[emericanchaos]

i consider myself a noob still and as such i'm still looking for my sort of sound signature. these dt 990's are my first and only experience with true hi-fi headphones. that being the case i'm going to review these for you guys and maybe i can get some clues as to what products to look for.

Bass
overall i find the bass overly done. if i listen to them flat all i hear is bass

. even with some EQ'ing the bass amount is way too much and the response is a tad sluggish. my biggest gripe though is that it's just too much when paired with most sources. especially true with the iPod (more on this combo later).

Mids
overall this is my biggest disappointment. i listen to alot of rock and metal type of stuff. anything from 311 and more regae/ska stuff to dragonforce, dream theater, wintersun and even deicide. i virtually have to EQ mids in to get any sort of guitar sounds over the bass. even then rhythms are mediocre and leads are still lacking

. overall the mids seem very flat and the boosted bass just doesn't help that idea along.

Highs
being beyers of course this is the best bit of it all. i like the highs alot on these phones. maybe a touch to bright because of the lack of midrange. sort of leaves those bleeding accurate highs out on their own. there's a lack of breadth and expansiveness in vocals that i miss over my old speaker setups and even my old Koss headphones. cymbals are bright and swishy bordering sibilance but rolled off just perfectly as to avoid. overall i'd say that they're certainly not tinny. very shiney and sparkley. there's a certain twinkle that i love.

Staging
overall pretty narrow but some shining moments. when it comes to 3D special effects types of things the 990's are amazing. placement of objects is amazing. very easy to lay back, close your eyes and just get lost. specially true with electronic music. Daft Punk's Discovery album being my favorite in this aspect. when it comes to rock music everything seems to come at you in a big ball. no fun way to listen at all. just a large mass of sound flying in your ears. classical music is probably the worst aspect of these headphones. piano's violins and guitars all sound natural. so natural it's almost surreal. but again big ball of sound. some recordings do well enough to place instruments in the same place consistently but there's just not enough width to pull off classical

the 3D ability is very handy for watching movies though. in fact watching movies is a great task for the 990's. the staging and bass make them very fun. some voices sound funny though because, again, no mids. action scenes are awesome though. bullets flying by. explosions. all awesome. also very realistic background noises. very many times i've mistook a bird chirping for real life.

Bass: 7/10. 8 after EQ'ing but still having some timbre issues.
Mids: 4/10. 6 after EQ'ing. tons to improve on. i almost feel robbed.
Highs: 6/10. no improvement after EQ. the midrange just robs the highs. if i try to EQ some more high mid in i get tons of sibilance at 7k on S's and cymbals.

Stage: 6/10 many good areas but needs more.

here's how i've EQ'd them so far.

this results in a bit too much low mid or high bass leaking into the crucial mids and highs but the boost to those mids makes it worthwhile.

if i could whip out a magic wand and fix these i would do this:

less bass. tighter less floody and less boomy. more punch and more accurate acoustic sound to drums (timbre).

much bigger mid range. not just in gain but in overall headroom. i would like a boost in the 1.5-5k range. more guitar, more vocals. keep the accuracy though.

highs need to have a bit of love applied. it's like pancakes with no butter or syrup. very good but dry. instead of bordering on raspiness i'd like to have them melt into the mids more.

staging could be wider but this isn't a huge flaw as i'm happy with the spacial feeling i get. just wish classical were portrayed better.

if you're still with me i'm shopping for IEM's and i've been eyeballing DT880's and K701's. more the AKG's by alot though.

please only recommend around the ear products and IEM's please.

for those of you playing along at home, take a shot every time i talk about mids.

 

[emericanchaos]

now the iPod combo'd with. i do this because i'm still shopping for portable phones.

in the 80GB classic with no EQ the bass is pretty good. still too much but drum timbre is much better. still no midrange but upper mids get a little hump versus the home setup. very dry.

highs are great. better than the home setup. alot of dryness comes with the ipod but it's tolerable all things considered. sound staging is horrible. nothing to talk about really. it's just crap. wall of sound at your ears.

again with my wand: if i could bring the bass down and shift some gain to the mid and upper mid. maybe add a smooth tubey sound that'd be great. i still think the mids mess up the highs.

if i try to try different EQ presets the mids sound tunnely or megaphone like or the bass distorts. Acoustic and Jazz seem to be the best but nothing has beaten flat so far.

 

[emericanchaos]

epic fail.

 

[Slaughter]

You hit the 990s on the head. Not really a great phone, along with the 770. Beyer comfort and build quality keep people coming back, but lack of mids, exaggerated bass and sparkly highs keep others away. I really wanted to like my 770 and 990, but in the end the SQ wasn't there and they had to be returned. I have heard the 880 is a different beast, but I am not willing to get burned 3 times by one manufacturer.

