Beyerdynamic DT-770 80ohm vs ATH-m50

[Draconorst]

Hi Guys.

I thought I would give my thoughts on Two popular headphones that I've seen a fair amount of discussion on.

I've had the Audio Technicia m50's (coiled cable) for around two years now are they are a great headphone, but the earpads had started to go on them and I was thinking of either replacing the pads or getting a new headphone. But unfortunately things came to a head when my daughter sat on them and somehow broke them, enter the Beyerdynamic DT 770's.

 

Both headphones are closed and are of very good study construction, although the DT 770's have steel (yokes and band) and therefore are a little better construction. Both are large headphones, but the beyers are larger with the cups going completely around the ears not on them.

 

Comfort definitely goes to the Beyers with their velour earpads, they aren't the pillows that people go on about but they are seriously the most comfortable headphone I have known. The M50's are pleather (the new m50's have better pads) but they breakup after a while.

 

I going to get to sound now as there are plenty of reviews of these on youtube about the previous comments but not much on the sound.

 

Bass: Both have great bass, but the DT 770's are deeper, they go lower and have more impact. I generally listen to rock, metals and pop, some songs that I thought lacked bass sound amazing on the DT 770 because of that lower bass that most headphones will not pick up. Bon Jovi's living on a prayer now has great lower bass and Nickleback's Burn it to the ground just rumble and sounds amazing. Pretty much any Music with bass will sound great on both, but the Beyers are more impactful.

 

Mids: Both sound the same to me, slightly recessed but still great.

 

Treble: This is where the two are slightly different, the m50's are more recessed, whereas the beyers are more pronounced and have more tinkle, both still great.

 

Sound-stage: The m50's are more closed in and therefore don't give much separation whereas the Beyers have great seperation and this was something I noticed straight off was in a live performance (Nightwish's Showtime, Storytime) where I could hear the instrument separation more clearly.

 

Sensitivity: The Beyers are very unforgiving of poor quality music, anything under 256kps sounds like crap, also poorly transferred masters even at 320kps sound awful when you know how good your headphones should be sounding. The m50's are more forgiving.

 

Conclusion: Both are exceptional sounding headphones and there isn't a lot between the two, both are flat studio sounding (what the artist intended), both closed, therefore no leaky sound but you won't hear your significant other yelling at you (could be a good or bad thing). Both aren't very portable, so leave them at home. But to me the Beyer's are a better headphone.

 

Ps: I use a Xonar DGX sound card with my PC and both headphones where used predominantly for Gaming, Music and Movies.