- I need clarity and headphones that don’t hide my mixing sins
- Moving from closed- to open-back is a huge upgrade
- However, open-back headphones and vocal recording don’t mix
One of the best things about being an adult is that you don’t need to ask Santa for Christmas gifts: you can just buy them for yourself. And that’s exactly what I’ve done with my latest audio upgrade. As an end of year treat I’ve just upgraded my work headphones to the Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro – and I’m delighted that I did.
I already had a pair of Beyerdynamic headphones, the DT770 Pro. I use those for recording music and for mixing, and they’re very good. But the DT990 Pro are even better, because they’re open-back. That makes a huge difference for making music and for listening to it too.
As someone who writes about music and reviews audio gear, I’m a bit spoilt: I’ve got a set of headphones to hand for review that cost more than 10 times the price of my Christmas present to myself, so I’m not lacking for good sound options.
But the best headphones aren’t necessarily the fanciest or most expensive: they’re the ones that do what you want them to do for the price you want to pay. And the price I wanted to pay was well under £200/$200.
What’s so great about the DT990 Pro?
Don’t get me wrong. The DT770 Pro are pretty great headphones, which is why they’re a popular choice for musicians and producers. But while they and the DT990 are sonically similar, the move from closed-back to open-back makes a huge difference in terms of the soundstage, which feels wider and more detailed.
When you’re listening critically to your mix, that’s really helpful, because it enables you to spot things that other headphones may hide.
The other big difference I’ve noticed is in comfort. My previous Beyerdynamics are great, but the DT990 Pro are better. They feel slightly looser (many headphones feel quite tight on me because I have a head the size of a planet) and the ear cups feel softer. I’ve already pulled a few very long shifts wearing the new headphones, and I pretty much forgot I was wearing them.
The big downside for music is that closed-back headphones leak, and because I listen quite loudly, they leak a lot. That makes them a bad choice for recording vocals because everything you hear goes right back into the mic. But then, I’ve already got the solution to that: I just swap them for the DT770s when I’m tracking vocals.
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