As title, looking for insights on how DT 1990 compares to AEON 2 Open. I’m new to higher end audio and considering diving in. I mainly PC game (but not hyper competitive), watch TV shows on computer, or background music.
For comparison, my current headset is the Sennheiser 373D (not the drop 37X variant) with included inline Dolby USB 7.1 module from I think 2012? Still works great, but upgrade interest is mostly curiosity. Also use Jabra 65t earbuds off mobile phone frequently for YouTube or YouTube musical listening.
Any insight is appreciated!
PS. I’ve also looked at seemingly “endgame” set of LCD-X, but unsure how far I’d want to go down the rabbit hole as I currently can’t even claim to be a huge pure music listener.
That’s an awful large extreme jump for an all rounder.
There is plenty of options that sound good that aren’t in a very high price range here as aeon 2 over there is like what I think $800+ right now.
In my opinion I wouldn’t jump from a very beginner level entry level to as you put it “endgame” I would start out quite a bit lower but this is just my opinion.
Do you have an amp or dac already? If so what units? Do you also have an external mic to pair with the headphone? If so which microphone? You mentioned not “hyper competitive” but it sounds like you still competitive game so how serious are you? Do you still want focus on FPS cue cards or a more all rounder type of sound? What kind of music do you listen to based on genres? What kind of sounds do you prefer in your music? vocal centric, bass heavy, lots of detail, large soundstage, etc? Lastly, what would be your ideal Budget here?
DT 1990: Analytical, Surgical, Very large soundstage, Laser accurate imaging, Velour pads extremely comfortable, can be changed to three styles of sound signature based on pads analytical pads for neutral bright Balanced pads for V signature and Dekoni Elite Velour for a more U shape signature towards neutral, lots of detail all around and sounds great, brightness may get fatiguing. Sounds it’s best on mid grade to high grade amp and dacs doesn’t seem to response well to full on tube amps from my experience. One of the kings of the competitive gaming headphones though not the best for casual listening
Aeons: the new aeons are said to be more towards neutral but they all have a fairly similar frequency as the aeon 2 are just more refined, I own the aeon open x balanced. Relatively small V signature with rolled off treble and tuning pads that will subtley change the treble, bass, mid vocals and sound stage. thick soft sheepskin pads with perforations on the inside of the pad, more laid back in comparison and not as bright very relaxed and fairly balanced sound with quite a bit of depth and detail to it. Sounds it’s best on a balanced amp and dac of a higher tier. Doesn’t seem to respond to full on tube amps like most planars though responds well to hybrids. Extremely well rounded headphone great for anything casual not the greatest but acceptable in competitive.
I recognize it being a large jump but I’m not unhappy with my current setup at all, just just the desire to experiment / sensation of “upgrading”. So in my mind if I’m going to bother at all, I may as well dive deep, otherwise why bother?
I’m not deadset on those two headphones, over the past month of browsing I’ve considered Sundaras, Sennheiser 6XX, Focal Elex or Clear, LCD-X, LCD GX, and some others I’m likely forgetting.
I don’t already have an amp / dac, tho I waffled on again diving in the deep end and ordering the D90/A90 stack for awhile. I’ve also thought about the JDS EL II stack or S.M.S.L M200 + S.M.S.L SP200 stack. I confess to being unreasonably influenced by matching stack aesthetics otherwise I would likely have just hopped on the seemingly popular THX 789 + E30 Dac.
I’d also considered the Monolith 124459 or DX7 Pro combo units to simplify the aesthetics challenge, but I’m unsure I want to use a combo unit if I’m going to try out HiFi stuffs in general, or if separate dac / amp stack is “superior”.
For mic I’m generally considering it a separate issue / budget item than headphone / dac / amp. I get frequent positive feedback on my current mic (build into the 373D) but I’d likely just get a ModMic USB OR some audio interface + condenser.
For games I do go back to playing Overwatch alot but mostly single player games (Witcher 3, Sekiro, Dark Souls, RDR2 etc)
For music I enjoy lots of power metal (Nightwish, Sonata Arctica), 80s synth-wave, and I enjoy studying to Lofi Hip-Hop style music.
I’d like to avoid the point of diminishing returns, but otherwise budget is fairly flexible.
I’ve auditioned 1990s, own Aeon2 closed and have owned aeon open x. They do not compare. 1990s are not able to render nearly the detail of aeon2. They don’t extend high or low the same way aeon does. 1990 just isn’t in the same class (it shouldn’t be with the price difference) as the aeon2.
