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Beyerdynamic DT48E - Circumaural Stereo Field Recording, Broadcast, and Studio Headphones - 25 Ohms
Beyerdynamic DT48E - Circumaural Stereo Field Recording, Broadcast, and Studio Headphones - 25 Ohms
B&H # BEDT48E25 MFR # DT48E-25OHM
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Beyerdynamic DT 48 E Overview
- 1Description
The Beyerdynamic DT 48E headphones feature comfortable foam filled padding for the headband and earcups, 12 dB of ambient noise attenuation, and a low impedance, high output character. These headphones are particularly useful for critical monitoring during field recording, for use with professional DAT and Minidisc recorders.
- Circumaural closed back headphones for broadcast, studio or live field use
- Recommended for critical monitoring use with professional DAT and MiniDisc field recorders
- Foam-filled headband and earcup padding for comfortable extended wear
- Highly efficient transducers, high output, very low impedance
- 12 dB of ambient noise attenuation for improved sound isolation
In the Box
Beyerdynamic DT48E - Circumaural Stereo Field Recording, Broadcast, and Studio Headphones - 25 Ohms
Table of Contents
- 1Description
Beyerdynamic DT 48 E Specs
| Type | Circumaural Closed Back Dynamic Stereo Headphones |
| Frequency Range | 16 Hz - 20 kHz |
| Impedance | 25 Ohms |
| Sensitivity | 105 db/mW |
| Maximum Input Power | 100 mW |
| Connectors | 1/4" Stereo Phone Plug |
| Cable Length | 10' (3 m) |
| Weight | 14.1 oz (400 g) |
| Packaging Info | |
|---|---|
| Box Dimensions (LxWxH) | 8.0 x 8.5 x 3.6" |
Beyerdynamic DT 48 E Reviews
DT48E - Stereo Headphones - 25 Ohms is rated
out of
5 by
5.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
The Audiophath from
DT48e 25 Ohms an Industry Secret
Unlike a predecessor, I can not comment on other DT48 models. Mine are brand new DT48e, 25 ohms bought from B&H last fall. Those are very different headphones. Right out of the box, I have to admit that I had second thoughts about my purchase; they squished my ears, had no bass, were heavy, had very short coiled cable and I can keep adding. But they changed with use and time. The pads softened, either I got used to it but they don't seem to squish as much and the sound gradually got more interesting. It took a long time, like 300-400 hours. To get any bass, good seal is mandatory. No it does not feel like the seismic bass you hear from the subwoofer in some home theater but it is there, just not in your face or boomy. But the midrange makes the music sounds there. The attack and decay of the notes are rivaled only by electrostatics. The better the source and the amplifier, the more real they will sound. None of my other electrodynamic cans come close to that. A good recording will sound good, a poor one, you won't want listen to it. Keep in mind that I listen almost exclusively to classical and acoustic jazz. With portables like iPhones or iPods, music in AIFF format sounds surprisingly good. The isolation is top. I guess this is an upside of been tight. Built is among the most robust I have seen. Those are very special cans indeed, in a class of its own. It is easy to imagine people not liking them. There have nothing HIFI. Yes I would recommend to a friend, but not any friend. He will have to buy his own, I am keeping mine.
Date published: 2011-05-01
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Dale from
Beyer DT-48 Headphone
Although it's near-perfect for its design, I gave it only 4 stars due to some practical issues I'll describe. If you're used to conventional stereo headphones like most of the Sennheisers in the $400 range, and you've never listened to a DT-48, your first impression will likely be Where is the sound? My first impression was that the DT-48 sounded like a small pocket radio played through its built-in speaker. That was not my final impression however, but I mention that to prepare potential buyers for a rude shock if they are expecting a conventional stereo headphone. When the DT-48 is worn properly, without glasses or other obstructions to a perfect seal on the head, and when given a minute or two to seal completely, you would begin to hear the kind of details in the sound that this headphone was designed for. The high end is rolled off significantly compared to conventional headphones, and the low end is rolled off as well, resulting in a very unconventional sound. There is no other way to describe it, except to say that you need to know what you're buying with the DT-48. Also unlike most modern stereo headphones which were designed for maximum comfort, the DT-48 clamps your head to a much greater degree. I've been comfortable with it for an hour or two at a time, but it takes getting used to. Another thing that you would notice after wearing the DT-48 for an hour or so is a small amount of sweat buildup in the earcups, which you can wipe out with any cloth. I like the DT-48 very much, and I find that I can enjoy a variety of sources with it, but it fits a very narrow range of tastes for general use, since it was designed for monitoring of sources that don't require a wide range of sound reproduction such as most mid-priced stereo headphones provide.
