Beyer T1

[GPH]

Cool, keep us updated with your impressions! Design seems a bit understated for reference cans, perhaps they look better in person?

[mypasswordis]

I love a good understated clean look, and I do like the look of the very macho T1, minus the velour pads. I hope they sound great, and not sounding like the other Beyers is a very good thing. What are the backs of the cups made of? Looks like some kind of fabric.

[Voltron]

The back of the cups is a very fine wire mesh in a herringbone pattern. My favorite part of the design is the T1 cutout. Some nice Ethiopian Hair Sheep pads would be a good upgrade and might make the bass pick up some.

[agile_one]

Congrats, Al ... looking forward to seeing and hearing these at the NorCal meet on Sat.

My take on the aes/ebu on the cable is that it qualifies as digital cable with 110 ohm impedance.

[cetoole]

The back of the cups is a very fine wire mesh in a herringbone pattern. My favorite part of the design is the T1 cutout. Some nice Ethiopian Hair Sheep pads would be a good upgrade and might make the bass pick up some.

You find them particularly bass lite?

[Cankin]

Do the back of the cups dent easily?

[Iron_Dreamer]

Glad to see they arrived, Al! I look forward to checking them out in Mayberry.

[Torpedo]

Congratulations Al, they look great, also the case. Impressions?

[Voltron]

Very nice Al! By the way Al, how loose/tight do they fit (in comparison to other cans)? and of course, I am curious to hear your opinion after a long listening session.

A bit of a clamp but not too much. Overall pretty light and comfortable.

Congrats, Al ... looking forward to seeing and hearing these at the NorCal meet on Sat.

My take on the aes/ebu on the cable is that it qualifies as digital cable with 110 ohm impedance.

Probably right on that, Gene.

You find them particularly bass lite?

No, and I really don't think there is much I can say after a couple hours on the head and most of a day of breaking in. It seemed a little lighter on bass upon first putting them on to both me and a musician friend who listened for a few minutes. He thought the mids and upper mids were the most prominent with a lot of detail especially on the high end. He is not a headphone geek but he uses them all the time when making/recording music. I'd mostly agree with him, and I will post random comments as they break in. Others will be hearing them this week and at the meet on Saturday so some more thoughts will be available.

Do the back of the cups dent easily?

I'm not really going to try to do so, but the mesh is over some kind of stiff backing so it is not like the HD800.

[padam]

The clamp will disappear over time as it is similar to other Beyers in that aspect, I have big ears but the comfort was fine for me. And yes, I would classify them as a little bit bass-light even if it was run from a C.E.C. HD53N which is on the warm side afaik but it's nothing wrong really. I will probably listen to that demo pair at a later time to see how much it changes. What I really liked is how 'right' the high notes sound.

[n_maher]

Not a fan of the dual wire cable, hard to believe it isn't a bit annoying but I'll defer to DOTU's impressions until I get to see them.

[mypasswordis]

Yup the clamp should get better over time. I thought everyone in the HF thread was saying the T1 had moar bass than the HD800. Perhaps breaking in the pads a little will make the sound bassier. It's good to know that the T1 is the first Beyer headphone in a long time to not completely overdo the bass reflex design, based on your impressions. Leather pads might cause the sound to be too far in the other direction and there might be too much (muddy) bass but there's no harm in trying.

[nickchen]

Stumbled in here yesterday, I must say the discussion quite differs from the usual "uh, can't wait". My 2 cents:

I principally agree to the statement that the Beyers we have known until now aren't exactly technically advanced peaces of gear that are to be adored in the way of a W5K or so. Their strength is rather to be found in the field of sheer musicality, but their genre bandwidth is too restricted to have a large discipleship. Rock, Jazz & Classical only work acceptably IMO, but Ambient, Drum & Bass or IDM is quite a worthwhile experience with most "better" Beyers.

I didn't like the HD800 and most e-stats due to lacking musicality, so if the T1 really turns out to be a super-high-res DT880'600 with bass worth mentioning, that's a highender of my liking.

[TheSloth]

Definitely moar bass vs. HD800. Usual Beyer 8k peak too.

