[renergy]

I bought the Bererdynamic DT 990's 250ohm of Amazon last week and i've been using them a few days.  After using them for a mix of music, movies and games, the one thing that stands out the most is the piercing highs. I've read some reports on this here and there, but nothing that seemed to be as big of a negative as I find it to be. I'm pretty new to the field of high end audio, so my terminology is probably terrible, but I'll do my best. Please bear in mind that I'm not going to really talk about any of the good, which there is an ample amount of, I am just trying to resolve the negative issues I am having first.
 
When listening to music, the high end instruments and sounds become very harsh to listen to. Guitars strums feel abrasive. When I listen to Wolfmother, all of their rough electric guitar cords also sounds very piercing. I kind of cringe everytime the cords hit. In the beginning of Cee Lo's "Bright Lights, Big City", there's some digitized noises that usually sound really cool and soothing to me that are also very abrasive on the 990's.  On the flip side, bass heavy sounds like dubstep and most hip hop sound incredible. All in all it's undoubtedly a superior experience to my Senn Hd205's, but I find myself constantly putting the Senn's on to see if they sound nearly as abrasive during certain high end sounds as the 990's and they don't. I'm assuming it's probably because the Senn's don't even hit these frequencies, but what's the point of the Berer's doing it if it's uncomfortable to hear? 
 
When playing games like Skyrim or BF3, certain background noises are very irritating. The crickets that chirp in the background of Skyrim have an awful high pitched squeal out of the phones. The same is true for planes flying over head in BF3. 
 
The same is basically true for the movies I've watched. 90% of the time the phones sound great. New bigger bass, bigger soundstage, clearer voices, everything is better except for the small percentage of times when a high frequency sound comes through and it's like someone rubbing nails on a chalkboard, directly in your ear. 
 
My source for listening right now is PC Xonar Audio DG or Xbox 360 to my Yamaha HTR 5830, so I'm not sure how much of the problem might lie with that.
 
Any tips for correcting this or should I just look for a new pair? I have 30 days to return. 

 

[TMRaven]

I dont' think you've done your homework with them.  They're infamous for being one of the biggest treble spikes of any headphone on the market.

 

[renergy]

Quote:

I dont' think you've done your homework with them.  They're infamous for being one of the biggest treble spikes of any headphone on the market.

I did the best I could. Feel free to peruse my post and see all the long standing members of this forum who recommended them highly. Did you want to maybe recommend anything?

 

[TMRaven]

I'm sorry if you were ever mislead.
 
 
If you still have the option to return them I would probably do so.  DT990 sorta fullfills that 'one of the few cheaper open headphones with powerful bass' in the entire market, and you'll usually see them recommended because of it.  Conversely they have one of the most energetic trebles as well.
 
 
If you can still return them I'd consider doing so.  Are you still looking for 'open with lots of bass?'  
 
Also of note, the Beyer treble is very much exaggerated but also very refined and 'soft'  it tends to not be too edgy even though it can get very bright.  You might find a problem with a lot of other headphones as well.

 

[reddragon]

i have the same headphone but dont experience the same problem. in comparison my hf5 even sounds tinny and my hf5 definitely has a harsher treble probably due to the brighter sound signature, thinner sound and its iem and i shouldnt have to mention my skullcandy inkd's treble which is extremely harsh, so harsh that i want to take them off. in comparison, i never experienced treble fatigue with my dt990. maybe im just used to it since i use my hf5 on a daily basis. good luck with your dt990, maybe a little bit of modding will help? i never did any modding though. 

 

[renergy]

Quote:

I'm sorry if you were ever mislead.
 
 
If you still have the option to return them I would probably do so.  DT990 sorta fullfills that 'one of the few cheaper open headphones with powerful bass' in the entire market, and you'll usually see them recommended because of it.  Conversely they have one of the most energetic trebles as well.
 
 
If you can still return them I'd consider doing so.  Are you still looking for 'open with lots of bass?'  
 
Also of note, the Beyer treble is very much exaggerated but also very refined and 'soft'  it tends to not be too edgy even though it can get very bright.  You might find a problem with a lot of other headphones as well.

Bass isn't crucial. I mean, I like bass, but I don't want to to be the first selling point. Overall quality is the most important. No gimmicks, no great at this, terrible at this, Just balance  across all spectrums. I use the phones 4 hours a day, minimum, watching TV, listening to music, playing games, whatever. I have to in my studio apartment to prevent bother neighbors. So, I just need something I can be happy with all the time. And if I could get it under $200 that'd be great.  I was directed towards open cans because of the better soundstage and the fact I don't care if I leak noise, but it's not necessary. 

