I’m having trouble deciding between these 3. I’m looking to replace my 880 600ohm which I wanted to love but I’m too sensitive to siblance for me to use it for anything outside of fps games. I want to know how good of an “all rounder or daily driver” these can be with a focus more on gaming (competitive and casual). How’s their soundstage, imaging, detail, and most importantly how is the siblance of the 1990 and the Tygr compared to the 880s. I’m also open for other suggestions within the same price range. Thanks beforehand
The 1990 is one of the brightest headphones around. Many say it’s too bright. I don’t think that’s what you’re looking for.
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What amp are you using with the dt880?
I’m using an Asgard 3
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So if you are experiencing sibilance with the a3 and dt800, i would agree with a different headphone since the a3 is a warmer sounding amp, and in my experience quells the highs of the dt880 a bit, but stay away from the 1990 like @kcrack said. I don’t know much about the Tygr, but i do believe @Falenkor can chime in about those. So from my own experience with the a3, i enjoyed the sundaras with the a3 for some time, but i worry you may still get some sibilance with those, but that would be my recommendation, if not the Elex, but i havent heard them. Just the Elegia and Clears.
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I’m not treble sensitive I don’t find highs fatiguing it’s just siblance that bothers me. But if the 1990s are siblant then I would stay away from it unless there’s a mod to help with it because I do really like the look of the 1990s. The 177x Go was another option I looked into but I’m not looking for closed backs atm.
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This is quite inaccurate and depends on the person imo. DT 990, dt 770, T1, T90, and DT 1770 just to name a few are brighter and theres others in that boat.
It does quell the highs but not as much as say a Liquid Spark to my ear however if hes having trouble with a DT 880 the 1990 is a bit peakier so it may be an issue.
I most certainly can. They have the bass of a 990 with some slight recession to the mids and treble is right around neutral depending on what amp you pair it to. Pair it to something like a spark and you get slightly dark sounding headphones pair it to something like Aune or Atom and you get a relatively neutral sound with an ever so slight peak to it in I want to say the upper treble. It’s a warm headphone unlike all the other beyers which are bright. By no means is it really a V signature or bright. Large soundstage on par with a K7xx it sounds bigger than my DT 1990 and 990 and has a speaker presentation with laser accurate imaging. Not the best for competitive due to how bassy it is however, it’s by no means a bad headphone. Then again, that’s if you can even get your hands on one as they are nonstop out of stock. I would have some other headphones to recommend OP if he wants more of a daily driver + competitive gaming as I see Tygrs as a better casual gamer headphone.
Couple things, I have heard from a few others that elex isn’t as particularly ideal for gaming in competitive take that as you will though as again… subjective. Elegia has some good bass to it so its not that great in competitive FPS plus it has a very narrow soundstage I wouldn’t recommend it for competitive though I would highly recommend it for Casual. Clears are just ridiculously expensive so I’d skip that.
For the record, if your getting sibilance to your ear than you are indeed sensitive. I have the 880s, 1990s, and T1 and I don’t get any issues with sibilance to my ear it doesn’t phase me in the slightest and sounds great. However, in cases of 880 and 1990 it also depends on if its a bad recording because that brightness can get a bit lets say janky and be rather all over the place. Though I wouldn’t recommend someone an 880 as a daily driver due to the brightness and fatigue it’s just not that good imo for a lot of scenarios I would sooner say the DT 1990 would be better less you pad swapped the 880 to like a suede or something.
Both the 880s and 1990s can be fixed essentially in the same way. 1. Pad swaps are an option. Using a thicker pad even if just velour can tame the treble back more due to your ears being further from the driver if you use suede it will naturally quell the highs further and bring up the bass worth looking into as a first option. 2. Make sure your pairing it to a good amp the asgard 3 is good but its very well rounded and colored I wouldn’t tell someone it quells treble as much as a spark or to my experience something like an IFI Zen Dac however it still does a great job at making headphones sound amazing also make sure your dac is up to par with your setup some dacs can also make things brighter. 3. Equalization if your on console get a loki otherwise if your on PC just pick up Peace APO and quell the highs from there do some tinkering with it should work fine especially if its just the 1990 or 880 as they aren’t so ridiculous as say a 990. 4. Desperate measures solution take off the pad and the foam on the driver cut a 4 ply toilet paper to the same size as the foam thats on the driver place the toilet paper on the driver followed by the foam and then the pad this will generally kill the peak in the treble of the headphone but can also deplete the bass if you do this and the bass has been depleted too far equalize it back. 5. Absolute desperate measure and debateable depending on who you ask. Solderdude over on DIYheaven sells cheap filter cables that upon plugging and using them will eliminate the treble peak.
If your looking for competitive gaming skip this one.
If your looking for an all rounder daily driver so to speak you want either neutrality or neutral bright to the point it’s not too bright. Neutrality would be something from Sennheiser in the form of HD 598 and 58x jubilee if you play larger fps and casual otherwise 6xx or 660 S for narrow soundstage. Other alternatives would be let me think…
AKG k712: relatively neutral bass with mids and highs forward. treble has a rather hard dip than peaks up however, compared to 880 this is definitely not as bright and still maintains a proper signature for both casual and competitive. AKG has an adapter for these headphones that allows use of the V-moda boom pro. Also has capability to make use of a base mod and has a yaxi pad variant that changes the signature quite pleasantly. Alternative is AKG k7xx as they are close to being the same headphone. AKG has very stupid prices dig around these can be seen for pretty cheap.
