[kman1211]

Thanks - that's exactly how they sound. My last T1s were also black ones and sounded much smoother. Seems like I should have kept them.

Ah yeah the original T1.2 I had sounded more like a DT 880 based on memory at least, an analytical neutral/bright sound. The blacks were more laid-back in the upper mids and lower treble and had more notably more mid-bass, the blacks reminded me a bit of the Amiron Home but warmer mids, smoother/darker treble, and less sub-bass/more mid-bass. The gen 3 on the other hand sounds meaty and powerful.

 

[SRKRAM]

Ah yeah the original T1.2 I had sounded more like a DT 880 based on memory at least, an analytical neutral/bright sound. The blacks were more laid-back in the upper mids and lower treble and had more notably more mid-bass, the blacks reminded me a bit of the Amiron Home but warmer mids, smoother/darker treble, and less sub-bass/more mid-bass. The gen 3 on the other hand sounds meaty and powerful.

Earlier I owned a set of black and silver T1s at the same time and didn't notice much of a difference between the two. Perhaps it's unit variation or I need to let my ears readjust.
I'm interested in the gen 3 but the reviews haven't been too enthusiastic. How are they for classical and strings?

 

[kman1211]

Earlier I owned a set of black and silver T1s at the same time and didn't notice much of a difference between the two. Perhaps it's unit variation or I need to let my ears readjust.
I'm interested in the gen 3 but the reviews haven't been too enthusiastic. How are they for classical and strings?

Maybe it is unit variation. Odd there seems to be brighter and darker/warmer pairs floating around. I personally like the T1.3 more than the gen 2, but my tastes always favored a warm and meaty sound. For classical and strings I prefer the gen 3 over the gen 2 as to me it sounds more like what the instruments sound like in person, the gen 2 doesn't capture the fullness and body like the gen 3 can. The gen 3 is a controversial tuning, it's something you have to try and spend time with to see if you like it or not.

 

[Jay Smith]

I love my T1.2s! It wasn’t love at first hearing, but they won me over full time, eventually. I tried the black edition first in summer last year, but returned them as those sounded too dark, too bass-heavy to my liking. Yet I didn’t want to give up, so got the standard T1.2. That was much better, yet still a bit mellow, just comfortable, very detailed sound. Slow music sounded sublime, fast aggressive music sounded congested, like if it couldn’t distinguish all the information. That was through my UD-301 and MX-HPA. Got the balanced cable, set the amp to High-gain and voila, T1.2 are now perfect through all my music. I can listen for hours (what’s the least amount of sleep human being can survive on? ) I love that combination so much that I’ve got second pair of T1.2 for my other station. That one is UD-503 with Byerdynamic A2. Single ended connection over RCA, but with A2 set to high-gain, it drives the T1.2 splendidly through all my music. Interestingly, my T1.2s sound slightly different from each other, one is a bit warmer than the other. Tried swapping pads, cables, stations... same result. They are not that far off SN wise - the warmer one is slightly above No44000, the brighter one is slightly above No50000. In the end to my ears the warmer one fits the more analitical A2 amp better, the brighter one fits the MX-HPA better. I now have two systems that I’m absolutely happy with and it’s now all about the music. I tried the T1.2 balanced directly from UD-503 but the impression of congested representation in busy music areas is there, not sure if it’s because UD-503 is not powerful enough?

Same here, T1.2 didn't wow me at the first listening three years ago while T90 was my daily headphone, I even thought about returning it, glad I didn't. It is difficult to put into words, you really need to listen to T1.2 long enough to appreciate its sound, it tooks me almost half year to appreciate T1.2, meanwhile I tried different amp and dac. The first one was Audeze Deckard, sounds warm and powerful but lack details and soundstage is just so so, complex music seems busy and confuse, the second one was Chord Mojo, sounds exciting with better details, timing, speed, soundstage is so so with everything seems forward and busy, the third one that I have been using in the last two years is A2 and Matrix Audio X-Sabre, I think I like this setup very much and didn't think about upgrade it, A2 is very detail amp, it give you good sense of soundstage, tonal balance is great, reference amp tuning, X-Sabre is a suprise to me, its soundstage is great, compex music presented in order and not confuse, shading and transient is more apparent. Since most T1.2 owner had tube amp, I also acquired old one Icon audio HP8 MkII, sounds very intimating, romantic, I didn't think about technical terms like soundstage, details but just enjoying the music. Its glad to see many people like T1.2 here.

 

[r0ss1992]

I think T1.2 needs high voltage to open up to high frequencies and to does not sound thin as a lot of people say. Teac UD-503 delivers +-12V and approximately 0,5 A in balanced as max output, maybe higher voltage could help even more to sonically improve the yield but I don't think that its balanced amp configuration is inappropriate for well drive T1. I used for 6 months a Violectric V181, with Teac as DAC only, and the combination with T1.2 didn't make me so ecstatic. Sold Violectric and keep going on with Teac as DAC+AMP. Maybe in the future I'll try something in a superior price target for headphone amplification and speakers preampfification.

