Yeah I have one pair of Beyerdynamic DT 990, 250 Ohm, as well as a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 770 at work. They sound great. Nice and flat sound. Letting the music decide how it should sound.
But it’s harder to find earbuds that aren’t bass-heavy, in my experience. I’m currently using a pair of Jaybird Vista 2. They are both pretty comfortable and provide good sound, which is rare for me (I have very open ears that buds easily slip out of.)
Yes open and closed have a big difference. Typically in the world of studio headphones you’d use open back for critical listening, and closed back for recording (so the sound in the headphones doesn’t bleed back into the microphones).
I’ve used a bunch of models over the years but I didn’t realize you were asking about specific models, I meant generally open backs sounds more flat/true than closed, closed being used for practical reasons when recording. As a casual listener you may also want closed if you don’t want to annoy people around you, and some of them sound just great for casual listening!
Not much, but some. Can’t say worse or better without extensive tests, but my gut feeling says it’s just… different.
Less ambience comes through, into the closed phones.
The sound that plays from the open ones probably sounds more true, because the sound echoed back out from the ears and head just escapes out.
Meanwhile the closed ones might sound a little more “rich” because there would be a slight echo/reverb from the closed phones, as well as closing off most ambient sounds.
Hard to describe these things, unfortunately. But I hope this helps.
If you are in a place with lots of ambient noise, closed ones are definitely recommended. Otherwise it’s probably okay with open ones. I have the open ones at home.
I went from working in an office where closed were basically a requirement (to not be rude AND to block out distractions) to working from home. I love these headphones but was wondering if now that I’m in a more controlled environment I should switch to open. Sounds like it’s probably not worth the extra expense.
This image came from a post on Reddit. The user who posted it (on Reddit) said they’re headphones with a 60Hz Helmholtz Resonator. In other words: more bass
So like, he made the thing for it to resonate more the sound you get when you are blowing slightly in a coke bottle to give you an idea. But just constantly
Oh. So a 60 Hz constant hum? Like a low-pitched tinnitus?
I think I know what that sounds like. My fridge has a low, 50-Hz hum that resonates at a specific point by my bedroom mirror but nowhere else in the house. It’s very odd. But also pretty annoying when walking by it.
Now I’m curious, what is this?
Assuming this is not entirely a joke, I would guess that those are resonant chambers which are meant to amplify bassier frequencies.
Wow.
And here I am trying to find good earbuds and headphones that don’t have so much freaking bass, so I can hear the rest of the instruments…
Check out studio headphones. They have a “flat” frequency resoponse and they arent neccessarily expensive. (eg. AKG k240)
Yeah I have one pair of Beyerdynamic DT 990, 250 Ohm, as well as a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 770 at work. They sound great. Nice and flat sound. Letting the music decide how it should sound.
But it’s harder to find earbuds that aren’t bass-heavy, in my experience. I’m currently using a pair of Jaybird Vista 2. They are both pretty comfortable and provide good sound, which is rare for me (I have very open ears that buds easily slip out of.)
I have a pair of DT 770 Pros @ 250 Ohms. Does open vs closed make much of a difference?
Yes open and closed have a big difference. Typically in the world of studio headphones you’d use open back for critical listening, and closed back for recording (so the sound in the headphones doesn’t bleed back into the microphones).
You’ve used these two models or you’re just speaking generally?
I’ve used a bunch of models over the years but I didn’t realize you were asking about specific models, I meant generally open backs sounds more flat/true than closed, closed being used for practical reasons when recording. As a casual listener you may also want closed if you don’t want to annoy people around you, and some of them sound just great for casual listening!
Not much, but some. Can’t say worse or better without extensive tests, but my gut feeling says it’s just… different.
Less ambience comes through, into the closed phones.
The sound that plays from the open ones probably sounds more true, because the sound echoed back out from the ears and head just escapes out.
Meanwhile the closed ones might sound a little more “rich” because there would be a slight echo/reverb from the closed phones, as well as closing off most ambient sounds.
Hard to describe these things, unfortunately. But I hope this helps.
If you are in a place with lots of ambient noise, closed ones are definitely recommended. Otherwise it’s probably okay with open ones. I have the open ones at home.
It does help - thanks for the detailed reply.
I went from working in an office where closed were basically a requirement (to not be rude AND to block out distractions) to working from home. I love these headphones but was wondering if now that I’m in a more controlled environment I should switch to open. Sounds like it’s probably not worth the extra expense.
Ah okay, yeah, probably not, from my personal experience. Of course it depends on how much of an audiophile you are but in the general case, no. 👍
Glad to help! ☺️
Reddit has good resources for that, there used to be a user that had a website to help choose but I can’t find it
The user you’re thinking of is probably LifelongCaboose who also has a blog somewhere with audio equipment reviews.
Campfire Holocene
In my experience: Find something that gives you fine control over equalizer settings, or can be hacked to accomplish this.
The pair of Jaybird Vista 2 that I have has good sound at flat EQ, and Jaybird also supply an app to change the EQ.
This image came from a post on Reddit. The user who posted it (on Reddit) said they’re headphones with a 60Hz Helmholtz Resonator. In other words: more bass
I’m curious to know what it sounded like, but I’m definitely not interested in boosting my bass consumption lol.
So like, he made the thing for it to resonate more the sound you get when you are blowing slightly in a coke bottle to give you an idea. But just constantly
Oh. So a 60 Hz constant hum? Like a low-pitched tinnitus?
I think I know what that sounds like. My fridge has a low, 50-Hz hum that resonates at a specific point by my bedroom mirror but nowhere else in the house. It’s very odd. But also pretty annoying when walking by it.