Beyerdynamic T5 (3rd Generation)

[What Hi-Fi?]

Beyerdynamic's flagship T5 headphones have enjoyed a best-in-class reputation for years, so do the 3rd Gen iterations reinforce that?

Beyerdynamic T5 (3rd Generation) : Read more

 

[AVDude]

Great headphones in terms of sound, their build quality is OK. For the amount of money paid, there are better headphones than these in terms of fitment and comfort that still deliver equal if not superior sound. BD needs to make an effort to create documents on how to repair their headphones, especially when a person is paying as much as they are for a product like the T5.

Some feedback from a long term BD headphone owner:

BD's headphone emitters get clogged up with fluff over time, it doesn't mention this anywhere in factory furnished information but they need to be periodically taken apart (every 18-24 months) and swabbed with an alcohol pad, re-assembled with glue..
The pad material that sits between the emitter screen and your ear is not durable, it will rot after a few years, particularly if you sweat while wearing them (that will greatly speed up their decay).

You can order replacement parts for the things that tend to break, this is another thing BD doesn't tell you. Not all of the headphones they sell have replacement parts available through BD or a third party.
Despite lacking documentation, most of it does come apart easy enough, be sure to document the wire layout if you decide to repair or modify it.

BD's headbands typically don't have much of any adjustment left for different size heads than what you see on the picture and they can pinch your head a little, depends on the model.
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You can get better headphones in the 300-1200 range than these, particularly when it concerns sound quality and long term wearer comfort. The latter being a priority for any who wear these on the job.
Some of the better choices range from cheaper than these to slightly more like Focal Celeste, AKG 702's, Hifiman Sundara, Neumann HD20's, etc..

Hifiman Sundara is 349 USD average and either curb stomps the T5 for both value and quality or breaks even.
AKG 702 much cheaper than the T5, priced similarly to the Sundara. It does a good job in the fit and sound quality department.
Neumann HD20's don't have as good a sound as the T5 IMO and some of the others mentioned (but it's damn close!), they do rate very highly for long wear comfort and build quality.
Focal Celeste priced similar to the T5 and some other products, Sound is very good with high marks for build quality and wearer comfort.

You may find yourself wanting to modify your headphones for min-xlr use.
There are Youtube vids on modding various pro level headphone types for what I view to be a higher quality connector option than what the factory typically chooses. You are taking your product's warranty and future functionality in your hands when you do this but it's not a complicated procedure. There are also vids on how to convert to a balanced cabling setup too, these require some knowledge of soldering iron usage.

 

[Disadadi]

I find Beyer products to have one of the best build quality. My K712 pro elastics are hard to replace, not sold in Europe and cost 50% of their street price to repair. Also not even remotely as comfortable as beyerdynamic headphones.

So while you may disagree with me, don't make your comment look like it's not just a matter of your personal liking, but the actual truth. It isn't. We're talking about preferences here and not everybody shares the same preferences as you do.

 

[Deleted member 188533]

I have the K712 Pro and the 1990 Pro and I find the K712 Pro to be on par with the Sennheiser 5 series for comfort. 10/10. They're my daily drivers for both sound quality and comfort. The 1990s are almost too clampy even after having them a few years. But they are built like a tank. The K701/702 are too bass lite for my tastes. The K712 gets it right. I totally agree that it's not the best build quality though. You're paying for sound quality not build.

The Sundara is an excellent value and hits way above it's price. It's also better built and more comfortable than I expected. I still like the K712 Pro more though. Something about the staging of the K712 is just addictive.

I haven't heard them but the 3rd gen T1 and T5 are generally considered to be a step backwards in sound quality from the 2nd gen.

 

[AVDude]

I have the K712 Pro and the 1990 Pro and I find the K712 Pro to be on par with the Sennheiser 5 series for comfort. 10/10. They're my daily drivers for both sound quality and comfort. The 1990s are almost too clampy even after having them a few years. But they are built like a tank. The K701/702 are too bass lite for my tastes. The K712 gets it right. I totally agree that it's not the best build quality though. You're paying for sound quality not build.

