I do indeed though I want one for more than my pc setup. Don’t really have equalizers on my consoles and living room setups So, I thought it may be nice to have a loki.
Generally? yeah, you can as long as you know what you are doing with it you can equalize quite a lot. Some headphones will get fussy and distort a hell of a lot, looking at you tygr 300r jeez, others you can play around with the eq and provided you use your preamp effectively you should be alright.
Debateable. I don’t think personally it would hurt for you to try one. Who knows maybe you will love their sound more than beyers. It’s quite different thats for sure. However, audeze is a very expensive brand.
I will agree with this. however, it sounds like you aren’t the biggest fan of V signatures due to your comments about the mids so perhaps you may have more of a preference towards warmer headphones where the treble is around neutral or dark. V signatures tend to push the mids back or recess them. I would encourage trying out an audeze or a warmer headphone just in general. Theres quite a few but of course they all different in sound.
I actually love the wood aesthetic and wish my m570 had a slightly less dark tint on them to make the wood not look like plastic. That being said I did order the aeon flow RT open this morning after a ton of reading. I think I may really like these as a daily driver from everything I read. Also thank you for the thorough explanation and testing.
Yea I have when I originally got the m570. I had a few eq presets to slightly boost bass and reduce treble on my main PC. However that one is under renovation and on the PC I’m currently using, I haven’t messed with eq again.
Also you may want to look into the m1070 and m1570 if you are fine with the build/weight. Also APOS carries aeon 2s and could probably ship to europe, however they don’t have the aeon flow rt.
There’s a store nearby me that carries audeze and personally I do plan on trying them in person once covid calms down. Also if I end up really like my 1990 and aeons I may sell the 770,990 and m570 and grab a mobius used as a closed fun gaming set.
Glad I could help in some way despite my very limited experiences. AEON’s are great but I feel they sound just so much better on a tube hybrid balanced like my liquid plat. Granted they still sound fantastic on a solid state the bass is more on neutral and the mids are ever so slightly recessed. Pairing it to a tube amp really helps the low end and some of the clarity on the mids it also sounds like it opens up the headphone more. Your experience will vary to mine of course. Glad you gave them a shot they are one of my absolute favorite headphones though granted I have considered selling my open x to switch over to the aeon 2’s
lol I contacted apos and asked… so theoretically could you send me a audition copy for the aeon 2? I mean, I can’t afford it right now buuuut… come on… yeah they said no hahahaha. I really wanna sit down with aeon 2.
I did that and is what led to my purchase of lcd-2. Great headphones but they definitely sound different.
I mean, for the 1990s depends on how much you like bright headphones. The 1990s completely killed the lesser dt series for me I just now sold off my dt 990. 1990 can have 3 different signatures based on its pads. V signature balanced pads, bright signature analytical pads, U shaped kind of like the 177x GO pick up a pair of dekoni elite velour. Also, aeons essentially killed most use of my other headphones which is why I am down to a select few anymore. Aeon is my daily driver usually. T1 if I wanted bright and relaxed. Tygr for a relaxed gaming experience otherwise again back to aeons. LCD-2 or Nighthawk Carbon if I want a dark experience not sure on which I wanna keep here honestly.
If you can find one at $250 sure. If you are okay with it being wired see if you can get a hyperx orbit instead as its the same just wired. They are good and well rounded due to their eq profile presets but I highly recommend the cryo pads from audeze if you can get them. You also now have the new PENROSE coming out which is the mobius essentially but without the 3d settings.
So I got the 1990s and I love them so far. They are a tad bright, but not too bad for me. My one complaint is that the soundstage is a bit smaller than I’d like. I was used to a slightly wider airy soundstage with the M570 and it’s a tad lacking with the 1990. Also I miss the planar crispness, or speed I guess is what it’s called. The 1990 is no slouch, but I think planar drivers are just inherently quicker.
I’m thinking the aeons might actually fit what I’m looking for a bit better, but we’ll see when those get here. May end up not even keeping the 1990s, but I don’t know if I could bring myself to do that. Trying headphones is a dangerous game haha.
