DT 770 PRO

For a couple years I've had a pair of Sennheiser 598Cs, which are ... okay headphones ... not amazing ... and I was looking to upgrade to something a little better recently. I ended up getting a pair of Monolith 1060C closed-back planar magnetic headphones, and I love 'em, BUT, they are utterly gigantic and you look absurd wearing them in public, so they were designated to the home studio solely. (They're also nearly twice the price of these.)I'd had very positive experiences with my Beyerdynamic DT990s, so I decided to try the Beyerdynamic Avenos. I couldn't tell you how those are, because I think I got a dud, the sound was absolutely terrible. I've heard they're normally great. But the 770s are, again, nearly half the price of those, so I decided to try them out instead. I'm very happy I did.A brief tangent to help you get up to speed about the trio of Beyerdynamics in this category, which are the DT770s/880s/990s. I've researched and used all three of them ... the main thing to understand is that they are all pretty much the same exact thing, fundamentally. The 770s are closed-backed and don't come with a case; the 880s are open-backed and do come with a case; and the 990s are semi-open backed and don't come with a case, but have a "coiled" cable that can reach much farther than the other two. (The 880s are probably considered "semi"-open as well, but they let a lot more sound in/out than the 990s do, so I consider them the "open-backed" version of the three in practice). The 990s and 770s are said to have a slightly more "V-shaped" EQ profile (which is neither a good or bad thing, it just depends on your preference or intended usage). Design-wise, the 880s are the lightest and arguably the best looking at a quick glance -- however, to my surprise, they actually are the cheapest feeling of the bunch, in terms of the build quality, the most like a toy. The cups seem a pretty cheap plastic and the headband feels cheaper and flakier than that of the 990s or 770s, and does not secure the extending arms as well. The 990s and 770s, in contrast, have a little more weight to them, and a better headband. I think that pretty much covers all the noticeable differences. All three models come with kind of dated looking, unattractive velour pads ... I recommend replacing those out the gate with something like Brainwavz pleather or micro-suede round or XL replacement pads ... they're better looking, more comfortable, and create a better seal than the velour pads do.Anyway, at some point I'll review the 880s and 990s on their own, but their sound quality was very good, much better than the Sennheisers and almost as good as the Monolith 1060Cs (arguably as good in some scenarios), so I finally decided to just try a pair of the 770s for public use since they're the only closed-back model. While generally well-reviewed, I was a little concerned of reports that the 770s lacked the soundstage of the 880s/990s and performed a bit weak in the treble arena. These proved to be non-issues for me and I'm extremely happy with them.While it's true that the soundstage (which refers to the illusion of "space" around the sound, as if you're hearing the music live, vs. it being concentrated right in your head) is less dramatic than the 880s/990s, it's about as good as you could ever hope for with closed-back cans in this price range, and becomes EXCELLENT when paired with the right audio equipment or software. On-the-go I'm using them with an iPhone X, running the JetAudio App, with custom EQ and some of its other special features enabled. That app costs a few bucks, but it's worth it, as it is vastly superior to iTunes if you really want to get the most out of headphones like these. If you have a good ear and spend a little time experimenting and tuning this audio app, man can it bring these babies to life, especially if your music files are .FLAC/.ALAC. Even out the gate the DT770s put the Sennheiser 598Cs more or less to shame, but once I got JetAudio running, it was just night and day, and the soundstage now easily equals that of the 990s I use at home. I didn't personally have any issue with the trebles in my initial tests -- I feel like the sound overall is probably exactly the same as the 990s but just without a semi-open back -- but with the custom EQ in JetAudio I was able to tease some noticeable extra crispness and punch out of the trebles anyway. All in all, listening to my music through my mobile device has just become a much bigger pleasure. I like the sound of the 770s (and 880s and 990s) very much -- the clarity and imaging and detail across the EQ spectrum is very good, and the deepest basses and highest trebles register audibly. Another plus of the 770s is that they have good isolation, with minimal sound leaking in or out while you wear them -- noticeably better than either my Monolith 1060Cs or my Sennheiser 598Cs. And they are comfortable to wear.So I recommend the DT 770s highly, and think they are a great value at this price point. There are a few minor issues to be aware of though. One, as I mentioned earlier, while certainly optional, I think you'll find it worthwhile to upgrade the stock earpads to something like Brainwavz XL. Better comfort, better sound seal, better looking too. So that's another $30 or so. Two ... I am reviewing the 80 ohm impedence model (32 and 250 are also available). Higher impedence tends to be a "good" thing for sound quality, as I understand it, but the higher the impedence, the harder the headphones are to "drive" (you need to crank the volume knob a lot more for 80 ohm cans than for 32 ohm cans). In practice, on my iPhone X, I have to turn the volume up to just-shy-of-absolute-maximum to get what I would consider a decent loudness. This can be remedied with a decent headphone amplifier, but those aren't super cheap and require research unto themselves to get the most out of ... so, if you are going to use these straight from a mobile device, the 32 ohm might be the way to go. I've never compared the 32 vs. 80 ohm directly, but from what I've read on forums and the like, the difference in terms of sound quality is negligible. Three, while comfy on the head, they aren't comfortable to wear casually around the neck ... they don't fold and the clamp is too unyielding to wear them that way. This was a slight disappointment. Also, the cord is long to the point of being kind of awkward and unwieldy. Since these are the closed-back model of the bunch, it would have been nice if Beyerdynamic had made them a little more "portable-friendly" in their design. A detachable/replacable cable also would have been nice.End of the day, though, I'd be surprised to find another pair of closed-backs you can get at this price that are superior to these, so I'm sticking with 5 stars despite a couple minor design quibbles. I've rambled on quite a bit here, but I know from my own experiences that researching and choosing headphones can be an exhausting undertaking, so I hope someone finds all this info helpful.

Excellent headphones and comfortable.

Sound quality: I can't say it better than BD: these boast extremely detailed resolution and very transparent sound. I love slipping these on and no matter what genre I play I know I'm going to get the best sound the headphone can give me! These things have some THUMP and although the soundstage isn't super large - they're closed backs! These make up for it somehow because I don't find the smaller soundstage detracting from the quality of music I'm getting.I know a lot is made of BD's harsh trebles - I'm just not one of those folks who easily fatigues or has sensitivty to that. I LOVE BDs sound signature. Yes I'll take the opportunity to EQ 8khz and above down a bit if I can but it's not needed and I don't find these too bright for my tastes. Sibilance can be an issue depending on the track; again I notice it but I'm not particularly sensitive to it and it doesn't detract from the sound for me. YMMV.Noise cancellation: Pretty good! I have a couple of noisy fans in my computer and one that heats my room so it's nice to throw these on and mostly escape the noise! They're not perfect for sound leakage so if you like to TURN. IT. UP! your roomies might hear your music, just sayin'. Even still, I don't think most people will have many issues using these in the same room as others, both in terms of hearing others talking and them hearing your music.Quality of material: Great! It's plastic but it's quality. The pads are made of some velour softness and boy let me say these cups ARE THE MOST COMFORTABLE ONES I OWN and it's not close. Perfect amount of clamp, they fit like ear muffs I swear, cups are so big and snug your ears right in there and you don't even feel them on for the rest of the night. The cable is a very nice rubbery feeling material and easily coils up wherever I happen to lay it at the time. I haven't had to adjust this since the first time I tried them on. My only complaint is that the cable isn't detachable.I have four sets of headphones and I listen to music all day long. It's a requirement, I must have music and these are the ones I come back to the most! They are comfortable as heck, sound REALLLLLY nice and if you are a fan of brighter headphones with some healthy OOMPH these will not disappoint!