Alright, so I have sat with these for quite some time now since I got them yesterday morning. I have to say I am pretty impressed at this price tag and this is a definite buy from myself personally despite being a Warm headphone, and my preference is towards bright headphones, this may actually replace my fidelio x2 hr. Please keep in mind that these are my own thoughts and opinions on it your experience and setup may vary and change some things as well as people hear things different. Alright so,
Design Comfort and Cables: Design wise it is incredibly light maybe one of the lightest beyers that I own and distributes it’s weight perfectly to the point I barily notice that it’s really there it just doesn’t seem to have a clamp force and if there is it’s barily noticeable to me. I can wear this thing all day each day with zero issue and the pads are incredibly soft and breathable, may actually rate this better than my dt 990 250 ohm pads these really are some incredible pads.Comfort for me as someone who has larger ears and a bit on the larger side for heads is spot on perfection nothing rubbing no discomfort I can literally pick these up without concern for comfort and design is what you would expect from a Beyerdynamic with their very soft leather headband and regular build qualities. Cables this is going to be a complaint. The cable for myself is too short, but I like long cables, while I didn’t measure the length it’s around a 4 foot or so length of cable however, it isn’t detachable which is a huge missed selling point for a “gamers” headphone I really wish they had implemented a 3.5mm jack or something like the 177x go where it uses a mini xlr allowing for balanced setups. Would need modded but I guess beyer has decided to reserve its detached cable units in its higher tier selections which is a bit of a hit and miss imo on that. Does come with the 1/4 inch adapter standard setup.
Software? None, no controls, no equalizer, no 7.1 surround sound. It’s just the headphone and if you so chose also the mic it comes with in the bundle of which I did not purchase. Responds to Dolby Atmos and Hesuvi for surround though not required
Sound SIgnature: Fun and Warm with a bass that is very on point and enjoyable, it’s not heavy nor is it muddy but it’s very present in the mix. Mids do sound pushed back and I found myself wishing they were more neutral in the mix. Now the Highs this is where I feel is strange for a Beyer if you are someone who just can’t get behind a dt 880 or dt 990 due to it’s brightness this is definitely the way to go. I can’t find any sibilance here at all. The dt 990 is a bit more detailed sparkly and has quite a bit more clarity on the highs and this is a definite trade off point but the highs on this tygr are definitely slightly raised smooth and enjoyable but it’s dialed back to the point that gives it a very good sound in the mix while not being horridly bright. In terms of crystal clear clean with lots of detail in the sound this is definitely not a dt 1990 or T1 though, It still manages to have that Beyer House sound in it’s own way which imo makes it fairly unique among all the super bright headphones. If you want a beyer for gaming but don’t want your ears to bleed cause you are sensitive to treble this is the way to go with the mmx300 being a great alternative closed back to this. This gets fairly close to that of… I wanna say a T1 honestly but it isn’t as detailed, clean, vibrant, or as bright. If anything this is a DT 880 that is fully open, treble dialed back, added bass, while still keeping the recessed mid frequencies to my ears. Incredibly enjoyable.
Soundstage and Imaging: This headphone just sounds wide right out of the box, possibly wider than my other beyers definitely wider than my 990, and actually sounds just as wide as my k7xx I own. It has like dms said indeed a very speaker like presentation to it. Imaging is so accurate its absurd you should not have any issues at all pin pointing sounds with this and if you do it could very well be on your equipments side as I have no issues whatsoever here. Despite the accuracy in the imaging the headphone is by no means very analytical like a dt 1990 this is definitely catered more towards a “Fun” sound.
