[takato14]

 

  Wait, ****.
 
I thought he meant the DT990 Premium, not the Pro. Yeah, the HE-400 is probably at about the same level as the Pro, whereas the Premium is more refined.
 
Still, making the extra stride for the HE-500 wouldn't be a bad decision. 

 
Hold on, you do realize its the same headphone with the same drivers, except that the Pro's clamp a little harder..? So how is the Premium more refined?

Implementation is everything, and the enclosure on the Pro is a lot different than the one on the Premium. Something can use the same driver as something else, yet sound wildly different.
 
Note the stock Fostex T50RP compared to (insert XYZ T50RP mod here).

 

[gonzfi]

HE-6
HE-500
Phonak Audeo 232
Beyer T1
Phillips Fidelio X1

Senn HD800 would go between T1 and X1 had I not sold them

 

[Oretalp]

 1.) Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro
 
2.) Grado SR60i

What is your favorite position on the custom one?

For dance, r&b and pop mostly on 3rd position. For jazz, 2nd and 3rd, depends on the album recording. For beyonce bass heavy track album, set it on 1st. For brighly recorded album, i set it to the 4th position.

 

[xkonfuzed]

  Implementation is everything, and the enclosure on the Pro is a lot different than the one on the Premium. Something can use the same driver as something else, yet sound wildly different.
 
Note the stock Fostex T50RP compared to (insert XYZ T50RP mod here).

No offense, but have you even heard both the DT990 Pro and Premiums? I own the DT880 Pro's, and have also tried the Premium. To me the sound was identical (both were 250 ohms) the Pro's clamped a bit harder which made subbass stand out ever so slightly more, but was the sound more refined? Absolutely not. 

 

[kman1211]

  No offense, but have you even heard both the DT990 Pro and Premiums? I own the DT880 Pro's, and have also tried the Premium. To me the sound was identical (both were 250 ohms) the Pro's clamped a bit harder which made subbass stand out ever so slightly more, but was the sound more refined? Absolutely not. 

I have to agree. Anyways the internal dampening and drivers on both the DT 990 Pro 250 and the Premium 250 is exactly the same, they just have aesthetic, cable, and clamp differences. The sound is the same, especially if you bend the Pros headband to be around the Premiums clamp.

 

[Ishcabible]

Umm...you can't really compare the different DT990s with different T50RP mods. Different mods have different damping, unlike the two DT990s (unless I was misled by the Beyer parts seller when I emailed them). It's been a while since I've used either, and it wasn't a side by side comparison, but the difference was mostly similar to the Pro/Premium DT880. I actually liked the DT990 Pro more because it was less strident. Sure, the cups are different, but I felt that the extra clamp/less distance between ear and driver created more of a difference than the different housings.

Tons of new stuff came recently and here's a rough ranking:
Hifiman HE500
ZMF x Vibro
Audio Technica W10VTG
Audio Technica AD2000
ZMF V1
Hifiman RE600
DUNU DN1000
AKG K271
Rockjaw Acero
Brainwavz S5
Sennheiser HD555
Realistic Pro 50
Denon D1001
Koss Portapro
Yuin PK3
Koss KSC75
AKG K318

 

[GirgleMirt]

Surprised to read the 990s aren't outclassed by the HE-400s!

 

[Byrnie]

HE-6
HE-500
Phonak Audeo 232
Beyer T1
Phillips Fidelio X1

Senn HD800 would go between T1 and X1 had I not sold them

Very interesting rankings. Were the HD800s too bright?

**Removed a "mad" smiley that was added by mistake

 

[grumpety]

1. Shure SRH1840
2. Audio Technica AD900
3. Sennheiser HD202
4. Sennheiser HDC451

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Update:

1) Alpha Dogs

2) HD650's

3) PSB M4U 1's

4) Sony XB4-i

The AD is light years ahead of the 650, which in turn is vastly superior to the PSB and Sony's.

ASUS>JRiver>Schiit Wyrd>Modi>Lyr 2

 

[FastGecko5]

1) AKG Q701
2) Shure se215
3) Sony MDR-7506

 

[TWerk]

1) Ultrasone 900
 
2) D2000
 
3) Ultrasone 2500
 
4) Philips Fidelio X1

 

[takato14]

1: Pioneer Monitor 10-II: Immensely articulate and refined. Transparent and clear. Has the same "pioneer smoothness" present in almost all of their old gear. Flawless treble.  A little bit of weirdness in the bass that I simply cannot explain. Poor build quality and a very resonant enclosure. Reliant on a perfect seal; not glasses-friendly. Supremely comfortable; almost enjoyable to wear. Astonishingly good for their time period; probably the best headphone in the world at one point.
 
1.5: Sony DR-Z7: A perfect complement to the 10-II. Thick, intimate, bassy. Basically flat with slightly elevated bass and roll off at the very extremes of the treble. Absurd bass impact and slam, with zero bloom or noise. "Fun". Incredibly good build quality and isolation. Gorgeous. Essentially no soundstage; can sound very confused at times. Extremely poor comfort, hence the slightly lower ranking. Again, astonishingly good for their time period. Definitely the best headphone in the world at the time, and still amazingly competent today.
 
Everything below no longer gets use.
 
2: Pioneer Monitor 10
3: Pioneer SE-500 (modded)
4: Sony MDR-605 (modded)
5: Sterling TE-400
6: Philips N6330 (sextett OEM)
 
<lots of other random ****phones>

 

[LCfiner]

Let’s see. 
 
1. Grado PS1000. I’ve owned this one before, then sold it as I had different front end gear that accentuated the bad points of this one (treble harshness). Now got it again and it’s fantastic on my MAD Ear+ amp. It hits the right balance of technicalities (clarity, details), soundstage and fun.
 
2. Grado RS1i. Using them with flat pads. Intimate, warm, but energetic sound that I haven’t found executed better on any other headphone. Main issue is lack of bass extension. 
 
3. KEF M200 IEM. Comfort with the stock tips caused me to use these less and less but some comply T500 Isolation tips make everything all better. I find these remarkable for providing deep, clean bass and a wonderfully forward and rich midrange. Excellent soundstage, too. I’ve toyed around with some $1K+ IEMs but sold them. For my occasional use every couple days, this one gets close enough in SQ and I’m not paranoid about their cost and dropping them.
 
4. Apple Dual Driver IEMS. Very underrated dual driver BA IEM. Super clean and clear sound. very comfortable. And a good deal under $100. sound is slightly thin as bass just has no oomph.
 
5. Hifiman RE-400. I’m placing them below the Apple IEMs. They have a wider soundstage and slightly better bass than the Apple IEMs but the mids sound slightly recessed and hollow. not a lot, but enough to drop slightly below the cleaner Apple midrange and well below the robust M200s.

 

[TomKure]

Just bought the M50x limited ed. blue and while I have not yet listened to them for more than ~6 hours, they seem to be positioned in my list thus:
 
1) HD650
2) DT880-ed'05-600ohm
3) DT770-ed'05-600ohm
4) ATH-M50x bl
5) AH-D2000
6) HD25-1 II
7) HD280 Pro
 
... (the below 'phones I no longer use and think of selling):
8) PMX100
9) PMX200
10) MX580 (my GF uses these now)
 
Only SQ was taken into account in this rating.