I am receiving LCD-x today if fedex does their job. However I don’t expect them to be leaps and bounds above the aeon2 closed. The focal clears aren’t honestly leaps and bounds above them. The aeon2 punches above their weight, heavy as that is.
They (aeon2) require and respond well to power. Since they are capable of high resolution I think the dac also matters. I like how they sound with the modius DAC on my thx789, but the schiit heresy would also be a great option because it sounds very similar to the 789 imo.
So, if that’s what you want, you’re looking at probably the $300 mark of headphones. IMO everything above that give only incremental gains. Maybe spending $3/400 on a dac and amp (schiit modius with asgard3) will get you excellent performance and at the top edge of diminishing returns. This also stacks well for your aesthetic needs (I understand).
I play FPS almost exclusively and find the aeon2 closed to be the best in my lineup, closely followed by the 4xx.
Good. Yes. I am also a fan of modmic. I run an sm7b but I do podcasting, lots of meetings and some YouTube as well. Modmic will get you great sound for gaming.
Wall of text coming. This should help you potentially find what your looking for and give you a very wide assortment to dig through.
The reason I say it’s rather extreme is because in this hobby price tags really don’t dictate the “best options” typically… there are tons of great choices that are much much cheaper.
Sundara is neutrai bright company has quality control issues, Sennheisers are just typically small soundstage and right around balanced or neutral, Focal elex and Clear from my understanding are extremely detailed and more neutral bright headphones, LCD’s have some rising bass and mids frequency but goes more dark in the highs as it declines pretty quickly still nice though. Gonna boil on preferences. All of these are going to need an amp and in the case of something like the clear or an LCD-X your gonna need a pretty powerful one to drive them to full potentials
So, one of the first things that can help you identify what amp and dac will be worth purchasing is finding out your ideal sound signature. In my case it was bright headphones so I tend to look for equipment that helps the treble and warms up the headphones. While technically there are “more superior” amps and dacs it depends completely on your current setup. You currently really don’t have a wide variety of headphones so going straight into an extremely powerful and expensive amp and dac of the highest grade I really don’t recommend as I feel that would be a waste outside of future proofing if you plan to purchase a lot of headphones and really get into the hobby. I definitely recommend getting an amp and dac though for your headphones
Only buy a condensor microphone if you have no risk of outside sound sources leaking through the microphone I really cannot stress that one enough. Condensors are designed for musicians in the sound proofed box rooms for music creation if you want something better for blocking out noise than you instead want a Dynamic microphone as these are the microphones you see used during live concerts and are great for focusing on your voice while blocking out all other sounds.
Going to second this opinion. I don’t find someoen who is brand new to the hobby spending thousands to be the greatest of ideas due to this.
from your preferences it sounds like good soundstage and bass would be nice however this doesn’t particularly tell me if you are treble sensitive unfortunately nonetheless I will drop some recommendations.
So, for starters I do think you will be fine with the Modmics personally, I find them pretty good even more so if your not really getting into streaming and stuff like pod casting. Good sound for a good budget.
As for headphones, depending on what headphone you go with will depend on typically what kind of amp and dac you want… some will brighten up a headphone, others may recess the brightness, some may warm up the headphone, etc. So, we have already touched on the dt 1990 and aeon 2 open. Going to go ahead and post a couple guides you may find useful first.