The Sundara is an excellent value and hits way above it's price. It's also better built and more comfortable than I expected. I still like the K712 Pro more though. Something about the staging of the K712 is just addictive.

I haven't heard them but the 3rd gen T1 and T5 are generally considered to be a step backwards in sound quality from the 2nd gen.

I thought rather than just give 1 way feedback about a product, I thought i'd offer some pro's and cons with constructive information about it. Particularly things that I would want to know as a first time buyer of said product or brand.
In case it is not clear, the official review this thread is based on, is not mine.

 

[AVDude]

I have the K712 Pro and the 1990 Pro and I find the K712 Pro to be on par with the Sennheiser 5 series for comfort. 10/10. They're my daily drivers for both sound quality and comfort. The 1990s are almost too clampy even after having them a few years. But they are built like a tank. The K701/702 are too bass lite for my tastes. The K712 gets it right. I totally agree that it's not the best build quality though. You're paying for sound quality not build.

The Sundara is an excellent value and hits way above it's price. It's also better built and more comfortable than I expected. I still like the K712 Pro more though. Something about the staging of the K712 is just addictive.

I haven't heard them but the 3rd gen T1 and T5 are generally considered to be a step backwards in sound quality from the 2nd gen.

I've had the Sundara's now for 2 weeks, I concur. They are much better for long term wear in terms of comfort than BD, when compared to more expensive headphones they are difficult to beat for audio quality and comfort (build quality is a 9/10).

The only negatives I have to say about the Sundara so far is the audio connector design is not very sturdy and should be some type of mini-XLR or at least a connector on the headphones with a retention nut to keep them from popping out. Some of the more expensive headphones have this as a feature I've noticed.

 

[AVDude]

I find Beyer products to have one of the best build quality. My K712 pro elastics are hard to replace, not sold in Europe and cost 50% of their street price to repair. Also not even remotely as comfortable as beyerdynamic headphones.

So while you may disagree with me, don't make your comment look like it's not just a matter of your personal liking, but the actual truth. It isn't. We're talking about preferences here and not everybody shares the same preferences as you do.

I am completely confused by this comment as it seems sort of out of place and don't know who or what it is referring to.
All I did was offer a contrasting view and some in depth information from my own perspective. I spend a lot of time thinking over my purchase choices before I commit to them, and an equal amount researching it.
I hope to rebuild my old DT 770's when or if parts become available again but I do not plan to buy another new BD headphone for quite a while.
I also included some information I would have liked to have known when I first started shopping for high end audio headphones, like availability of parts and that they can be repaired by anyone if the parts are there.

 

[Dex4Sure]

So how much did Hifiman pay you to shill their 3/10 build quality products? I've owned Hifiman headphones like HE400S and Sundara in the past and they are cheap, very bad build quality. Their stock pads wear off in 3 months with active use (both Sundara and HE400S), the stock cable most likely breaks within a year (HE400S stock cable just stopped working after 2 weeks for me). To whine about Beyerdynamic build quality and then praise Hifiman build quality (which everyone knows is cheap trash) is hilarious. Can't take you seriously at all.

DT 770/880/990 series build quality isn't anything special, nor is it bad. My DT 990s that are over 5 years old work still without any of the nonsense maintenance you claimed they supposedly need. The only things I replaced were the pads and the plastic slider (which is what most likely breaks in Beyer headphones over time, but easy to replace). T1s are noticeably better build quality than the cheap DT line up. Hifiman is trash quality and the sound is over rated big time. There's very little bass in Sundara and HE400S. When I compared then to my DT 880s theres very little differences between them actually. Sundara is the most over hyped trash headphone in existence currently. Doesn't even compare to T1 that has proper bass that extends very low while Sundara sounds like weak fart, much like DT 880 which is also bass light.