Hi all! Got a DT48E recently (200 ohm version). My only other 'phones right now are AKG K701. I wanted to try some closed 'phones, and the DT48 seemed like a reasonable possibility based on rec's in another thread. I have a decent tube amp (Audiotailor Jade) and have spent a lot of time with it with the K701. I listen mainly to classical music; detail and soundstage are very important to me.
I've now done a fair bit of careful listening with the DT48; I have a set of 3 CDs' worth of reference tracks that I use for audio testing purposes - like speaker selection, tube rolling with my Jade, etc. It's stuff I know well.
At this point, I'm fairly sure that I prefer the K701. Not to put down the DT48 at all, they're very nice. I really like the sound isolation at times (especially as I'm in a house with a 2 and 5 year old
), makes it really easy to hear what the DT48 is producing with little interference.
But they lack the "sparkle" of the K701, to my ears. There's a certain amount of detail in the very high frequency that gives e.g. natural sibilance to a voice or a violin, or "ambience" of the recording setting's acoustics. I just don't get as much of that with the DT48, and as such the soundstage is a little more flat, voices and instruments don't "pop" as much.
Now, having said that, I look forward to actually going back and reading this thread.
I very deliberately did not want to read all this before I did my own comparison, in order to avoid any biasing.
Y'all can flame away if you like, I won't be bothered.
And I'm open to discussion. But I will say that so far the DT48 is the best I've heard next to the K701, though my budget doesn't allow me to try the really higher end stuff, like Denon 7000 or ATH w5000 or others of that level. Someday...
Anyone want to buy a lightly used DT48E?