Philips Series: Currently they are in the process of their newest models but as of current the best two here would be Shp9500(bright with some bass) and Fidelio X2 HR(still has some brightness but is much more warm and bassier) both of these can be paired with the V-moda Boom Pro a fantastic cheap boom mic with exceptional clean clarity for voice and these are much cheaper than your modmics despite offering subjectively much better quality on the voice. Shp9500 would be better for competitive gaming due to less bass but fidelio x2 HR I find really nice and relaxing. Newest additions don’t appear to have a release date just yet… X3 and SHP9600 could come out in a couple months or later in the year. These headphones also have a real large and wide concert like staging
Sennheiser series: These are your happy more balanced signatures as I am sure you already have experience with the sennheisers house sound. A great starting point here for sennheisers are the HD 5-- series… where the 558/559 has more bass 598 has less bass more neutral 599 has more brightness compared to the 598 all of these can make use of a 2.5mm jack boom mic which again is a cheaper alternative to modmics and these particular sennheiser models have a larger soundstage than their later versions and sennheiser isn’t known for having a very large soundstage but it is acceptable. Steps up in sound quality would be the 58x jubilee(no longer has access to the attachable boom mic instead uses duel sided cables and can be balanced also has less soundstage), 6xx massdrop(even less soundstage again can be balanced seems to be a recurring trend from here out), HD 600/650/660S and lastly the ever popular HD800/800S/820 which is the newest and extremely expensive but has an absolutely massive soundstage one of the largest in the market if i recall correctly at the moment. Though if you like more bass I think you will be just fine with something like the HD 559(great sound and usually at $100 very nice and well rounded with more bass than usual) Quite a few of these sennheisers generally won’t require an amp due to low demanding impedances higher models will tend to be the more demanding
AKG series: So, I don’t have too much particular experience with this company but some good recommendations her are the AKG k553(pretty nice soundstage good bass budget friendlier) and then you have the K712 and K7xx which you would want to look more into the differences between these two both have a very large soundstage and quite a bit of bass to them but aren’t clinically sound accurate in their imaging k702 has more accuracy but much less bass and is the more analytical headphone in that bunch with K612 being like the k702 but a more budget option.
Audio Technica: Ad1000x and it’s later variation of AD2000x are bright headphones and are good if you are okay with not having a really bassy headphone as these have a dialed back bass but nice bright sound. Audio-Technica ATH-WS1100iS Solid Bass comes with a mic on it’s cable pretty nice for it’s price real bassy. Lastly, M40x demands a pad swap… generally pretty nice at it’s price point more V signature nice bass nice highs not so great mids(vocals) great for budgets.
Beyerdynamic: Company typically makes very bright headphones those who are treble sensitive are smart to tend to look away from this company outside of maybe 1 headphone. All headphones here generally have a large soundstage but tend to be more aggressive rather than relaxed. DT 1990 is very adaptable with lots of detail but lacks in the mids in comparison to some other headphones can switch it’s sound signature based on it’s pads Analytical pads makes it a Neutral Bright sounding headphone not a lot of bass but still more towards neutral with the treble still being raised Balanced pads will give you more of a V signature mids are pushed back and bass is risen up alongside it’s treble and the third is a seperate purchase of Dekoni Elite Velour which balances out the frequency big time but keeps the bass and treble still slightly raised. Doesn’t really need a very expensive setup to sound great. T1.2 more relaxed compared to dt 1990 which is the more surgical headphone, this headphone really needs a high tier setup and recommended to use a tube amp or perhaps a hybrid but definitely balance this headphone out using a seperate cable purchase very bassy very bright yet relaxed with rounded bass vocals again are not a strong point(this is pretty common with beyers it seems). DT 770/1770/177x GO Closed back some of the bassiest with quite a bit of brightness though 177x go is much more refined and more neutral in comparison. DT 880/990 so the 880 is a neutral bright headphone lacking a big bass presence so I wouldn’t recommend this for a metal fan meanwhile the 990 has a very large bass presence but extremely sharp highs and recessed mids. All of these headphones tend to demand a decently strong amp but the only one that really benefits from a very high end setup is the T1.2. MMX300 essentially a wide sounding dt 770 with some differences like the add on mic, can be compared to the argons and sounds really good for a closed back. Lastly, Tygr 300r I have a review on this over on it’s thread if you scroll up a bit this is the warm sounding headphone of the lineup very warm very large staging laser accurate imaging treble is more neutral with some dark tones to it comfort is some of the best I found in beyerdynamic lineup
Nighthawk/Nightowl Carbons: these were a discontinued headphone but you can find them here and there and they used to be pretty pricey. Very bassy with clean mids with a warm presentation however treble is more Dark and Warm. Very nice very unique. owls are the closed back and hawks are the semi open back
Verum 1 Mk2: Warm, dark, and beautiful. Custom made by one guy.
HarmonicDyne Helios: Decent enough in it’s price point. quite a bit of detail on this one but lacks in the vocals. Lows have some punchyness but not a lot of heavy bass tones and highs have some sparkle that brings out a lot of detail. Has some issues with silbilance in some cases with the S sound
Meze 99s: multiple versions here… Warm, smooth, bassy, somewhat dark, luxurious and quite lovely to have as these are a very relaxing listen.
