[kman1211]

Beyer used to have great customer service. In the early 2000s I had an issue with a pair of DT990 and they were very prompt and courteous about replacing it through the warranty.

I'd wager when they shifted their business focus away from consumers, anyone who isn't representing a business or organization gets the shaft. Bad customer service like this comes down to poor training, bad hiring, poor work conditions, or a combination of those. And if Beyer no longer cares about the consumer side of their business, those things are bound to happen.

Heck even as recently as like 5 years ago I had a great experience with their customer service. I only bought directly from them once and that was with the T1.3 which was brand new as I bought it on the release day. I have heard they are under new leadership in the past few years and it seems their customer service has taken a hit. I don't know if it's just a problem with the Beyerdynamic USA division or if it's an inherent problem with the company as a whole right now. Either way this needs to be addressed as it only hurts their reputation.

I do have a story though, I bought a DT 700 Pro X from Amazon with Beyerdynamic USA as the seller and they gave me a used pair, contacted Amazon and was able to return it no problems. But it seems it's not worth even trying to order directly from Beyer anymore or from the Amazon Beyer reseller (worse rated than other authorized resellers on Amazon too). If you're getting a Beyer, just get it from an authorized reseller with good ratings.

 

[thapchild]

Heck even as recently as like 5 years ago I had a great experience with their customer service. I only bought directly from them once and that was with the T1.3 which was brand new as I bought it on the release day. I have heard they are under new leadership in the past few years and it seems their customer service has taken a hit. I don't know if it's just a problem with the Beyerdynamic USA division or if it's an inherent problem with the company as a whole right now. Either way this needs to be addressed as it only hurts their reputation.

I do have a story though, I bought a DT 700 Pro X from Amazon with Beyerdynamic USA as the seller and they gave me a used pair, contacted Amazon and was able to return it no problems. But it seems it's not worth even trying to order directly from Beyer anymore or from the Amazon Beyer reseller (worse rated than other authorized resellers on Amazon too). If you're getting a Beyer, just get it from an authorized reseller with good ratings.

I took pictures of my Sennheiser HD 800s when I opened the box, so I can compare to other unboxing videos to see if they were authentic and new. I paid VERY close attention to my DT 1990s when I opened them, and the 2nd pair I got off Amazon was the exact same down to the color of the tape on the cables. The ONLY difference was the small scuff where the Mini XLR plugs in, and in the Direct Beyer pair the 2nd pair of ear pads had both the soft side touching the box, and the headphone sides touching each other. The pair I got off Amazon had them stacked soft side to hard side.

Inspecting the headphones for fingerprints, and hair/lint on the pads is an easy way to tell. The HD 800s I got were FLAWLESSLY clean. I don't think anyone had ever worn them before. I wore them for an hour and I could tell they had been worn.

 

[illbegood73]

I've had a very bad experience with their customer care. I bought DT700PROX from their online store and the pads were faulty (one bigger and swollen than the other with the seam in a different location). I asked for assistance but the answer was that those parts are not under warranty and they cannot help me. I am amazed at how their rigidity in applying the warranty does not correspond to adequate quality control. Be aware before buying from them. attached you can see the defect and their answer.

 

[wantan]

Why don't you just return it and order a new pair? That's how ecommerce usually works.

 

[Shane D]

I've been eyeballing Open Back headphones for a while. I purchased my JH Audio 16v2 IEMs 6 or 7 years ago, I love em, but now that I'm working from home I've been wanting a larger sound stage and higher resolution. I don't have to worry about audio bleeding out, or volume levels.

I decided to go with the DT 1990 Pros. To make sure I get an authentic pair, I decided to not order off Amazon and order straight from the Beyerdyanic website. I could have them the next day with Amazon, but I don't ever want to question if they were fake, so I'll wait the 7 extra days. (1 to 2-day shipping has me spoiled).

Cans arrive today, I'm so excited. Open the package and the box looks like it's been through a war. My first sign something isn't right. I do collect all the boxes for my electronics and toys, but it's ok, I can live with a beat-up box.

Open them, and they are in a protective case, that looks undamaged. I pull the headphones out, open a cable plug it in, and .... wait, is sound only coming out of my left ear?... tap tap tap. Right ear flutters for a second but nothing. Oof. Maybe it's just the cable?... right? Swap from the coiled cable to the straight cable. Nope, same thing. Tapping and wiggling won't get the right headphone to flutter, it only worked once.

I call Beyerdynamic. No answer, wait an hour, call back... no answer. On the 4th call I finally got someone on the phone. They offered to send me a return label to my email, but wouldn't cross-ship, even if I provided a credit card they wouldn't cross-ship. I asked if I could just purchase another pair then, and if they would be willing to overnight, or at least 2 day mail them... but nope. The only thing they would do for me is provide the return label, and if the product was defective after review, ship me another pair.

I then explained I could order a pair from an authorized retailer (listed on their website) off Amazon next-day shipping, but they were unwilling to budge.

I was very polite the entire time, it's not the Customer Service agent's fault I got a faulty (beat up box as well) pair of 1990s. They weren't rude so to say but came off as very unsympathetic. They didn't really care how I bought direct, or it was my first venture into Beyer... or seemed to even care it would be a month or more before I got a set of headphones.

I semi-regret my decision to get the Beyerdynamics now. I was also eyeballing the Hifiman Xs (same price range). Maybe I just swap.

