[adydula]

I was so enamored with the capabilities of my new DT1350's I started looking at the rest of the Beyer lineup...

Looking for the same sound signature but with more soundstage etc....

I got my 1350s from Brian at razordog audio...he recommended DT990's or the T90's...

So...a pair of T90's are on their way!

Oh Boy!

Here we go again!

Alex

[Bob2]

You are going to like'em!

[adydula]

Hi Bob,

from what all that i have read on these they hopefully will fit the bill nicely.

i use my 1350s at work and they work very well.

I do notice the quality of sound from a laptop leaves a lot to be desired compared to my at home
external usb dac and O2 amp.

I will let you know how the t90s play next week.

Have a nice weekend

Alex

[adydula]

Well I am listening now with my new T90's after LCD2's, Grados, Several pairs of AKG's, and DT1350's...many amps and dacs....now using a O2 and an ODAC and a HRT MSii+.

 I have several setups and the one that works the best for me with the T90's are the O2 amp and ODAC hands down this is the best sound combination to me. Very noticeable.
 
First impression is "WOW".
 
Words like open, airy, transparent, detailed, balanced, luscious, refined etc...
 
I have many really great source cd's from speaker vendors that they use as demos and have them all ripped to flacs....there is no shortage of well recorded and well mastered material here from classical to jazz to rock etc.

Yes its not even an hour on them and I can tell they are something special for sure.
 
I don't find the highs out of balance or grating at all, they are really to me just right a good balance overall.
 
At times I find I forget I am wearing them, they really are very comfortable. They are not as big or heavy as the Audeze are.
 
Listening to Kenny Rankin's A Song For You CD, wonderful detail and imaging, soundstage is just right....no holes etc. Great tonality, voice is very accurate, drum swishes and details is all there, not hard to discern the details at all.
 
Allison Krauss, A Hundred Miles or More.....luscious sound, balanced...very detailed and revealing with all the layering of instruments, piano, guitar, voice, bass, a very nice depth to the presentation, very 3 D like. Easy to pick out placements.

Also Known as Mary by Quincy Coleman....I'm Crying is very ethereal...
 
I also listened to these:
 
Wynton Marsalis Quartet - "Feeling Of Jazz" (The Magic Hour)
 
The Bad Plus - " Keep The Bugs Off Your Glass, And The Bears Off Your Ass" (These Are The Vistas)
 
Bozzio, Levin, Stevens - "Duende" (Black Light Syndrome)
 
Ben Harper - "Gold To Me" (Fight for Your Mind)
 
Morphine - "Buena" (Cure for Pain)
 
Nils Lofgren - "Keith Don’t Go" (Acoustic Live)
 
Mino Cinelu - "Oncoming Horizons" (Mino Cinelu)
 
Copland - "Fanfare For The Common Man" (Copland: Appalachian Spring; Rodeo; Fanfare for the Common Man -Louis Lane, and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on Telarc)
 
Ben Vaughn - “Too Happy” (Designs in Music)
 
Rimsky-Korsakov - “Dance Of The Tumblers”  (Eiji Oue/ Minnesota Orch.)
 
Dean Peer -“Mars” (Think...It's All Good)
 
Weather Report - "Confians" (Sportin' Life)
 
Bernadette Peters - "Blackbird" (I'll Be Your Baby Tonight)
 
Diana Krall - Assorted Tracks, Peel Me a Grape etc..
 
The T90s handle all this wide range of material with no real strain, deep bass, impactful, well balanced and an uncanny abilit to disect and hear all the details going on even in complex explosive material.
 
Listening to Eva Cassidy and Leslie Feist are absolutely a dream. Eva By Heart is just wonderul. Leslis Feists , The Reminder and the So Sorry track is a 10 out of a 10. The depth of the soundstage and the qulaity of the tone of their voices is really very very well done.
 
Whether its Fourplays explosive jass cuts or Music for Pipe Organ these cans do not disappoint.
 
They have the ability to discern good material vs bad...garbage in, garbage out...but with good material its a real pleasure to listen to your tunes all over again.
 
Ok enough for now, for me these are a winner...
 
Back to the music!
 
Alex

[Bob2]

Told you that you would like'em!

Glad your enjoying the T90's!

[adydula]

yup, yup what he said!

They certaintly made me smile last night several times...simply amazing at times....

Alex

[Noseyears]

Nice review Alex.

Some guys are comparing the O2 to the Soloist sl, which have a similar sound signature. Neutral, very accurate and works well with the T90's

[adydula]

The price for the O2 for what is does is one of those best buys for sure....

They dropped in price from $159 to $129 for a fully assembled and tested O2 amp....including 2 nicad batteries!!

I built one, because I like putting parts on a circuit board and smell the soldering iron heating up! lol

Then I bought one and 2 ODACS.....one I have integrated in an O2 amp case and one ODAC is in a seperate small case tat I can use elewhere..

I listened for 3 hours last night and went thru several SALK demo CD's and a HD Tracks Sampler...some of the material is scary realistic...headphones arent loudspeakers for sure but they certaintly are neat in their own right....is simply amazing the pleasure they can bring one.

I am itching to hear some T1's!!

smiling alot
Alex

[adydula]

Just spent a few hours going back and forth between the T90s. Q701's and Grado 325is.
 
I havent listend to the Q701's and Grados since I have had the T90's and wanted to see how good the lower cost cans I have on hand are compared to the more expensive T90s..
 
I was surprised that the other cans by themselves are still very good cans, yes they sound different but not in a bad way.
 
