AKG K712 PRO or Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO

[Bryan Kortez]

Hi All.

I'm a complete noob when it comes to sound systems, so I'm looking for a bit of advice.

I'm currently using a wireless Corsair H2100 Gaming headset (seems fairly shocking) for sound quality and mic quality. I find them very uncomfortable to wear for extended periods and quickly cause ear fatigue. I'm not really interested in wireless headphones anymore, due to my new desk setup and getting fed up of them running out of battery mid-session. I prefer the feel of open-back headphones, as I suffer from tinnitus and closed-back headphones seem to make this feel worse.

So far I've come across these 2 headphones which I like AKG K712 PRO and Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO. The DT 990's seem to have a much higher resistance than the AKG's so it looks like I would definitely need an amp to take full advantage. The AKG look like they could get away without an amp?

If I got an amp, I've been looking at the Fiio K3. Would this be suitable for the DT 990 Pro's?

I'm completely new to this so any advice would be great. Here are a few more details.

I plan on eventually getting a stand-alone microphone in the future, something like a Yeti. So would I benefit from getting an amp that could also take a mic input?

My budget is around £200

I mainly listen to liquid drum and bass, house music, and tech house. I occasionally play FPS games like battlefield and CS.

Thanks in advance.

 

[EsaT]

Open design definitely helps for comfort in many ways, but do you have quiet environment?
It also leaks environment's noise through basically unmuffled.

As for other comfort aspects that AKG's fancy "automatically" adjusting head band relies also on pressure to keep cups positioned.
DT990 Edition is definitely step more comfortable in that.
I own them both.
Studio use aimed Pro has some more pressure, but mid section of head band is steel and could be bent looser.
Also Beyer has reasonably priced replacement pads unlike AKG charging nearing double for just one pad making K712 very expensive in long term.

Though without using some minus 8kHz band of equalizer Beyer's treble might be too much.
But that's also down to sound you've used to and if those H2100's have similar to wired H1500 sound of only mid and treble humps you might not notice it.
Also that equalizing is also easily done on PC.


Unlike lied in many places impedance tells little about how demanding headphones are.
Only thing it tells guaranteedly is do headphones take power mostly as voltage or current.
It doesn't tell anything about actual efficiency/"sensitivity" and need of electric power:
AKGs actually need about twice the electric power per dB!
And because of lowish impedance they take it mostly as current, making them heavier load even if voltage requirement is lower.
That can start increasing distortion on weaker outputs.

DT990's only challenge is in battery powered devices lacking voltage and even at 100% setting volume could be low.
Because of low current draw of high impedance they can't overload output.
Which is same thing as in speakers and their amplifiers:
If amplifier is made for 8 ohm speakers doubled current draw of 4 ohm speakers could overload and break it.
While higher ohm speakers can't overload amplifier made for lower ohm speakers and only max volume is lower. (assuming same power requirement per dB)


Anyway for sound card Creative has £70 B-stock Sound BlasterX G6 available on their site.
I recently changed to it after 25 years of internal sound cards.
It has good enough headphone amp for most headphones you could find from shops and unlike internal sound cards gives direct volume control, if your keyboard lacks that.
Also it has button disabling/enabling processing when you switch between music and gaming/movies.
When fed proper HRTF processed binaural sound simulation these open headphones can give very nice directionality and even feel of distance in games.

Crossfeed processing of stereo content might also help to some music mixed purely for speakers sounding very artificial on headphones:
When listening speakers sound from left channel reaches also right ear and vice versa.
Without that resulting effect can be nasty "sound inside left ear - sound in center of head - sound inside right ear" feel.

 

[Marsman]

I'm not sure open back would be better for someone with tinnitus; but it really depends on where the headphones are being used though. If there is background noise, open headphones will mean the user will increase the volume. That is less likely with closed. If there isn't any background noise, then it shouldn't make a great deal of difference I would imagine.

For gaming, there is much better choice with open headphones and they do perform better in that regard. With closed, the choice is pretty limited when it comes to headphones that are good for gaming.

Of the choice between K712 and DT990, I would imagine K712 are going to be the much the better choice for anyone with tinnitus, because they are a more balanced headphone than the DT990, which has elevated treble.

I'm sure I read some time back that pronounced treble is more likely cause issues for tinnitus sufferers.

 

[luggles]

You'll probably need an amp for both. I have the K7XX similar to the pro's both at 62 ohms and DT990 250 ohms, I find my AKG's require more volume than the Beyers on my Atom amp.

I far prefer my AKG's comfort and sound wise than the dt990's. But comfort is going to be a really personal thing. I'd say the build of the Beyers is far more robust, using my AKG's I'm always very careful with them, where the Beyers feel more like they could take a few hits.

If you can buy from somewhere with a easy return policy I'd recommend trying both.

If I had to only have one, i would pick the AKG's every time.

 

[Marsman]

Rather than looking at the K712, the OP could consider K702 and get maybe a Creative SoundblasterX G6. Good sound card with plenty of power and has SBX prostudio for surround sound positional effects should he want that for gaming.

Creative have had refurbished units on their site for a good price. Esat mentions that in his post above. In another thread he mentioned the G6 itself was like new; just a slightly tatty box.

You'll probably need an amp for both. I have the K7XX similar to the pro's both at 62 ohms and DT990 250 ohms, I find my AKG's require more volume than the Beyers on my Atom amp.

Yeah, the K7** range really do need an amp; certainly more so than the 250 Ohm DT990/770.

Despite being only 62 Ohm, the 7** range of headphones are insensitive and require twice as much power to reach the same SPL volume.