beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro 250 Ohm

2513

Studio Headphones

  • Open design
  • Circumaural design
  • Dynamic
  • Diffuse-field equalised
  • Impedance: 250 Ohm
  • Sensitivity: 96 dB/mW
  • Frequency response: 5 Hz - 35 kHz
  • Weight with cable: 364 g
  • Weight without cable: 271 g
  • Includes a 3 m coiled cable with 3.5 mm jack, a screw on adapter to 6.3 mm jack, and a drawstring bag
Item number 106865
Sales Unit 1 piece(s)
Design Over-Ear
System Open
Impedance 250 Ohms
Frequency range 5 Hz – 35000 Hz
Adaptor Yes
Replaceable Cable No
Colour Black
Max. SPL 96 dB
Type Of Connector Jack, mini-jack
Weight 271 g
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$125
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As popular as ever

The DT 990 Pro are open, diffuse-field equalised headphones from beyerdynamic that has enjoyed great popularity since its launch in the 1980s. The dynamic DT 990 Pro, designed for the use in studios, has excellent stereo reproduction and a pleasant sound. Its light grey velour ear pads are not only visually appealing, but are also very comfortable to wear. The DT 990 Pro offers a one-sided cable routing via a fixed 3m stereo jack cable with a 6.3mm screw adapter. The impedance is comparatively high at 250 ohms, but nothing stands in the way of reasonable playback volume on mobile devices.

beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro 250 Ohm studio headphones

Professional playback

The DT 990 Pro is characterised by good spatial sound reproduction and offers a stereo stage to the listener that allows precise localisation of individual mixing components. The headphones also have an excellent impulse response that provides an accurate representation of transients. The emphasis is slightly on bass and treble, resulting in optimised playback and giving an idea of what the end result might sound like early in the production process. However, this bass and treble boost also affects the sound neutrality a bit, so new users should first get used to the headphones before starting the next production.

beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro 250 Ohm studio headphones

Comfort headphones with top-notch sound

In addition to a top-notch sound, the DT 990 Pro headphones are extremely comfortable to wear, so there will be no signs of fatigue even after a long period of use. Thanks to the padded spring steel frame construction with adjustable contact pressure, the light grey velour ear pads fit perfectly. Therefore, the DT 990 Pro is very comfortable to wear, even during longer studio sessions. As a result, the DT 990 Pro is a recommended tool for all technicians, musicians and producers who work in the studio every day and want to enjoy some well-deserved knocking-off time without unpleasant pressure marks.

Closeup of the beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro 250 Ohm studio headphones

About beyerdynamic

beyerdynamic was founded in Berlin in 1924 as a manufacturer of cinema loudspeakers. In 1937, Eugen Beyer developed the DT 48, the first set of dynamic headphones, followed two years later by the M 19 dynamic microphone. After the Second World War, the company moved to Heilbronn, Germany, and now also has a US subsidiary with headquarters in Farmingdale, New York. beyerdynamic's most popular products traditionally include headphones and microphones for both live and studio use, and the company also has a strong presence in the consumer and conference technology sectors as well as in the field of installation microphones, interpreter consoles, and tour guide systems.

For editing, mixing & mastering

Due to its open design, the beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro is less suitable for use in the recording room, as ambient noise hits the ear almost unhindered and as a result disturbs the perception of the monitor mix. Accordingly, an outside use is equally not recommended, for example at the DJ desk or at the FOH seat. Instead, the DT 990 Pro presents itself as a fairly reliable tool for evaluating and editing a piece of music. With its strengths such as the spatial reproduction and the impulse response, the DT 990 Pro achieves excellent playback quality, which means that all relevant tools in music production can be used accurately.

2513 Customer ratings

4.8 / 5

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sound

comfort

quality

1384 Reviews

1
Almost perfect
125000 18.02.2018
I bought these, the dt-880 (600ohm) and the hd-650.
And I'll quickly write why I picked the 990's over the others.

Comfort:
The dt-880's were amazing, so comfortable, perfect in my opinion.
While the 990's are really similar, they are tighter on the ears, and I don't like that at all, but they are still quite comfortable.
And the hd-650? They clamp like crazy, I couldn't wear these for over 10 minutes, really uncomfortable.

