THE PLAYERS:
Headamp REGA EAR
Source- REGA JUPITER/ACK 2.0/Stereovox HDXV/Chord Chrysalis/Rega Couple
Headphones- AKG K701/GRADO HF-1/Beyerdynamic DT-990 600 ohm version.
Ok, so I promised a full headphone review once the AKG K701's broke in. After over 300 hours, they are now finally broken in, so I figured I'd do a shootout on my rig. First off, my headamp is an entry level Rega, which is one of the few headamps I've heard that really grooves and is coherent. It may not have the huge dynamics of the big boys, but it's a giveaway at it's $250 price point- at least for my priorities, which are more skewed towards being involved in the music and forgetting about hi-fi criteria/ sonic spectaculars like soundstaging, etc. I love rhythm and timing, so if an amp screws that up, I'm automatically not as interested in it. That's not saying I don't like tonality, but if it has good tone and doesn't time right, I'm bored. Anyway, those are my biases to put this review in context, OK?
I used a rock track, an orchestral track, a jazz track, and a vocal track to evaluate the cans.
1st track- Blur- For Tomorrow. Rock track that has lots in the mix and is a true toe tapper. If a component doesn't have drive and coherence, this sounds boring.
Beyerdynamic DT990- First things first, you need a headphone amp for these suckers. Damn, they are power hungry and required the most gain on my Rega headphone amp to get them to come alive. The Beyerdynamic was quite good on this track. It had a very warm sound that was inviting. The bass was very deep and weighty, though a tad slow. The midrange was very nice. It had a good flow, but wasn't a flat out toe tapping can. The impact on the kick drum seemed slightly muted. The soundstage was pretty good. Overall, a good showing on this track.
AKG K701- Whoa- talk about a different sound. HUGE soundstage- everything is spread out, but it's a studio recording, so it sounds weird. Perspective is sort of distant. Very detailed- I'm hearing a lot more resolution. more treble energy and air. The bass is far tighter, but not as weighty as the Beyer. The drum impact was also slightly muted on this can. A little dry sounding. If you had no other cans to compare this too, you may think it is great on rock, but the huge soundstage makes it sound completely disconnected and incoherent. It can groove and has good detail, but it just sounded weird on this track.
GRADO HF-1- Damn- IMPACT city! Now this is clearly the top of the cans for rock from the first couple of notes. Pretty forward- like you are on stage with amazing groove factor. These have my head bobbing. The bass line is tight and weighty and the drums have major impact. The soundstage is small, but everything is coherent and these mo-fo's can play, man!
Ranking in order of preference for this rock song- Grado, Beyerdynamic, AKG
Track #2- Rimsky-Korsakov-dance of the tumblers orchestral piece. Pretty complex track that is short, has big crescendos, and nice spacing of orchestra.
GRADO HF-1- Starts out with lovely string tone. There's that nice Grado midrange showing up again. Where the hell is the soundstage? Man, it sounds like I'm listening to headphones! However, everything sounds pretty coherent- just a bit small and lumped together. When the whole orchestra comes crashing in, these cans have good impact and weight. The string tone was amazing on these. I'd imagine these would be great for chamber or solo pieces.
AKG K701- WOW! These cans were made for this! Completely layers the orchestra with a soundstage that is the biggest I've ever heard on headphones. The string tone is nice- not as good as the Grado. I feel like I'm midhall and can see everything perfectly. Great air to the triangle and nice impact of the entire orchestra. The resolution is amazing on these. Great cans for orchestra.
Beyerdynamic DT990- Whoa- this is too warm. These cans are sort of showing their age on this track. The resolution of the strings and texture of instruments is way down. Detail is down and everything sounds compressed. Soundstage is pretty good- better than Grado, but it's like the music is too complex and the overall darkness of the phones and the bloomy bass is obscuring things. These cans are trying but not succeeding on this track. However, when the orchestra came crashing in on a crescendo, these phones did kick my ass. Good impact.
