Beyerdynamic - DT 990 Edition

Most comfortable and clear sounding headphones with great sound stage.
Before I was using marshall eq mode, RHA 600, Apple AirPods with after market silicon tips installed. Now I planned to upgrade with better sound quality since I’m audiophile. After conversation with headphone-zone team, shortlisted DT 770, DT 880 and DT 990. Thanks to team they helped me to choose DT 990 premium 32 ohm version according to my preference. As I mostly use iPhone 8 and Macbook pro for listening to music 32 ohm version suits best to me.

COMFORT
They are supremely comfortable with less less clamp force and very soft velour pads. I found them more comfortable than Pro version which have tight clamp force and hard velour pads. Used these headphones continuously for 8 hours, I’m surprised by their comfort as if there were no headphones on the head. They are open back due to which they don’t heat ears like DT 770 which are closed back which cause ear sweating. They are more comfortable than my In-ears as they use to hurt after long time wearing in ears. 32 ohm version can be used with iPhone and Macbooks with enough volume to blow your ears. They are light weight with premium build with only flaw that they don’t have removable cable and cable is also very long according to my use.

SOUND QUALITY
Initially they sounded with muddy bass with no Bass response at low end and sparkling ear piercing treble. I thought, I have made a mistake buying these headphones. But after 5 days burn (approx. 50 hours), they surprised me and got shocked by the astonishing sound quality produced by them. They have more mid and high bass with less low bass response but its enough to give thump. Overall they have good bass quality which is little more emphasise to overall sound but not like that they will lower sound quality of music. I’m also bass lover that’s why opted DT 990 than DT 880 which have less bass.
Mids are clear and vocal but they little less to my liking as they have more bass and treble so mids got recessed. But they are sufficient to enjoy the clear vocals. I have heard Hello (Adele) and I Love You (Billie Eilish) vocals are clear and sharp, hearing every whisper of their voice.
Treble is major sweet spot to someone like me who is treble lover or may be flaw to someone who don’t like high treble. Initially treble was terrible with sparkling ear piercing which got settled down after burn, now its sweet spot giving details in music. Only the issue, it is high at 8k-10k which will produce more “S” sound in music especially in vocals. But it will settle after long time use. More you use these headphones more they sound better. But I like their treble which provides detail in the music like in Careless Whisper (George Michael) and it will shine on track Dexter Main Title (Rolfe Kent) and Long After You Are Gone (Chris Jones).
Also tested on tracks like Hotel California-live on MTV, initial track bass have thump and guitar is sharp sparkling with good separation of the instruments in the background proving wide sound stage. I haven’t heard so much clarity and great soundstage in the music before as if we are sitting in live concert hall listening each and every instrument. I have also tried every tracks by Headphone-zone demo playlists on Spotify premium. These headphones rocks on tracks like Tere Bina (A.R. Rahman), Sultan of Swing (Dire Straits) and Metropolis (Dream Theater). As I’m Michael Jackson fan love to hear songs like Thriller and Dangerous proving very wide sound stage. Headphone drivers are fast with great timing and rapid beat response.

Overall they are V shaped sound signature with high treble. Its value for money, I’m totally satisfied with the sound quality for the money I have paid. Thanks to Headphone-zone team for the support and help they provided for shortlisting these headphones according to my preference and delivering me in a week during COVID lockdown.

This is my 3rd Beyerdynamic, the first one was DT990 Pro 250 Ohm (not with me any more), the second one was DT770 Pro 32 Ohm and this one now.

Build Quality - It is all metal but feather light and the valour pads are softer than the pro versions and it is super comfortable, it clanks a bit when you move it compared to DT 770 but it articulates more adding to the comfort. The side metal grills also looks gorgeous

Sound Quality - I bought this confidently as I got two warm sounding set ups both on desktop and portable as we all know Beyers are bright sounding headphones. On my desktop set up -PC/Schiit Bifrost Multibit/Schiit Lyr2 it was amazing with full bodied sound and bass that is very satisfying. For me to get the correct midrange I have to just keep it flat and no need to turn it down a bit like some other headphones as it is scooped already by Beyer to get that smooth sound, given the bright treble if it was not scooped I could imagine it could become extremely harsh.
The high frequencies can be kept flat or turned down a bit depending on the track. The sound stage is just perfect with the open back style and feels very cosy and intimate, the instruments are well separated and clear. It sounded excellent also with my Fiio X5/Chord Mojo set up and would make me want to hear it again and again. The high impedance kept the distortion levels very low and it has actually made my Orthodynamic Fostex T50RP MK3 redundant as both sounded similar and I get that extra bass on DT990 as well. The treble peaks has settled down over a period of 50 to 60 hrs burn in but I could not distinctly feel it much because of an already warm set up.
A highly recommended buy if you have a powerful warm sounding desktop amp or the Chord Mojo. Thanks HZ team for your excellent support and prompt delivery as usual.

