beyerdynamic DT 1990 PRO Open Studio Reference Headphones

so i saw these on sale on amazon and thought no time like the present to buy a pair being i have had my eyes on them for a good while.Buildthe build on these is about as premium as it gets even putting my workhorses the HD600s to shame in this department, they have strategically placed metal on the build and very high-quality lightweight plastics. they also have a leather headband and a metal grill with chrome lettering, they look simply amazing and no pictures do them the justice they deserve truly. the single-sided XLR connector isn't great as it adds some weight to one side of the headphone upsetting the balance somewhat but it isnt the end of the world.Comfortthese headphones are pretty comfortable, they do start to hurt the top of my head after many hours of listening and the clamping force is a tad lighter than i would like but the cups are both wide and deep allowing me to listen without them touching my ears in any way which is very nice. a very comfortable headphone you will have no issues .Soundeasily the most important part of a near £400 headphone the sound. with the 45mm "tesla driver" (its just a fancy dynamic driver) these sound simply staggering. the bass, perhaps the weakest aspect of these headphones as they are studio-grade, is deep and detailed while not being boomy or overstated in any way, it's smooth and balanced and sits nicely behind the rest of the music if non-bass heavy headphones are your thing these are excellent for that. the mids and vocals are excellent, clear detailed and rich, now vocals aren't as good as my HD600s but they come pretty dam close which is very impressive in of itself. perhaps the most impressive part of this headphone is the treble and the highs they are simply staggering, so detailed with so much life and richness to them, some people say this headphone is bright and sibilant, while i agree with the former i disagree with the latter, these sound just right to me and if you are someone who enjoys treble and amazing highs without them feeling shrill or sibilant then this headphone is an excellent pick. they have a fairly neutral sound signature but have a bit more life to them than the HD600 which can sound somewhat boring sometimes especially with heavy metal music which these do a far better job with.Conclusionthis is an excellent pair of headphones, very comfortable, extremely well built with fantastic sound, for many music types they have replaced my HD600s (except for more vocally focused music) and are in my opinion a more balanced experience than the HD600, i only gave them 4 stars for value for money as giving a £400 headphone 5/5 for value for money kinda feels wrong, but these are a great buy and that's not even mentioning the two pairs of pads in the box and the two cables, hard carrying case and 2 3.5mm to quarter-inch adaptors. an excellent pair of headphones

I bought these at £379 and think they are a bargain. Given good amplification and decent source they are amazing, particularly with the analytical pads. Hooked up direct to my Roksan amp with FLAC files and Hires from my PC via my DAC they sound sublime. Bright but not too bright, full of detail, very wide soundstage with some musical cues coming from outside the headphones sometimes some distance away. Vocals lock in your head and not in front like my old Audio Technicas but I think now I prefer that. The midrange is slightly recessed in a good way, bass is extended and textured, some tracks I hear through my speakers only have sub bass on one channel with an echo of it in the other channel through these and sounds clear and defined. Hearing new things in tracks I've owned over 30 years, quite a shock. Also sound great ran by my Marantz CD6007 CD players headphone amp on high gain. They will run off my phone and Ipod but meh, get a separate amp if you dont have one. They sound bright and lack bass without some oomph. Build quality is astounding and comfort is top notch. My Dad bought a pair of Beyers back in 1980 and they only gave up in 1998, and that was only because you couldn't source the foam pads used back then, they still worked fine, these appear the same and now you can replace the cable, the sound signature reminds me of them still. I've read the reviews of too bright or bad tonal balance and wonder what people are doing to achieve this. They are quite bright but in a detailed way not a sibilant way. Also I would advise at least a few weeks for them to settle into a sound signature, they change over a few weeks and calm down a touch and bass comes forward more. If you can get them at a similar price I paid and have the right gear to run them I wouldnt hesitate.

I decided to make the jump and buy these headphones to replace my DT990 Pros.Sound quality (always subjective ofc):In comparison to my DT990 Pros (£105), there is a clear difference between the two...A £365 worth of difference? not really.My old DT990 pros are fantastic, everything I wanted...A very clear deep/medium bass, warm mids, and a wide soundstage.Without any EQ setting, the DT1990 do everything the 990s do but better, the big difference was how sharp the quality is and I can only echo what other reviews have said about the amazing soundstage these things have. I do use a custom EQ setting and for me it brings them to a new level.As I mentioned the price between the 990 and 1990 is high, if you own the 990 and are willing to spend the extra money then definitely go for 1990, they are an overall improvement. If you are stuck trying to decide between the 990 and 1990 pros then I would advise you try the DT990 pros first (you wont be disappointed) and then decide on upgrading later (when the 1990 are cheaper).The DT1990 pros come with two pairs of velour ear pads ("EDT 1990 A" analytical and "EDT 1990 B" balanced), I use the default "B" balanced ones that are already installed which have a slight bass boost which I prefer over the "A" pads which slightly increases the mids.250 ohms:- As everyone else mentioned, make sure you have an AMP/DAC to power these headphone. I use these with my gaming rig which has a Soundblaster Z installed (£75, has a build in headphone amp) and it works wonders. Games, movies and music sound absolutely fantastic...I can't put the volume higher than 20% as it become uncomfortably loud. It's prob worth noting that a mate of mine owns a Chord Mojo (£389, which I was gonna purchase) that they let my try with these headphone on my system and for me there wasn't a great deal of difference to the quality of sound/volume to warrant the £314 price difference for what I already have.About that EQ I use with my Soundblaster, for those that are interested here are the settings:31 = 3dB62 = 6dB125 = 9dB250 = 8dB500 = 6dB1k = 5dB2k = 7dB4k = 4dB8k = 11dB16k = 8dBLEVEL = 0dBBuild Quality:Not much to say other then these feel and look £470, very sturdy build and the memory foam cushioning give these and nice genital but firm fitting around the ears. They can feel a little tight at first but I got use to that and can happily wear them for hours on end without any discomfort.Overall I'm extremely happy with these headphone and I can't see myself replacing these anytime soon.Edit:I recently replaced my Soundblaster Z (I now have that in my older rig) with the SoundBlaster X AE-5 which has a built in DAC + discrete headphone duel-amp (32bit/384kHz) and wow, just wow...Using Direct HP with these headphones sounds wonderful, no EQ needed, fantastic.