 

[renergy]

Quote:

i have the same headphone but dont experience the same problem. in comparison my hf5 even sounds tinny and my hf5 definitely has a harsher treble probably due to the brighter sound signature, thinner sound and its iem and i shouldnt have to mention my skullcandy inkd's treble which is extremely harsh, so harsh that i want to take them off. in comparison, i never experienced treble fatigue with my dt990. maybe im just used to it since i use my hf5 on a daily basis. good luck with your dt990, maybe a little bit of modding will help? i never did any modding though. 

cool, thanks for the info. I'll look up some modding stuff and also try on another receiver just to make sure it's not. the problem.

 

[alv4426]

Maybe the 880s would be more to your liking they are like a calmed down version of the 990s, less bass and a little less treble. But maybe a little too analytical 

 

[renergy]

Quote:

Maybe the 880s would be more to your liking they are like a calmed down version of the 990s, less bass and a little less treble. But maybe a little too analytical 

 
I'm honestly so unhappy with the 990's I'm going to avoid Berer altogether. 

 

[TMRaven]

Getting the DT990 bass in an open form factor will be tough with anything else in that price range.  The only other headphone I can think of-- which I have not personally tried-- is the Fischer Audio FA-011, but even that has a u-shaped response.

 

[SONIC BOOM]

I have never had that problem with the dt990s, could it be your sound card?

 

[Grado77]

----------------

 

[TMRaven]

Eh the Beyer treble isn't very harsh but there's no getting around that it's very bright in the DT990, even with tube amps.

 

[Fegefeuer]

Xonar cards tend to make them sound brighter though. I have an STX and I could reproduce a difference to my J3 or X-Fi Titanium with my Ultrasones.
 

 

[BradleyC]

Quote:

I bought the Bererdynamic DT 990's 250ohm of Amazon last week and i've been using them a few days.  After using them for a mix of music, movies and games, the one thing that stands out the most is the piercing highs. I've read some reports on this here and there, but nothing that seemed to be as big of a negative as I find it to be. I'm pretty new to the field of high end audio, so my terminology is probably terrible, but I'll do my best. Please bear in mind that I'm not going to really talk about any of the good, which there is an ample amount of, I am just trying to resolve the negative issues I am having first.
 
When listening to music, the high end instruments and sounds become very harsh to listen to. Guitars strums feel abrasive. When I listen to Wolfmother, all of their rough electric guitar cords also sounds very piercing. I kind of cringe everytime the cords hit. In the beginning of Cee Lo's "Bright Lights, Big City", there's some digitized noises that usually sound really cool and soothing to me that are also very abrasive on the 990's.  On the flip side, bass heavy sounds like dubstep and most hip hop sound incredible. All in all it's undoubtedly a superior experience to my Senn Hd205's, but I find myself constantly putting the Senn's on to see if they sound nearly as abrasive during certain high end sounds as the 990's and they don't. I'm assuming it's probably because the Senn's don't even hit these frequencies, but what's the point of the Berer's doing it if it's uncomfortable to hear? 
 
When playing games like Skyrim or BF3, certain background noises are very irritating. The crickets that chirp in the background of Skyrim have an awful high pitched squeal out of the phones. The same is true for planes flying over head in BF3. 
 
The same is basically true for the movies I've watched. 90% of the time the phones sound great. New bigger bass, bigger soundstage, clearer voices, everything is better except for the small percentage of times when a high frequency sound comes through and it's like someone rubbing nails on a chalkboard, directly in your ear. 
 
My source for listening right now is PC Xonar Audio DG or Xbox 360 to my Yamaha HTR 5830, so I'm not sure how much of the problem might lie with that.
 
Any tips for correcting this or should I just look for a new pair? I have 30 days to return. 

I haven't tried the 990s, but I do find the closely related 880s quite bright. Especially if you compare them to your Senn 205s (i used to own a pair)....
 
Here are some measurements from headroom showing the treble spike in Beyers vs some other cans.
http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=2851&graphID[]=853&graphID[]=493&graphID[]=2241
 
If brightness bothers you, have you considered some of the higher end Senns?  You can get more treble than the 205s but lower than Beyers/Grados, and with great overall sound quality.  I personally find that bright headphones are great for short sessions (and some musical styles), but accentuated treble is normally very fatiguing to me and the occasional loud/high pitched noises can approach painful. Thus, my current favourite headphones are the HD650s which I find are great for all day listening with no fatigue.  THe HD598s are also nice IMHO if your budget is closer to that range. You might want to do some research on those models.