Does anyone else have Beyer stories? Good or bad.

Edit:
Commented Updates #2 and #3 below, as well as comparisons

I can't speak to service, but I have bought three pairs of Beyer headphones:

The T5.2's were the hottest headphone I ever heard. Treble that could possibly kill you over time.

The T5.3's were beyond bassy. More like muffled. I hear you could pull out the piece of foam on the driver and get treble back, but how much? I gave up and sold them.

Then I went on to the DT880, 600 Ohm. Took a lot of power to drive and nothing special to me. HUGE bang for the buck, but so what.

Done with Beyer forever.

 

[kman1211]

I can't speak to service, but I have bought three pairs of Beyer headphones:

The T5.2's were the hottest headphone I ever heard. Treble that could possibly kill you over time.

The T5.3's were beyond bassy. More like muffled. I hear you could pull out the piece of foam on the driver and get treble back, but how much? I gave up and sold them.

Then I went on to the DT880, 600 Ohm. Took a lot of power to drive and nothing special to me. HUGE bang for the buck, but so what.

Done with Beyer forever.

Honestly Beyers are hit or miss. I've disliked/were annoyed with half of them I bought. No idea on the T5.2 as I never heard them, I didn't find the T5.3 that bassy but I wear glasses which hurts the seal. The DT 880 is good for the price but never loved them. My favorite modern Beyers are the Amiron Home and the T1.2 and T1.3.

Though the best Beyer I've heard to my ears is a modified DT 480, which has some of the best mids I ever heard and never had another headphone that connects me to the music like this one. Consistently sends tingles down the spine with the beauty of it's vocals and sound.

Honestly didn't truly love any Beyers until I owned the DT 480 and the Amiron Home. I was more of an AKG guy until then, the death of Austrian AKG was quite upsetting for me.

Service, I never had problems with Beyer. But I do gather they are under new management and there seems to be some issues with them recently some reason. I am worried about the direction Beyer is likely taking though.

 

[Shane D]

Honestly Beyers are hit or miss. I've disliked/were annoyed with half of them I bought. No idea on the T5.2 as I never heard them, I didn't find the T5.3 that bassy but I wear glasses which hurts the seal. The DT 880 is good for the price but never loved them. My favorite modern Beyers are the Amiron Home and the T1.2 and T1.3.

Though the best Beyer I've heard to my ears is a modified DT 480, which has some of the best mids I ever heard and never had another headphone that connects me to the music like this one. Consistently sends tingles down the spine with the beauty of it's vocals and sound.

Honestly didn't truly love any Beyers until I owned the DT 480 and the Amiron Home. I was more of an AKG guy until then, the death of Austrian AKG was quite upsetting for me.

Service, I never had problems with Beyer. But I do gather they are under new management and there seems to be some issues with them recently some reason. I am worried about the direction Beyer is likely taking though.

I forgot to mention that I had to return my DT880's to Thonann Europe to get them fixed. It took a long time, but was fine afterwards.

 

[FritzS]

Honestly didn't truly love any Beyers until I owned the DT 480 and the Amiron Home. I was more of an AKG guy until then, the death of Austrian AKG was quite upsetting for me.

Now I have the Beyer DT1990 Pro here. Better than I thought!
I know a lot of headphones and was curious how a Beyerdynamic sounds, I've never had a Beyer before, it was a "blind spot".
Wearing comfort also better than I thought - you often hear that Beyers are too tight, but that's not true.
Workmanship OK.
Sound - sometimes the Beyer peak at ~8kHz is quietly noticeable. But this is very much related to the previous mix.
For the music players, I tried AUParametricEQ on the Mac. This can be used to attenuate it on music tracks where it is distracting.
You can also build the filter as diyaudioheaven describes.
Now I hear without any filtering.

T1.3 is one headphone I want to hear - and Denon AH-D7200 & AD-D9200 too.

 

[kman1211]

Now I have the Beyer DT1990 Pro here. Better than I thought!
I know a lot of headphones and was curious how a Beyerdynamic sounds, I've never had a Beyer before, it was a "blind spot".
Wearing comfort also better than I thought - you often hear that Beyers are too tight, but that's not true.
Workmanship OK.
Sound - sometimes the Beyer peak at ~8kHz is quietly noticeable. But this is very much related to the previous mix.
For the music players, I tried AUParametricEQ on the Mac. This can be used to attenuate it on music tracks where it is distracting.
You can also build the filter as diyaudioheaven describes.
Now I hear without any filtering.

T1.3 is one headphone I want to hear - and Denon AH-D7200 & AD-D9200 too.

I like the DT 1990, the peak was bothersome for me but has a lot going for it, while not my absolute favorites it’s high on the list of Beyers for me. Hope to listen to it again sometime on different gear. The T1.3 is a completely different animal than the DT 1990 and quite divisive among audiophiles due to its unique tuning. The T1.3 is a very warm sounding headphone with relaxed upper mids. Very gear dependent as well despite its low impedance.

 

[csch92]

i have my dt 1770 pro since release and they still work like a charm. today the 660s 2 is my favorite open back and the 1770 my favorite closed back only thing i have to change is the headleather but not sure how

 

[FritzS]

Now I change the DT1990 pads from Balanced to Analytical - and it's now almost a new headphone - even outperforms the K812 for me. Only with very few pieces of music do you have to activate a filter 8kHz, -5dB, Q2.8.