DT 990 + DAC/AMP still worth it?

[sanderr2002]

Hey,

The Beyerdynamic DT 990 pro launched in January 2012. I was just wondering if the DT 990 pro with maybe a Fiio E10(k) still is a great option for this price?

I will use it for listening to music, watching movies and gaming. I know these are audiophile headphones and they're not made for gaming, but I prefer sound quality over surround etc.

 

I live in the Netherlands and tech is pricy compared to the US. The Fiio E10k costs me around 85 euros. Isn't that a lot of money compared to the 127 euros for the headset?

Do I even need a DAC or (good) amp?

 

Edit: I wanna get the 250 ohms version.

[vertix]

DT 880's are much better than the 990's by a long shot and trust me, just because they're audiophile headphones doesn't mean you can't game on them. They're much better than a gaming headset is for gaming infact. Anyway, the Fosi Audio DAC X6 is also a much better choice than the E10K, and no, it's not unusual to be paying as much as your headphones or even more on the amps or DAC's. 

P.S you can download HeSuVi and it has all that "surround sound" stuff on it.

[sanderr2002]

13 minutes ago, vertix said:

DT 880's are much better than the 990's by a long shot and trust me, just because they're audiophile headphones doesn't mean you can't game on them. They're much better than a gaming headset is for gaming infact. Anyway, the Fosi Audio DAC X6 is also a much better choice than the E10K, and no, it's not unusual to be paying as much as your headphones or even more on the amps or DAC's. 

P.S you can download HeSuVi and it has all that "surround sound" stuff on it.

The DT 880's are like 50/60 euros more expensive and I like the open design of the DT 990 more. 

Sadly the Fosi Audio DAC X6 isn't sold in the Netherlands. (Or on Amazon.de)

 

Nice to hear that I didn't want to overpay on the amp/dac.

[vertix]

33 minutes ago, sanderr2002 said:

The DT 880's are like 50/60 euros more expensive and I like the open design of the DT 990 more. 

Sadly the Fosi Audio DAC X6 isn't sold in the Netherlands. (Or on Amazon.de)

 

Nice to hear that I didn't want to overpay on the amp/dac.

Try Aliexpress for the DAC X6 then

[sanderr2002]

9 hours ago, vertix said:

Try Aliexpress for the DAC X6 then

I'm not really comfortable with buying an amp/dac from AliExpress due to warranty, import fees and shipping time.

 

They would be cheaper than the E10k, but import fees are high.

[vertix]

2 hours ago, sanderr2002 said:

I'm not really comfortable with buying an amp/dac from AliExpress due to warranty, import fees and shipping time.

 

They would be cheaper than the E10k, but import fees are high.

I'll be honest here. I think you're better off not getting the E10K and just putting more budget into the headphones.

[sanderr2002]

2 hours ago, vertix said:

I'll be honest here. I think you're better off not getting the E10K and just putting more budget into the headphones.

Well the DT 990 pro with the Fiio E10k is my budget.

 

Is the DT 990 pro still a good option?

[Sandbass]

You should be aware of the different "sound signature" of the DT990 compared to the DT880. 
The DT990 are sounded by a good amount, meaning they do have boosted bass as well as boosted treble. The DT880 meanwhile are relatively flat.

 

The open back design of the DT990 is indeed very nice for gaming, espacially if you use voice chat. 

 

I think it really comes down to taste. If you have the option to try both, you might consider doing that. I personally really like the DT990s for "fun-listening", but not so much for studio work. 

[sanderr2002]

5 minutes ago, Sandbass said:

You should be aware of the different "sound signature" of the DT990 compared to the DT880. 
The DT990 are sounded by a good amount, meaning they do have boosted bass as well as boosted treble. The DT880 meanwhile are relatively flat.

 

The open back design of the DT990 is indeed very nice for gaming, espacially if you use voice chat. 

 

I think it really comes down to taste. If you have the option to try both, you might consider doing that. I personally really like the DT990s for "fun-listening", but not so much for studio work. 

I actually like boosted bass and the DT880 is 50/60 euros more expensive. So I think I'll stick to the DT990 and E10k combo.

