[Jollywog]

Hi there guys,
 
Thanks for the help, I've been lurking here recently prior to buying my new headphones - beyerdynamic dt990's - these are the pro 250 ohm versions.
 
They are nice, I cant wait for the head clamping feeling to die down with the "stretching exercises" I'm giving them (read as; stretching with books)
 
I have noticed the painful treble though that many people have mentioned. I have seen that the issue is a 5 db(atleast) rise in volumes at 5-9k. I am currently using an xfi soundcard that has an EQ although the eq does not have enough intervals at which to slide with so I end up decreasing the volumes of far more than I want. Is there and solution you guys know of? 
 
I hope this makes sense, if you don't quite understand please let me know and ill try and word it differently..
 
Thanks!

 

[Me x3]

  Hi there guys,
 
Thanks for the help, I've been lurking here recently prior to buying my new headphones - beyerdynamic dt990's - these are the pro 250 ohm versions.
 
They are nice, I cant wait for the head clamping feeling to die down with the "stretching exercises" I'm giving them (read as; stretching with books)
 
I have noticed the painful treble though that many people have mentioned. I have seen that the issue is a 5 db(atleast) rise in volumes at 5-9k. I am currently using an xfi soundcard that has an EQ although the eq does not have enough intervals at which to slide with so I end up decreasing the volumes of far more than I want. Is there and solution you guys know of? 
 
I hope this makes sense, if you don't quite understand please let me know and ill try and word it differently..
 
Thanks!

In my experience DT990s need powerful amplification and high quality recordings in order to sound good. Their treble is a tad bright but also crystal clear and very revealing, so pairing them with average quality recordings is not a great idea. On the other hand they sound really natural with properly recorded albums like:
 
Hans Theessink Band - Bridges (the song 'Rain' sounds amazing!)
Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly (1973)
Acoustic Alchemy - Against The Grain
A. Vivaldi - The four seasons (TELARC)
Most TELARC recordings indeed
Tsuyoshi Yamamoto albums
The Beatles - Love (DVD-A)
Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat
Elliott Smith - Either-Or
Nils Lofgren - Acoustic Live [1997]
Kenny Rogers - Country Legends
The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble - Mr. Machine
 
Many other albums come to mind...
 
You won't believe how smooth they sound with nice recordings and properly amped
(I don't know if your soundcard is powerful enough. In my experience even a Fiio E10 (or E07K) is not strong enough to show DT990's capabilities)
 
For average or even low quality recordings you can use Winamp or Foobar2000 + ElectriQ parametric equalizer.
 
Best Luck!

 

[Makiah S]

  Hi there guys,
 
Thanks for the help, I've been lurking here recently prior to buying my new headphones - beyerdynamic dt990's - these are the pro 250 ohm versions.
 
They are nice, I cant wait for the head clamping feeling to die down with the "stretching exercises" I'm giving them (read as; stretching with books)
 
I have noticed the painful treble though that many people have mentioned. I have seen that the issue is a 5 db(atleast) rise in volumes at 5-9k. I am currently using an xfi soundcard that has an EQ although the eq does not have enough intervals at which to slide with so I end up decreasing the volumes of far more than I want. Is there and solution you guys know of? 
 
I hope this makes sense, if you don't quite understand please let me know and ill try and word it differently..
 
Thanks!

Simplest solution, is to switch to the FooBar Music player and use the EQ in it, it's got single DB intervals. Keep your Sound Card at neutral
 
also the DT 990 will sound rather poor, with poorly recorded music of overly compressed files. Make sure your collection is at least MP3 V0 quality, VBR is fine as well. To figure out what size your music is, you can view the properties in windows. If your not really technical, a simple solution is to aim for MP3 320 CBR, or Constant Bit Rate. MP3 320 is a popuular format and it's easy to identify
 
but amps aside, the DT 990 is bright things to do, to make it more enjoyable are start with trying to enjoy better quality music, quality in terms of Format. Most of the Time Music is sold at at least mp3 V0, when you start getting music illegally you  might run into very poorly coded, and bad sounding music
 
and if FooBar is to ugly or hard to use, J River and Win Amp are also good players, with nice enough EQ's. 
 
your next step would be maybe to save up for a Schiit Vali amp, it's about $130 [bout the price of the headphone I know] but it pairs very nicely with the DT 990, gives it a very enjoyable sound 

 

[Jollywog]

  Simplest solution, is to switch to the FooBar Music player and use the EQ in it, it's got single DB intervals. Keep your Sound Card at neutral
 
also the DT 990 will sound rather poor, with poorly recorded music of overly compressed files. Make sure your collection is at least MP3 V0 quality, VBR is fine as well. To figure out what size your music is, you can view the properties in windows. If your not really technical, a simple solution is to aim for MP3 320 CBR, or Constant Bit Rate. MP3 320 is a popuular format and it's easy to identify
 
but amps aside, the DT 990 is bright things to do, to make it more enjoyable are start with trying to enjoy better quality music, quality in terms of Format. Most of the Time Music is sold at at least mp3 V0, when you start getting music illegally you  might run into very poorly coded, and bad sounding music
 
and if FooBar is to ugly or hard to use, J River and Win Amp are also good players, with nice enough EQ's. 
 
your next step would be maybe to save up for a Schiit Vali amp, it's about $130 [bout the price of the headphone I know] but it pairs very nicely with the DT 990, gives it a very enjoyable sound 