 

[MaloS]

I keep on editing this post...blargh.

Anyways. As I am reading over again what you are saying here - you are on the right track. You are looking for what you want to fix. I have to admit, you are under-powering the headphone. If you do not want an amp, you need to stick to sub-50ohm cans, but there is still quite a few on the market with that. Otherwise, if you want great midrange, put a Grado on your list (as long as you don't mind losing soundstage).

 

[emericanchaos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaloS /img/forum/go_quote.gif I keep on editing this post...blargh. Anyways. As I am reading over again what you are saying here - you are on the right track. You are looking for what you want to fix. I have to admit, you are under-powering the headphone. If you do not want an amp, you need to stick to sub-50ohm cans, but there is still quite a few on the market with that. Otherwise, if you want great midrange, put a Grado on your list (as long as you don't mind losing soundstage).

trying to stay away from grado. lately i've been looking at alot of audio technica's products. i'm not thoroughly familiar with them so they've been getting my research attention.

you guys think a900's would be a lateral move or a worthwhile upgrade.

btw, my next move looks like it's either a decent set of IEM's for the pod or a heed canamp.

 

[Televator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by emericanchaos /img/forum/go_quote.gif you guys think a900's would be a lateral move or a worthwhile upgrade.

I don't feel the A900 would be an upgrade in any way, a side-grade on some small points perhaps (soundstage?) but a downgrade on most

If you don't like your mids recessed, stay away from the ATH closed range

...also they are not portable! (huge beasts that stick out above your head a lot)

Question: what's your reason to stay away from grados?

PS: the reason you didn't get a lot of response yet is because the ppl shouting recommendations are often relative newbies themselves promoting their own can and they are intimidated by such a thorough post

 

[kpeezy]

Hmm.. It sounds like my HD580's are a more balanced version of what you like. Still has great bass for bands like Daft Punk, but good mids as well. I would like a little more in the highs, but then again, I love me some Grados

IEM's are going to kill your soundstage

I've only tried the ER6i's and UM1's and I'm still leaning toward the ER6i's but I may still be adjusting. ER6i's have amazing detail and great highs and mids, but definite lack of quantity in the low end. UM1's are quite a bit different. It might be a stretch, but the style of the two IEM's is like comparing my HD580's (UM1's) to my Grados (ER6i's). What am I even talking about?

 

[MaZa]

You really need to try Grados. But in the meantime, try DT880. They are flatter version of DT990 basically, and very reputable headphone here. Quite flat from the bass to uppermids, and slight hump in highs to give it Beyerdynamics sparkle which you seemed to like. Only downside is bit lacking power of sub100hz regions, though they can be EQed up. DT990 is known to lack mids. It has strong bass and strong highs (the V-style Equalised), but leaves mids very hollow.

 

[emericanchaos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Televator /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't feel the A900 would be an upgrade in any way, a side-grade on some small points perhaps (soundstage?) but a downgrade on most If you don't like your mids recessed, stay away from the ATH closed range ...also they are not portable! (huge beasts that stick out above your head a lot) Question: what's your reason to stay away from grados? PS: the reason you didn't get a lot of response yet is because the ppl shouting recommendations are often relative newbies themselves promoting their own can and they are intimidated by such a thorough post

i've actually moved my attention to the AD900's (open version) since posting. as far as portable goes, i don't need something small enough to travel with. most of the time will be spent sitting outside in a chair. otherwise they're at the desktop. portable specs are probably a more accurate way to say it. must be able to be powered from an ipod straight off. amping would be for SQ not really for achieving proper volume.

as far as my distaste for grado's. well for one thing i find most of them quite ugly. not really a factor in sound but when you drop a chunk of change on electronics you want something with that wow factor. looking at grados makes me think of listening to super tramp in a bean bag chair while staring at a lava lamp.

secondly, comfort. these beyer's are my first foray into the world of headfi. i'm worried that i'll like listening to headphones less if it becomes a chore to wear them.

third, sound stage. to replace the beyer's i'm going to need something with stage as i occassionaly play games, i watch alot of movies and anime and i've just learned to appreciate a certain amount of placement and depth of field in my listening.

if you could take grado's, make them a little stronger in the bass area, add some smoothness (think tubes) to the highs and give them alot of staging and massive amounts of comfort i'd be in heaven.

to accomplish this goal i've decided that the Heed Canamp is my next purchase. with that and possibly some EQ playing i hope to have a good sound from the 990's. better control of the bass, smoother highs and some quality mid. if the 990's still can't please i've thought of going to the K701 pending on comfort levels.

the other idea is to go with the AD900's right off my source and then go with a finesse amp to make them more fun down the road.

that's plan A and B. the impulse buy itch is getting me bad though on a set of W1000's.