[samvafaei]

  Well, I was going to go with the cream monstrosity HD598 but after reading all the reviews on amazon .co   .uk    I was really put off by them, youtube reviews were mostly positive however but I wasn't impressed by the reviewers. So then I started googling "[insert headphone name] frequency response graph" for 555, 558, 598, 598cs, 599, 600 and 650. Very surprised to see that the OLD HD555 were extremely close to the HD750! And I bought them for just £60 back in something like 2004! (lasted till 2016 fair play and loved them).
 
So I then jumped onto the sennheiser website, show all headphones by release date, found nothing but 558, 600 and 650s of interest.
 
Then google searched m50x and DT990 frequency response graphs and watched a few youtube video reviews on each, read the reviews on amazon, checked ebay and gumtree. What is wrong with people on ebay, don't they know how to make an advert to sell something, some of them were just, "here's some photos of the box", that's it, just some partial of headphones through plastic front obscured by reflection and cardboard lol. And some are rude when asking questions about the advert or have no idea how to respond to a Q1, Q2, Q3 list (I had the response, "ye has all that", zero details). [[ rant over lol ]]
 
By now it was 2am again and I had spent another 4 to 5 hours checking headphones out (and amps). At this point I had enough, logged onto amazon added the "Beyerdynamic DT 990 Premium Edition 250ohm" and the "SMSL sApII TPA6120A2", pressed checkout and am now waiting for delivery.
 
As for what I had my eye on in the start (HD650s), I will keep an eye out for someone selling a pair on ebay or gumtree that lives in the UK and hasn't owned them for over 5+ years, used them every day and doesn't think that they still cost £360. They are at £250 on amazon uk brand new with warranty etc. These ebay crazies trying to sell them for £190+ lol (HD600 is £10 more NEW lol). Will also wait for Black Friday sales, will probably cheaper than ebay / gumtree again.
 
Real shame they don't still make the HD555, I did like them a lot... Well it's done now... Thanks all for the info

You won't be disappointed with the DT990. They should sound pretty good even without any EQ, but if you find them too bright and sibilant, try about 5dB of cut around 9.5KHz and if you find them a bit muddy, try a 2dB cut around 180Hz. That should take care of 90% of the EQ for them. The HD650 is also very good, but I don't think you would really need to get both if you end up liking the DT990.

 

[LugBug1]

  Well, I was going to go with the cream monstrosity HD598 but after reading all the reviews on amazon .co   .uk    I was really put off by them, youtube reviews were mostly positive however but I wasn't impressed by the reviewers. So then I started googling "[insert headphone name] frequency response graph" for 555, 558, 598, 598cs, 599, 600 and 650. Very surprised to see that the OLD HD555 were extremely close to the HD750! And I bought them for just £60 back in something like 2004! (lasted till 2016 fair play and loved them).
 
So I then jumped onto the sennheiser website, show all headphones by release date, found nothing but 558, 600 and 650s of interest.
 
Then google searched m50x and DT990 frequency response graphs and watched a few youtube video reviews on each, read the reviews on amazon, checked ebay and gumtree. What is wrong with people on ebay, don't they know how to make an advert to sell something, some of them were just, "here's some photos of the box", that's it, just some partial of headphones through plastic front obscured by reflection and cardboard lol. And some are rude when asking questions about the advert or have no idea how to respond to a Q1, Q2, Q3 list (I had the response, "ye has all that", zero details). [[ rant over lol ]]
 
By now it was 2am again and I had spent another 4 to 5 hours checking headphones out (and amps). At this point I had enough, logged onto amazon added the "Beyerdynamic DT 990 Premium Edition 250ohm" and the "SMSL sApII TPA6120A2", pressed checkout and am now waiting for delivery.
 
As for what I had my eye on in the start (HD650s), I will keep an eye out for someone selling a pair on ebay or gumtree that lives in the UK and hasn't owned them for over 5+ years, used them every day and doesn't think that they still cost £360. They are at £250 on amazon uk brand new with warranty etc. These ebay crazies trying to sell them for £190+ lol (HD600 is £10 more NEW lol). Will also wait for Black Friday sales, will probably cheaper than ebay / gumtree again.
 
Real shame they don't still make the HD555, I did like them a lot... Well it's done now... Thanks all for the info

Good luck with the Beyers! haven't heard the 990's but liked the 880's. When you do buy the HD650's you should expect to pay on average at least £180-200 second hand because they don't lose value. Even old... Some actually prefer older models because they believe there have been tweaks/revisions with newer ones. I recently paid £200 for a pair of pre 2014 silver box HD650's to confirm to myself that they were a little different. Mad? Yup Welcome to head -fi.

 

[Solrighal]

 
Are you looking for open or closed headphones? For closed headphones, our go-to recommendation is the m50x. These are really good sounding and well-balanced headphones. For open headphones, the it depends on your budget. We usually recommend DT990 (bright sounding and sibilant), HD600 or HD650 (a bit dark). The HD598 is also very good sounding, but DT990 probably requires less EQ adjustment than the 598.