Thanks! I'll try this, I do however want to use these headphones for both internet and movies+ gaming and the issue carries over into everything so although foobar might assist my music problem, it still leaves open the issue in other applications
 

 
In my experience DT990s need powerful amplification and high quality recordings in order to sound good. Their treble is a tad bright but also crystal clear and very revealing, so pairing them with average quality recordings is not a great idea. On the other hand they sound really natural with properly recorded albums like:
 
Hans Theessink Band - Bridges (the song 'Rain' sounds amazing!)
Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly (1973)
Acoustic Alchemy - Against The Grain
A. Vivaldi - The four seasons (TELARC)
Most TELARC recordings indeed
Tsuyoshi Yamamoto albums
The Beatles - Love (DVD-A)
Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat
Elliott Smith - Either-Or
Nils Lofgren - Acoustic Live [1997]
Kenny Rogers - Country Legends
The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble - Mr. Machine
 
Many other albums come to mind...
 
You won't believe how smooth they sound with nice recordings and properly amped
(I don't know if your soundcard is powerful enough. In my experience even a Fiio E10 (or E07K) is not strong enough to show DT990's capabilities)
 
For average or even low quality recordings you can use Winamp or Foobar2000 + ElectriQ parametric equalizer.
 
Best Luck!

Thanks! I'll try this, I do however want to use these headphones for both internet and movies+ gaming and the issue carries over into everything so although foobar might assist my music problem, it still leaves open the issue in other applications

 

[Me x3]

  Thanks! I'll try this, I do however want to use these headphones for both internet and movies+ gaming and the issue carries over into everything so although foobar might assist my music problem, it still leaves open the issue in other applications

 
Getting a warm tube amp could do the trick for you.
If you prefer to save some money, you can get a Fiio E07K (USB DAC/AMP) that has pretty clear Bass and Treble EQ.
 
Here you have a some EQ graphs of E07K (T-2 stands for Treble set at -2dB, and so on...)

 

 
As I've told you E07K won't extract DT990s full potential, but it does a good job driving them. It has a pretty clear DAC for desktop use, EQ capabilities, and you can also use it on the go as a portable amp. Lot of things, at its price point.
 
You can read here about it:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/643893/impression-fiio-e07k-andes
 
Best Luck!

 

[Jollywog]

   
Getting a warm tube amp could do the trick for you.
If you prefer to save some money, you can get a Fiio E07K (USB DAC/AMP) that has pretty clear Bass and Treble EQ.
 
Here you have a some EQ graphs of E07K (T-2 stands for Treble set at -2dB, and so on...)

 

 
As I've told you E07K won't extract DT990s full potential, but it does a good job driving them. It has a pretty clear DAC for desktop use, EQ capabilities, and you can also use it on the go as a portable amp. Lot of things, at its price point.
 
You can read here about it:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/643893/impression-fiio-e07k-andes
 
Best Luck!

thanks for your detailed response! this changes everything to me - would you suggest combing with my current sound card or do you think it'd be beneficial for me to remove the sound card alltogether? I quite like the features it gives me but it isn't absolutely necessary

 

[Me x3]

  thanks for your detailed response! this changes everything to me - would you suggest combing with my current sound card or do you think it'd be beneficial for me to remove the sound card alltogether? I quite like the features it gives me but it isn't absolutely necessary

What you really need, is an external graphic equalizer with enough bands (15), but good ones are expensive, more than a darker headphone.
 
I don't have much information about your sound card, but I've read somewhere that E07K DAC is a bit more clear sounding than X-Fi's DAC, but I'm sure the difference (if exists) is not big.

I suggest using E07K as both DAC and Amp (without using the sound card - you don't have to remove the sound card, you only have to plug the USB connector and select E07K as default)
I guess setting treble at -2 or -4 should be enough for your purposes.
 
If you don't want to lose those features of your soundcard, you can use both things together and find out if it works to your ears (that's what really matters after all).
 
You can always try sell your DT990s to a friend who like bright headphones and get Fidelio X1 which are darker and don't need extra amplification to sound good...
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[Makiah S]

  What you really need, is an external graphic equalizer with enough bands (15), but good ones are expensive, more than a darker headphone.
 
I don't have much information about your sound card, but I've read somewhere that E07K DAC is a bit more clear sounding than X-Fi's DAC, but I'm sure the difference (if exists) is not big.

I suggest using E07K as both DAC and Amp (without using the sound card - you don't have to remove the sound card, you only have to plug the USB connector and select E07K as default)
I guess setting treble at -2 or -4 should be enough for your purposes.
 
If you don't want to lose those features of your soundcard, you can use both things together and find out if it works to your ears (that's what really matters after all).
 
You can always try sell your DT990s to a friend who like bright headphones and get Fidelio X1 which are darker and don't need extra amplification to sound good...
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yea, it all comes down to personal Taste. I prefer very bright, and some what dry sounding headphones my self. I never had any issues with the DT 990 EVER.
 
If you how ever like a dark sound that's ok to! IF you can't sell your headphones though, do try a tube. A REALLY really cheap tube amp will REALLY warm the dt 990 up, and the DT 990 is technically pretty solid, so if you pair it with a some what cheap Tube amp, while you may lose some "air" or some of the defination and openess of the headphone, the dt 990 is again "airy" and "defined" enough with it's sound to be paired with a warmer, or richer tube and still have a nice balanced sound. Ofc there's cost for that, other wise the X1 might suit you better!