Beyerdynamic T1 Review (V2 headphone)

[JohnYang1997]

More proof that price nor origin matter in this industry. Said it before. I'll say it again, theyre shooting in the dark hoping something sticks.

That's exactly what beyerdynamics did in the recent years. 1990 and amiron are very great example. T8ie and Xelento too.

If you look back there are at least 3 generations of completely different DT880 DT990. And the dt990 premium is also completely different from dt990 pro.

And the fact that I am worrying about Etymotic right now is a really really bad sign. They have been the greatest for over 30 years.

 

[respice finem]

More proof that price nor origin matter in this industry. Said it before. I'll say it again, theyre shooting in the dark hoping something sticks.

And more often than not, they succeed. Just look at the utter hogwash with cables and such. That said, I still like my T1 and the other headphones I have (which are probably not objectively better either) because they more or less fit my imperfect hearing, and more importantly, are comfortable enough to forget they're there after a few minutes. We don't hear everything, a curse that sometimes is a blesing...

 

[JohnYang1997]

And more often than not, they succeed. Just look at the utter hogwash with cables and such. That said, I still like my T1 and the other headphones I have (which are probably not objectively better either) because they more or less fit my imperfect hearing, and more importantly, are comfortable enough to forget they're there after a few minutes. We don't hear everything, a curse that sometimes is a blesing...

To me the T1, DT1990 was the last "good" generation of headphones. Not even that great but at least in the competition.

 

[respice finem]

These old STAXes were also good, especially midrange/treble, if given the right amp (not necessarily the original one). Didn't buy them though, because they wouldn't fit my head/ears at all. Today I probably wouldn't even hear the difference as far as treble goes (time waits for no one...)

 

[sweetchaos]

Spoiler: 31 band GEQ

Preamp: -4.6db
20 -1.2
25 -0.8
32 -0.5
40 0.4
50 1.7
63 3.3
80 3.0
100 1.5
125 0.6
160 -0.0
200 -0.4
250 -0.5
315 -0.6
400 -0.6
500 -0.6
630 -0.6
800 -0.4
1000 -0.2
1250 0.2
1600 1.1
2000 2.4
2500 3.5
3150 2.5
4000 1.0
5000 0.2
6300 -1.2
8000 -9.1
10000 -1.4
12500 -1.4
16000 -1.7
20000 0.9

@respice finem Can you try the 31-band GEQ that I posted?
This was auto-generated to best fit Amir's PEQ profile.

 

[respice finem]

@respice finem Can you try the 31-band GEQ that I posted?
This was auto-generated to best fit Amir's PEQ profile.

Sure, why not, but not today anymore, sorry, I'll have some work to do that should be ready an hour ago and be mailed (in Germany it's 20:15). I see the only compatible one is the 10-band, that's quickly done manually.

 

[sweetchaos]

Sure, why not, but not today anymore, sorry, I'll have some work to do that should be ready an hour ago and be mailed (in Germany it's 20:15). Any chaces you could make a file of your EQ in foobar format? (.xgeq)

Sure, here you go:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pu61lsvevnam9ju/beyerdynamic_t1_amir_boofar.xgeq?dl=0

 

[respice finem]

Oh, thanks a lot.

 

[The Jniac]

First, I've tried to copy your EQ as best I could (with another tool since I don't use Roon but foobar 2000 with its DSP plugin "Graphic Equalizer"

Try the Math Audio Headphone EQ. They have a Foobar2000 plugin that works quite well. There was also another PEQ plugin for Foobar, but I cannot remember what it was called.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Well, can't say I'm surprised. The T1 1st and 2nd gen aren't terrible headphones, but I never understood why they should cost 1000€.

Frankly, the value proposition of any dynamic driver cans in this price class has seemed dubious to me ever since the HD800 first came out - they tended to be better in the bass but generally weren't the clear improvement across the board one might hope for. There was demand in this price class, so they came up with drivers with a certain novelty factor to justify it (larger ring radiator jobs with built-in 6 kHz resonance issues at Sennheiser, high sensitivity through stronger magnets and tighter production tolerances at Beyer - to be fair, exotic headphone drivers had been done years prior e.g. by Sony, see MDR-R10, MDR-SA*000 series). Sound on these is definitely adjusted "to taste", not the least because they shouldn't sound the same as the "pleb" models in a direct A/B.

This is pretty much luxury product marketing 101. Merely pulling a Purifi revamping theit existing 40 mm drivers wouldn't be as sexy, you know?

 

[escalibur]

My DT 1990 Pros just died Yesteday I was cleaning them from dust and today when I tried to use them volume was very very weak. I tried to switch cables and such and nothing seem to help. I even tried two different amps, nah same thing. Even after cranking amp almost to the maximum volume was very low.

I decided to open them and have a look inside and all the cables were in place. I couldn't see any visible damage. However when I moved the internal cable once or twice soldering of white cable got cut.

Spoiler: Picture

Shortly the red was also cut. I can't believe that the quality is really this low. We are talking about Beyerdynamics here. Now I have to ask around for a soldering iron to fix this by myself.

Soldered the cables a moment ago and no luck.

Spoiler: Picture

Left earphone seems to be dead, the right one 'works' but the volume is still very very low. What next?

