donthuang
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2006
- Posts
- 524
- Likes
- 79
In short, I believe DT990 is a hard-to-run-in headphone, but not a equipment monster like AKG K701 .
I am a beyerdynamic fan, listen 990 in the local deals shop and local meeting many times,but it's not very good experience, they are even not run-in at all, nor the driver have enough movement. the sound are terrible dry and thin, is this really the "true sound" of beyerdynamic's flagship headphone? I don't think so,so i buy one pair to try, and finally can writing something about it.
My DT990(250ohm) is about six-month old, 1500hours, the source is Benchmark DAC1(the gain jumper set to -0dBu),headphone amp is DA&T AMTECH HA-1 ,that is a pure class-A, strong current output soild stage headphone amp,made in taiwan.
About the Sound-field, i don't describe this in the way of "bigger than A"
or "more wide, less deep than B" , just an overwhelming " full-scaled" feeling* different to DT880 、K701 and HD650, with the impact like the music just with the air blow to your face─strong, but not brunt. The proportion of instruments size not very accurate,but i believe the soundimage size is more matter to a headphone,Listen DT990 really lke listen one pair of mini panel speaker in near-field range, just see one big "screen" in front of your face, when i watch anime or movie over my 19' computer screen, the "sound" is also come from the ""screen" , it's not the "transparent" sound-field that you can easy ""location" several things in empty background, like SA5000 or K701, but is a full ""soundscape" in the front of .
*this feeling maybe can translate to "very big headstage" ,typical diffused-filed equalization sound(both L/R driver semi "out of phase") , but have some "Bipolar-speaker like" signature i guess.the headstage of DT990 really big. But after all, it's stll "headstage" , that the "stage" lack one axis.
Tonal balance is the least you should expect to an "flagship" class headphone,but DT990 is strange infamous at this point, many people describe as "simile curve" or "recessed mid" , I am confident that this problem is just the problem of run-in time,Although the time of "run-in" is damn long to me,but i think it's worth to spent 1000 hours to a flagship headphone.
Beyer's official web site use those term to describe the sound of DT990:"Strong bass and treble" Yes, that's how DT990 really different to other headphones.
The amount of "air" that the headphone's diaphragm push never enough, so headphone's Manufacturers in the world always look for bigger , lesser weight, and more distortion-free diaphragm , i dont konw many about the beyer's "mylar diaphragm - paper baffle construction" but seems it doing very well in bass amount and treble distortion balance, 990's highs not as sparkle as 880, not extended as HD650 , but more "solid" than the two headphone, the lower treble/upper mids neither bright as K701, nor darkness as HD650, just "colorless" , makes the constrution of overtone more definition.
Mid in DT990 is more like a Myst than "good or bad" dichotomy , with different amp, different set, you may get two kind very different sound, smooth, cohesion and lush mid close HD650 side ,or clear, raw, PraT mid close to Grado, but to my best experience, DT990's mid would have some "electrostatic headphone like" features , or "more grain-free, slower decay sound" , all right, i think many people may consider this as a Arabian Nights-like story, forget it.
Bass, Bass of the headphone design is somehow like a problem of metaphysics, it's an question of "how to make we feel like hearing true bass" , not "how to product real true bass"
DT990's bass is very good, Maybe is the best of i ever "hearing" in headphone system. although the bass of dt990 can not shock your floor, but very close to natural hearing (in a regular speaker system), hd650 doing this well, but DT990 Better.
I am not a "basshead" , but i must to clarify something about the "beyer-bass heavy" Myst, Those "bass- reflex" beyerdynamic headphones(DT770/DT990) very easy lose control in "upper-bass" section, and many people like this unnatural bump ,but this is not really good quality bass a serious audio connoisseur would seek for.
Yes, the "bass- reflex" beyerdynamic headphone can produce really good quality bass, maybe not as clear as K701, but very balance in the "amount" and "quality" , HIFI or HIEND system expect for the good bass because good bass will enchant the mids, not because they like watch movies or they are "Basshead". Really good bass production will make mid more rich, more presence, and more natural.
Finally , some questions of DT990, i must say DT990's MID-BASS reproduction sometime "unstable", seems like beyer's engineer not fully fix the damper problems of DT990 , the same system, but the sound not always the same, after run-in, just more "stable", but still not perfect......maybe the 600 ohm ver. DT990 would do better in this. Even so, I still like my dt990.