Rankings on orchestral piece- AKG K 701, Grado HF-1, and Beyerdynamic DT990
Track #3- John Coltrane Blue Train. Nice swinging jazz piece that has good saxophone texture.
Beyerdynamic DT990- Nice texture and weight to the opening saxophone. Piano sounds a little muted in the background. The upright bass has nice bloom and everything seems in time. Cans sound coherent and have good warmth. The soundstage seemed a bit small, but not bad overall on jazz.
AKG K701- Not as nice texture/weight to the opening saxophone as the Beyer. The perspecitive is more distant- a little further back in the club, but the spacing is brilliant- HOLY SOUNDSTAGE BATMAN! More importantly, though, these cans are sailing through the rhythms of this piece- the playing is tighter, the upright bass is locked in a groove, and the sound is airier. To be honest, the jazz players sound far more accomplished on these cans. It let's their musicianship shine through much better than the Beyers.
Grado HF-1- Good texture and weight to the saxophone- not quite as good as the Beyer, but better than the AKG. The piano and saxophone are more upfront. The soundstage is tiny, but the groove is outrageous. Damn, the bass player sounds studly on these cans, which I'm sure he was. Again, these are letting the musicianship shine through where the Beyers did not. However, the sax can sound too forward and upfront at times. Good detail.
Rankings on jazz piece- AKG K701, Grado HF-1, Beyerdynamic DT990
TRACK #4- Ella Fitzgerald- How long has this been going on. Simple vocal track with Ella's awesome voice with some strings and brass in the background.
Grado HF-1- The Grado's more forward midrange is perfect for this. Ella sounds ethereal here- very intimate- these really capture her phrasing. Again, the background strings are gorgeous and the upright bass is again the best on the Grado's- tight/good weight. I feel like Ella has been hardwired into my brain with the Grado's. AWESOME!
AKG K701- Again, with the great soundstaging. More spread b/t Ella, the strings, bass, and brass. Voice sounds more distant- it's not picking up her phrasing as well as the Grado. The upright bass is very tight, but not as weighty as the Grado. The strings are good, but not as burnished. This sounds kind of hi-fi to me- lots of the hifi criteria can be checked off, but it doesn't speak to me. Ho hum.
Beyerdynamic DT990- Ohhhh, weighty voice. There must be a bit of bump going on in the midrange with these phones. The sound is definitely closer to the Grado's- just not as detailed or as liquid. Still, despite it's obvious sonic bunion- a little dark/lacking in resolution with a smaller soundstage then the AKG, it's still totally enjoyable on this track. The warmth of these cans makes Ella's voice nice- maybe slightly too weighty, but I can connect to her- and that's everything on vocals.
Ranking- GRADO HF-1, BEYERDYNAMIC DT-990, AND AKG K701.
To sum up, I think the Grado and AKG are on the opposite ends of the sonic spectrum and I'm glad I own both cans. The AKG's are the high res/soundstaging kings, which work amazingly well on some types of music. They are obviously better phones overall than the Grado's, but fail to fully satisfy on some types of music. Lot's of people into headphones say if you buy two cans, then buy a GRADO and ????? (AKG, Senn,Beyer). The Grado's have a very unique sound IMO- totally flat earth, but if you like this sound, nothing else really will totally do.
The Beyerdynamics sort of split the difference, but I'd say they fall more on the Grado side of things overall. Still competitive after all these years, but the newer cans clearly have them beat on resolution, though not on certain things like overall depth of bass. I like these Beyerdynamics more than my past Sennheiser HD580's which were so damn polite, I couldn't stand them. Talk about a snoozefest. IMO, Sennheisers are "old-man" cans- they have no balls and are completely blown away in refinement by things like AKG's, so I fail to see why I should own them. The only time I can handle Senns are when they are balanced. Thanks for loaning me these Beyers Loanwolf- I can see why they were king of the headphone heap back in the 80's.
Here are some pics of the contenders:
GRADO HF-1
BEYERDYNAMIC DT990
AKG K701
Headamp