Fostex Lineup: This is the basslovers brandline to my knowledge. Lot’s of bass and generally speaking some of these will have some raised treble too. One of the most well known here is the ever popular T–RP headphone as it’s the most mod friendly headphone this led to the creation of the Dekoni Blues, V signature bright and bassy quite lovely, and Argons, wide warm bassy still slightly raised treble, of which are some incredible headphones though that’s not to say you can’t just pick up the Base versions and mod them yourself. T20 is fully open and the bassiest with T40 being fully closed back, T50 being the Semi open and subjectively sounding the best here and is the staple for the Argons mod, and lastly the T60RP which is essentialy a mod in itself but more refined less bass and treble iirc still nice though with a better cable. Outside of the moddables you have the Massdrop Variations which are discontinued. Tr-X00 named Ebony, Mahogany, and Purple Heart with purple heart being the bassiest of the three you can find these here and there for a good price though these have a fairly narrow soundstage especially comparing to the T–RP mods.
EMU Teaks: Bought directly through the company this is bassy more towards V signature headphone… similar to that of the Tr-x00 and a good alternative.
Dan Clark Series: Aeons and Ethers. Ethers are supposedly more analytical iirc but in terms of aeons. Relaxed, laid back, open backs feel like closed backs yet have a wide expansive sound with great extension, more of a V signature with tuning pads to alter the sound to personal preference, great detail, benefits extremely well from balanced setups and what appears to be tube amps and hybrids as well. Aeon Retuned and Open X are fine you don’t have to get the Aeon 2 despite it being more refined I don’t particularly think it’s truly worth it considering the price tag and how good the other aeons are. Retuned as far as I am aware is only obtainable right now directly from Dan Clark meanwhile Open X is a massdrop version. They are similar but Open X takes more build qualities from the Aeon 2.
Hifiman Series: He4xx is a nice starting point here but fairly aggressive and bright. Sundara is probably the best bang for the buck wonderful detail but this lacks a hard bass presence to it. Step up from here is the Ananda if you still want bright otherwise the Massdrop Edition XX is more warm and essentially the same headphone as ananda just a different tuning. More demanding of power in amps
Focal Series: I don’t really hear good things on Elear but Elegia is a very nice more linear super detailed closed back with a nice balanced sound and raised treble. Step up from here is the ELEX super popular very detailed bubble like adapting soundstage making it still more balanced yet treble raised. Then you have the Clear treble instead peaks slightly but descends on this one said to be better than the 1990 but not comparable considering price tags. Unique signature would go to the Focal Listen Pro as it has a W signature.
Audeze Series: These to my knowledge are fairly more dark sounding headphones with some decent bass to them. LCD-2 are incredibly nice more relaxed wide good enough bass but fairly dark sounding to my ear step up is the LCD-X. More demanding of power in the amps.
That’s all off the top of my head for headphones.
Depending on which headphone you decide with will decide what amp you generally want. Combo units are nice and all and generally will save you some money but they won’t sound the best as dedicated units.
$100 Range and generally can power most headphones. Schiit Magni 3+ / Heresy Combo unit Schiit Hel($189) or Fulla 3(this is the weaker one though), JDS Atom, Monoprice Liquid Spark(probably the best here for bright headphones), Topping A30. Dac pairings Schiit Modi 3, Atom Dac, Topping D10, Topping E30(probably the best one here), Topping D30. Budget combo unit with a Balanced port Ifi Zen Dac
Step ups: the only ones I really recommend as a step up will depend on your headphone but probably one of the best all rounder is the amp Schiit Asgard 3 pairing this with the Schiit Modius(pairs with balanced amps too) or E30 is generally great and step ups from here are much more expensive and I really don’t recommend for someone without a wider assortment of headphones unless you wanted a seperate balanced ported amp or something along the lines of a tube amp. THX 789 or Geshelli Erish for good balanced amps as well as Topping A50 as a more budget friendly balanced but different ports. Dac upgrade recommendation would jump dramatically from here to something like the D90 or Bifrost 2 though not really required for someone who only has a singular headphone. As far as amps go it will definitely depend on what headphone you go with from there. Rnph(not good for 600 ohm headphones but great for bright headphones like 1990), Gilmore lite mk2(great for planars), Liquid Platinum(this is my own amp and my favorite hybrid works well with a wide variety but expensive). Tube amps definitely Dark Voice or Bottlehead Crack+speedball(this is a DIY amp) maybe the little dot series too. You can also buy a tube preamp for some amps to add that tubey like sound to them pairs well with something like thx 789.