[Minjaben]

Dear Head-Fiers,
I have owned and enjoyed my DT-150s for over a year now, going from a pair of Audio Technica ATH-A900s and enjoying the more neutral, analytical, and revealing Beyers. 
They have a great, very neutral, balanced sound with an accurate, relatively uncolored (if slightly dark) presentation of almost all kinds of music. They sound very tight and precise.
Great bass, non-sibilant, yet present highs, and accurate midrange. The problem is, I wish the mids were more liquid, for lack of a better term. The DT-150s are so analytical that I feel a lot of the musicality and emotion is lost. Are there any closed-back headphones that will retain the same level of detail and neutrality in sound while also being more expressive in the midrange, and have liquid, lifelike sound as well as being accurate and (somewhat) revealing?
 
I would characterize the DT-150's sound as somewhat dry, whereas the ATH-A900 has what I would describe as liquid highs (but colored/weird lower-midrange and relatively anemic/subdued bass in comparison to the DT-150). I also like the airer soundstage of the ATH-A900 over the darker, more cave-like soundstage of the Beyers (although the depth of the 150's soundstage is exceptional).
 
The 150s are great to mix on because they really reveal parts of the track that sound odd, but for pure listening enjoyment they don't quite have the "wow" beautiful factor I am looking for.
 
I usually run my phones out of my Apogee One connected to my Macbook Pro, or my iPod (which drives them just fine).
 
Opinions on the Denon D5000s, for example? Or something a step up, but not ridiculously expensive?
 
Thanks a bunch!
 
-Ben

 

[joelpearce]

Have you tried getting a pair of Velour DT100 pads to put on your 150s?  From what people have said, that changes the sound in exactly the way you're looking for.

 

[Tiemen]

Coming from a DT150, for a while I was enjoying the closed back DT880.
See: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/424842/beyerdynamic-dt880-closed-back
But the grating sibilance made me sell them.
I bought a DT150 again and still have them.
The only headphones in my possession that beats the DT150 are the ZMF.

 

[abhishekSPS]

sorry for bumping this old thread
@ joelpearce
i see in your signature u have DT190... i assume they are beyerdynamic DT190s...could u please confirm if they sound exactly same as DT150s. other than mic functionality what difference do they have??

 

[Savant]

Coming from a DT150, for a while I was enjoying the closed back DT880.
See: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/424842/beyerdynamic-dt880-closed-back
But the grating sibilance made me sell them.
I bought a DT150 again and still have them.
The only headphones in my possession that beats the DT150 are the ZMF.

Old thread, but... The DT880 is not a closed back, but rather a Semi-open design....

 

[Tiemen]

Old thread, but... The DT880 is not a closed back, but rather a Semi-open design....

 
True, but there is a mod to make them closed back, see http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/424842/beyerdynamic-dt880-closed-back
In my post I was referring to that modded and thus closed back DT880.

 

[Savant]

True, but there is a mod to make them closed back, see http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/424842/beyerdynamic-dt880-closed-back
In my post I was referring to that modded and thus closed back DT880.

Ah, sorry. I haven't actually opened the link. Seems interesting... :blink:

 

[Darkimmortal]

  sorry for bumping this old thread
@ joelpearce
i see in your signature u have DT190... i assume they are beyerdynamic DT190s...could u please confirm if they sound exactly same as DT150s. other than mic functionality what difference do they have??

 
I own both a DT190 and a DT150
 
Sound, build, etc. are absolutely identical
 
DT190 is noticeably heavier due to the thicker cable and mic

 

[jdpark]

Wow, it's amazing that no one really had a good recommendation for an upgrade (which is what I interpret 'improvement' to mean here). 
 
I'm using the DT150 on pretty good gear, and wondering if I could get more realistic timbre and bass texture like with Grados and slightly warmer, more liquidy mids as well.
 