Date published: 2011-02-07
Rated 5 out of
5
by
dalethorn from
DT-48E - The $1000 headphone for $
The current DT-48E sounds much different than the DT-48 of the mid-1970's, which had the same oval circumaural cushions. The difference in the lower midrange and bass I attribute to the thicker cushions on the current model, and the fact that the cushions are sealed onto the driver units. With the 1970's model, the cushions could be rotated 360 degrees and were easy to remove, and I suspect that the low frequencies leaked accordingly. In fact, I can make the current model sound much like the 1970's model just by yawning, and thus compromising the seal between the cushions and my head. The difference in the high frequencies is more difficult to account for, and my best guess there (aside from whatever contribution the better seal might make) is that Beyer may now have superior manufacturing technology for the DT-48 diaphragms. I've read many posts and articles about the DT-48 series, and much of that is speculation or people's experiences with modifications to the headphone itself. With this review I'd like to list what facts I've gathered in my own experience. I first heard of the DT-48 series via Stereophile Magazine's Recommended Components section circa 1972, in which they listed the DT-48S with round cushions as a Class B headphone (i.e. second-tier, or next to the best), having Extremely tight and well-defined bass. The first DT-48 I bought was the DT-48 (no letter following the '48'), which was black and came with oval circumaural cushions. My first reaction was Where is the sound?, since they sounded to me like a pocket-size radio played through its own speaker - perhaps a little better than that, but not a lot better. After listening at some length and letting the cushions seal better, the sound seemed to improve slightly, but next to headphones like the Koss ESP9 or Pro4AA they sounded rather lo-fi - extremely shy in the low and high end. Going back to Stereophile's Recommended Components (and not having an Internet or BBS to research these issues), I noted that it specified round cushions and a DT-48S model, which I then ordered from my dealer. When the DT-48S arrived with a beautiful carrycase made of something called Skai, I was shocked to discover that what little bass I had with the DT-48 was entirely absent from the DT-48S. So, with great patience I ordered a set of oval cushions from Beyer, and after removing the round supraaural cushions and placing the oval circumaural cushions on the DT-48S, the sound became essentially the same as the DT-48. At this same time I had a Soundcraftsmen equalizer and could equalize the DT-48 to sound exactly like the Koss ESP9 on a given song, within one decibel of accuracy. I did not detect any difference between the DT-48 and the DT-48S using the same type of cushions. Apparently there was a special version of the DT-48 in the 1970's and before that, which used the same round cushions that came with the DT-48S. That version of the DT-48 came with different cable terminations, most commonly open-ended from what I surmised. But since Stereophile didn't refer to it, and given my experience with the DT-48S's round cushions, I avoided looking into that model. Fast forward to 2011 and my new DT-48E with oval cushions, which looks more or less the same as the DT-48 of the 1970's, except that the DT-48E has a single-sided cable configuration, whereas the old DT-48 connected directly to each driver unit from the 'Y' split in the main cable. I've described the differences in sound between the current DT-48E and the DT-48's of the 1970's in the first paragraph, and now I'll describe how the current model compares to conventional modern headphones like the Sennheiser HD-800. To begin with, I was surprised to find the new DT-48E comfortable to wear for hours at a time, although I take one-minute breaks every 30 to 60 minutes to remove sweat from the earcups, exactly like I did with the 1970's models. I could certainly argue that the HD-800 is more comfortable since the head pressure is much lighter, but due to the thicker cushions on the DT-48 compared to the 1970's versions, I don't feel any specific discomforts like I did with the old models, which pressed on the outer ear parts and could even be painful. After listening to the DT-48E for about three hours, I put the Sennheiser 800's on in the middle of a track, and my immediate impression was that of a shift to a lower register, tonal-wise. I don't have a good explanation for that, since both headphones reproduce the same music at the same pitch, albeit with different emphases in different octaves. I didn't have any other strong impressions of differences, and no negatives. So for me, the significant difference between the DT-48 and the HD-800 was as if I could take just the midrange between, say, 130 hz and one to two octaves above that and tilt it to the right for the HD-800 (warmer or more distant), or to the left for the DT-48 (cooler or closer). The bass with the DT-48E is not as strong as the Sennheiser 800, even though