 

[r0ss1992]

P.S. IMHO T1 is the best dynamic headphone under 1000$ by far. I had got a lot of headphones in this price target and under that like Sennys HD599/600/650, Beyers DT880/Amiron Home/T1.1/DT1990, some Grados, Shures and AKGs and even if personal tastes are legitimate and all right, I always found Beyers the most correct, complete and pleasant headphones. But I repeat, it's an absolutely personal opinion after 10 years of listening with all the major producers of dynamic headphones.
Hifiman? I don't buy Chinese stuff. We Europeans, Americans and Japaneses don't have to learn anything about designing listening gears from anyone.

 

[Chodi]

Earlier I owned a set of black and silver T1s at the same time and didn't notice much of a difference between the two. Perhaps it's unit variation or I need to let my ears readjust.
I'm interested in the gen 3 but the reviews haven't been too enthusiastic. How are they for classical and strings?

For what it's worth, all I listen to is classical. I had the original T1 for years then sold it. Bought the 1.2 several months ago at half price new, a bargain. Then last week I had to satisfy my curiosity and got a pair of 1.3 T1 to try. I sent them back the next day. Way too dark for classical music and really strange tuning all round. I enjoy my T 1.2's along with a few other headphones but the T1.2 is often my go to pair. Hope that helps. I have both tube and a high end solid state amp. Sounds great on both.

 

[kman1211]

For what it's worth, all I listen to is classical. I had the original T1 for years then sold it. Bought the 1.2 several months ago at half price new, a bargain. Then last week I had to satisfy my curiosity and got a pair of 1.3 T1 to try. I sent them back the next day. Way too dark for classical music and really strange tuning all round. I enjoy my T 1.2's along with a few other headphones but the T1.2 is often my go to pair. Hope that helps. I have both tube and a high end solid state amp. Sounds great on both.

The gen 3 is very differently tuned, it’s a love/hate headphone and even then may require adjustment time from basically every other headphone, nothing sounds like it. After getting used to the gen 3, nothing else sounds quite right to me, it just clicked with me at one point and I get what Beyer was trying to do with the gen 3. The gen 2 is more conventionally tuned and honestly a safer option in terms of tuning for many and is the headphone I would more readily recommend to people. Honestly wish Beyer kept the gen 2 around in addition to the gen 3 since the gen 3 is a completely different sounding headphone.

The gen 3 has to be tried as a curiosity to see if it suits someone or not which someone will know pretty quickly if they don’t like it. Whereas if one is unsure about them then further listening may be needed. It’s hard to recommend the gen 3 to people unless they want something very different, curious about a different tuning, and/or love dark and warm headphones.

 

[SRKRAM]

For what it's worth, all I listen to is classical. I had the original T1 for years then sold it. Bought the 1.2 several months ago at half price new, a bargain. Then last week I had to satisfy my curiosity and got a pair of 1.3 T1 to try. I sent them back the next day. Way too dark for classical music and really strange tuning all round. I enjoy my T 1.2's along with a few other headphones but the T1.2 is often my go to pair. Hope that helps. I have both tube and a high end solid state amp. Sounds great on both.

Thanks for the info. From what I've read I don't think I would like the T1.3. Having listened to the T1.2s for a while I'm starting to get used to them, and I'm starting to think that they aren't too different to the previous ones I've owned. It's just that I've been exclusively listening to Denon D9200s for a while and which don't seem to have any glaring peaks, so the T1.2's peaks were particularly grating for a while.

 

[Sp12er3]

I've read quite a few impressions where people have confirmed in A/B comparisons that the T1.2 Silver vs Black do in fact sound different form another. Black is a tad darker, smoother in the 5-7khz range and has slightly more emphasis on the bass compared to the silver. I am currently rocking the T1.2 black and really love my unit. It's SN is a bit over 46xxx.

I've also gone and purchased the Dekoni Elite Velour, Perforated Leather and Hybrid pads. I ended up sending the Hybrid pads back (they sounded just horrible) but kept the Velour and the Perf Leather. I actually pad roll between the stock, velour and perf leather .. all 3 are incredible and suit my needs depending on what "mood" I happen to be in at the time. Honestly, I own several ToTL cans.. MDR-Z1R, Arya, Ether 2, Ether Flow ... this T1 is somehow my favorite one out of the entire bunch. Pairs beautifully with the DX7 (original). Very beautiful and holographic sound/presentation to them.

I'm actually considering upgrading to a Z1R to complement my T1.1, am curious, how do you think the two does against each other?

Ah yeah the original T1.2 I had sounded more like a DT 880 based on memory at least, an analytical neutral/bright sound. The blacks were more laid-back in the upper mids and lower treble and had more notably more mid-bass, the blacks reminded me a bit of the Amiron Home but warmer mids, smoother/darker treble, and less sub-bass/more mid-bass. The gen 3 on the other hand sounds meaty and powerful.