I actually like the 1990s on my little bear portable tube amp a lot, I see what you mean about not using a THX amp for them. I will say I don’t mind them on the SP200 though. I might have to look into a decent desk tube amp.
I actually found a good deal on one of those today, but I’m really trying to talk myself out of trying one of those headsets, especially if I want to get a tube amp too. I would love to try the 3d head tracking, and have a convenient headset, but yea I shouldn’t haha…
What’s your pad preference on the 1990? I hate changing pads on beyers so haven’t wanted to swap.
Thanks for the follow up! Glad you like your new headphones . Hey if you end up preferring the aeons I don’t see why it would be bad to send the 1990s away. Just make sure to give both a fair chance before you decide.
Yea the whole sound game is a dangerous one… I want to try so much gear it just doesn’t even make sense
Anyway so since you talked about owning the 770s could you compare a little how the treble feels in comparison? Also bass ?
Depends on what I am doing honestly. If I wear the 1990s and want my neutral bright signature I wear my analyticals. If I am listening to a bassier song or maybe playing a more casual game I switch over to the balanced pads. Lastly, if I just want more of a balanced sound approach I switch to dekoni elite velour.
Honestly, I am surprised at this one. 1990 is a large stage as it is. Though IIRC m570 has more depth sound to it and a tad more laid back with more speed. If you like the 1990s with a balanced pad but you feel you want more staging and are okay with a more relaxed approach. Switch the 1990 out for the T1 gen 2.
Aeons are no slouch at all but they are definitely picky on what you pair them with to sound really good. Depending on which one you got will depend on how it sounds for sure. I am contemplating whether to switch to the Retuned variation since they have more bass than my open - x.
It’s interesting but niche as hell lol. Only really nice if you are going portable or VR.
Well theres quite a few tube hybrid amps you can grab that will still work with planars and is one of the reasons I appreciate the liquid plat so much. If you wanted to try audeze’s house sound its a start. That or maybe the lcd-1 or el-8.
Before using that comparison be sure to switch over to the balanced pads first as out the box they have the analytical pads on which are more towards neutral
Actually mine came with balanced pads installed, haven’t swapped yet because of how much of a pain it is haha, and I like them as is so far.
You really like selling the t1’s haha. My one thing I fear with the t1 is the lack of bass, and according to some people it’s more sibilant. Also it’s uglier haha. You definitely have me intrigued by the increased soundstage and smoother delivery.
Not sure what makes the m570 sound slightly more airy, it may just be the pads, or that they are smoother in delivery as opposed to the 1990. Makes them easier to listen to, but then again I feel like you’re missing some of the crisp detail retrieval of the 1990. The stock pads on the m570 are big soft perforated pleather ones, and I do think this is part of what gives them that sound. I have sendy aiva pads(firmer and about half as thick) that I have tried on the m570 and that definitely takes away part of the airy sound away, and I prefer the stock pads even though the aiva pads add a bit more bass.
Definitely haha
Honestly the biggest difference isn’t in the bass or treble to me. I would say treble feels about the same between the two, but maybe a tad more on the 1990. The bass feels really close to me, but I would say if I listen to some super bass boosted stuff I notice that there’s a bit more of an impact on the 770 due to the reverb on the closed back cups. However this is listening to bass boosted subwoofer test type stuff on youtube, and not music I normally listen to, which makes the difference minimal. The mids/vocals sound more forward on the 1990, but that may just be because of the better separation on them.
That being said the frequency response differences are fairly minimal to my ears. The biggest difference is really the speed/crispness between the two. I’ve been A/B testing between the 1990, dt 990(600ohm), and dt770(80ohm) and the most notable difference is just how much more detailed and crisp the 1990 is. When I go from one to the other this is what I immediately notice. Compared to your standard consumer headphone the DT770 will definitely seem crisper and more detailed. Songs that have a lot going on at the same time, you can separate different instruments and sounds. The 1990 is basically the next step(or two steps) in this direction and in comparison the dt 770 seems muddy(especially the bass). However this is probably why people say the 1990 is fatiguing for them, it forces you to hear and notice the different sounds kinda, where they blend with the dt 770 better.