Sound:
Now this category is objective af, you have been warned.
I used the LP-phone-amp-g103 to drive all of these headphones so there shouldn't be any issues with the amp.
With that out of the way, lets start with the headphones that really disappointed me.
The 880's had a really lackluster low end, you could say non existing, and with basically no bass it was just a clear no for me and I didn't bother any further with them.
The hd-650 sounded like the 990's if someone put an equalizer on them that turned down every frequency past 3khz down 3-6db.
They sounded muddy in my opinion, especially compared to the dt-990's.
With that being said, I love the by some considered sharp highs of the dt-990's, everything sounds crystal clear, not "muddy" or "washed out". I listen to a lot of vocals so that's a must for me. But as I said, it ain't for everybody since some might say the highs are over saturated, and they are, but it sounds nice. It's something I'm looking for in headphones, are you looking for that? If not steer away from these headphones. Cons: they might be too sharp for some and too tiring if used in long sessions. Other cons are the fact that you can really hear if a song is mixed/mastered like shit, you can hear everything. I'm not gonna say sh*t like :"you suddenly hear instruments that you previously didn't hear" if you suddenly heard an instrument that you didn't hear before on decent headphones that's on you. But you definitely hear if someone didn't bother cleaning up the samples he used in his song, and you might need different headphones or speakers to enioy songs that are badly mixed.

price/performance: 10/10, I mean ¤140 for these is a steal, you don't get better audio quality for that price, but you probably gonna need a headphone amp as for almost all 250+ ohm headphones.
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IV
Quality for a normal consumer
Ine V 11.01.2021
I've had quite a few headphones over the years for computer usage (Netflix, Youtube and gaming and of course since this year Zoom calls). When my last pair broke because of poor building quality I just decided I needed a more decent pair. Also I wanted to use them for more quiet bass sessions. I never had a pair that could actually handle the sound of my bass well. So I figured, Studio headphones should do.

And well they do. I use them daily for the computer usage I described earlier. For a while I took them to school which they handled perfectly. They're sturdy with a metal frame but just light enough that long time wearing is still comfortable.

Now that I'm wearing these headphones for 6-8 hours a day I do begin to notice the weight but it is not neccesarely disturbing.
So when talking about the sound quality of these. I can only say one thing: it's amazing! The open back produces a very open and light sound. The lower sounds still comes through very well. Even with the open back sound still sounds emerging. It is also nice to be able to hear yourself talking while wearing them on calls. It pairs perfectly with every device I tried to plug it into. As a result I use them for nearly anything.

As for the durability I cannot say much since I've only had them for about 9 months. But they've fallen of my desk a few times and have been carried in my filled backpack (in the sleeve included). But they hold pretty well in normal envoirments with a normal user.

To summarize: I am in love with these headphones because of the sound quality as well as the building quality and ability carry it with you. They're adjustable and comfortable for daily usage. For the price of 120 euros that's all I could ever wish for.
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MS
They really have too much of high frequencies
Miro S 14.06.2023
Originally I bought DT990 Pro to use in my synth set-up (without a computer) but the coiled cable quickly became problematic, so I plugged it into my computer, replacing DT770 as mixing headphones.

My first impression when I played some music was like: "My ears! It hurts!" because of the amount of high-frequency content. This was the reason to do the first test with high-frequency rich genres like Trance and Techno.
Here are my observations:

Trance is the most unbearable to listen to. About 90% of tracks attacked my ears with ear-piercing cymbals. It's better with Techno but I got mixed results here as some Techno tracks are more muffled and some have boosted high-frequencies as in Trance music. Besides cymbals like razors, high-frequency content didn't have good separation and it sounded like all cymbals are just one huge mess.
The low end was ok in most cases. It didn't have impact, weight or transient as DT770 but it is there. This is what I thought before I moved to the other music genres.
My other impression was that I don't hear any more stereo space in these headphones than in DT770, which is ridiculous as 770 are closed and 990 are open. I should be able to hear a huge difference.
I tried MP3s and uncompressed flac/wav files. I couldn't stand compressed music most of the time. I'm forgivable in that matter but on DT990 I could hear much more unpleasant artefacts that together with the not-so-great production quality of Trance make the listening experience much less fun than with consumer-grade headphones or even DT770. After listening to more than 100 Trance and Techno tracks I had the feeling that some of them were made or at least tested with DT990 because they were sounding good while others (even those from famous producers) were flat, lifeless and sounded like coming from a tiny box.
To summarize my impressions of Techno and Trance: the majority of tracks in these genres sound bad and unpleasant on DT990.

