beyerdynamicDT 1770 PRO Closed Studio Reference Headphones

Bought with my own cash money.Update IV --- 23/2/16 --- Ditched the A20 as treble detail was a little bit lacking and the bass had a tendency to be slightly overwhelming (only a tad - but enough to cause brain annoyance!) which I'm putting down to the power output of the amplifier as I had a similar issue with my high output tube amp. I preferred the sound signature of the DT1770's plugged straight into my iPad but it didn't go loud enough on some recordings and lacked some body (Brilliant for modern well mastered tracks so if that's your bag - you don't need an amp!). I've since switched to the Oppo HA-2 which has a good clean neutral sound and with its low gain switch the bass is once again perfect and no loss of any resolution whatsoever. Killer combo. Keeper for Defo (and no more updates!!).Update III --- 25/12/15 ---- Now paired with Beyerdynamic A20 Amplifier - Just Wow! Really opens these babies up! I thought they were great without an amp and even better when paired with my Fiio E12a but paired with the A20 these are sublime. Expensive but worth it (Someone burgled my house xmas eve and took my Sony MDR-Z7 but left my Beyers! Silver lining and all that!).Update II --- 23/11/15 --- After more research (and reading Dale Thorns review - who I usually agree with) I found out that these may not match well with tube amps so bought them again and paired them with my Fiio E12A and these are like a different headphone. Maybe my original pair had a slight driver mismatch but the boomy bass and slightly distant mids along with a slightly higher volume in the left ear have all been rectified with this pair! I've been amazed that these have such powerful deep bass when its present on a recording but when the track doesn't have any bass these stay faithful to the original recording and don't add any extra colouring. Truly amazing and not something I have heard on any other headphone. So glad I tried them again! Although the DT150's are still amazing value for money I think I will be keeping the DT1770's and retiring my tube amp.Update --- 6/11/15 ---- Now sold! After Extensive A/B testing against my £96 Beyer DT150 250 ohm through my Littledot II MKII tube amp I've come to the conclusion that there isn't enough difference to justify the extra £350. I've EQ'd the mid bass down a few Db and this has brought the tanklike DT150's to life. I was amazed at the difference it made. Plus the Mids are more present on the DT150's which is a shame as I wanted to love the 1770's but they just didn't do it for me to justify keeping them.Original review ---Having lived with the DT770 250 ohm for years I was on the fence about these given the higher price but I finally bit the bullet and they certainly are exquisite.Build quality is always top notch with Beyer but these have an added layer of luxury to the usual utilitarian materials and styling.Hifiguy 528 (Hifi insider) Mike on YouTube had it right when he said the DT770's feel like a toy next to these! Check his unboxing for a peek at all the bits n bobs and the materials etc.I usually love neutral headphones with a bit of oomph (Oppo PM3 are the stand out ones for me) but I've always loved the bass on my DT770's as it just thunders through my bones with an amp.What I've never loved is the extremely bright treble. Sure it's great for detail but the Oppo PM3 showed me you could still have the treble detail without the sibilant peaks that the DT770/880/990 line is infamous for. I always found myself EQ'ing the Mids up slightly on the 770's with their V-shaped sound signature.And basically the DT1770 addresses all these issues for me. You get all the Bass loveliness of the 770's but with a more present midrange and a perfect treble (to my ears). I've seen some reviewers say that even the 1770 has a peaky treble but I don't see how that can be the case! It's just right and very welcome! The bass also has more texture on the 1770's (something I had never heard before! Bass texture!? But yep you can get a real sense of it with these).But are they worth the price hike? Well as always it's subjective but if for whatever reason you're like me and can't use open backs then these I reckon are as close as you can get to a high end open back sound in closed back form and still keep the price below £500!The sound stage is certainly very 'open' for a closed back can and certainly not as congested as the Oppo PM3's. What's more these being Tesla drivers they are extremely efficient and run to substantial listening levels straight out of my IPhone 5s despite them being 250 ohm (a hell of a lot louder than my 770 250 ohm anyway! Weird!).I've now got them running through my LittkeDot II MKII Tube amp and they sound great.Hope some of this helps.Stew

These replaced some HD650s which had been modded to improve the bass. What a difference. The DT1770 Pro was so much better all round but particularly the bass. They need 300 hours burning in before you experience what they are capable of. So much detail. I have a fully differential amplifier (balanced), so to take advantage of the diffential output from the amp I modded the phones. I already use Custom cans cable (much better than the supplied cable) I replaced the jack plug with a 4 pin xlr at one end, at the other end i fitted a mini 4 pin xlr plug. On the headphones I replaced the 3 pin mini xle socket with a 4 pin mini xlr socket. Next I rewired the cabling inside the phones as per the 4 pin mini xlr standard, thereby separating left and right channels and removing the shared return of the original setup. Boy was that worth doing! The DT1770 headphones have now moved up another quality level. I still after listening for many am stunned at how much detail these headphones can deliver. I use the Topping A90 Descrete Amplifier, Topping E70 Velvet DAC, IFI Zen Steam.

I won't go into great detail over the headphones as I don't feel I have an adequate knowledge of terminology within the audiophile realm. What's my story? I bought a pair of Oppo PM-3's which by all accounts are a great pair of headphones. I also bought the the Oppo HA-2 portable Amp/DAC paired with my iphone 6s for streaming music via Tidal HiFi for some great music listening on the go. Oppo's PM-3's however, fell short when it came to the heavy rock/metal music genre. Bass boosting on the HA-2 helped a little but I was underwhelmed due to the loss of detail accross the bass and high's. Granted, listening to songs where the bass is the dominant factor the Oppo PM-3's will blow you away, but when listening to bands such as Slipknot, American Head Charge, Meshuggah and the likes [Metal genre] the individual drums and symbols were overwhemled by the mids that bite my ears off at high volume levels. I would have stuck with the PM-3's had there been more kick with the bass drum but it just wasn't there.So, I gave the DT 1770 Pro's a try and straight away the sound that I knew could be had from this type of music came alive, and thankfully without compromise to the other types of music I'd listen to such as hip-hop, drum and bass, folk, and classical. The only thing I miss from the PM-3's is the headrumbling bass when listening to songs such as Ludacris - Area Codes (this was my go-to comparison song of choice) but you'll still get plenty of bass with the DT 1770 Pro's, it won't dominate in the same way. For some of you, that might be exactly what you're hoping to read. I realise this might sound strange that I comment on how the bass is dominant and yet the kick of the bass drum is lacking; again this is my specific metal music disappointment of the PM-3's.Other reviews on the internet will discuss that not much (if any) sound equalizing is required to enjoy the DT 1770 Pro's, and I would agree with them. The Oppo HA-2 (or any amplifier) is not essential with these headphones if you're like me and plan to plug them straight into a phone such as the iphone, but the potential of these headphones is realised with an Amp. I'm very pleased with them, the comfort level is top notch, it feels like a premium product. The looks are clean and simple, but it doesn't out-style the PM-3's in my opinion. In terms of a headphone to enjoy all types of music with a mindset of no fuss plug-n-play I'd wholeheartedly recommend the DT 1770 Pro's.TLDR: 9.4/10-0.3 Amp required to realise their full potential (not surprising as they're not purpose built for portability)-0.3 Looks good, but not great when compared to Oppo PM-3's