[vertix]

1 hour ago, sanderr2002 said:

I actually like boosted bass and the DT880 is 50/60 euros more expensive. So I think I'll stick to the DT990 and E10k combo.

The E10K is not much better than an old laptop's onboard audio. That's why I'm telling you not to get it. it's simply not worth the money.
 

 

 

[sanderr2002]

Well I have read and watched multiple reviews that compare the dac-x6 to the E10k. The E10k won every time..

Would the Fiio K3 be an better option? Someone told me to go for their newer models.

[Guest]

20 hours ago, vertix said:

DT 880's are much better than the 990's by a long shot and trust me, just because they're audiophile headphones doesn't mean you can't game on them. They're much better than a gaming headset is for gaming infact. Anyway, the Fosi Audio DAC X6 is also a much better choice than the E10K, and no, it's not unusual to be paying as much as your headphones or even more on the amps or DAC's. 

P.S you can download HeSuVi and it has all that "surround sound" stuff on it.

You are knowledgeable and should be trusted.

[FeelTheAnimal]

Hi,

 

I have the dt 990 pro 250ohms, he is very good for gaming, i use the soundblaster g6. It's not very good... i have crackling.. 

So today i purchase the e10k. I receive tomorow.. i hope he is enought powerful to drive the dt 990 pro.

 

Edit : i return the k3, he is not enought powerful for the dt 990 pro... 

[sanderr2002]

35 minutes ago, FeelTheAnimal said:

Hi,

 

I have the dt 990 pro 250ohms, he is very good for gaming, i use the soundblaster g6. It's not very good... i have crackling.. 

So today i purchase the e10k. I receive tomorow.. i hope he is enought powerful to drive the dt 990 pro.

 

Edit : i return the k3, he is not enought powerful for the dt 990 pro... 

Did you purchase the E10k or K3? You said you're going to purchase the E10k, but you returned the K3?

 

And what do you mean with "Not powerful enough"? Is the volume too low? It shouldn't be according to data sheets and reviews.

 

Edit: So you're waiting for the E10k and you have tried the K3 before? I think I get it?

[FeelTheAnimal]

Yes ! Sorry my post is confuse.

 

I purchase the k3. The sound is too low.. 

 

I Will try the e10k.. and i Will see..

 

 

[sanderr2002]

On 2/20/2019 at 11:05 AM, FeelTheAnimal said:

Yes ! Sorry my post is confuse.

 

I purchase the k3. The sound is too low.. 

 

I Will try the e10k.. and i Will see..

 

 

Did you recieve the E10k? Is it powerfull enough?

And how does it compare against the K3?

 

Keep me updated please, I'm going to order the DT 990 pro soon.

[FeelTheAnimal]

I cancel my order, e10k is not enought powerful for drive the dt 990 pro..

 

I found a good deal but expensive for this headset.

 

Schiit stack modi 3 and magni 3... 

 

Can drive easy the dt 990 pro 250 ohms.

 

Its 300 euros.. sooo.. 

[sanderr2002]

1 hour ago, FeelTheAnimal said:

I cancel my order, e10k is not enought powerful for drive the dt 990 pro..

 

I found a good deal but expensive for this headset.

 

Schiit stack modi 3 and magni 3... 

 

Can drive easy the dt 990 pro 250 ohms.

 

Its 300 euros.. sooo.. 

It should be more than powerful enough. Are you sure that you are using the "High gain mode"?

A quick google search and I found a lot of people who actually use the E10k with the DT 990 pro 250 ohms or other high impedance headphones.

I wonder why it didn't work for you... 

[rice guru]

worth it just not with a e10k. also if you wanna get a dac amp and are considering schiit stack consder monoprice liquid spark or the jds labs atom as they are significantly bettter than a magni and the same price. . liquid spark comes with a unique bright sound that come s with the cavelli name. and the atom is great amp that's pure substance no form its a plastic box that sounds like it should be 3x the price. 

[rice guru]

35 minutes ago, sanderr2002 said:

It should be more than powerful enough. Are you sure that you are using the "High gain mode"?

A quick google search and I found a lot of people who actually use the E10k with the DT 990 pro 250 ohms or other high impedance headphones.

I wonder why it didn't work for you... 

