I have decided for another set of cans to complement my DT 1990 PROs. I find myself needing to use headphones more and more nowadays for environmental reasons, and extended sessions on them are excruciating due to the famous Beyer bump (I still love them for revealing details on transients, but anyone who uses them knows they are not an all day set of cans). I wanted something that was a little more neutral, less fatiguing, translated better from my monitors, and had decent bass extension. Just curious how people are getting along with them - they seem to fit the latest Harman curve amazingly well!
dont have the hedd d1, but i have the new sennheiser hd 480 pro and if you like neutral and harman, they are exceptional. i think they are much better than my DT 1990 Pro, although i get what you say about revealing details due excessive high freq bump.
another open back choice would be the aune ar5000 (now mk2).
only downside i see with the hedd d1 is comfort, as they are quite heavy and dont have a good headband design.
Yeah, the 490 (which is the open back variant of the 480) is one of the 3 I’m kicking around, alongside the Neumann NDH 30. My biggest groan right now is the Sennheiser and HEDD both seem to outperform the NDH, but are plastic. Also, the HEDD isn’t supported by Sonarworks yet, which I use extensively (coincidentally, the 490 is their new top recommendation re: cans). I did submit a request for profile support on it.
OOTB, the HEDD has the best specs re: curve and THD from what I’ve seen (which makes sense given the implied rigidity of the carbon fiber driver they introduced). I think I’m going to test it out, but the 490 is likely going to be my trigger pull if I don’t gel with it.
Also, on the weight - the D1’s are dynamic driver and lighter than the 1990s - you might be thinking of the AMT driver models HEDD has, which do have the odd strap and weight to contend with.
love to hear your thoughts if you can try out the hedd.
btw, i also have the 490 pro, but i only like them with the mixing pads and with them i have to eq a bass shelf to hear a decent amount of bass. one negative thing is, that i dont like the pad fabric material that much.
i think i prefer the 480 pro overall.
Long time 1990 owner here. I never got along with them in the studio. They’re hard to drive so I didn’t use them as much as I’d like. Connecting a dedicated headphone amp to a drum machine or interface was a buzz kill and had me churning another piece of gear to get “the right sound”.
I seriously considered the D1 but the cost was big jump especially if I had to flip them. Ended up with the Sony MDR-M1 and couldn’t be happier. Punchy, easy to drive (babyface, DT, OP-XY, etc), light weight, a little workhorse set of cans.
I prefer making mixing decisions on the M1. The 1990s are epic listening to old minimal techno pressings and putting in some time on the PS5.
I ordered them, and will post an update after they arrive. And yeah, that’s always the bass extension downside with opens unless you’re spending a bit on planars (I didn’t feel like shelling out 2k for any planars with decent build quality).
I have the D1s. They’ve become my go to for playing my synths and using with DAWs. I would characterise them as quite warm, but not at the expense of losing detail. Definitely no sharp treble. I’ve got several other pairs of headphones that I like so the value/price of the D1s feels a bit high, but that would be my only gripe.
They’re very easy to drive (can power easily with MacBook Air’s headphone port or the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm adapter).
Hey, Sony makes some great headphones for their price range. The 7506’s are still my recommended headphone for anyone with a tight budget, and if they’re good enough for Andrew Scheps to do all of his mixing on, that says something.
Thanks for the feedback! I’m looking forward to them.
I was also 1990 user for a long time, but like you for same reasons dropped it first for hd600, and then LcdX. Curious also to hear your thoughts about Hedd, best way is to load bunch of your music, or music you know well, on your phone and test them out in a store if that’s an option.
Suprised there isn’t a model for sonarworks, maybe because they are new?
They usually update this list.
I super love my 480 Pros, favorite headphone I’ve used. Just awesome.
Never found anything close to my audeze LCD-X’s.
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The LCD-X would be a contender if not for known build quality issues. I wouldn’t be above getting a bottle of loctite for the screws coming out, but I am also concerned with the driver fragility on drops - I have a 2-year old who loves his studio time with dad, but is also pure chaos. As careful as I am with my gear, Audeze’s would not survive him.
The loosening screws issue is real, I thought I had done something to them for a bit, and then realized the screws were loose making it not sit over my ears properly. I do have to regularly tighten, and should get loctite. Mine have survived drops, but I understand it’s different with a 2 year old lol.
Ok, initial thoughts, and I’m going to be even more long-winded than is my norm: first listen on my go-to reference tracks had me hating them, but bear with me, because that sentiment didn’t last long.
Initially, they sounded waaaaay too sterile for me. While I could hear every little flaw in tunes that I thought were perfectly mixed for me before this, which was great, they also sounded lifeless and didn’t carry the dynamics, spectrum, or soundstage I would expect in something that is supposed to be the new killer headphone on the market. Initial thoughts were this was going to be a pair to send back, because I want these to be my cans for long sessions and I want to connect with the music emotionally as well as have reference-grade accuracy.
At about 6 hours in, it was like a switch got flipped. While the detail remained, the drivers started finding their sweet spot with regards to spectrum and dynamics. The D1’s definitely need a break-in period. Once things started opening up, they did so in a big way. I would honestly say that after a few days of break-in these things will absolutely blow your mind.
I would put the bass extension against any planar I have listened on, and the soundstage is massive. There’s a good amount of distance between the driver and your ear, so there’s no weird proximity boominess. And the soundstage thing gets thrown around a lot and in somewhat subjective manners, but I will say there is extreme separation in the both stereo field and across the spectrum.
No shit, I ended up crying while listening to music that I’ve heard a million times before. It also ruined a handful of reference tracks that I’ve used in the past, because I heard a level of detail unrealized at this point (and I say that having used incredible gear across the years).
Though they are only $800, I don’t think I’ll be listening on my not cheap, calibrated 3-way monitors that sit in a treated room from now on unless working with others. They’re also way more comfy and lighter than any much more expensive cans that I’ve used, and absolutely no problems with distortion or ear fatigue occurred, even during a 10 hour session.
I’m super glad I took this chance - sometimes things don’t go well, but this may have been my best gear purchase in 28 years of making music. As a result, I just shared a bunch of reference tracks that I use in another thread because exploring these headphones was just an amazing experience.
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glad you enjoy them. guess im gonna have to try them too now 
that “break-in” period, it happens a lot with a new set of cans. it can take a long time for a person to get used to a certain sound.
good to hear, that they dont cause any ear fatigue over a longer time!
have they replaced your DT1990s?
Oh, most certainly. I will likely use the DT1990s as a scalpel on certain mix items (sibilance, reverb diffusion, top end for stringed instruments, treble in general), but there is no doubt that the D1s will be the sonic center of my mixing and mastering process now - headphones or monitors.
I might also look into your suggestion on the 480 for closed-back applications. I know you like the 480’s, but I’m specifically wondering about how hard they can be driven in a live performance/DJ scenario (to counter venue sound issues), and how well they minimize bleed (for studio tracking). Any insights?
they dont block outside noise that well, but work good for vocal recording (minimal bleed). for a dj scenario, i think i would choose a different headphone. i would recommend them for producing or mixing as they are neutral like the hedds, judging by measurements. also very little fatigue and great comfort.
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