beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 32 Ohm Over-Ear Headphones in Black. Enclosed Design, Wired for Professional Sound in The Studio and on Mobile Devices Such as Tablets and Smartphones

I do have an audiophile ears, but I do not own any audiophile equipment. Recently I bought a Yeti Plus microphone that has an audio jack for monitoring audio. So, I plugged in my Bose QC35 headphones, using the 3.5 mm audio cable, and it sounded OK. But, it didn't sound great. I decided to subscribe to Apple Music to see what the music sounds like via this setup. It was nothing to write home about. I then plugged the same QC35 headphones to my 2021 Apple M1 Pro MacBook Pro (14"), and it sounded exactly like it did out of the Yeti X microphone's headphone jack.I decided to research and see why the quality was so low. I don't normally listen to music, but I couldn't imagine that the Apple Music streamed (even at the highest selectable quality) would be so unremarkable. So, I looked up the impedance of the audio jack of the Yeti X microphone, and I realized that it's a high-impedance audio output. Then, I looked up the 2021 M1 Pro MacBook Pro specs, and what do you know? It also has a high-impedance output audio jack (unlike the 2020 M1 MacBook and MacBook Pro). So, then I googled what impedance should the headphones have for high-impedance audio outputs and learned that the impedance of the headphones should be at least 8-10 times of the impedance of the audio output in Ohms.Hence, I started the search for the high-impedance headphones. I've read hundreds of reviews, and I finally found the DT 770 PRO 250 Ohm headphones. They were well reviewed, they were relatively inexpensive, they they had a version with 250 Ohm of impedance (which is about 8 times as high as the audio output of the Yeti X audio jack). So, I decided to try these headphones. I ordered them and received them the next day via Amazon Prime shipping. As soon as I plugged them in and started the stream from Apple Music, my jaw dropped. This is what I was looking for, and here it is. Unbelievable I could get a jack pot on the first attempt for under $200 and especially becasue they are made in Germany. How is this even possible?Now, are they comfortable to wear? To me, they are a little too tight. Are they worse than the Bose QC35 when it comes to comfort? Maybe Bose QC35 are a little more comfortable. But, when it comes to the sound, OMG. There is no comparison.Unless you want to pay many times more for premium high-impedence headphones just to get a better fit, then go ahead and get the ones for $1500, $2500, etc. Otherwise, these are amazing when it comes to the audio quality. Can anyone tell that these are better than the QC35? Yes, anyone can tell unless you use these 250 Ohm ones with a low-impedance audio output like in smartphones, older MacBooks, etc.Now, my son has a 2020 M1 MacBook Air, which is an excellent laptop, but it has a low-impedance audio jack output. So, for my son, I've ordered an 80-ohm version to compare to my 250-ohm version. I will let him decide which one to go with.I'd suggest getting both the 80-Ohm and the 250-Ohm version and compare them side by side - as long as you are getting these headphones for a decent piece of audio equipment. If you are getting them for an iPhone (not sure why you would), then maybe you should go with the lowest-impedence version.Edit:I've now compared the 250 Ohm version to the 80 Ohm version. In the beginning, I couldn't tell any difference when using them with my Yeti X microphone's high-impedance audio out jack and the 2021 M1 Pro MacBook Pro high-impedance audio jack. However, the more I listened to both, the more I started hearing the difference. I then switched to testing both 250 Ohm and the 80 Ohm headsets exclusively with the 2021 M1 Pro MacBook Pro's high-impedance audio jack because it turned out that the Yet X audio jack shows its shortcomings when music with serious bass is played out of it.In my opinion, the 250 Ohm headset reproduces the sounds more accurately. When listening to Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes (on Apple Music lossless), I could actually hear some imperfection in the bass guitar (like the string was moved under the player's finger accidentally, resulting in a little distortion), while I couldn't hear this through the 80 Ohm headset.When listening to Bohemian Rhapsody Remastered in 2011 on Apple Muisci (lossless), It appears that mids and the highs are a bit dulled down through the 80 Ohm headset, whereas they are crystal clear through the 250 Ohm headset. We are talking here very subtle differences that can only be detected while listening to the same piece over and over again via both headsets (back to back).It appears that the best songs recommended for testing headsets are:1. Bohemian Rhapsody Remastered (2011) by Queen. ...2. Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes. ...3. Feels Like We Only Go Backwards by Tame Impala. ...4. Heroes (2017 Remaster) by David Bowie. ...5. No Time for Caution by Hans Zimmer. ...6. Diamonds From Sierra Leone by Kanye West. ...7. Now We Are Free by Hans ZimmerAdditionally, I was using the 2021 M1 Pro MacBook Pro's audio jack (which auto-senses high-impedance and low-impedance headphones). I'm not sure what it does for the 80 Ohm headphones: does it consider them low-impedance or high-impedance because, in reality, they are medium-impedance headphones. Compared to other laptops, the 2021 M1 Pro MacBook Pro probably has a decent-quality pre-amp and DAC similar to inexpensive (less than $200) standalone DACs with pre-amps. So, perhaps to hear the difference between the 80 Ohm and 250 Ohm versions of this headset, one should use decent audio equipment. My son hasn't yet tested the two headsets with his 2020 M1 MacBook Air, so I'm not sure which one he decides on. I will post another update later.

