INTRODUCTION

    Whenever I plan on using a pair of headphones or speakers in the lab or at home, I'm always reminded that I should choose based on how I like listening to music. It basically comes down to whether I want a flat/neutral or a color/rich sound signature and well, the answer at least for me is never that simple since depending on the music genre one can surpass the other. Beyerdynamic recently unveiled their latest DT 990 PRO X Professional Headphones which I've been using for almost 2 weeks.

    Since 1924, beyerdynamic has stood for first-class, professional audio products that delight discerning customers around the world. The majority of the product lines are handmade at the Heilbronn site. In the product areas “Creator”, “Gamer”, “Work & Learn” and “Enjoyment - Music lovers”, beyerdynamic offers headphones, headsets, microphones, gaming, and home office products. They all have one thing in common: pristine sound. This has always carried the company across the emotional stages of the world, through the inspiring studios of the cities and into the ears and hearts of the people.

    For their brand new DT 700 PRO X and DT 990 PRO X over-ear studio headphones (open-back) beyerdynamic has used their latest STELLAR.45 drivers which are made up of four main components, 3-layer diaphragm with voice coil, speaker bearing, N52 neodymium‑iron‑boron (NdFeB) magnet unit and baffle. This combination allows the DT 990 PRO X professional headphones to deliver a very wide frequency response of 5Hz-40kHz with 48Ohm impedance and 97dB SPL. Expanding on durability beyerdynamic has taken the route of using replaceable user parts for the DT 990 PRO X like the earpads, headpad, head bow, system bow, clamps, slider, detachable cable, even the drivers themselves. This is my first encounter with a member of their DT line of studio headphones so let's see whether the DT 990 PRO X is worthy of your attention.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The DT 990 PRO X arrived inside a small box that has a small product picture at the front along with the company logo and country of manufacture.

Contact details for beyerdynamic are printed on a sticker at the rear.

Recommended uses, bundle contents and the technical specifications of the DT 990 PRO X are printed at the base of the box.

The DT 990 PRO X are kept in place by a formed piece of cardboard.

Along with the DT 990 PRO X inside the box you'll also find a 3 meter long straight detachable cable, 6.3mm gold-plated jack adapter, storage bag and the user manual.

THE DT 990 PRO X

The DT 990 PRO X are made of aluminum, faux leather, plastic and velour and weigh 292g.

This is a great looking medium sized model.

The model name is printed on the exterior of the earcups whereas the company name is printed on both ends of the headband (sliders).

The straight detachable cable attaches on the base of the left earcup.

For earpads beyerdynamic has used large velour covered ones which are very comfortable.

Left and right markings are placed on both ends of the headband.

The headband has the company logo engraved on it and yes, it's replaceable.

Both the 3.5mm and 6.3mm jacks are gold plated.

The detachable straight cable is something fans of beyerdynamic have been asking and well, here it is.

The headband of the DT 990 PRO X extends up to 29mm on each side via 8 increments (6 visible ones).

To test the DT 990 PRO X, I mostly used the M15 music player by FiiO (also the M23 and R9 players but for not as long).

CONCLUSION

    Just like with most open-back headphones the DT 990 PRO X emphasizes mids and highs and thus it produces a crisp and clear sound signature paired with a very detailed (alas not very wide) soundstage. Bass levels may not be the richest out there but for an open-back model they are more evident than usual and for me that was a surprise (still, closed-back models do better in this area). What many people will also like about the DT 990 PRO X is the fact that even at full volume with devices like the R9 by FiiO there's no audio distortion (at least not with any of the 5 devices I used it with). Moving to build quality even though I did notice a couple of subtle scratches on the metal parts of the DT 990 PRO X it’s actually very good overall as is comfort (mostly due to the large velour earpads - wouldn't say no if they were a tad deeper however). The sole drawback of all open-back headphones is that they are not suitable for either noisy or too quiet environments (if you don’t want to annoy others that is) but for studio use this is obviously not a concern.

Currently the DT 990 PRO X by beyerdynamic retail for USD199 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 199Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price tag which is very balanced for this specific model. As I mentioned before this was my very first review of a DT model by beyerdynamic and well, It’s just as good as I was hoping it would be and that’s why it gets the Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Audio Signature (Crisp, Detailed & Clear Mids & Highs)
- Comfortable
- Replaceable Parts
- 3m Long Detachable Cable
- Price (For Some)
- Open Back Design (For Some)

CONS

- Open Back Design (For Some)
- Soundstage (Could Be Wider)