Beyerdynamic Amiron Home Headphones Discussions | Drop

Dec 12, 2018

VinceTheStampede624Comparing to the 1990 as I type this, I miss the fine detail of the 1990, cymbals and soft strings lose a lot of texture and nuance. But you can listen to them for hours with no issues at all like Vince said, they're lighter, loose clamp force, comfy pads (don't seal well with glasses), and while they have a treble spike, isn't not nearly as noticeable as measurements make it seem. I've had the 1990's on for 30 minutes, and they're already feeling fatiguing. Edit: And the cable...it's straight as an arrow out of the box, it doesn't have any memory at all.

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Dec 12, 2018

Dec 12, 2018

KethYou bring up a great point with cymbals and strings, particularly orchestral. I remember the 1990 excelling in that regard, but almost too much so, lol. The T1.2 kind of brings back a bit of that treble detail in comparison to the Amiron, but is also polite and most importantly is much harder to drive at 600 ohms.

Dec 12, 2018

Dec 12, 2018

VinceTheStampede624The T1.2 is also like $700+, and I don't think it's worth the cost difference for most people. At that point you're competing with things like the Elex, which I think are the better headphone. That being said, I'll be comparing the Amiron to the Nighthawk Carbon and T60RP tomorrow when they arrive.

Dec 12, 2018

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Dec 12, 2018

KethHaven't heard any of the Audioquest headphones nor the T60RP. Look forward to hearing your comparisons.

Dec 12, 2018

Dec 13, 2018

VinceTheStampede624The Nighthawks are...unique. Really great unboxing experience, it makes you feel like they're something special. Have to remember they debuted at $700, and have dropped down to $300 on Amazon. The Cable is short and well built very suitable for mobile use, as expected for a cable company.T he headphones themselves are super light, but feel and look well built. These are anything but transparent, but the first thing I noticed is that unlike the Amiron they maintain good sound at lower volumes. They don't have as large of a sound stage, but the imaging is solid, both male and female vocals feel recessed, and there's no sparkle or air in the treble. The sub and mid bass are impactful, controlled, but not as tight as the Amirons, to be honest it feels more like a subwoofer. They recommend 150 hours of break in, and I've been listening for all of 30 minutes. These things are unique, but that's the point of having a collection, isn't it? These are not something I'd recommend as someone's only pair of headphones. I may end up keeping these, unless they T60RP's planar driver (the first I'll have listened to) can work some magic on my ears.

Dec 13, 2018

Dec 14, 2018

VinceTheStampede624The T60RP's are beautiful, full stop, the different wood texture on each cup. The headband, even with the added comfort strap, doesn't come close to the Amiron or Nighthawks. The first thing I noticed is how tight and controlled and controlled they over the entire frequency range, if not fast, the cymbal and string detail and texture is a notch beneath the DT1990's, but better than the Amiron. The sub bass extension is the worst of everything I've compared here, but that's not to say they lack bass, it just doesn't have the impact that the Nighthawks have...these aren't for bass heads. The imaging and sound stage work the best of the bunch, it feels organic, and the separation is amazing. After 30 minutes of listening, these are the headphones that most make me want to reach for the EQ. Throwing 5db at 30hz, and 10db at 20hz made them a lot more enjoyable for me in songs where I'm used to feeling the bass. Moving back to the Amirons, they sound competent on every level. Definitely the fastest of the three, and the most well balanced....dare I say the most boring? Then I went back to the T60RP, it's the most transparent of the group, the "planar slam" is there in the sense that you feel the bass, but the extension and quantity isn't, these are the flatest. Switching back to the Nighthawks is jarring, their non traditional frequency curve takes a good 15 minutes to adjust to. The sound muddy at first, but after your ears adjust all the detail is there and the bass has speaker like impact, but the character of the upper mids make rich male vocals sound flat and boring. Finally comparing to my trusty Fidelio X2's. The Amirons feel like an improved version, with a slightly smaller sound stage, less bass quantity, but lower extension and much much faster and completely unoffensive in every way. The T60's sound lively, the more I listen to them the more I like them, definitely the best for critical listening. Once again, the Nighthawks feel unique, and after adjustment sound amazing, in a hard to describe way, while not as fast as the Amirons, the bass is the best of the bunch as far as extension, quantity, and feel. The vocal texture in the uper mids can be brought back through EQ with a 3db increase at 11k and 18k respectively without damaging the overall sound signature. Really not going to be easy to choose which to keep.