I used the e10k with my dt 990 pro it powered it but like it just gets loud at high gain at max settings. I found getting a more powerful amp like the liquid spark the bassand sound stage got significantly better

[sanderr2002]

Quote

Normally I recommend getting an amp with enough power to reach 110 dB. This allows you to crank the average volume up to 90 dB and still have room for the +20 dB peaks some dynamic albums might have. Most people will use less, in certain situations you might use more, but it's a good overall volume to aim for in most cases.

Beyerdynamic lists the DT990 Pro as having a sensitivity of 96 dB/mW.So  we want to figure out how much power we need for 14 more decibels. It just so happen that if you divide the change in decibels by 10, then do 10 to that power, you get the change in power. In this case that's 10 ^ ( 14 / 10 ), or just about 25. So now we know we need an output of 25 mW for 110 dB with the DT990.
 
Now, how powerful is the E10K? This will depend on the headphone's impedance and the amp's voltage output. Sometimes the amp's spec page will publish the max power output at various impedances, in which case you can just use that. The E10K only tells us the power at 32 ohms which isn't much help, because the DT990 has an impedance of 250 ohms. But it does tell us the max Vp-p (peak-to-peak voltage) of 7.39 Vp-p,  which we can use. First, though, we need to find the Vrms (root mean square voltage), which is more useful for audio. It's easier than it sounds; for a sine wave like our audio signal, you halve Vp-p to get the amplitude, then divide that by the square root of 2. In this case that's ( 7.39 / 2 ) / sqrt(2). The E10K is capable of up to 2.6 Vrms in a best case scenario.
 
What's that mean for power? Converting to power is pretty easy too, you just square your Vrms and divide by the headphone's impedance, which gives you a value in full Watts. Then multiply by 1000 to get that same value in mW. Then the E10K should ideally be capable of ( 2.6 ^ 2 ) / 250 * 1000 = 27 mW at 250 ohms.

Got this from another forum. Credits to someone with the username: Head Injury.

[rice guru]

4 hours ago, sanderr2002 said:

Got this from another forum. Credits to someone with the username: Head Injury.

the thing is the e10k is sufficient but the k3 came out making the e10k obsolete. the k3 sounds nicer and has a better cleaner bass boost.  but also because it is a cheaper amp it will make the heaphone loud enough but it's not powerful enough to get the full potential of the headphones you can get it's full potential by getting some of the new $100 amps or more powerful amps in general. They will be able to push the headphones frequencies nicer meaning thumpier bass and nicer mids and highs with more room to spare. 

[FeelTheAnimal]

9 hours ago, rice guru said:

worth it just not with a e10k. also if you wanna get a dac amp and are considering schiit stack consder monoprice liquid spark or the jds labs atom as they are significantly bettter than a magni and the same price. . liquid spark comes with a unique bright sound that come s with the cavelli name. and the atom is great amp that's pure substance no form its a plastic box that sounds like it should be 3x the price. 

I need an optical input for my ps4 pro.

 

The 2 device are good but.. doesnt work with my ps4

[sanderr2002]

14 hours ago, rice guru said:

the thing is the e10k is sufficient but the k3 came out making the e10k obsolete. the k3 sounds nicer and has a better cleaner bass boost.  but also because it is a cheaper amp it will make the heaphone loud enough but it's not powerful enough to get the full potential of the headphones you can get it's full potential by getting some of the new $100 amps or more powerful amps in general. They will be able to push the headphones frequencies nicer meaning thumpier bass and nicer mids and highs with more room to spare. 

What amp/DAC combo would you suggest for around €100,-? (I live in the Netherlands)

[rice guru]

7 hours ago, sanderr2002 said:

What amp/DAC combo would you suggest for around €100,-? (I live in the Netherlands)

personally I would get a a amp like a jds labs atom. and save up for a dac later on because most motherboards have clean enough audio coming from the motherboard. make sure it's a motherboard and not front IO. but for that budget if you want both I would say get a a fx audio dac x6 , fiio m3, smsl m3, micca origen g2. grab any of these based on price or availability. but you will get better sound and more out of your headphones by grabbing an am,p and just plugging it to a clean sounding source and grabbing an amp it it's not clean enough like fiio d3 cheap sounds a little better than a modern motherboard or a phone.