 
The Superlux HD662 Evo is a better headphone than the M50, and cheaper. The Beyer DT150 is also a better headphone, although somewhat industrial in looks and a tad harder to drive from a portable source. Just because one headphone is bright (DT990) it doesn't necessarily follow that other headphones are therefore dark. The HD 650 is kinda warm (not dark) but the HD 600 is pretty damn close to neutral.

 

[Solrighal]

 
You won't be disappointed with the DT990. They should sound pretty good even without any EQ, but if you find them too bright and sibilant, try about 5dB of cut around 9.5KHz and if you find them a bit muddy, try a 2dB cut around 180Hz. That should take care of 90% of the EQ for them. The HD650 is also very good, but I don't think you would really need to get both if you end up liking the DT990.

 
Sorry, I should have used the multi-quote function but I didn't see this post until now.
 
The HD 650 and the DT990 are like chalk & cheese. They'd actually make quite a good pairing if the listener wanted to get some contrast & be able to listen to a wider range of music.

 

[samvafaei]

   
The Superlux HD662 Evo is a better headphone than the M50, and cheaper. The Beyer DT150 is also a better headphone, although somewhat industrial in looks and a tad harder to drive from a portable source. Just because one headphone is bright (DT990) it doesn't necessarily follow that other headphones are therefore dark. The HD 650 is kinda warm (not dark) but the HD 600 is pretty damn close to neutral.

 
 

   
Sorry, I should have used the multi-quote function but I didn't see this post until now.
 
The HD 650 and the DT990 are like chalk & cheese. They'd actually make quite a good pairing if the listener wanted to get some contrast & be able to listen to a wider range of music.

We may be disagreeing on semantics here. DT990 is brighter than the 600, and the 650 is darker than the 600. I think we agree on that.
 
I understand why some people like to have contrasting headphones, but I personally don't like to change my speakers/headphones after I've gotten used to them. It's like changing a tennis racket that you've just acclimatized to it. Also, if the music is mixed properly, and the headphones are close to neutral, then the experience will be as it was intended by the engineer/composer.

 

[HungryPanda]

I'll need to dig out my DT990's and have a listen tonight now, nice to have choices

 

[RickB]

   
 

We may be disagreeing on semantics here. DT990 is brighter than the 600, and the 650 is darker than the 600. I think we agree on that.
 
I understand why some people like to have contrasting headphones, but I personally don't like to change my speakers/headphones after I've gotten used to them. It's like changing a tennis racket that you've just acclimatized to it. Also, if the music is mixed properly, and the headphones are close to neutral, then the experience will be as it was intended by the engineer/composer.

Agree, I sold my DT990s when they weren't getting any headtime after using HD600s and then HD650s. 

 

[DavidA]

We may be disagreeing on semantics here. DT990 is brighter than the 600, and the 650 is darker than the 600. I think we agree on that.
 
I understand why some people like to have contrasting headphones, but I personally don't like to change my speakers/headphones after I've gotten used to them. It's like changing a tennis racket that you've just acclimatized to it. Also, if the music is mixed properly, and the headphones are close to neutral, then the experience will be as it was intended by the engineer/composer.

Agree with the first sentence
 
The problem with "as it was intended by the engineer/composer" is how does anyone know this?   And having/using only one headphone is too limiting IMO since most headphones can't do all genres of music well, but if you don't listen to many different genres then its not a problem.

 

[penmarker]

I'd suggest getting the best headphones first and then work on the setup later. They make the biggest improvement in a setup, and the HD650/600 already sounds quite good without any amplification. I plug the HD525 (their ancestor) straight to my phone or laptop all the time if I don't want to turn on the god knows how many power switches for my audio setup.
 
For some reason, headphones with large drivers (ie: HD650) still sounds very good with stringed instruments without amplification. Acoustics, bass guitars, even violins, they sound really good.
 
So don't sweat about the amplification, they're pretty good as they are.
 
P/s: If you want to listen to "how the engineers/composers intended", you'll be listening through a set of hifi speakers, not headfi. Albums are not mastered on headphones, but monitor speakers. They may use headphones for fine tuning, anaytical listening and such, but the final mix is always on speakers. If you want to achieve this through headphones, an AKG K550 or Sextett might be closer. From the words of Focal speaker designer who engineered the Utopia and Elear, he noticed when headphones are voiced similar to speakers, listeners reported that they sound thin or less bass. This is because the room doesn't interact with the sound waves to make the sound less thin or fuller. And from that description, an AKG will probably take the kek.
 
Again, don't sweat about "how the engineers/composers intended", if your setup is good then they are already happy. They intend to let the listeners enjoy their music mixes.

 

[jasonb]

We are all guilty of this...



Just get a good headphone and try to be happy. Easier said than done for most of us here though.

 

[Levanter]

We are all guilty of this...



