In this article dialog editor and ‘post sound person extraordinaire’ Korey Pereira shares his experience of looking for the ideal headphone setup for the studio and on the road.
Over the years I have used a number of different headphones. I am a sound editor for film and television. In recent years I have gravitated towards dialogue editing. When cutting dialogue, I do so using both speakers and headphones. Headphones let me hear the subtle nuances of the production tracks and make decisions of how much iZotope RX or other processing I need to use. Listening through my speakers gives me a better idea of how my edit will translate to the stage for the final mix.
I am quite happy with my speaker setup, which consists of JBL 7-Series Monitors in 7.1.4 configuration. You can read my article on Building A DIY Home Studio For Dolby Atmos Mixing to learn more about my setup. Recently I have felt both my headphones and headphone amp could be better. Before upgrading to ATMOS, I was using a MOTU interface located on my desk and used the built-in headphone amp with no complaints. When I upgraded to ATMOS, I moved to an AVID HD Native system. I briefly tried to use the headphone amp on the HD Native Thunderbolt iteself, but as it was located in my cabinet, it was not convenient. The volume knob also reset after each use and was hard to set at a consistent level with no feedback. I had a Presonus HP4 on hand from use during remote ADR sessions over the years so have been using that for awhile now, but never liked how it sounded.
Rupert Neve Designs RNHP
Living in Austin, Texas, I am less than an hour up the road from Wimberly, where Rupert Neve Designs is headquartered. A few years back I purchased a 5211 preamp from them, which we now use regularly in the studio for foley and ADR recording. At the time, they were kind enough to let me also demo their headphone amp, the RNHP. Boy did it sound great! It is solidly built and lives up to the quality you would expect from a product that bears the late Rupert Neve’s name. It is hands down the best sounding headphone amp I had ever used. It has plenty of gain and zero noticeable distortion. I am only using the XLR inputs, but it is handy to also have RCA and 3.5mm as additional switchable input options. I can only imagine this thing connected to a turntable would make for some great listening. The most rewarding surprise for me was that when placed next to one of my S1s, the RNHP magnetically clicks into place next to the S1. How cool is that? To some degree it felt like it just belonged on my desk. Having just picked up a mic pre from them, I wasn’t quite ready to drop the cash on a new headphone amp as well. However, as I was recently looking to upgrade my headphones, it seemed like the time to finally pick up a RNHP.
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro
So now, let's talk about headphones. For a long time I had been using a combination of the Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro in the studio and DT 770 Pro (80 ohm) when working away from home. The DT990, being 250 ohm, needed a decent headphone amp to run them. The DT770 80 ohm version could easily be driven by the headphone jack on a MacBook Pro. My only complaint with the DT 770s was that they were a bit bulky when traveling or working away from the studio. Eventually I was traveling enough that the size of these headphones became inconvenient. I had a pair of Sennheiser HD25 headphones I regularly use for field sound effects recording. They are much smaller than the DT 770 and still sounded good enough, so I started using them instead of the DT 770 when out in the world. My DT 990 at some point started to show their age - the plastic was cracked on both sides, the headband was worn and the cable was starting to detach where they meet the headphones. I started just using the HD25 in the studio as well. Personally I had started to miss the comfort of over-ear headphones so I started to look for a new set of headphones. After doing a lot of research I settled on a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro. These are not cheap headphones (on sale for $469 at the time of writing this article), but I wanted to find something to match the quality of the RNHP I had just picked up.
These headphones do not disappoint. They feel professional. I really appreciate that most components are made of metal instead of plastic. The premium stitched leather head cushion and black velour ear cups make them easy to wear all day without any fatigue for me. With my DT 990 cable starting to fray, the TA3 mini-XLR connector allowing for easily detaching the cable on the DT 1990 was a nice touch. This also allows you to switch between the included straight and coiled cable. It also came with a nice quality semi-hard case that has an integrated pouch for the cables and a spot for the extra set of earcups. The headphones shipped with the “balanced” earcups installed as well as an extra “analytical” set. The first thing I did was swap the earcups for the “analytical” set. The difference was subtle, but the “analytical” set had what felt like a bit more high-mid clarity. As a dialogue editor, I want to hear all the details. After a day (10 hours) of cutting dialogue on these plugged into the RNHP, I knew I had found the perfect match.
