPs so I am curious what differences I'll hear between my laptop and with the E17 once they arrive.

There should be no way the DT990 sounds the same amped as unamped, mine (250Ω, Pro) sure doesn't, or do you have the 32Ω version? (Could be why, I haven't tried it so I don't know for sure).

 

[razor5cl]

Nope they're definitely 250ohm. I think it may just be my ears

 

[seag33k]

There should be no way the DT990 sounds the same amped as unamped, mine (250Ω, Pro) sure doesn't, or do you have the 32Ω version? (Could be why, I haven't tried it so I don't know for sure).

I was thinking the same thing.  I was concerned my FiiO E17 wasn't enough to make the ones I have on order sound good.

 

[thisjustanother]

so i just got myself the dt 990 250ohm premium version. i absolutely love the headphones. since this is my first step into actual headphones, i was just wondering what are some tips or ways to keep the headphones from being ruined faster than normal. things like keeping them on those head stands, and what not. id like to try to keep them for awhile. and im sure they will last a long time in general. i just dont want to do something that is usually a no brainer for more experienced headphone users

 

[jeremy205100]

Well these are just some basics I'm assuming:
 
1) Don't drop them
2) Don't wrap the cable around them when you're not using them
3) Don't blow the drivers (and your ears)
4) Don't transport them outside of the included case
5) Don't bring them anywhere
 
This last one is optional:
 
6) Never take them out of the box (sarcasm)

 

[seag33k]

Just use common sense.  One thing I'd add, don't over drive your headphones, especially with lower quality source devices (iphone).  Higher quality amplification can provide cleaner and more controlled power.

 

[ostewart]

Just use common sense.  One thing I'd add, don't over drive your headphones, especially with lower quality source devices (iphone).  Higher quality amplification can provide cleaner and more controlled power.

Under powering them won't break them though.

 

[seag33k]

From my experience in the high end home audio arena, one of the things you watch out for was poor quality amplifiers.  They may have the same rated watts per channel, but the distortion and ability to keep the drivers under control at higher volumes could lead to damage.  This may not apply to headphones in the same way, but personally I would avoid under powered devices at higher levels.