I have been using this headphone for 3 months now.
I’m a beginner in this audiophile game, but have been using high quality headphones for ten years now.

Right when my Dt990s 600 ohm arrived I began comparing it to my Sony Mdr 1abt and I have to admit, I was not satisfied with my purchase.
The sound though crisp & clear was extremely sharp and I could hear a lot of ‘S’ Sound which was very uncomfortable to listen. I tried returning them but I surpassed the return date. So I had no choice but to keep listening to the sparkly ear tearing treble monster.
When I crossed the 100 hour mark, that’s when I started to like it. I don’t know whether I caused it to burnin or my ears developed a likeness to it, but since then it has been my favourite pair of headphones hands down.
I use them for almost everything, these are my baby.
I have paired it with a Schiit magni 3 headphone amp (thanks to headphone zone) and a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Rx7.1 Sound Card.

The Sound quality is just mind boggling!
My Sony Mdr’s have an insane sound frequency range of 4Hz-100000Khz but still it doesn’t sound as clearly detailed as the Dt990s which is capable of 5Hz-35000Hz only.

The treble is very bright, punchy & sharp. All the detail is just bombarded at your face with so much ease. The guitar in my music tracks never sounded so lifelike, I can feel the timber of the guitar strings on every note being strummed by the plectrum.

The Mids are very defined and feel just perfect. The vocals appear to be equally balanced along with the highs and lows and feel very much alive.

The Bass is so precise, it’s not flat and it’s not heavy either, again it’s perfectly balanced and very well controlled. Tracks which have an emphasis to bass also sound amazing.
The sound stage is huge, deep and immersive, but you need a high quality music file format to witness it’s beauty.
Overall it’s a Fantastic pair of semi open headphones which is worth buying, just give it some...

I was using Audio Technica ATH M50x for 2 years . That headphone was worth the price with great listening experience. I'm in the initial stage of audiophile game and eager to hear how much difference it makes in listening to songs with different headphones of different types. Hence I moved to an open back design. Initially I was not able to gauge much but then when the burn out period completed I was able to feel the difference. Open back headphone is a difference game than the closed headphones and I feel many would prefer closed back. But please have a try with this open back and you feel little more lively of the tracks when listening to it. Beyerdyamic is a reputed brand and they stay true with the quality of headphones.

Comfort is very good in the Pro edition version . We can listen for more hours. Clarity of instruments is so lively when hearing with this headphone. This is a flat sounding profile so all the frequency of sounds can be heard and if you want to boost certain frequency we can use an EQ profile or the one that comes prebuilt in phones like the one I use, LG G8x. We need to hear more and more to get our ears tuned for great listening and I'm in the process of that. Build quality of this headphone is excellent except the wire is not detachable so we have to be careful but otherwise you will enjoy listening to all types of genres. Do go for it if you are able to afford the price where clarity matters.

It's a very late review. I am using the 250 ohm version of this headphone with ifi hip dac+amp combo both of which i bought last year.
Sound signature is nearly flat but a slight tweak in the high's which makes the listening experience a little harsh sometimes. Instrument separation is superb. Mids are a bit recessed but the clarity is awesome. Bass is adequate but not boomy or overpowering which i like the most. Soundstage is good but not very wide. Spatial representation is pleasant.

Build quality is ok. A very simple and minimalistic design. Plastic and metal build. Earcups are really comfortable, the cushioning is awesome. A single non-detachable cable is attached to one side of the headphone. The wire is of good quality.

You need some sort of amplification to unleash the full potential of this headphone. The performance of this headphone will differ from dac to dac and amp to amp.

I would say I am somewhat of an audiophile but I don’t mind a very slight push to the bass. This is what these headphones sound like. Transparent, not harsh and just enough bass. They do all the frequencies very well. Mine are still quite new. The cable is 3m on the 32 ohms one, which is odd but I will be braiding them soon. They look nice, are comfortable but not too comfortable. The build quality is good but I don’t think the best. These are my first headphones. I have been more into IEMs. But I think these serve indoor use really well. I was considering these and the Sennheiser hd 560s which I haven’t heard. But after listening to these, I really don’t wonder. I recommend these, especially for their sound.

Super

Although I've not had the time to burn them in. I would recommend these.

After 7 years of using Audio Technica AD500 it's finally time to Beyerdynamic DT990 Premium.

The cable is sturdy & oxygen free so it will last if you take good care of the hardware. What I like about Beyerdynamic is that every part is replaceable if needed. You can even mod the cable to make it detachable.

In terms of Audio quality, I am using it for gaming with my SoundBlaster AE 5 soundcard.

You won't get perfect audio right out of the box. It's recommended to leave this for burn in. I left for 24 hours. And then you should configure the DAC+Amplifier manually until you get audio quality you like.

In case of soundcard, I set it to Minimum phase, tweaked the bass by increasing it 10%. Make sure you spend time in configuring it.