I went ahead and ordered a pair of the DT 1770 Pro to use as my travel headphones the next day. The DT 1770s come similarly equipped. The only difference is that instead of a balanced and analytical pair of earcups, they come with one set that is velour and another that is leatherette. I like the velour cups, but if I were using them for production audio where I am sweating a lot, I may opt for the leatherette ones. I find the included Beyerdynamic case a bit too large to easily fit in a backpack or messenger bag, so I ordered a tighter fitting case off Amazon. The detachable TA3 cable cuts down on how large a case needs to be. The only challenge with using the DT 1770 (or 1990) away from the studio is figuring out how to power them. Both being 250 ohms, the headphone amp on a MacBook Pro won’t cut it. I typically lug around my Focusrite 2i2 with me when working away from home, but was hoping to find something more compact now that I have committed myself to a larger set of headphones again.
Looking on Beyerdynamic’s website I was excited to find the Pro X USB-C cable. It plugs into the DT 1770/1990 TA3 port and on the other end a USB-C port to plug straight into a USB-C port. It also adds a mic and inline volume control, making these headphones equally useful for joining a Zoom call or remote ADR session. I excitedly plugged them in for a Zoom call and was impressed with the result. I had a meeting participant note, unprompted, how good the mic sounded. Disappointment set in when I sat down to use this setup to edit some dialogue. The amp in the Pro X cable was 6-10 dB too low for editing dialogue at typical -24 to -30 average levels. What a bummer. I am guessing Beyerdynamic either designed the cable for the lower ohm rated DT 700 Pro X headphones or never considered the film market who listen to content at a lower volume compared to music at full scale.
I next ordered a THX Onyx USB-C headphone amp. It uses a similar DAC to the Beyerdynamic, but the amp was noticeably more powerful. I was able to set the gain in Audio/MIDI Setup to around ~10-12 dB for editing dialogue for -24. I am not sure if it is an issue with all units or just the one I have, but 1-5 times a day I would get a short burst of LOUD momentary digital noise, which is a bit of a deal killer for me. I also don’t particularly like the idea of ANOTHER USB-C dongle as part of my mobile rig, which is why I had hedged my bets on the Beyerdynamic Pro-X Cable being a slam dunk. My only hope is that Beyerdynamic will release a new version of their cable in the near future with sufficient gain for these headphones. If anything, the THX Onyx proves that a product in this form factor can generate the gain needed for sound editing on the DT 1990/1770.
Alas, that is where I must leave my search for an ideal mobile headphone amp solution for the DT 1770/1990s. For now I will be using my trusty 2i2 and report back when I find something better.
The last topic I wanted to discuss is the frequency response of these headphones. As a dialogue editor, they do what I need. They are detailed and provide a signal without any noticeable harmonic distortion. They don’t however have a very flat frequency response. If you plan to use these for mixing, I would seriously consider investing in a copy of Sonarworks SoundID Reference, which has a tuning curve specifically for both the DT 1770 and DT 1990 to make their response flat. I have never used SoundID personally, but plan to give it a try soon and will similarly report back on the results.
Headphone preference can vary widely from person to person and change based on what you hope to do with them. As a dialogue editor, working at the top of my game I was in search of a great sounding pair that I could also wear all day when needed. The combination of the Beyerdynamic DT 1990 + Rupert Neve Designs fit the bill in my case. Needing a matching solution that was closed back, the DT 1770 seemed like the logical fit, but I still need to find a compact headphone amp to power them.