Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO Open Studio Headphones 250 Ohms

Before buying these headphones I compared them to offerings from Grado (the Sr325i) and Sennheiser (HD595). As soon as I heard music through the Beyerdynamic Dt990's the other headphones suddenly seemed like a distant afterthought.

There are two versions of this headphone. The "Pro" model which is obviously marketed toward studio use and the "premium" model which is a slightly different design marketed for consumer use. Assuming you compare similar impedence models (i.e the 250 ohm model in both cases) then they are exactly the same headphone except for the pro having a coiled cable and slightly higher clamping force (and cosmetic differences).

For over $100 less, I went with the "Pro" model and I am truly impressed. Let me break it down:

Build Quality: 9.5/10
Before I knew these were made in Germany I suspected it. Even though the cups are plastic, it's a VERY rigid plastic that's carefully cut and molded in shape. You could probably...Read more

Extremely comfortable, durable, sound is exceptionally dynamic, deep (the bass is bottomless,but not too heavy), and the open-back frame creates a very "open" and dimensional soundstage. I'm more biased towards beyerdynamic as I believe their products tend to have the best balance of sound, but this is all personal preference.
The only negatives are the size of the phones, and the soundleak due to the open back design; however, this only matters if you plan to use these outside of the studio or any mixing circumstances.
These headphones are not meant to be worn casually in everyday situations; the sound leak makes these hard to wear in public places(meaning other people can hear your noise, and vice versa), not to mention the resistance will drain the battery life on your ipod fairly quick.
If you need some inexpensive studio monitors, or you just want one of the best consumer audio products for under 300, go for it.
just as a reference I currently own some...Read more

Bought these headphones a couple of week ago and i must say this is a really sweet sounding headphone with good bass. These might not be the most detailed and transparent headphones i have heard or may not have the best mid range(which is a bit reserved) but apart from that every thing else is excellent.If you want an out of a box very good sounding headphone which are not over analytical and fairly easy to drive these must the right headphones for you.These headphones suit Rock, Electronic music really well. The build quality is great and rugged, personally i don't believe in the different ohm version can sound different with respect to this model so i went for the pro version which is the cheapest and i was not disappointed one bit.Another amazing thing about this headphone is that they don't really need good amplification or source to sound good cause they work well any amplifier and source, but i am sure they might sound even better with an amplifier which has the right synergy...Read more