A Beyerdynamic Christmas!!! Ho! Ho! Ho!

adydula · « **on:** 21 Dec 2016, 02:25 am »

Christmas is here and Santa is sending me a set of Beyerdynamic T1 2nd Gen. be here Friday.
Having gone thru high end Audeze and others my ears love the sound of the T90's...so here we go
again stepping out on the limb....

With only 6 amps here one of them should make these sound decent!!

Lol!
Alex

dB Cooper · « **Reply #1 on:** 21 Dec 2016, 04:00 am »

Better get another amp.... Lucky 7, y'know....

milford3 · « **Reply #2 on:** 21 Dec 2016, 06:18 am »

I've had the Beyer T1's (gen 1) for a while now You're in for a treat with this very impressive dynamic headphone.

adydula · « **Reply #3 on:** 21 Dec 2016, 01:55 pm »

Thanks.....spending this much on headphones has been a pain....its a lot of money. I like most of us appreciate well made stuff that works well. After reading hundreds of posts on the web I think this may be my end all headphone.

Many folks dont like the treble of most Beyers, but I seem to be drawn to hearing cymbals, violins, female voice etc as accurate as they are in real life...The T90's have been my goto set of cans for over a year now....to the point of selling many of my other cans like LCD 2's and others....which all are pretty good in their own right...

This is such a subjective area...lol IMO!

The price on Amazon dropped down to $823.02 and my limit was $800 so close enough!! ha!

Alex

dB Cooper · « **Reply #4 on:** 21 Dec 2016, 04:05 pm »

That's barely over half list. Not bad. I was impressed with the T1 when I heard it but thought it overpriced considering most of its mechanical design (except for the drivers and their angled placement) seems no different from the much less expensive DT series

mcgsxr · « **Reply #5 on:** 21 Dec 2016, 07:45 pm »

Congrats!

Looking forward to your thoughts on them.

Freo-1 · « **Reply #6 on:** 21 Dec 2016, 09:49 pm »

I owned a T1, and remember that it was very good sounding.

Do you plan to submit a review of them?

adydula · « **Reply #7 on:** 21 Dec 2016, 11:03 pm »

Yes I will let you know what I think of them and do a review....

It usually doesnt take long to tell if its a winner or not....stay tuned....

Maybe late friday or sat mid day..

Alex

Bob2 · « **Reply #8 on:** 22 Dec 2016, 01:31 am »

I found the T1's more to my liking than the T90's.
Hope you enjoy them!

TF1216 · « **Reply #9 on:** 22 Dec 2016, 08:30 pm »

Check out this pairing peeps!

http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/product/E5BEYT90JUBILEE/BeyerDynamic-T90-Chrome-Limited-Edition-Audiophile-Headphones-w-iF-Micro-iCan-SE-Amplifier

adydula · « **Reply #10 on:** 23 Dec 2016, 01:27 am »

Thats a T90,already have those and they are very nice to me....but like most over time we wonder how the next one up the line will sound.

Alex

adydula · « **Reply #11 on:** 23 Dec 2016, 01:30 am »

The just arrived at the door!! Ha!! A day early....will go unpack and do a review in a day or so.

The package is the retail box that they come in from the manufacture and good ole UPS didn't even ring the doorbell. I went out for the mail and there was this Beyer T1 box sitting there!!! Ha!

Alex

adydula · « **Reply #12 on:** 23 Dec 2016, 03:52 pm »

First Impressions are lasting ones.....

The Beyer T1's exude a very well made device...they come packaged in a small retail package inside of the newer, smaller black carrying case. Its much more portable than the large T1 1 gen case.

The Cable is detachable of course, and its a really nice long flexible cable made out of some rather expensive copper etc....I am not a metallurgist!!

They plug into the headphones with a gentle push, I worry over time if these connections would become worn or loose, but I dont intend to be swapping out cables in the future....so they probably will be ok fine. I thing I read that Beyer did this in case you trip on the cable and it easily would disconnect to prevent any real damage to the headphones.

I only have an hour or so of listening on them. So the usual let them play for 10-100 hours etc does not apply here (yet).

I am using a really wonderful headphone amp that I built, its an ODA desktop version of the O2, with a lot more current/voltage capability. My good friend at agdr audio designed this amp and its been one of the best that I have had, its transparent, does'nt add to or take away from the signal. It allows me to have (2) sets of headphones in use at the same time to do quick comparisons. It also allows dual selectable dacs as well!

I also have a Bottlehead Crack with Speedball, O2 amps stock and two with "upgrade" mods, like the O2 Booster board and with OPA1688 op amps.

So I have been going back and forth between the T90s vs the T1's and across a few amps.
The T90s have over a hundred hours on them and they are well worn in "friends".

Having done this so many times, its fairly easy to tell the differences between devices rather quickly...

Both are stellar headphones IMO, but they are indeed sounding different, soundstage and presentation are really different.
The weight of the bass or its "fullness or body is different".
The clarity is different....

The T90s at 250 ohms vs the 600 ohm T1's require less power to drive them to a realistic " without blowing your eardrums out".

Most of what I have read is true to me when people compare the T90 vs the T1.

That said, let me talk just to the T1 first, and at the end I will tell you my opinions about the two and was it worth it to me......

The T1 soundstage is stellar. Wide, easy articulation of instruments and placement, but it depends on the quality if the recording for sure. A well done pieces is presented well. These cans do not like mediocre stuff for sure. Easiliy besting many other cans I have had in the past.