Amps: I do have a bit of a nitpick here. The headphone is a bit too picky with it’s impedance level and those stating it doesn’t need an amp are using a motherboard with a higher grade audio codec. Put it simply I can’t just plug these into my onboard motherboard, I don’t have the greatest audio codecs, and listen to them at a high volume. I have the same issue with my phone, samsung a10e, and of course it gets a little more finicky when you use it with the old original ps4 slim. It’s not loud enough and to get it to regular volume levels I have to crank to 100%. Ampwise you don’t want something like a liquid spark here unless you want this headphone to sound dark and slightly muffled to my hearing. This pairs well with the magni 3+, I would assume the heresy as well, and asgard 3 but didn’t pair all too well to my liquid platinum imo. You really will want something that is good for warm headphones that helps that bass maybe raise the mids and smooth the highs a bit and goes along with that huge soundstage. I found my Magni 3+ with Topping D10(switched out for budget reasons not everyone has a ton of money) to work really well I also had a Soundblaster X3 in house and this too does pair well though I will give that win to the magni for definitely sounding better. Pre amp gains work well enough here and this does not take much power at all to drive so keep that in mind while using it so you don’t mess up the headphone.
Headphone sale and pricepoint: I find this very hard to recommend due to the fact it’s only purchaseable seperately directly through beyerdynamic. This makes this headphone very limiting to its buyers and a hard sell imo. For it’s price I would think this would actually be more than what I bought it for. This actually replaces my Fidelios in everything but overall bass as the fidelios are bassy but it’s seen as muddy. Do I think it’s a good buy? Well, that depends as I try to be as openly subjective between pros and cons as possible. If you like the dt 880 or dt 990 but you aren’t a fan of that overwhelming brightness? Yes, whole heartedly I recommend this as a pickup. If you want to play competitive FPS? While I have a hard time recommending this it’s due to the bass as it will indeed get in your way here if you have an equalizer to dial it back this may work but there are better options and this doesn’t respond too well to it’s bass being messed with more on this in a minute, However if you wanted it for both casual and competitive I do find this to be a incredibly solid choice albeit I think the dt 1990 or T1 would be better they are more expensive. This headphone stands above in probably around the $300-$400 range with it’s sound but a laser accurate imaging and wide soundstage that just isn’t found unless you go higher priced outside of maybe an akg k702/k712
Gaming Genre: Alright so, this is where I get a little bit pickier. It’s pricepoint is $200 which is the happy high end medium pricepoint for a gamers headset However, you need to factor in the potential cost of needing a Modmic $40-$120 and an amp/dac if you want it loud. Is it worth it? Yes and No. without going into an explaination vs every single headset that I have auditioned… this is in my top 3. This Competes with the mobius/orbit and steel series just fine. The only reason it isn’t in my number 1 is because of it’s alternative cost of an amp/dac to bring it to Hi-res, not having an equalizer, and not being well-rounded enough to be great for both competitive and casual. This headphone caters towards the casual gamer and it definitely shows. If you wanted a headphone from beyer more towards the competitive market you would still be looking at the dt 880 as it isn’t as bassy and has more treble with a good mid frequency.
Equalizers: alright so, I use the peace equalizer on my pc and I wanted to try tinkering with this. This headphone is a bit fussy. Amping the bass causes it to become a bit bloated and muddy and even in some cases distort meanwhile dialing it back makes the sound go a little off without a bit of pre-amp. It becomes overwhelming over the mids and highs and distorts with just a very small bump to the bass. You can actually amp the treble to be somewhat like a dt 990, which will most definitely become sibilant with a few small db in the amp, and turn down the bass and it does respond well as long as you know what your doing with your equalizer.
Final Notes: This headphone is a keeper to me and will be staying in my collection. This is a very enjoyable listen it isn’t aggressive but it isn’t too laid back it’s somewhere in the middle there. For gaming I would use it in both scenarios just very slightly dial back the bass and increase the treble in competitive meanwhile just leave it alone, eh maybe a very slight bass increase just to the point it isn’t distorting, for casual gaming. For music? This is still very enjoyable as long as you don’t go into this thinking you are going to get a analytically natural headphone. If I were to compare this to another headphone in particularly… this would probably be more compared to a Fidelio X2 HR, but better, or my aeons without the clear clean sound and rolled off treble. This doesn’t really hold up to my 1990 or T1 but in it’s price point it is a great buy, just not really a giant killer. This however, is now officially on one of my highest recommendations for the casual gamer due to it’s pricepoint if the person wants a warm open back headphone. I have to really commend beyer for releasing a headphone that caters more towards those who just aren’t a big fan of the super bright headphones. This hits the nail on the head spot on.