HarmonicDyne Helios: Hated it at first but it sounds very natural with a good punch in the bass and a good amount of brightness behind it while sounding relatively wide alongside its thick suede pads and beautiful aesthetic. Chi-fi for sure but still a solid pick.
Hifiman Sundara: the only hifiman I will put on here… neutral bright a little less bright than the 880 may be lacking bass.
Dan Clark Aeon: the only V signature you will ever see me recommend for a Competitve all rounder use and its because of the tuning pads and just how adaptible this headphone is. Wide large soundstage, very good imaging, super thick sheepskin pads, tuning pads that adjust the sound signature to a wide degree, and high amounts of sound quality upgrade potential as it scales insanely well to the point when I connected it to my balanced liquid platinum setup it sounded like a different headphone almost.
Elex: this is a bit of a touchy one… I don’t particularly recommend it at the same time I do and it really depends on what style of fps your playing. The soundstage is strange as its adaptive and very bubble like… it sound relatively bright at the same time the bass and mids are still in the mix somewhat like a W signature. Don’t own it but I have tried it.
I would recommend testing out the dt 1990 or T1 before going to others as they are superb for general use especially T1. T1 over there has smoother highs and while is slightly brighter its not so peaky to the point of scratching out your ears. Both headphones if you change their pads to like a dekoni suede really quell those highs by a very large amount.
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I have the 660s and the 598s. I also have Argons MK III which covers fun casual gaming. How much does the Dekoni suede pads affect detail and the overall sound signature aside from just quelling the highs?
The Tygrs are in stock now
Detail becomes a little less apparent due to the quelled treble and bass becomes more prominent. Mids stay about the same. I haven’t tried perforated suede though from zmf which may fix somethings and make it less of a change.
great headphone if you want a warm sound though again I would not recommend them for competitive usage less you are very sensitive to highs
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I have decided on the Tygrs. What they can do for their price (which low key is a main factor on why I chose it) is really damn good. It will probably be my new daily driver.
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Sounds good man, I just wasn’t sure you would want them owning the argons already as they share a similar signature. Hope you enjoy them.
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Argons are not very good on the imaging department also thank you for all the information and comparisons. It really helped alot
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I’m a treble sensitive DT1990 owner. DT1990s can be sibilant but there’s an easy fix. Use the B pads and use acoustic foam. that’s it.
I believe the dekoni elite velour pads are supposed to quell the treble on the DT1990 without messing up the rest of the sound.
Xion probably made the right choice here. I upgraded to an Elex from one of the treble-heavy Beyers, and while the Elex is a really solid step up in most every regard, for competitive gaming, you do lose some of the crunchy treble. The soundstage is wider on Elex, but somewhat less precise in that respect. They do fine, but it isn’t what they were designed in mind for.
They do indeed but it really boils down to just how sensitive you are. I use the pads myself from time to time as it offers a more balanced out signture bit more bass and not as peaky on the treble.
Could do this as well. Pretty sure there was a guy who mentioned being able to implement that foam piece like the tygrs and amiron have onto the 1990 beyer states it can quell treble though I have zero experience with it and the guy hasn’t acquired the item yet as its still mid shipment. He commented on beyers statement about it as well which reads as follows
Even the sound is optimized for an ultimate wearing comfort. The integrated acoustic-fleece prevents fatigue due to sharp heights, since it levels the high frequencies without any loss of detail
The open-back design and innovative acoustic-fleece emphasize the spatial sound environment. The result is a perfectly balanced sound
stil waiting on the results of that particular test over in the 1990 respective forum
strange, I didn’t hear a wider soundstage than my 1990. Elex was rather odd though very bubble like
In my experience, wool felt, synthetic felt and foam all reduce treble peaks without affecting detail retrieval. I think “accoustic-fleece” is a marketing buzzword.
Im using the foam inserts that came with a set of dt1990 pads that I got from beyer. They also sell the foam inserts separately.
I don’t have the 1990s. I upgraded from the 990 250 ohm and there is a big jump in soundstage width there depending on the source, although treble-heavy imaging was still more precise on the 990.
All the Beyers I’ve tried are phenomenal at that exacting treble precision you need for faster FPS. With the Beyers, you can tell the distinction between someone being 15 degrees to your left versus 45 degrees.
The Elex is quite wide and extremely dynamic when hooked up to my Monolith THX, but you don’t get the positioning as exact. More like, something is happening behind and to the right, but picking any more detail out than that is tough.
oh easily, it appears to just be a part of their brand they have extreme accuracy.
To my ear the 1990 has a bigger stage than the 990 and the T1 as well as tygr has even larger meanwhile the elex while a larger stage isn’t as big as something such as a akg k7xx or something of that sort.
Yeah, for comp gaming id say it’s good just not the most ideal in the sense in my opinion.