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The DT1350s are definitely bass light. I've been using these for more than a month now and I've found the different ways to wear them to get that "seal" or "sweet spot". They are most definitely bass-light. The bass is there, but it's at best neutral bass, but to my ears clearly moving more towards the lighter side of neutral.
I'm a basshead by nature and a lot of my gear is very warm or dark-sounding. I live in bass. So I am very sensitive to changes in bass. That said I keep stuff like the K701 because I like to have variety and different points of reference.
To put things in perspective, the K701, which many people say has no bass, clearly has more bass than the DT1350. I've made this comparison over and over. It is 100% sure. The K701 has more bass than the Dt1350. Also, the DT1350 is clearly brighter than the K701. Treble and upper mids are definitely more accentuated than that of the K701's. I do not know what the FR graph looks like but this is how it sounds.
I also need to run the DT1350 out of a bassy amp like the E7 or the X02 in order to really enjoy it; there is a lack of warmth and bass otherwise and it doesn't sound that engaging.
As always, things are still very subjective and how people here things can always different. But from my listening sessions this are my experience with this headphone compared to the K701.
I have swbf's back on this one, the Beyers in general are not a warm set of headphones, especially the DT770, DT880, DT990 and DT1350 (all versions of the aforementioned -- except maybe the DT770 pro). The only Beyer I have heard that I would actually consider to be on the warm side of things is the DT150.
I also think the "sweet spot" thing is a bit overblown. Fiddling around with headphone placement for the DT1350 isn't as game-changing as on a few other on-ears I've had, like the Bose Triport OE where just shifting the headband a bit causes a huge difference in the sound. I guess it's because of the aforementioned memory pads that seem to cling to my ear properly, but unless I forcibly put the cups off my ears in a way to create a gap, I can't get a bad seal with these. It's pretty easy for me to wear.
The only way to really get more bass out of them for me is to hold the cups with my hands and forcibly press them towards my ears. This really heightens the bass response, but you cannot wear them this way without continuous pressure being exerted by something other than the headband.
Going by their FR graphs, all the Beyers you mentionned are at least as warm as the K701 if not a bit warmer. The DT 1350 on the other hand is much warmer, and it actually is warmer than most portable headphones out there, including ES10, ESW10, ESW9, P5, HD-25, etc, and it has one of the strongest bass in terms of quantity, and has one of the best measured 30 hz square wave of all headphones measured by Tyll.
But remember that FR does not always correlate to subjective experience. Let me give you an example : the sound coming out of bookshelf speakers measures (most of the time) as flat (at least through the midrange, and not taking into account bass extension beyond 80hz) as the one coming out of floorstanders. Yet, floorstanders seem most of the time to be more full-bodied than bookshelves. In the exact same way, despite the fact that my Z1000 measures brighter than the DT 1350, it may appear at first listen to sound warmer.
What is the cause of this ? I don't know for sure, I'm no engineer. But I'd bet that things such as driver size, driver mass, driver displacement, all play a role in making the sound more "substantial", something that shouldn't be mistaken for being "warmer".
Another example : the Omega II and the LCD-2 have an extremely close FR response according to some posters here. Tyll still hasn't measured the OII but I believe will do so in the upcoming future. Yet thay sound totally different : the LCD-2 is reportedly full bodied, while the OII has a lighter, airier sound signature. Not surpising given the differences between electrostatic and orthomagnetic headphones.
To sum it up : the DT 1350 is warm, and that's a measured fact. But I think that it sounds quite airy, light-footed and unsubstantial (which could be a product of its small driver, or housing design, or diaphragm mass, or something else), which is often mistaken for being bright.
Also, there is no "bass light" or "bass heavy" amp, unless it's poorly designed. My iPhone outputs a FR response that's dead on flat and I suppose my TTVJ does the same, yet, the TTVJ sounds much more substantial than the iPhone - something that could, again, be mistaken for being warmer. Unless the amp is badly designed, or designed with some intentional compromise in mind, or has some poorly chosen capacitors in the signal path, it should give you a flat FR response. There are other aspect of sound that can influence or bias our hearing so as to hear an amp as being more bassy than another, but they should still have the same FR.
This unsubstantial sound is personally my main criticism of the DT 1350, as it make it quite unexciting with poorly recorded material IMHO.
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