Just get a good headphone and try to be happy. Easier said than done for most of us here though.

Any many listen with their price tags not equipment too

 

[kxanthop]

Has anyone tried out the Supreme Sound (Burson) Lycan with the HD650s? Many thanks!

 

[Actimel]

Well... The DT990 (250ohm) arrived this morning and I've given them a good testing.
 
Sound is great, I can clearly hear quite a big difference between the vmoda m100 and these (not quite sennheiser HD555 quality imo, but def has a wider stage than them which is nice). They are however on the quiet side, I'm guessing the SMSL sApII (150wm @ 250ohm) doesn't have the juice to push them up there. I hot swapped to a set of v-moda m100s in and it almost took my head off but they are only 32ohm.
 
The amp does the job, but it sits at near max volume for that volume I like and the quality I expect, but I keep reaching to turn it up to give it that little extra, but when you do, bass starts to give up and highs start to all smash (is this the amp or the headphones giving up?) I then turn it back down and spend the next 10 minutes thinking should I plug the 32ohm v-moda m100s back in, but the quality is soo much better (good vs evil)...
 
Soo (here it comes)... 
 
What amp do you recommend for under or equal (under would be better) to £120 that will power/push the DT990 (250ohm to 300ohm) to quite loud volumes at high quality?
 
The SMSL sAPII states it outputs 150mw @ 250ohm, I'm guessing I need 1.21gigawat @ 250ohm, other than needing a lightening bolt what do you recommend?
 
Alternative is send the headphones back and get the 32ohm version?
 
 
Would this work? - "Monoprice 111567 Desktop Headphone Amplifier" for £100 on amazon.
Says 16 to 600ohm range, but mW @ 300 ohms is again 150mw, so guessing about 180mW(ish) @ 250ohm (doesnt sound like enough though?)
Output Power:>= 900mW (32 ohms loaded), >= 150mW (300 ohms loaded)
Headphone Impedance: Range 16 ~ 600 ohms

 

[samvafaei]

  Agree with the first sentence
 
The problem with "as it was intended by the engineer/composer" is how does anyone know this?   And having/using only one headphone is too limiting IMO since most headphones can't do all genres of music well, but if you don't listen to many different genres then its not a problem.

I agree that with headphones it's a bit of a guess work, since there's no standard for headphones sound quality. But that's basically our goal, and also the goal of other groups like Harman, to find a reliable and objective way to quantify the sound quality of headphones.
 
Do people need a different pair of speakers for each genre of music they listen to? I don't. And if the tune doesn't sound good on my speakers then I know it wasn't mixed properly. A good headphone should perform similar to a loudspeaker.

 

[DavidA]

  Well... The DT990 (250ohm) arrived this morning and I've given them a good testing.
 
Sound is great, I can clearly hear quite a big difference between the vmoda m100 and these (not quite sennheiser HD555 quality imo, but def has a wider stage than them which is nice). They are however on the quiet side, I'm guessing the SMSL sApII (150wm @ 250ohm) doesn't have the juice to push them up there. I hot swapped to a set of v-moda m100s in and it almost took my head off but they are only 32ohm.
 
The amp does the job, but it sits at near max volume for that volume I like and the quality I expect, but I keep reaching to turn it up to give it that little extra, but when you do, bass starts to give up and highs start to all smash (is this the amp or the headphones giving up?) I then turn it back down and spend the next 10 minutes thinking should I plug the 32ohm v-moda m100s back in, but the quality is soo much better (good vs evil)...
 
Soo (here it comes)... 
 
What amp do you recommend for under or equal (under would be better) to £120 that will power/push the DT990 (250ohm to 300ohm) to quite loud volumes at high quality?
 
The SMSL sAPII states it outputs 150mw @ 250ohm, I'm guessing I need 1.21gigawat @ 250ohm, other than needing a lightening bolt what do you recommend?
 
Alternative is send the headphones back and get the 32ohm version?
 
 
Would this work? - "Monoprice 111567 Desktop Headphone Amplifier" for £100 on amazon.
Says 16 to 600ohm range, but mW @ 300 ohms is again 150mw, so guessing about 180mW(ish) @ 250ohm (doesnt sound like enough though?)
Output Power:>= 900mW (32 ohms loaded), >= 150mW (300 ohms loaded)
Headphone Impedance: Range 16 ~ 600 ohms

​Hi @Actimel, since you posted here I'll respond here but since you are asking about the DT-990 you might want to move over to one of the DT-990 threads.
 
I've had M-100 and the reason they are quite loud at the same volume is not just the impedance but the efficiency rating of the headphone, the M-100 being very efficient and the DT-990 not very efficient.
 
As an amp suggestion I would look for either OTL or Hybrid, within your budget there are not many that I can think of: LD 1+, Aune T1 and Vali2 are the only ones that I've heard that I would recommend for the DT-990.  FWIW I use a BH Crack or Ember for my DT-990.