The second test was with a variety of genres, from Jazz to Ambient, Pop, 80's etc. Here's where "the fun" started. I tried a bunch of reference music for audiophiles out of curiosity (I'm not one of them!).
Immediately I could hear a wide stereo space with instruments filling it from far left to far right. Trance and Techno at best have half of it which is a shame. I could also hear dynamics and "vertical" space between vocals and other instruments in or close to the centre. Another thing that genres in my first test lacked. And I can't blame only dynamic compression which is usual;y too high in modern electronic music because this problem appeared even in older tracks that I know weren't treated with compressors (or just a tiny bit).
DT990 Pro revealed its full glory in this test. Horizontal and vertical space became filled with the joy of good sound. Of course, high frequencies are in front too. DT990 has simply too much of it. But at least it didn't hurt my ears.
The low end is a mixed bag. In some tracks, I missed more of it but I could still hear the punch/transients. Also, genres like Jazz are not bass heavy in the first place. Genres like RnB gave often different experiences. The bass guitar was often enormous and put Trance and Techno to shame. Who could think that "bass genres" will lose to 80's Pop songs? It's probably because DT990 has boosted mid-bass but it has a very good bass extension so it should give genres with sub-bass more "oomph" than I experienced.
DT990 Pro are definitely better with non-electronic dance music genres if someone wants to buy these headphones for casual listening.
Another story is studio use and critical listening. These headphones can reveal every (or at least a lot of it) detail, badly done mixing and mastering. I don't know how they will work as mixing headphones (I'm still on holiday and too lazy to check) but I can already feel that a correction curve will be necessary to at least attenuate a bit of high frequencies. Otherwise, mixers may try to attenuate high frequencies more than they should.
To summarize:
I wouldn't recommend DT990 Pro for casual listening. Most of your favourite songs may be unbearable to listen to. Besides that, as long as you can still hear a high frequency range up to 16kHz as I do, this part of the spectrum will be always taking the space and in front position.
Some people may enjoy genres like Jazz, RnB etc. on those because of the wide stereo space. As long as it doesn't have exaggerated cymbals, you may be fine. If you prefer deeper, more towards mid and bass range sound, avoid DT990 at all costs.
For critical listening, these headphones seem to be alright but once again, high frequencies are spoiling it. Same problem for mixing because besides that, separation in high-end is not that great. I wouldn't recommend DT990 as the only mixing reference for genres like Techno or Trance.
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B
Shocking good sound quality for the price point!
Blackwatch 16.01.2020
Rather exciting piece of headphones!
Although they have advertised 250 Ohms impedance you average smartphone can drive them pretty well to painfully strong sound pressure level. The caveat however is that if you pair them with a simple amplifier you will unleash the beast <1KHz. I was pleasantly surprised when I first tried them on my phone, then thrilled on my audio interface Komplete 2, finally the HA4 "KOMPLETED" the circle of audio pleasure. I compared them directly to Custom One Pros, Marshall Major and K-701 all four driven from the same source - Komplete 2 + HA4. I equalised the volume to the best of my perception and the DT 990s wiped the the floor with the competition.

Sound: 5 stars - NO DOUBT ABOUT! (Metal, rock, classical music listener here)
Comfort: 5 stars - Pretty fluffy ear cups. I wear glasses and my deal breaker is that the headphones do not press my ears too hard against the frame of the glasses. I do however fear that during summer the ear cups will be a bit too warm.
Quality: 4 stars - Overall pretty solid BQ. I do not like the way that metal brackets on both sides are attached to the head band (Mechatronics engineer's inner voice says - FLIMSAAY!). Luckily ALL parts can be ordered as spares from beyer when they break. I am also not of fan of the fixed cable... that should've been a detachable 3.5mm jack like many other less expensive headphones. The cable itself is a bit of overkill sized gauge telephone coil. It is massively thick and heavy and absolutely not portable. It's not a big problem for stationary setups but please take in into account for portable intentions - they are not.
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