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Dec 14, 2018

Dec 14, 2018

KethNice impressions. I thought about purchasing the Nighthawks at some point but since they have biocellulose drivers and I already have the Fostex TH-X00 Ebony and Purpleheart, I didn't think I should triple-down, even though I had a feeling there's still a considerable difference in sound. I would say just keep all of them if you can afford to, lol. I had the stock T50RP MK3 for a time and it was great, kind of echoes your findings of the T60RP but to a lesser degree. Sold shortly before upgrading to the ZMF Vibro Mk 2. Today I just received the Sennheiser HD 580 Precision that I snagged on Ebay. It's much more neutral than I expected, and reminds me of the Amiron Home in some ways, with less bass but slightly better imaging/soundstage. The Amiron still trumps it in comfort though.

Dec 14, 2018

Dec 14, 2018

VinceTheStampede624Well, i want to unload my HD58X, but it's so inexpensive it might not be worth my time. The debate is do I keep the T60 and Nighthawk, or return all 3 and get the Elex. The more I listen, the more the Amiron sounds less pleasing than the T60RP, that low midrange hump makes male vocals feel less clear...it feels like they went a little too far with it. I'm not a big believer in extended burn in, like the 150 hours they recommend on the nighthawk, but it certainly seems like the bass has improved a little on the T60 in the last couple of hours.

Dec 14, 2018

Dec 14, 2018

KethI have the Elex and there's one important thing to consider: while the detail retrieval is greater than even the Amiron, it has a flaw in that sometimes the drivers are known to rattle in the housing when there's really rumbly subbass. Instead of being a manufacturing defect, Focal came forward and said that it was a side-effect that they just chose not to address and suggested people listen on their headphones at a lower volume. That may be a dealbreaker if you're a basshead but personally, I chose to keep mine just because I have other headphones when I want more low-end.

Dec 14, 2018

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Dec 14, 2018

VinceTheStampede624That seems like a pretty huge issue, I wonder if the Clear does the same thing. The only headphones I own, beyond the ones I'm auditioning, are the X2's (love um, but lack detail) and 58X (not a fan). I'm really a fan of the T60, but it's certainly not an end game set of headphones. Makes me anxious to see reviews on that newest Hifiman colab,

Dec 14, 2018

Dec 14, 2018

KethIt might, the only difference in the new drivers for the Clear is it has copper voice coils instead of, I think it was aluminum on the Elear/Elex. I didn't like the 58X at first but it's kind of grown on me. I replaced the stock pads with the Dekoni fenestrated sheepskin and I felt it changed the sound a bit more to my liking, but of course it's not the most resolving Senny. The 6xx is quite dark/warm, but I'm finding the 580 (which basically has HD600 drivers) to be a nice middle-ground. T60 does sound like a good planar baseline reference from how you describe it, and worth keeping IMHO.

Dec 14, 2018

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NuBayer2

Jan 7, 2019

VinceTheStampede624I tried out the Amiron’s, but own the 1990. While the 1990 have a high presence in the treble area, they do get a bit intense on some tracks where it is just pounding ammounts of high end. But here is the thing, where I noticed the Amiron’s fall. Even though the treble is subdued on the Amiron’s, the “S” and “T” sounds really stand out, almost piercingly over the rest of the treble when they happen. That does occur with the 1990 once in a while but because of the ammount of treble going on at the same time, those two sounds aren’t as forward compared to the Amiron’s. Just my take on it.

Jan 7, 2019

Jan 7, 2019

NuBayer2I ended up shipping them both back. The 1990's got noticeably fatiguing after about 45 minutes of wear, I could wear the Amirons all day...if I didn't wear my glasses, but the pads were so dense they wouldn't seal if I wore them.

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Jan 7, 2019

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RyCan

144

Jan 14, 2019

KethSomeone else may correct me, but I have been listening to my Elex for a couple months straight and I have a hard time using any other phones at this point. They have incredible detail and dynamics. I have not heard my drivers rattle at all and I suspect that is a point addressed to bassheads who listen with heavily boosted bottom ends (or songs that are recorded with a heavy subbass) and at teeth rattling volume. At which point it may not be unreasonable to suggest that people listen at a slightly lower volume. I have listened to some bass heavy rock songs at a volume that I'm sure would impact my hearing if done long term and have not caught a hint of the driver rattle.

Jan 14, 2019

G3n3r1c

216

Jan 15, 2019

RyCanTest your Elex with the theater subwoofer track "Why So Serious?" from The Dark Knight soundtrack -- 3:30 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zyhQjJ5UgY They rattle at a point far above my listening level.

Jan 15, 2019

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Jan 15, 2019

RyCanI'm going to wait and see how the Edition XX's turn out and go from there. I've really fallen in love with the sound of the Nighthawks, even if the bass could be a bit tighter.

