IMO it’s a pretty different headphone, the sundara is a fair improvement overall the 4xx, they sound like a fair bit higher tier than the 400i. It’s a decent bit more than a slight upgrade
I would personally rate the 990s over the sundara or 400i in gaming. but if you were to like the 400i more than the 990 the sundara or edition xx to me would have just been the logical upgrade path
1 Like
I would agree with this, I think the 990 is a higher performer in terms of competitive gaming
I won’t say I don’t like the 400i. They are great for when I was sitting there playing The Witcher 3 and when I was playing Metro they shined a lot more than the 990s did by a pretty hefty margin… but when it came to music and competitive gaming 990s blew them away completely. It would be one of those headphones I would consider buying at a later point in time for the simple use of single players that are more explosive and immersive.
hey as a collector there is nothing wrong with owning multiple headphones for different use cases. for now I would honestly say an amp or a higher impedance could very well solve all your problems with the 990 cause as it stands I cant really think of a direct upgrade other that
1990 is considered a direct upgrade from multiple posts I have read it’s just really expensive… If it were to go on a sale cheaper than what it’s priced I would consider it as a ideal upgrade but not right now. Are there any other headphones that would be rated “better” than the dt 990s as far as competitive goes? Going to edit that. If i were to sit there and buy the 1990s it would be in direct competition price wise with aeon open x which is a planar V signature… of which I currently have no knowledge on performance wise in gaming. Still, in the $350 I am just trying to find the best I can for what I like. I think I may have them already and just need to do tweaks but I am unsure… Less someone has knowledge on other headphones.
From my experience, the aeon open x does not have a v shaped signature, it’s more neutral imo. It’s ok for gaming but not really something I would buy for gaming
so unfortuantely while v shaped headphones are common they are not very common in the open back space. but in the closed back space there are definitely more options to look at such as the dt 770 and 177x goas well a modhouse argon or the more available t60 rps. like I said before though the 990 and even the 880 are kinda kings in the gaming space in performance and very hard to beat in general. in the competitiv gaming space. the only things I would say that could beat them depending on specific games under $500 are the 660 and 58x under
Hmm, seems I just need to make an exchange for the 990 premium 600 ohm then. That’s fine. I will get that in process along with the liquid spark amp. However, would you guys happen to have a good dac recommendation too? $100 or below preferred
I recently have been enjoying the earmen donald dac with the liquid spark, pretty nice pairing
I also like the topping d10 with the liquid spark
I personally use the d10 its really good for the price but has been having issues with fakes. also im speculating anew $100 model soon called the e10 but thats pure speculation and mainly wishful thinking cause I really want more sub $100 DACs
I have the dt990 premium 600ohm and it’s my go to for gaming. Tend to use my planar headphones for music though.
I noticed a big different in the sound signature for gaming when I upgraded my amp to the schiit Asgard 3. Had better resolution for footsteps and made the bass more pronounced. Big fan of this amp, been using it for over a month now.
I’d start with a better amp first to see how your 990 250ohms respond.
2 Likes
Try this again if this posts Thank you very much rice! Anyway, @Flip asgard 3 is WAY outside my price range as much as I think it’d be nice to have a really beautiful amp like that I don’t particularly think that’s very necessary. I will say that amp and dac recommendations are definitely open especially if they would be considered better than the liquid spark for the sound I want. Talking about fakes has me a bit concerned as drop doesn’t have it available right now as far as the d10 is concerned… My amp and dac limits are around the $150 range for each though Preferrably I would like to keep them at $100 each maximum Edit: yeah thanks rice the site blocked me out for posting further due to being a new account
It’s strange that when I look up the 600ohm premium dt990s on amazon it looks like the first image cable is a detachable but if you cycle the images it shows a completely different cable. Weird… but It would definitely be nice to have a detachable.
None of the x00 beyers have the detachable cable, you would need to step up to a 1990 or 177x go, or sidegrade to a beyerdynamic custom pro one plus (imo not recommended)
Definitely not! Highly prefer open backs over closed backs and I have used closed backs for a very long time. However, did not realize the 1990 has a detached cable… good to know if I ever go that route it has that option.
So, I guess everyone is kind of in agreement over the topping d10? Does it change the sound signature at all and if so what does it alter?
The topping d10 is a bit brighter sounding, and that helps balance out the slightly warmer spark, pretty solid for the price. Watch out for anything that says Aimpire as that is a topping clone/fake
Also there is a modded 990 called the AFK Kahn, and it also has other things like a detach mod and a bit more refined 990 mod
huh, so he sells the headphones but also modifys them? I will keep that in mind but is it reputable? Alright, so mind you kind of a new guy to the amp/dac stack kind of setup. If what I read is correct you connect them with rca cables and the dac is the one that goes into the pc right? never owned a dac before lol. any rca cables work or is there a particular recommended one?
From what I see and hear from other people yes, but I personally haven’t interacted with him, I have heard the mod briefly and it was solid (but it’s been awhile). He does have a hifiguides account I think lol
So the dac would connect to the pc via usb, and the rca out of the dac connects to the amp
Any will work, the shorter cables the better (mostly any are fine just don’t use like a 10ft cable or something)