I need to preface this review by saying that my previous headphones were ATH-ANC7s that I had for probably 4-5 years, and while they were good and sounded fine, they were showing their age - and I wanted a pair of true "Over-ear" headphones. I am not an audiophile but I have a very good ear (near perfect pitch, and raised playing/listening to music).I scoured the internet reading reviews of headphones and had my choices narrowed down to: ATH-M50, Sennheiser HD 380 Pro, ATH-WS99, ATH-ESW9A, and DT770 Pro 80.- The ATH-WS99 seemed good, but I wasn't a real "bass-head", and it seemed too much focused on bass for me to want them (but I did like the 53mm driver size, that is something I'd look for)- ATH-ESW9A were wood cups, and looked extremely stylish and the most portable out of my selections. At $200 for a pair of wood cupped headphones I was very tempted to get them, but they were on-ear, and so I kept it as "maybe" even though the reviews were great.- Sennheiser HD 380 Pro were close to being my choice over the ATH-M50 (Everyone had M50s, and the HD 380 looked comfier). But I've heard a friend's HD 280s, and while the sound was great, it was very dry and flavorless. This is a good aspect of monitor headphones like the HD 380 Pros, but was not exactly what I was looking for.- ATH-M50 the very well known pair of monitors for every entry-level audiophile. I know they can be really comfy and fold up nice but they were really shallow cups, and the DT770 just looked like a pillow compared to it in comfort. Edit: A friend got M50s the same time I got these, and he is going to have to get new pads because they are too shallowAfter purchase:I used these (80 ohm) unamped on my LG G2 smartphone (native lossless playback, Viper4Android driver), my laptop, and desktop on-board soundcard.The phone at full blast (with no gain boost) was loud enough to listen to, -barely-. I felt like I couldn't "get into" the music at that volume.Laptop was definitely better at driving them, they sounded stronger and more like what I wanted.My desktop was the best at driving them, I could enjoy the music I was listening to and if I was just buying these to hook up to my desktop PC, I wouldn't need an amp at all.But, since I would be mainly using these at work through my laptop and my phone when traveling, I wanted them to sound as good as they should.So I ponied up for a Fiio E07K Andes USB DAC and Portable Headphone Amplifier Black ($70 on sale from other retailer) and boy did it fill out the sound. I set Treble at +2, Bass at +6, Gain at +12db so that the volume control was more dynamic and these headphones had new life to them. The amount of sound these pump out is intense.Treble: can get bright, this doesn't need to be turned up much, but still very clear and crisp.Mids: Definitely less powerful than the highs, still crisp, but the least so out of the ranges.Bass: Tight and controlled, it will sound bad (too much EQ/bass boost from your source) before it sounds overpowering, I'd say the bass is where these shine. It has some sweet spot frequencies that really make the bass thump and sound exciting.These headphones overall sound best with live acoustic recordings, and any high bitrate rock/EDM.The feel of sound you get from these is much farther from your ears than you'd expect from closed headphones. I think part of this has to do with how deep the actual cans are - my entire ear is enclosed and the padding only rests against the side of my head (with room to move, as well)Durability / comfort - They are simple and quality made, no complex parts to these at all - and surprisingly with the size of these they are EXTREMELY lightweight on your head, and the clamping force is basically perfect - there's virtually no weight to them when moving your head around. The comfort is second to none, the pads are extremely plush with soft fibers and really feel like pillows on your head. I would compare any headphone's comfort to these as one of the best.Isolation - They have a lot of passive isolation to them when you have them on (can't hear anything with music on). Outside of the headphones they don't leak a lot of sound (unless you have them cranked, and even then it's not blaring). If you want to use a mic while listening to music, you wont hear yourself at all.Cons:***Cable length - You will need twist ties to use these as portables, the cable is extremely longCups don't rotate in both axis, so carrying these around gets tricky (awkward shaped and big)

These are great for a gamer that wants high quality, comfortable headphones at a reasonable price. The 80 ohms version has the super soft velour ear pieces that fit over the entire ear, making them barely noticeable during long sessions and also sports a nice long cord so you don’t have to constantly take them off when reaching for things. It does a great job of blocking out the PC fan noise, however the volume doesn’t get super high if you’re not using any other amplification accessories.They are perfect for my situation though, which is gaming during the hour of the wolf in a poorly insulated apartment building.Too good to be true can sometimes be true!