 

[IdleTalk]

Headphones with higher nominal impedance require higher voltage to drive, which might mean "bad thing". Right.

Does higher impedance at certain frequency (aka. "impedance peak") also mean "bad thing" and will even higher voltage be required because of it?

No! It's wrong! Just plain wrong!
(These words are the last words I want to yell at anyone on- or offline. but... sorry...)

Unless there is SPL dip at same frequency(@96.4920Hz in this case), impedance peak does not mean higher voltage need. Same SPL will be produced from same voltage input and impedance peak will only result in lower current input at that frequency, which leads to higher power efficiency. Should impedance peak led to higher voltage need, we should be able to see SPL dip on FR graph because this measurement should show SPL response at various frequency against same voltage input, not against same wattage input.

Uneven impedance at different frequency may mean bad, only because it makes headphones sound different from amps with different output impedance. Not because it needs higher or lower voltage at certain frequency range.

Never expected to see such unscientific interpretation of impedance graph on this forum, especially from Amirm.

 

[solderdude]

Soldered the cables a moment ago and no luck.

Spoiler: Picture

Left earphone seems to be dead, the right one 'works' but the volume is still very very low. What next?

measure the resistance of both drivers at the driver themselves. I can understand one driver failing by itself but not 2 of them.
Could be that the amp in question blew both drivers (DC for instance) or that the common wire is broken ?

 

[Pio]

Man, only 1 out of the 4 items I have sent in for review have been recommended--and that is only with EQ! I guess I prefer truth over resale value, lol.

View attachment 111299

I feel ya, I sold my Parasound JC2 as soon as Amir sent it back to me...

 

[Jimbob54]

Man, only 1 out of the 4 items I have sent in for review have been recommended--and that is only with EQ! I guess I prefer truth over resale value, lol.

View attachment 111299

Im not sure if many HP will get recommended without EQ. How many so far?

 

[ishouldbeking]

Not surprised by this one, sadly. These always seemed like the worst of any manufacturers' TOTL flagship models (besides maybe the HD820), although there are some at SBAF who insist the tesla drivers are especially prone to unit variation, and that there are in fact "unicorn" T1's floating around out there with at least better treble. Even if that's true, it's unacceptable for a headphone in this price range.

One thing to keep in mind, however, is that Beyerdynamic was definitely not going for the Harman target. These are meant to align with the older diffuse field target, and they generally do with the exception of the murder treble that is Beyerdynamic's special sauce. I agree the bass distortion is not great to begin with, and no one should get these unless they actually like the stock bass response. (Digression: for many years, a lot of "audiophile" headphone enthusiasts did seem to prefer this response, often scoffing at less rarefied cans that would deign to boost the bass.) All this to say, if you hate bass and love treble, maybe there is a flagship for you after all.

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Frankly, the value proposition of any dynamic driver cans in this price class has seemed dubious to me ever since the HD800 first came out - they tended to be better in the bass but generally weren't the clear improvement across the board one might hope for. There was demand in this price class, so they came up with drivers with a certain novelty factor to justify it (larger ring radiator jobs with built-in 6 kHz resonance issues at Sennheiser, high sensitivity through stronger magnets and tighter production tolerances at Beyer - to be fair, exotic headphone drivers had been done years prior e.g. by Sony, see MDR-R10, MDR-SA*000 series). Sound on these is definitely adjusted "to taste", not the least because they shouldn't sound the same as the "pleb" models in a direct A/B.

This is pretty much luxury product marketing 101. Merely pulling a Purifi revamping theit existing 40 mm drivers wouldn't be as sexy, you know?

Well you can say that about pretty much any expensive audio product.
Does a $4K Benchmark offer a better !audible! quality than a $500 Hypex amp?
Does a $1K DAC offer better objective, audible quality than a $200 DAC?
Does a $3.5K Sopra speaker sound objectively better (not just different tuning) than a $450 Aria speaker?

If you ask me, the value proposition is blurry on all of these fronts, even on the speaker side.
Would we be able to ABX a Sopra from an Aria if both were EQ'd to the same target?

At some point, you will be paying for fancier looks, pride of ownership, exotic materials and your brain will trick you into "this sounds so much better!" when the real differences are barely audible at best.

 

[zepplock]

And the dt990 premium is also completely different from dt990 pro.

Can you please clarify? Is it 600ohm vs 250/80 distinction?

 

[Jimbob54]

Not surprised by this one, sadly. These always seemed like the worst of any manufacturers' TOTL flagship models (besides maybe the HD820)

Well, the AKG 812/872 get widely panned too - I'd love to see those on the bench. Whether they are objectively better/ worse than these, the HD820 etc is not saying much either way. But they will be better than the Abyss

I find it fascinating that the Harman family can produce some ToTL cans seemingly oblivious to Dr Olive and co's efforts in the other room.

 

[NDRQ]

But you liked them before so they can't be all that bad

People also like cigarette, while we all know that those things are really really bad.

These measurements are similar like the medical researches, where you can see the actual truth. Just because you love stg, it doesnt mean that actually good. Easy to deceive our senses, while meaurements more or less show the truth. At first, maybe it wont be the same good, because its different, but eventually you will get used to the new sound, thats how the hearing works.

English not my native language, sry for the mistakes, hope you can understand what im talking about.