Recording - March 2016 - 50

A lot of discerning engineers love the headphones of German
firm beyerdynamic. Unlike some firms that continually hit the market with new designs, beyerdynamic releases new phones slowly
and with deliberation. The company's tried and true models continue to have a strong presence in the studio world, with updates
now and then to improve their performance. For example, the DT
770 and DT 990 are still an important part of the beyerdynamic
lineup... and we reviewed them in May 1999!

Note that the second set of earpads isn't just a spare pair;
the headphones come with two different styles of earpad that
can be switched out to taste. The set that's on the phones as
they come out of the box is foam-padded and covered with
velour. These pads attenuate 18 dB of outside sound, according to beyerdynamic, and I can confirm that their isolation is
exceptional. The other pads have leatherette covers and claim
21 dB of isolation, and I used those for most of my listening.
Note that the process of changing pads is non-trivial.
They're held securely in place by a very thin stretchy plastic
lip that sits between two flanges around the circumference
of the earcup. Removing them is as easy as a gentle pull,
but putting them back on in the manner taught by the user
manual doesn't always work, and when it doesn't, the
process becomes fiddly and a bit frustrating, definitely not
for the clumsy. Also, it's unclear how much stretching the lip
can take before it permanently deforms and doesn't hold
the earpad securely in place. I recommend trying the
phones with each set of earpads for an extended period,
picking the one you like best, and sticking with it.
The spring-steel headband is generously padded (that
padding is also replaceable but a spare pad doesn't come

beyerdynamic DT 1770 PRO
Taking a world-class tradition to new heights
It's been a long while since we've reviewed a
beyerdynamic product in our pages, and I was
thrilled to get my hands on the firm's newest
studio headphone, the DT 1770 PRO. It separates itself from the pack in a number of
ways, and provides a listening experience
that's... well, read the review.
Everything but...
The DT 1770 PRO is a closed circumaural dynamic headphone with 45
mm drivers. These drivers are the first
to use beyerdynamic's Tesla 2.0 technology, and they form the basis for
the headphone's impressive performance. Let's check a few specs.
First of all, the headphone's frequency
response is rated at 5 Hz to 40 kHz;
these phones are absolutely ready
for work with high-resolution
audio formats. They're rated to
a nominal SPL of 102 dB (1
mW at 500 Hz) and a maximum of 125 dB (200 mW at
500 Hz); fortunately you'll find
that they deliver great audio at
far safer levels! With a 250Ω
impedance, the DT 1770 PRO
doesn't get loud quite as quickly as
other designs, but I had no issues driving it to good listening levels with any
of my interfaces; it paired very well with
my H2 Designs MIYO.
The DT 1770 PRO comes in a zippered hard case which contains the headphones, a second set of earpads, and a cable storage pocket. The two supplied cables, one straight (3 meters) and
one straight/coiled (roughly 2 meters out to 5 meters if you
stretch it), each end in a locking mini-XLR plug that clips into the
left earcup, and have a gold-plated miniplug on the other end.
Each cable has its own screw-on 1/4" TRS adaptor.
50

RECORDING March 2016

in the package) and holds the phones in place
comfortably and without pinching. The DT
1770 PRO isn't a remarkably light headphone at 388 grams (just under 14
ounces), but the headband design distributes the weight perfectly, making for
little or no wearer fatigue.
As soon as I put on the DT 1770
PRO, I was impressed by its combination of comfort and isolation. I couldn't readily discern a huge difference
between the isolation provided by the
velour pads and what was audible
with the leatherette pads, so I stuck
with the latter once they were
installed. The large circular earcups
surround the ears with plenty of
breathing room, in contrast to
other designs that fit more closely or even touch the ears. This
isn't good or bad, but merely
a matter of taste.
...the sound
I've spent so much time discussing everything there is to say
about the DT 1770 PRO-other
than its sound-because you
should know all about it in advance
of giving this headphone a listen. If
your experience is anything like mine,
you'll stop caring about anything else the
moment you hit Play.
As good as the other headphones in this issue's
slate of reviews can be-and many of them are
quite, quite good-it only takes a few minutes of listening to hear why this headphone costs more than
any of them, and that impression only grows
stronger with extended listening. The DT 1770 PRO
is amazing even by beyerdynamic's high standards.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - March 2016