[Knuckledragger]

Rock, Jazz & Classical only work acceptably IMO, but Ambient, Drum & Bass or IDM is quite a worthwhile experience with most "better" Beyers.

Wow. That'd make the T1s a priority for me, I suppose.

The TakeT H2s were made from drum n bass and dubstep. I thought I knew what snare drums sounded like, then I got the Fugs, and I knew.

[aerius]

Frequency response looks decent, but the harmonic distortion spectrum is one of the worst I can remember seeing. Doesn't look very promising to me. Way too much higher order distortion products for my tastes.

[Hopstretch]

The spike is just where the test head blew apart because of the magnetic flux density. That's a feature, not a bug.

[mypasswordis]

Heh, yeah I'm worried about the 8kHz spike too. I wonder why Beyer keeps thinking it's a good idea to have a treble peak since it really is on pretty much all of their headphones. The slow crappy bass and thin mids are also trademark Beyer attributes but maybe the T1 is different.

[mypasswordis]

Oh, you meant the distortion spike. It makes sense to me that there will be increased harmonic distortion products with an increase in magnet strength due to eddy currents and whatnot. I still think that there is no point to increasing magnet strength and that achieving the appropriate SPL's in the electrical domain, in the form of proper amplification, instead of the mechanical seems to be the better choice.

[Deadneddz]

I still think that there is no point to increasing magnet strength and that achieving the appropriate SPL's in the electrical domain, in the form of proper amplification, instead of the mechanical seems to be the better choice.

Hey now, the Qualia 010 had its awesome transverse pressed magnet technology. Although I must say that couldn't save it from sounding like ass from the headphone out of an old Denon receiver. I am indeed a believer in proper amplification.

[mypasswordis]

I'm not sure I understand how sticking four magnets together makes the resulting magnet better able to retain strength, and thereby helps sound quality. Unless it means the strength as in structurally (still doesn't explain how it helps sound quality). And how do stronger magnets more accurately move the diaphragm? As it is now, both of those "facts" seem like a load of hogwash to me. I can understand a more constant magnetic field in which the voice coil moves, would more accurately move the diaphragm. Using a nanocomposite material for the diaphragm makes sense, since you can make a diaphragm that's stiffer and lighter. Radial VLD magnets also are a cool idea.

[deepak]

Stumbled in here yesterday, I must say the discussion quite differs from the usual "uh, can't wait". My 2 cents:

I principally agree to the statement that the Beyers we have known until now aren't exactly technically advanced peaces of gear that are to be adored in the way of a W5K or so. Their strength is rather to be found in the field of sheer musicality, but their genre bandwidth is too restricted to have a large discipleship. Rock, Jazz & Classical only work acceptably IMO, but Ambient, Drum & Bass or IDM is quite a worthwhile experience with most "better" Beyers.

I didn't like the HD800 and most e-stats due to lacking musicality, so if the T1 really turns out to be a super-high-res DT880'600 with bass worth mentioning, that's a highender of my liking.

A shame the latter isn't really music.

[mypasswordis]

^ True dat

can't admit I listen to some ambient...

[cetoole]

These measurements are of concern to me.

Stumbled in here yesterday, I must say the discussion quite differs from the usual "uh, can't wait". My 2 cents:

I principally agree to the statement that the Beyers we have known until now aren't exactly technically advanced peaces of gear that are to be adored in the way of a W5K or so. Their strength is rather to be found in the field of sheer musicality, but their genre bandwidth is too restricted to have a large discipleship. Rock, Jazz & Classical only work acceptably IMO, but Ambient, Drum & Bass or IDM is quite a worthwhile experience with most "better" Beyers.

I didn't like the HD800 and most e-stats due to lacking musicality, so if the T1 really turns out to be a super-high-res DT880'600 with bass worth mentioning, that's a highender of my liking.

I don't think I understand what you mean by musicality, as I have yet to hear a beyer I enjoyed listening to music on.

I still think that there is no point to having magnets and that achieving the appropriate SPL's in the electrical domain, in the form of proper amplification, instead of the mechanical seems to be the better choice.

FIFY

A shame the latter isn't really music.

x2

[mypasswordis]

Hey Colin's HE5, could you lightly slap Colin upside the head? Just to get him to notice you. Thanks.