The tonality of a piano is difficult to reproduce, listening to George Winstons, December and the "Holly and Ivy" will make a grown man cry, its that good. The notes on the piano are crisp, clear, and sound so much like a real piano...just 'gorgeous". The Ivory keys sound "Ivory-Like".

In comparing to the T90s (and I said I would wait to the end!) the sound here has more weight or heft or fullness or sounds "right" I dont know how else to describe it. The T90s do sound believe it or not "clearer" and "clinical" this is with most recordings so far...going back and forth they are so much alike and so much different IMO.

The soundstage and presentation is wider with the T1's IMO "a lot"...so when paired with a well recorded piece its really wonderful..

The bass....Brian Brombergs "Wood" and Freedom Jazz Dance is spectacular....the T90s do this cut very well, clear, tonality etc..but the T1's seem to be more warm and musical and just right...this isnt subjective to me , there is a difference in the way the bass is articulated and presented. Which on to you is the better is definetly a personal taste thing.
The bass is fuller and has more body or heft than the T90's.

A BIG thing is I dont seem to have to crank up the volume to "make" the cans sound "good"...I can listen at lower levels and not think I am loosing something or content.....They hold that nice presentation at low levels very well. With the T90's I find myself cranking up the volume to achieve a better presentation.

I find that listening to the T1's on the Bottlecrack makes them even more warm and less clear...wanting to listen musically and technically at the same time (my akin to having your cake and .....) The T'1's to me dont need any more warmness added, they are warmer that the T90s which IMO are brutally crisp and clear (you may not like that).....the T1's are abit less clear like they have been toned down to give them a more musical presentation. You may or may not like that.

It may not be fair to say they are less clear, the overall sound is one of the best to me, its they did something to make these I think more listenable to more people? The clarity is there, but the toning down of stuff is evident...in a good way to me.

With the T90s' I am always listening to whats there in a song, instead of just enjoying the music. With the T1's I am finding myself more lost in the music and just enjoying the sound....and thats a good thing!

So was it worth it with only an hour or so of listening...YES.
Would I sell my T90's absolutely NO.

I think I have found my end all headphone.....or at least until the next time!!

Hope some of this makes sense!

Merry Christmas!
Alex

An afterthought: The T90's are like a surgeon or rocket scientist. The T1's 2gen are like a conductor that has 40 years under his/her belt!!. (that used to be a surgeon or rocket scientist..)

Freo-1 · « **Reply #13 on:** 23 Dec 2016, 07:18 pm »

Very good review. Sounds like you will have a winning combination.

Tyson · « **Reply #14 on:** 23 Dec 2016, 08:00 pm »

Your review captures why I have been using the T1's as my primary headphones since 2006. I was a huge swapper outer of headphones and amps. Once I got the T1's, I had a headphone amp custom built to drive them (using 6SN7 and 6BL7 tubes and a massive, massive power supply) and just haven't even felt the tiniest desire to switch out.

Also, once the T1's break in a bit more you will see an uptick in detail and transparency but with no loss of tonal beauty or musicality. The T1's are freaking awesome headphones.

adydula · « **Reply #15 on:** 23 Dec 2016, 09:53 pm »

With a good set of headphones as these are it really becomes very apparent the wide degree of material out there that is good, bad so-so etc..
that makes listening and comparing stuff more complex.

So having a list or set of favorites of good quality recordings is paramount to getting a good comparision.

Understand the comments about breaking is over time....the T90's I called "my old friend" I have many, many great hours with it and even now I put them on and smile!

The T1's to me are about the best dynamic driver type of headphone I have ever heard, very well balanced.

I havent looked at the freq rolloff graphs for the 10-14 khz range....maybe Tyll has them over at innerfidelity?

Ok back to listening!
Alex

Note: Price just dropped again to $812 on Amazon!

dB Cooper · « **Reply #16 on:** 23 Dec 2016, 11:30 pm »

Hate to say it, but we are mainly men 'of a certain age' here, and probably lucky if we can hear much above 10kHz anyway, assuming the recording has significant energy up there, which most do not. It would be interesting, and probably depressing, to have our hearing tested....

adydula · « **Reply #17 on:** 23 Dec 2016, 11:36 pm »

You make a good point!! Depressing to say the least..the only good test is to put them on your head and listen, take off, put on another and listen some more!!! Ha!

Or if the sound is crappy, well drink another beer!

Alex

dB Cooper · « **Reply #18 on:** 24 Dec 2016, 01:31 am »

The sacred '20-20K' has always been mainly theoretical anyway. (Have you ever noticed how many 'frequency response' specs say 20-20K? It's just something to write on the box.) We are talking about the highest harmonic of the highest note of the piccolo, etc. The top octave, even when it exists, won't make it to your seat in the concert hall, or to all but a point-blank-range mic (air is a natural high filter; that's why all you can hear from that 'boom car' down the block is bass.)

Anyway, we now resume your regularly scheduled topic.

I heard the Gen2 T-1 at Capital Audiofest and was immediately impressed. It was competitive with the HD800 in terms of definition without sounding 'clinical' and was very neutral, clean, superbly made, and comfortable. I always thought it was overpriced at $1500 though as the main mechanical design is largely identical to the other Beyers. It surely doesn't cost any more to angle the driver, so even counting a more costly driver manufacturing process, it seemed like a bit of a gouge. At ~800USD though, it's a different value proposition.

adydula · « **Reply #19 on:** 24 Dec 2016, 01:55 am »

Today, $798.65 today.....from $823.01 in just a few days!!

Alex