The soundstage of the T90s is very coherent....well balanced from side to side or left to right.
 
The Q701's have a wonderful soundstage as well, but the noticeable difference which is a bit uncanny to me is the T90s have both a nice left to right soundstage but also a forward and backward dimension....like 3D. Its really amazing and stood out across many well recorded material.
 
The Grados are bright cans, and really clear, crystal clear no veil at all....the Grado sound can be abit much depending on the material for sure.
 
But with good material they are quite listenable....Larry Carltons cd and guitar work is very well done with these cans,
 
Going back and forth I noticed that the bass depth was a little lacking with the 701's .....the deep tones and harmonics were just not as good as the T90's.
 
I was thinking of selling one of these cans...but after this session they all are good in their own right....
 
The favorite to me is the T90 followed by the Q701 and Grados.
 
Linda Ronstadt has a double cd with the Nelson Riddle orchestra, and its a wonderful journey into the past...the Round Midnight song on the end of the second CD is melt in your mouth great, its like magic....very 3D like. With the T90s its like she is sitting on a stool in front of you...her voice in this hits some very high strong notes...OMG there is NO sibilance of any kind....absolutley amazing...if your cans can reproduce her voice here they are really doing their job extremely well..
 
All this with the lowly Objective 2 and ODAC still my favorite..
 
Alex

[toocool4]

The T90 are amazing, I would have bought a pair of T90’s if it were a closed back design. I only use headphones on the move.

I have the T70’s which are not as forgiving as the T90’s.
What I have now done is to replace the T70 drivers with T90 drivers. I also ported the ear cups, now I have as close to T90 sound as I can in a T70 housing.

[adydula]

Ha!!

That's ingenious!!

"What I have now done is to replace the T70 drivers with T90 drivers"

A.

[FireGuy]

I was so enamored with the capabilities of my new DT1350's I started looking at the rest of the Beyer lineup...

Looking for the same sound signature but with more soundstage etc....

I got my 1350s from Brian at razordog audio...he recommended DT990's or the T90's...

So...a pair of T90's are on their way!

Oh Boy!

Here we go again!

Alex

Glad to hear you're enjoying the Beyers Alex.  I would love to hear this model.

I'm fortunate enough to own their DT880's (250 ohm) and so enjoy the detail and overall balance.  No, they are not bass heavy... but I believe this contributes greatly to that outstanding balance.  They are driven by a Schitt Valhalla which is a great match.

However, with a Schitt Lyr I've auditioned the T1 and DT990 (600 ohm).  No question IMO the T1 is the best headphone I've heard.  After I've finished building my secondary audio system these will be on the radar.   Must have the T1, must have the T1...

[Freo-1]

I had a pair of T1's.  They are very fine headphones.  However, the Stax SR 404's with the Stax SRM 007 tA is at a whole another level sonically. 


Once you hear Stax phones, it's hard to go anywhere else. 

[adydula]

Hey Freo...agree....but there is always a budget on this end to contend with......

I have always had to live with a budget....and toys are nice, but its a reality for most of us.

That said I have had my fair share of toys over the years....

I have never heard the Stax, but had a pair of LCD2's that were to me really nice, but aftre months with
them got the urge to move on etc...

It kind of like what can you really get for a particular price point....

The T90's are jut above that $400 - $500 range retail, and can be had for less than $500 for a $650 retail can.

To me this is the high end of 'reason' for headphones....LOL.

Even though the T1's and Stax are surely better I could not justify the extra cost to get there and really appreciate
what they are capable of or what am i really missing etc with what I have now.

Here are the freq graphs of the cans i use the most now:



Really interesting...

Alex

[toocool4]

Ha!!

That's ingenious!!

"What I have now done is to replace the T70 drivers with T90 drivers"

A.

Yes it works for me, but its an expensive way of getting the T90 sound in a closed back design.

What I really wanted was a T1 in a closed back design but my poor little portable amp would die.

[toocool4]

Hey Freo...agree....but there is always a budget on this end to contend with......

I have always had to live with a budget....and toys are nice, but its a reality for most of us.

That said I have had my fair share of toys over the years....

I have never heard the Stax, but had a pair of LCD2's that were to me really nice, but aftre months with
them got the urge to move on etc...

It kind of like what can you really get for a particular price point....

The T90's are jut above that $400 - $500 range retail, and can be had for less than $500 for a $650 retail can.

To me this is the high end of 'reason' for headphones....LOL.

Even though the T1's and Stax are surely better I could not justify the extra cost to get there and really appreciate
what they are capable of or what am i really missing etc with what I have now.

Here are the freq graphs of the cans i use the most now:



Really interesting...

Alex

You should try the Stax SR-009

[adydula]

Here they are....







Very interesting...
Alex

[toocool4]

You can’t look at graphs and figures, as we all know in this Hi-Fi stuff we need to actually listen to know what is going on.

Something’s look good on paper and then perform terribly and others look bad on paper but perform amazingly well.

[adydula]

Yup agree with you there.....nothing like putting these things on your head and listen for yourself.

However there is a relationship and correlation to the data and the cans....at least IMO after listening to many, many headphones you can get some kind of idea on what cans are capable of by looking the data in the freq plot graphs to some degree...

It helps when many of us use nebulous terms like 'recessed. veil, cold, warm, depth' etc...

Its just another part of the hobby to me....still very interesting.

What is missing from these plots and data are things like how is the soundstage and imaging etc...hard to quantify those to me in a graph...

All the best
Alex