In my experience(one headphone lol) planars do this too. I’ve also experienced this with the tin p1 and shouer tape. I found the the p1 fatiguing in it’s delivery and the tapes enjoyable in their delivery, probably due to the more V shaped sound signature of the tapes.
Also after some more testing between the M570 and the 1990, I would say separation is definitely higher on the 1990, again probably adding to what people say is fatiguing about them. Not sure I fully understand the differences between separation, speed and detail retrieval, since they all seem to kinda meld for me as far as words to describe what you’re hearing.
nah, its rather easy once you get the hang of it. Bit of finesse lol
Well, it’s not so much me selling it as much as I personally really find enjoyment in the T1. It is definitely brighter so I can see people finding sibilance. However, Lack of bass? No, definitely not in my opinion. Plus it responds just fine to equalization and tubes to make it even bassier. I tend to bring it up when someone mentions they prefer a much wider stage and a more relaxed approach for a brighter headphone. It’s really quite nice especially if you have a tube amp or balanced tube hybrid to go along with it.
It’s possible that you could change the pads and potentially achieve what you feel is missing here. The pads on the 1990 are rather thin so using a thicker pad will definitely have an effect and potentially add some airyness to it.
Definitely interested in the dekoni pads. I’ve wished that beyer pads were a 1/2 inch thicker always as that would make them much more comfortable for me. The balanced pads being firmer give me like 1/8th to 1/4 of an inch but just missing a bit.
I got the aeon flow open RT on Friday and I’ve been super impressed with these. These do pretty much everything I wanted in a headphone. The bass is just as good as the 1990 and maybe even slightly more impactful. I would say the 1990 probably beats it for sub-bass but that’s it. They have the V I like, but the treble isn’t too much. Also they are the most comfortable headphones I’ve tried. My one real complaint(not really a complaint) is that these feel a tad muffled(In zeos latest aeon2 video he says soft). This was what I felt with stock tuning pads, but swapping them gave them a sharper, less soft sound, but they got fatiguing fast with no tuning pads in. That being said this was my opinion after listening to 1990s for a week, and I love the fact that I can fine tune how sharp and detailed these are with the pads which I will have to experiment more with.
Some jazz/acoustic music came on with my shuffle with the aeons on and it sounded so good, everything was smooth and musical. I switched to the 1990s and it sounded detailed and good, but not in a way that relaxing with your eyes closed(how aeons felt). Then when I listen to electronic music(especially stuff that sweeps from left to right) I feel like the aeons don’t give me the same impact the 1990s do. I actually think these 2 compliment each other real well depending on mood and genre.
1990s have more detail and better imaging. Aeons lose some detail and imaging, but they sound so much smoother and musical, plus I can get more/less with tuning pads.
Overall I gotta say the Aeons are probably the happiest I’ve been with an audiophile purchase in a while, and has got me thinking about what’s above this haha. If I could get something like the aeons that doesn’t sacrafice detail and imaging for a smoother sound that would be awesome. Also do wish this were a tad more open as they really do feel like 1/2 opens. That being said these really did wow me when I first listened to them. The 1990s didn’t really, but I feel like that might be because they sounded exactly like I was expecting them to haha.
Then yeah, I would say just look into a dekoni or zmf or somethin as they are thicker and will suit what your looking for also your ear will be further from the driver which will change the sound more.
Glad to see your enjoying them.
I think this really depends on which pads your using on the 1990 as well as the amp pairing. Then again I do like the bass more on aeons as well due to that impact. The 1990s have a very planar-like bass slam to them which is interesting.
Theres so many combinations with those tuning pads though… definitely has to be one in there you prefer though. I just use single notch white felts. Though I will agree the sound is soft, relaxed, and very musical unlike the very aggressive 1990s.
The left and right sweeps you mentioned I realized quickly that it depended on the amp I plugged it into for this… When I switched to the liquid platinum this area of sound became more open and impactful it was very noticeable and why I recommend that amp so highly for the aeons.
I mean, less your like me who owns 1990s, t1.2, and aeons all at the same time and can’t decide if you should get rid of one lol.