I have the Linear Black Cube and HRT HD with external power supply (Audiovox). They produce a very clear, fast, and detailed sound, with slightly warm highs and lows, but cool-ish mids. Sometimes I miss my Fiio 10 which I gave to my brother along with my Beyerdynamic 990 Pros. That Fiio gear had really nice mids, which actually brought out vocals a lot, and now I sort of regret the give-away. 
 
Maybe the gear is off, or maybe I just have upgrad-itis, but I'm wondering how to up the emotion and acoustic timbre just a bit. For instance, when I listen to my 10+ year ole Grado SR80s I hear stringed instruments like violins, cellos and the double bass with a more visceral vibration that sounds more 'real' to me than on the DT150s. Too bad they are a bit fatiguing and way to forward for highly complex music with a larger stage.

 

[Tiemen]

  Wow, it's amazing that no one really had a good recommendation for an upgrade (which is what I interpret 'improvement' to mean here). 
 
I'm using the DT150 on pretty good gear, and wondering if I could get more realistic timbre and bass texture like with Grados and slightly warmer, more liquidy mids as well.
 
I have the Linear Black Cube and HRT HD with external power supply (Audiovox). They produce a very clear, fast, and detailed sound, with slightly warm highs and lows, but cool-ish mids. Sometimes I miss my Fiio 10 which I gave to my brother along with my Beyerdynamic 990 Pros. That Fiio gear had really nice mids, which actually brought out vocals a lot, and now I sort of regret the give-away. 
 
Maybe the gear is off, or maybe I just have upgrad-itis, but I'm wondering how to up the emotion and acoustic timbre just a bit. For instance, when I listen to my 10+ year ole Grado SR80s I hear stringed instruments like violins, cellos and the double bass with a more visceral vibration that sounds more 'real' to me than on the DT150s. Too bad they are a bit fatiguing and way to forward for highly complex music with a larger stage.

 
You could try a Planar Magnetic. For me the ZMF does what you describe better than the DT150.

 

[willyvlyminck]

This is a very intresting discussion. It makes me wonder if we are today looking much more at the luxury aspect, real leather, alu, etc than at what finally counts the most , sound? Studio cans seems to reduce the quality on where it really counts, and are therefore not costing an arm and a leg.

 

[jdpark]

Yeah, the more I listen to the DT-150 on different set-ups the more I love these cans. To be honest, I would probably not go for another closed can as an upgrade, as great as the ZMF sounds. I would prefer something that had a bigger soundstage and maybe a tiny bit more air in the highs, mainly for classical music. Thus, if going for dynamic, I would go for the T1 or the HD800 (assuming I had the money for it, and for something like the DZ)...  
 
Actually, I think the only reason I posted here was after realizing the lack of synergy between the DT150 and the Lehmann BCL. I believe the DT150 has really nice mids (depending on the set up), speed, great lows (depending on set-up), and super-smooth highs. But the Lehmann BCL has a way of drying out the mids and making them more analytical than necessary for my (admittedly romantic) tastes. 
 
I'm actually thinking about getting the HD650 just to see if it synergizes as well as people say with the BCL. I'm not sure I would have loved the HD650, but since I already have the amp to go with it, the loss of money in selling my amp and getting a new one is greater than the price of a used HD650. 
 
That said, I'm definitely keeping my DT150 and hope to build a second set-up that will bring out all its glory. If anyone has suggestions on how to squeeze out some more juice from these cans, I'm all ears. 

 

[jdpark]

By the way, for anyone still interested in the thread, I upgraded my source to an Audio-gd DAC-19 10th anniversary edition (an R2R dac) and it seems to have mostly resolved the upgrade-itis. The sound is so smooth and realistic, especially for vocals and acoustic stringed instruments. 
 
I'm curious about the ZMF headphones though, and would love to know if a Lehmann BCL with 200mw per channel can drive them. I suspect not, which means I'd have to upgrade my amp, too. That's probably a later stage.