I am a beyerdynamic fan, listen 990 in the local deals shop and local meeting many times,but it's not very good experience, they are even not run-in at all, nor the driver have enough movement. the sound are terrible dry and thin, is this really the "true sound" of beyerdynamic's flagship headphone? I don't think so,so i buy one pair to try, and finally can writing something about it.
My DT990(250ohm) is about six-month old, 1500hours, the source is Benchmark DAC1(the gain jumper set to -0dBu),headphone amp is DA&T AMTECH HA-1 ,that is a pure class-A, strong current output soild stage headphone amp,made in taiwan.
About the Sound-field, i don't describe this in the way of "bigger than A"
or "more wide, less deep than B" , just an overwhelming " full-scaled" feeling* different to DT880 、K701 and HD650, with the impact like the music just with the air blow to your face─strong, but not brunt. The proportion of instruments size not very accurate,but i believe the soundimage size is more matter to a headphone,Listen DT990 really lke listen one pair of mini panel speaker in near-field range, just see one big "screen" in front of your face, when i watch anime or movie over my 19' computer screen, the "sound" is also come from the ""screen" , it's not the "transparent" sound-field that you can easy ""location" several things in empty background, like SA5000 or K701, but is a full ""soundscape" in the front of .
*this feeling maybe can translate to "very big headstage" ,typical diffused-filed equalization sound(both L/R driver semi "out of phase") , but have some "Bipolar-speaker like" signature i guess.the headstage of DT990 really big. But after all, it's stll "headstage" , that the "stage" lack one axis.
Tonal balance is the least you should expect to an "flagship" class headphone,but DT990 is strange infamous at this point, many people describe as "simile curve" or "recessed mid" , I am confident that this problem is just the problem of run-in time,Although the time of "run-in" is damn long to me,but i think it's worth to spent 1000 hours to a flagship headphone.
Beyer's official web site use those term to describe the sound of DT990:"Strong bass and treble" Yes, that's how DT990 really different to other headphones.
The amount of "air" that the headphone's diaphragm push never enough, so headphone's Manufacturers in the world always look for bigger , lesser weight, and more distortion-free diaphragm , i dont konw many about the beyer's "mylar diaphragm - paper baffle construction" but seems it doing very well in bass amount and treble distortion balance, 990's highs not as sparkle as 880, not extended as HD650 , but more "solid" than the two headphone, the lower treble/upper mids neither bright as K701, nor darkness as HD650, just "colorless" , makes the constrution of overtone more definition.
Mid in DT990 is more like a Myst than "good or bad" dichotomy , with different amp, different set, you may get two kind very different sound, smooth, cohesion and lush mid close HD650 side ,or clear, raw, PraT mid close to Grado, but to my best experience, DT990's mid would have some "electrostatic headphone like" features , or "more grain-free, slower decay sound" , all right, i think many people may consider this as a Arabian Nights-like story, forget it.
Bass, Bass of the headphone design is somehow like a problem of metaphysics, it's an question of "how to make we feel like hearing true bass" , not "how to product real true bass"
DT990's bass is very good, Maybe is the best of i ever "hearing" in headphone system. although the bass of dt990 can not shock your floor, but very close to natural hearing (in a regular speaker system), hd650 doing this well, but DT990 Better.
I am not a "basshead" , but i must to clarify something about the "beyer-bass heavy" Myst, Those "bass- reflex" beyerdynamic headphones(DT770/DT990) very easy lose control in "upper-bass" section, and many people like this unnatural bump ,but this is not really good quality bass a serious audio connoisseur would seek for.
Yes, the "bass- reflex" beyerdynamic headphone can produce really good quality bass, maybe not as clear as K701, but very balance in the "amount" and "quality" , HIFI or HIEND system expect for the good bass because good bass will enchant the mids, not because they like watch movies or they are "Basshead". Really good bass production will make mid more rich, more presence, and more natural.
Finally , some questions of DT990, i must say DT990's MID-BASS reproduction sometime "unstable", seems like beyer's engineer not fully fix the damper problems of DT990 , the same system, but the sound not always the same, after run-in, just more "stable", but still not perfect......maybe the 600 ohm ver. DT990 would do better in this. Even so, I still like my dt990.
