INTRODUCTION

    In the never ending quest to find the best possible set of headphones three brands have really stood out for me over the years, Sennheiser, beyerdynamic and Meze. Yes, there have been other brands that have released some great models from time to time, but a single exception doesn't make the rule and so I'm always curious to see what new these 3 companies have to offer. Late last year beyerdynamic released the MKII versions of their very popular DT 1990 PRO and DT 1770 PRO studio headphones the latter of which arrived in the lab a while back.

    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.

    The DT 1770 PRO MKII are closed-back type studio headphones for which beyerdynamic has used their latest TESLA.45 drivers (45mm) which are placed inside full metal housings and consist by a multilayer sandwich layer diaphragm with voice coil, tesla ring magnet and precision fabric. Thanks to the new TESLA.45 drivers the DT 1770 PRO MKII studio headphones can deliver a very wide frequency response of 5Hz-40kHz with just 30Ohm impedance and 95dB SPL. The rugged steel headband construction of the DT 1770 PRO MKII produces a clamping force of 6N (+-0.5N) making ideal for studio use (25dBA ambient noise attenuation) and to cover more end users beyerdynamic bundles two different earpad sets dressed in velour and artificial (faux) leather. So, let's see what the latest DT 1770 PRO MKII by beyerdynamic are all about.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The DT 1770 Pro MKII 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.

Once you open the box, you'll see a hard carrying/storage case in which beyerdynamic has placed the entire bundle.

Along with the DT 1770 Pro MKII inside the box you'll also find a 3 meter long 3.5mm straight detachable cable, 5 meter long 3.5mm coiled detachable cable, two 6.35mm gold-plated jack adapters, set of faux leather earpads, quick start guide and the hard carrying/storage case.

THE DT 1770 PRO MKII

The 322g hard carrying/storage case (hardcase pro) measures 21cm in length, 18cm in width and 12cm in thickness.

Inside there's plenty of room not just for the DT 1770 PRO MKII but also the extra earpads and all the cables and adapters.

The DT 1770 PRO MKII weigh 377g and feature near excellent craftmanship (clearly build to last).

When it comes to size the DT 1770 PRO MKII are medium to large sized ones.

On the exterior of the earcups beyerdynamic has placed the model name.

The company name and logo are printed on both ends of the headband.

At the base of the left earcup we find the single 3pin mini XLR connector.

I was pleased to see that the earcups have a good range of motion making them even more comfortable.

The large velour dressed earpads are mounted by default but for people who may need even better noise isolation beyerdynamic also bundles a faux leather set.

The headpad is dressed in faux leather and thanks to its design and good padding it's also very comfortable.

Left and right markings are placed on the interior of the headband.

beyerdynamic has placed their name on the exterior of the headband as seen above.

The headband extends on both sides by 40mm (80mm total) via 11 increments (8 visible ones).

All jacks in this bundle are gold plated.

To effectively test the DT 1770 PRO MKII I used my favorite music players, the R9 and M15 by FiiO.

Here you can see an exposed picture of one of the earcups (marketing material).

CONCLUSION

    Studio headphones are usually tuned in a specific way tailored for professionals and yes, the DT 1770 PRO MKII may not sound like most consumer oriented models. Now I haven’t used many studio grade headphones in my life but if I was to quickly describe the DT 1770 PRO MKII I’d say they don’t overemphasize any specific frequency range (this can be fixed however by using EQ). Mids and highs are detailed and clear, vocals are crisp and accurate and bass is deep and more than enough for most music genres without however overshadowing the rest (to me it almost sounds as if bass cuts just short of that). Soundstage may not be the widest I’ve ever encountered with a pair of headphones (open back models produce far better results here), but it offers clear instrument separation with accurate and detailed spatial imaging. Moving to comfort I can’t say anything bad about the DT 1770 PRO MKII, both the earpads and headpad are well padded and sit well on the head. Yes, just like with most closed back models they do tend to get a bit hot after long periods of use but again, that’s something typical with such models. Finally, as for build quality as I mentioned earlier beyerdynamic offers near excellent craftmanship and that’s always a good thing to see.

    Currently the DT 1770 PRO MKII studio headphones will set you back USD699.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 595.34Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) so yes, they are not what most would call affordable. Still, these are studio headphones and aside the fact that cost is usually not an issue for such users how they sound is also tailored for them (at least for the most part, my guess is that most people will like them from the get-go) and since they deliver as advertised the Golden award is in order.

PROS

- Near Excellent Build Quality
- Balanced Audio Signature
- Comfortable
- 3m & 5m Long Detachable Cables (With 6.35mm Adapter)
- Hard Carrying / Storage Case
- Good Noise Isolation
- Closed Back Design (For Some)

CONS

- Closed Back Design (For Some)
- Price (For Some)