I'm actually curious about that comparison, if one like an Amiron Home, would it be better to go with the T1.3 if ignoring the price difference?

 

[XGeneX88]

I'm actually considering upgrading to a Z1R to complement my T1.1, am curious, how do you think the two does against each other?

I'm actually curious about that comparison, if one like an Amiron Home, would it be better to go with the T1.3 if ignoring the price difference?

I highly recommend the Z1R. For me personally, it checks every box. Easy to Drive, Portable (if you buy a travel case for it), Can easily run and sound amazing off any DAP (or even mobile phone), fantastic sound and performance.. and now.. can be had for an amazing price (sub-$1400 used). It's a closed back and isolates very well .. and also outperforms the T1.2 performance wise (imo). Extremely fun headphone.. one of those priceless gems in my audio collection for sure. I at least recommend you try it. The "W" sound curve isn't for everyone but I personally really love it.

 

[Sp12er3]

yeah I'm hoping for something like that, as I do lole both my Z7 and T1 and the Z7 was my daily before hhe T1 came, it's just when I compare the two the Z7 fell short in its technicalities.
So then a good deal Z1R came up. I just had to bet on it.

 

[XGeneX88]

yeah I'm hoping for something like that, as I do lole both my Z7 and T1 and the Z7 was my daily before hhe T1 came, it's just when I compare the two the Z7 fell short in its technicalities.
So then a good deal Z1R came up. I just had to bet on it.

I auditioned the Z1R next to the Z7 .. they aren't even close. The Z7 isn't even 50% as good as the Z1R.. I think you'll be amazed by the sound improvement the Z1R offers over the Z7.. FWIW, I didn't like the Z7 at all.. and I adore the Z1R.

 

[RickChunter]

I'm sure this has been covered in this thread before, but I would appreciate any and all guidance in solving this issue. I have completely broke off the right side metal part RIGHT where the T1 logo is. I'm trying to find replacements for these (I have the black model, but don't mind getting silver replacements). Anywhere I check is either sold out, or the German store won't ship replacement T5P bow assy parts to me as I live in Japan.

I was in an earlier thread that you can use the T5P parts with the T1 without issue, and I'm not exactly fussy about looks. I just want the things to fit like they used to.

Any and all help on this would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

https://europe.beyerdynamic.com/systembuegel-t5p.html

This is what I tried to buy from the German site, but I got the stiff-arm as soon as I said I'm located in Japan.
EDIT：I got a hold of the Japanese offices, and they told me they'd need to replace the entire headband and everything...which would cost about $400. So I'm absolutely not doing that.

 

[Tacitus]

I added some initial thoughts to this thread a month or so ago, but I wanted to write another post to say thank you to everyone who's posted here over the last six years. I purchased a T1.2 in March and read all the posts here while I was waiting for UPS to deliver it. I learned about spare parts, cables, amp pairings, comparisons with other top-of-the-line headphones, and especially suggestions for music that sounded great with the T1 2nd Gen. I discovered Jack DeJohnette's Oneness album and Lindsey Webster because of this thread, and I think both are amazing (for different reasons) on the T1.2. I have four reflections before I go back to lurking:

Looking back at the whole thread, I found it entertaining to see who kept the T1.2 in their signature and who moved on -- sometimes for reasons that are mentioned, and sometimes not. In retrospect, you can see how the T1.2 was a flagship that certain people tried and passed on, and how various other headphones came and went in the background (e.g., the Focal Elear), but I was happy to read so many posts from enthusiasts who remained passionate about their T1s.

The general consensus here seemed to be very positive about Beyerdynamic's customer service in most countries (with regret for @RickChunter's experience above in Japan), and I also found it to be excellent. I had a problem with a T1 cable I bought from Beyer North America, and after I emailed them about it, they handled the issue to my complete satisfaction.

If you like or are even curious about opera, I think you should try an aria or two on the T1.2. The combination of superior soundstage, imaging, and especially the clarity of the treble in the T1 makes it ideal for listening to something like "When I am Laid in Earth" from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. And if you don't like the Baroque stuff, I think it excels with familiar classics like Verdi and Wagner, too.

While I don't always agree with Josh Valour's impressions, I thought his T1.2 review () was important. Zeos, DMS, and @metal571 never specifically reviewed the T1 2nd Gen, so Josh gave the T1 its moment in the sun on a big YouTube stage. I wish he'd been able to A/B the T1.2 with its great rival the HD800/800S, or at least shoot video of the two Teutonic titans together, but to his credit he considered the T1 as what it became (by 2019): an incredible deal for a unique combination of sonic qualities. I think it remains so on the used market. The enthusiasm shown by @nothemereviews in his unboxing () and subsequent comparison tests (also in 2019) was another tribute that this headphone manifestly deserved, in my opinion.

I think the T1.2 is among the last of a kind as a very-high-impedance flagship tuned (at least partially) to the diffuse field target. I'm grateful to have learned so much about it from all of you.