the HD-800 does not have a pronounced bass, or bassiness. I was inclined to think that the DT-48's bass rolled off below 100 hz, and was probably near-nonexistent at 30 hz or thereabouts. But such is not the case. The bass is lower in level than the HD-800's below 100 hz, but does not fall off that much, so depending on how good of a seal you get with the oval cushions, what you hear could vary from tight and well-defined to very weak if the seal is inadequate. The midrange of the DT-48E is marvelous, to put it very simply. Compared to the Sennheiser 800, the DT-48's midrange is more forward or pronounced, but has none of the nasal or honky effect I've experienced with other headphones. It simply sounds there and very clean, with one possible undesirable effect for some applications: Playing Day In The Life from Sgt. Pepper - the acid-trip Ahhhhhhh.... following Somebody spoke and I went into a dream, the DT-48 makes the soundstage narrower than some other headphones, which was a little disappointing. In exchange for that, you get that fabulous clear midrange that's rare even with headphones costing twice as much as the DT-48. The high end of the DT-48E is difficult for me to judge. My hearing seems to be flat to about 10 khz, with about a 3-4 db dropoff at 12 khz and perhaps 8 db at 14 khz. Generally, the high end sounds fine, but if you have source material that has sibilants or other such things that are borderline irritating on other headphones like the Sennheiser 800, they may cross that borderline and be irritating on the DT-48. Based on my experience of a few days and a few hundred music tracks of many genres, I don't experience that problem with good source material at substantial volumes, only with a few bad recordings played fairly loud. If I could rate the overall qualities of the DT-48E on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best), they would be: Sound = 9, sensitivity (25 ohm) = 7, comfort = 7, durability = 10, looks and styling = 9. I've seen comments to the effect that the DT-48E needs a good amp to achieve the best sound, and while that's true insofar as the better amps do sound better than an iPod or other pocket media player, those pocket players will drive the DT-48 to very loud levels with most source material, and with comparable balance of bass and highs. There is one other feature of the DT-48E that I alluded to in the first paragraph with the yawning comment: The sound, particularly in the lower midrange and bass, will change significantly if you yawn, turn your head far to either side, or otherwise move around in a way that compromises the seal between the ear cushions and your head. For me, this tends to force me to sit still and actually listen to the music, rather than do other things such as typing this review. And for me that's good, but your experience may vary.
Date published: 2011-02-14
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Cl-audiosound from
Lonnnng life.
For many years I did field sound recording in film then in video. The main reason why I like this DT48 is: I have the real sound listening because it is with flat response. I did want any kind of boosting in highs and/or the lows. Those were my speakers to judge the real sound. They are heavy but the positive side is ISOLATION from any surrounding sound. In fact, sometime I was very happy to protect my ears from super external loud sound. Also in sub-zero temperature, I was very happy to wear them. :) Tough? Yes they are. I travel around the world doing sound recording in so different conditions. I have them since 1985 and still working perfectly. Never broke. Once a while I change the hearing pads. Remember headsets (speakers also) are a very personal in your choice. Now I'm retired and still using them for music -- jazz & classical-- I'm in my own world, no outside sound disturb me. If I'm happy with DT-48? :) :) :)
Date published: 2012-09-19
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Claude B. from
Looooong life.
For many years I did field sound recording in film then in video. The main reason why I like this DT48 is: I have the real sound listening because it is with flat response. I did want any kind of boosting in highs and/or the lows. Those were my speakers to judge the real sound.They are heavy but the positive side is ISOLATION from any surrounding sound. In fact, sometime I was very happy to protect my ears from super external loud sound. Also in sub-zero temperature, I was very happy to wear them. :) Tough? Yes they are. I travel around the world doing sound recording in so different conditions. I have them since 1985 and still working perfectly. Never broke. Once a while I change the hearing pads. Remember headsets (speakers also) are a very personal in your choice.Now I'm retired and still using them for music -- jazz & classical--I'm in my own world, no outside sound disturb me.If I'm happy with DT-48? :) :) :)N.B. I wouldn't recommend those to general public. Not the best for home listning.
Date published: 2012-09-19
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