Jan 15, 2019

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RyCan

144

Jan 15, 2019

G3n3r1cOk. I found the rattle. It was at about 85-90% of volume on high gain on my Magni 3, fed from an EL DAC (which outputs a fairly strong signal). For reference, I find a comfortable volume is 40-70% of low gain. 80-90% of low gain if I want to drown out everything; and I have never tried high gain with the Elex. They are too sensitive. In short, the volume needed to cause that rattle was approximaitely front row rock concert volume. Definitely not a sustainable listening volume

Jan 15, 2019

jaydunndiddit

3262

Jan 16, 2019

RyCanHow people aren't hip to this still I do not know. Focal has been vocal that it is a strict design decision for this style of driver that is apparent in EVERY headphone they produce. The over-excursion (mechanical cliping) people are mentioning only happens when you start to hit levels above 90-100 dB. If you're listening that loud for any span of time then boy do I feel bad for your ears and hearing longevity. This sort of thing is "typical" from loudspeakers which the Focal headphones follow to a very close T, hence the similar "issue." Hell, I listen louder than average at 80-85 dB and I have no issue with any of the many Focal's I own. I can easily reproduce this issue by playing music above any sort of reasonable listening level with deep sub-bass but again, I could never listen at this sort of level anyhow so it's a moot point IMO. Much like Focal has said, back off the volume, thank us for helping save your hearing, and enjoy your dynamic sounding headphone.

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Jan 16, 2019

jaydunndiddit

3262

Jan 16, 2019

KethI sadly had to return my T60's due to driver rattle that I could not fix. OPened them up, tightened all the screws, etc. and it was still there no matter the volume. Pretty bummed as I otherwise enjoyed their sound and looks. After doing more research, this is sadly more common than you would think but not as bad as the T50's and their variants (which from what I gather, can be pretty damn bad from a QC perspective). The only way to fix it is a replacement driver and I honestly don't even want to go through with that hassle via Fostex directly.

Jan 16, 2019

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Jan 18, 2019

jaydunndidditAnd here I'm debating exchanging mine just because they creak when I talk with them on, in addition to having almost no grain pattern on the wood.

Jan 18, 2019

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Jul 19, 2019

VinceTheStampede624Can u compare the t1 and Amiron home's soundstage ?? Will it be a upgrade if I get the t1 ??

Jul 19, 2019

Jul 20, 2019

SoumyoI just did a listening comparison of my Amiron and T1.2 Black. From what I hear, the Amiron actually has the bigger soundstage overall, but even though the T1.2's soundstage is smaller, the imaging accuracy is better. This may be due to a couple of design reasons: -The cups on the Amiron being bigger/deeper (the metal grilles are roughly the same on both but the outer housing being smaller on the T1.2) -The drivers on the Amiron being flat within the cups while the T1.2's are angled. I think this all leads to the sound having more space to fill and resonate outside of your ears on the Amiron, where there's more of an immediacy with the T1.2. Whether or not you'd consider the T1/T1.2 an upgrade isn't an easy question to answer, I think if you're purely using either of these for pure music enjoyment, the Amiron would be a better fit and more forgiving, and it would also synergize better with more amp/dac gear. The T1.2 is very power-hungry at 600 Ohms so that's something to keep in mind.

Jul 20, 2019

Jul 20, 2019

VinceTheStampede624Oh my God... thank u so much man I love the amirons' and like their soundstage for gaming stuff I was considering the t1 as a replacement for the amiron for gaming but u saved me a lot of bucks...I was searching for this info all around the internet but couldn't find it anywhere...I prefer the sound sig of the amiron to the t1...for eg if I had to own 1 I'd definitely take these and not t1 but I was considering to own this along side the amiron but not anymore now. what's ur headfi username btw ?? Since u have both u can put up a nice comparison on headfi man...

Jul 20, 2019

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Jul 20, 2019

VinceTheStampede624I've heard a lot of praise about the t1's imaging that it's pinpoint and the new 2nd gen seems to even better than the 1st gen...I could still own it as a complimentary hp with vivid sound sig...have u ever listened to the gen 1 btw ??

Jul 20, 2019

Jul 20, 2019

SoumyoSadly I haven't heard the Gen 1, I actively avoided it because I had heard it's too sibilant. I do feel like the 1.2 is a bit recessed compared to all the other headphones I have, but I think it might just be a sign of how power-hungry it is.

Jul 20, 2019

Jul 20, 2019

VinceTheStampede624What amp are u using ??

Jul 20, 2019

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Jul 20, 2019

SoumyoMy current amp/dac is the Sony TA-ZH1ES. It isn't the most powerful thing out there but I like how it has a Pentaconn balanced output among the other ones.

Jul 20, 2019

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