Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro Closed-Back Headphones (250 ohm edition)

[MSRP $259, $169 on Amazon as of 2/10/24, paid $148 in July 2021]

[Tl;dr: These headphones serve a very specific purpose: checking or mixing audio. Unfortunately, at least for me they’re uncomfortable to listen to for more than thirty or forty minutes and they more or less live on a hook in my office. They’re definitely better with a more powerful amp, but (at least to my ears) still a bit too harsh on the treble and flabby on bass for most amps.]

Scores:

Cost-agnostic: 4 out of 10 Denalis

Cost-sensitive: 4 out of 10 Denalis

Intro. I picked up the DT770 Pro when I started a new job that required me to be in the office a lot (mid-pandemic). I particularly wanted them to be able to block out a lot of office noise, and they worked decently well for that purpose at the time. I found over time, though, that the sound quality was uncomfortable for me after thirty or forty minutes: harsh on the treble, flabby on the bass, and hollow-sounding with some female vocals. They’re also super dependent on the DAC/amp combination feeding them; they’re much better with an amplifier like the PS Audio Sprout100 than with any of the other things I’ve tried, but I still won’t use them over any of my other choices.

Sound. These are not my preferred sound profile. I know that they’re popular among folks using headphones for sound mixing and mastering, but for me they’re just too uncomfortable sound-wise for me to listen to music with them. Overall, they just end up feeling hollow on a lot of recordings, and they generate something that feels a lot like the overpressure associated with active noise cancelation.

The soundstage/stereo separation is great: on tracks like Luke Comb’s “Fast Car”, the steel guitar is way out to the left and the rhythm guitar pretty far to the right; location of instruments is consistent throughout a track and builds a great virtual sound stage.

The bass on the DT770 Pro is flabby to my ears. I can hear the bass lines on songs like “Paradise Circus” by Massive Attack, but they have almost no punch or power behind it. The bass is definitely crisp, though, and much more precise on a track like Janet Jackson’s “Got ‘Til it’s Gone” than many comparable headphones. It’s very strange: flabby is the adjective I keep coming back to, yet it’s also boomy enough at times to feel a lot like the overpressure I get from cheap active noise canceling.

Mid-range is probably the best part of these headphones, though they’re a little lacking when it comes to female vocals in specific ranges like Tracey Thorn on Massive Attack’s “Hunter Gets Captured by the Game.” Overall, they reproduce vocals well, especially male vocals and female vocals in more traditional vocal ranges. Bon Iver comes through beautifully on “Exile”, and Taylor Swift’s voice is nicely balanced.  

Treble is the weakest piece of these, with harsh, overly bright-sounding highs and inconsistent reproduction across the treble range. There are songs that benefit from the sharpness and almost over-clarity of the treble (see, e.g., Miles Davis’ muted trumpet on “Will O’ the Wisp”), but it’s overwhelming and unpleasant on tracks like Vampire Weekend’s “2021” and Brasstracks’ “Intro”.

After a lot of thinking about it, I think the problem may just be that these headphones are too crisp and precise. Precision and crispness can edge into harshness for me, and I think that might be why my brain is reading it as overpressure.

As noted above, these headphones seem particularly sensitive to DAC/amp matching. They’re a lot more pleasant through a PS Audio Sprout100’s headphone port than anything else I’ve tried (Schiit Hel 2E, a Modi/Magni stack, a Bifrost/Asgard 2 stack, a Peachtree Nova 1500, etc.), but they’re still definitely not for me.

Noise canceling. These headphones offer pretty solid passive noise blocking. I can definitely hear some of my environment when wearing them, but I really don’t hear things at conversational volumes unless I’m trying to.

Spatial audio. Nope!

Controls. N/A; these are pure cans.

Connectivity. 1/8” jack, with a Beyerdynamic, screw-on 1/4” adapter. I’m of two minds about the screw-on adapter; it’s nice that it makes it a really stable, solid connection, but I feel like sometimes the headphones with the threading are harder to use with any of the dozen other adapters kicking around my various audio gear boxes. Non-detachable 1M curly cable that extends to 3M.  

Comfort. The headphones themselves are very comfortable, right up until you start playing music through them. My current reading glasses have a habit of digging into my ears and temples without headphones on, which can make tight headphones pretty painful after a short time. The way these are constructed makes them very comfortable and able to maintain a good seal without high-pressure from the cans themselves.

Construction. They’re solid. These have a very similar design to the DT990 Pros. Light and made mostly of plastic without feeling cheap, with a very nicely padded top bar and soft cloth ear cups, both of which are pretty easily removed and replaced with a number of after-market options. They do not fold, and with a non-detachable cable, they’re not super easy to transport (though as a 250-ohm headphone, you wouldn’t want to use them without a serious pocket amp anyway). Clearly designed for use at a desk or in a fixed location rather than while out and about.

Appearance. A stylish, classic studio headphone look. I prefer the slats on the open-backed DT990 Pro, but as closed-back headphones I understand the simple clamshell look.

Value. These are a reasonable value if you need an objective, crisp, and sharp monitor for audio. There are a lot of decent headphones in this range, and these are certainly competitive for the kind of audio they focus on.

Comparisons. In my collection, these compare most directly to the Drop x Meze 99 Noir as closed-back headphones. The 99 Noirs are much less harsh and a lot warmer in tone, though they are an extra $50 or so. If you can swing it, I’d definitely recommend the 99 Noir over these.

The other natural comparison is to the Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro, the open-back version of these headphones. The 990s blow them out of the water, sound-wise. I generally like open-backed headphones a lot more than closed-backed, and these are not an exception. Unless you listen a lot in an environment where you need more isolation, I’d also strongly recommend the 990s over these. And if you do, and you can afford an extra $50, I’d still send you to the 99 Noirs.

The 770s will continue to hang above my desk in the event that I need a little more isolation from the environment, but even then I’m pretty sure I’ll grab the 99 Noirs over them.

Overall. These are okay headphones for very specific uses, but they’re specific uses I don’t need very often. I’ve had these for almost three years, and I don’t think I’d plugged them in to anything in at least the last two. I’ll never use them to listen to music, and at this point I mostly have them to do comparisons with other closed-back headphones.

As always, your mileage may vary, but to me these are just really uncomfortable headphones for listening to music and I’ve got a half-dozen other things I’d rather use.

#reviews #headphones #beyerdynamic #anc #spatialaudio #overear #cans #dt770pro #meh #2024 #99noir #meze #dt990pro