People have been stating here that aeon 2 over there gains more detail and a better imaging its more refined… so it may be better for you in that regard. Though I cannot speak for certain. Granted I don’t think aeons can achieve such extreme analytical detail as a 1990 honestly. You would be better off picking up a Focal Clear probably at that point.
Only ones I can think of similarly and may be seen as potentially better? Aeon 2, T1 gen 2, and HD 800S paired to a tube amp, and something maybe like the clears or elex
I don’t particularly see it as a bad thing though granted it may not be for everyone in that regard. It’s a niche selling point for the aeons when they are open like that. Granted if you seal them up they sound relatively very close to the closed back versions and definitely bring up that bass. It’s probably due to that pretty thick foam on the inside of the casing that leads to it not being so open backed plus the super thick pads.
If the 1990s aren’t up your alley I would suggest doing away with them then and keeping the Aeon. Aeon’s and T1 go better with each other in my opinion since both can be balanced and I run them both off my liquid plat. Aeon are V shaped but T1 are very similar to an hd800 and more neutral bright throw an audeze in there maybe an lcd-2 and you have an amazing combination of complimenting headphones.
Yea I have the single notch white ones in and I think I may like the black ones over time more as they made them a bit more detailed I felt, but I decided to leave the white ones in for a week and then play with them later. To me in the current configuration it feels like things aren’t separated enough and definitely not like the 1990s. This is beneficial for certain music as it makes stuff like jazz sax, blues guitar, classical violins sound amazingly musical. The downside is it feels like the sound is somewhat muffled since things blend together and for certain music(upbeat electronic especially) they don’t shine like the 1990s do.
I did order a cheap $50 tube preamp, and also have a used loxjie p20 coming. I figured these would help warm up the sound and experience some tube sound. I was mostly interested in it for the 1990s, but you have me excited to try them on the aeons as well. I am definitely interested in nicer tube amps, but tapped out on audiophile spending for now so hopefully the little tubes hold me over and give me an idea of what to expect. Have you tried any other tubes other than the LP? Like the xduoo, little bear, schiit stuff.
Yea it’s crazy how planar-like these are in their speed and delivery. Very different than the 770 and 990.
Definitely plan to try Aeon 2s and LCDs in person once things calm down with the virus.
I would definitely be keen on trying the t1 if I find a good deal, but probably not for the next few months. The soundstage aspect of them is what has me the most interested because I feel like a big soundstage is what most of my recent headphones have been lacking.
While the 1990s didn’t wow me at first, I think I appreciate them more after comparing them to aeons and previous beyers. I was expecting a hyper detailed to the point of fatiguing version of the 990s, and that’s exactly what I got. I was mentally preparing myself to let go of the 1990s once I got the aeons. Once I got the aeons(which I loved) I think it made me like the 1990s more weirdly, because on certain songs they sound so good. However I don’t think the 1990 is a good everyday headphone for sure in comparison to the aeons.
I think I can comfortably sell the M570 though, even though I’ve grown to appreciate those more as I was a/b testing stuff this past month. They are bright, fast and detailed with an ok soundstage but lacking in bass, impact and imaging in comparison to the new headphones. I think in part I’m just bored of their sound, and miss the bass and imaging of the 770s. Also don’t see myself using the 770s very often because I use IEMs outside of the house, so I may let those go to even though I’m weirdly attached to them.
from my understanding a lot of people have said that loxijie is pretty bad. Rather positive it won’t be anywhere near as good as something like a liquid plat. Also pairing a Tube amp to a Planar iirc isn’t particularly the best of ideas seeing how the aeons are a planar. Though, I would ask around on that one. The main reason is OTL tube amps not meeting the power and current requirements for many, as planars tend to be low impedance while OTL tube amps are meant for high impedance loads
nope, don’t really need to honestly. I prefer my asgard 3 and liquid platinum for the time being. LP is good and all but not the best for single ended connections.
I say this a lot… I don’t find it that great “all - rounder daily driver” so to speak it’s far too fatiguing for something such as that and nitpicks everything you listen to any error in that song and your definitely going to notice it.
. Hey if you end up preferring the aeons I don’t see why it would be bad to send the 1990s away. Just make sure to give both a fair chance before you decide.