Drop x Beyerdynamic DT177X Go Review and Measurements

https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-beyerdynamic-dt177x-go-headphones

I know that any mention of Beyer and Tesla (not the car, but Beyer's motor tech) will elicit groans or painful shrieks from most of the members here, but I assure you guys this is not the case with the DT177X. Someone at Drop worked their magic custom tuning on this one for sure. We shouldn't expect Sennheiser type tuning, but we have here is sort of like Beyer trying to be ZMF! The timbre is definitely Beyer, but the tonal balance voluminous in the lows with dip in the 2-5kHz region, with a slight uptick after that. Nothing close to the DT990-250 in the highs - good grief - in fact far from it.



Did I mention that the headphone is gorgeous? I don't think photos do it justice. It's got a nice aluminum cap with the letters DT 177X GO stylishly printed on them. The "Made in Germany" in small print at the bottom is a nice touch! As far as style and layout, it's absolutely perfect. Well, maybe it lacks a final touch, like DROP in big ginormous lettering below the DT 177X GO? I kid, I kid!

The DT177X comes with two sets of earpads. A velour and a lambskin. Most of the measurements I will provide will be with the lambskin pads. I will also provide a set of measurements from the Brainwavz XL perforated pads, which may not be to everyone's taste (Zeos likes them and I do).


One thing to note is that the velour pads are a bit of pain to install. The trick is to use the notch guide to feed the outside flap of the velour pads into the groove. Be sure to press on the pad to keep it parallel to the baffle. If you are looking at the notch at this angle, then you are probably doing it wrong. Note that the other pads do not require this procedure. The outside flaps can easily be slipped over the lip of the cup.



The DT177X uses a four-pin connector. It's understanding that this makes it possible to do a balanced connector. The provided cable is nice. Not skinny and wimpy, but also not outrageously thick and inflexible (I'm looking at you Focal). It feels "pro", and that's a good thing. I can run it over with the wheels on my chair and not be worried they will break. Yet at the same time, they are flexible while being immune to twisting and tangling.

 

Drop x Beyerdynamic DT1770X Go
Lambskin Pads
Frequency Response
miniDSP EARS with SBAF calibration


See, I told ya guys! It ain't bad. A bit V-shaped consumer tuning. There's a rise in the lower to upper highs, but the level of this rise is on par with the lower mids and below the bass. Let's do a reality check with FR measurements utilizing other methods.

Drop x Beyerdynamic DT1770X Go
Lambskin Pads
Frequency Response
Flat Plate (no ear) Coupler (Compensated)


Note the 6kHz dip is a measurement artifact. Confirmed in the CSDs below: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-go-review-and-measurements.9820/#post-315904

This next one is from the foam coupler that attempts to some extent to simulate a free air measurement. There could be some advantages to gaining some insights into the nature of the higher frequencies as this measurement will be somewhat isolated from ear and head reflections. This also shows us how sensitive the bass frequencies are to seal since these measurements are in effect without a seal. Some headphones such as orthos that depend upon a seal will be less damped and show higher peaks that would not otherwise be there if the headphones were worn.

Note that the bass response in the "FAC" measurements below is not accurate. The DT177X, like many other closed headphones, seems to require a seal for proper bass levels. Among all three measurements, in this case, I feel the miniDSP EARS with the calibration most closely aligns with what I am hearing. Those who have experienced this headphone feel free to chime in.

Drop x Beyerdynamic DT1770X Go
Lambskin Pads
Frequency Response
Foam Coupler (Free Air Sim)

 

I didn't think the DT177X scaled as much as the 250-ohm and 600-ohm Beyers. I tried on my better amps and setups. However, it sounded fantastic from the Motu Ultralite. I actually preferred it slightly more form the Ultralite as its headouts are a overall warmer sounding than from my 45 tube amp. Here is the impedance curve. Nominal impedance is 32-ohms.

Drop x Beyerdynamic DT177X Go
Impedance Curve
YEL = Free Air
GRN = On Head


I'll give it a shot from a portable source and report back. I will provide sensitivity figures vs other headphones.

Keep in mind these are closed cans. This is stuff I would use for working when I wanted to tune everyone out, even plugging into a phone, portable, computer, audio dongle like iFi iDSD Nano BL, Fulla 3, etc. The DT177X is easy to drive, doesn't sound bad with an enjoyable minor V-shaped response, and seals rather well. These tick a lot of boxes. The XL Brainwavz pads are a trip and take some getting used to. Sometimes I like oddball stuff. Will explain in later post.

 

The Velour sounded muddier to me while at the same time having more mid-treble. This is why I didn't take any more velour pad measurements other than this one. There is strong consistency between EARS and FPC here, so we can infer how things will look like on the miniDSP ears. Also note that the distortion characteristics, not shown, are the same regardless of the pads.

Drop x Beyerdynamic DT177X Go
Frequency Response - Y-axis compressed to better highlight differences
FPC Compensated
GRN = Lambskin pads
CYN = Velour pads


Velour pads have slightly more elevated bass and deeper dip in the upper mids probably. Here's another way at looking at it, shifting the Lambskin measurement down 2db.

Drop x Beyerdynamic DT177X Go
Frequency Response - Y-axis compressed to better highlight differences
FPC Compensated
GRN = Lambskin pads
CYN = Velour pads

 

Sooo, basically another proof point that Drop was amazing with @CEE TEE. Too bad their efforts without him are lacking to be generous.

 

Drop x Beyerdynamic DT177X Go
Lambskin Pads
CSDs
FPC



Drop x Beyerdynamic DT177X Go
Velour Pads
CSDs
FPC

 

For a better comparison to "back in the day" to Beyerdynamic T1. Below are apples-to-apples using the original V1 or FAC type measurements. Drop has gone a great job tuning them. Beyerdynamic Tesla series headphones can be known for having very sharp and sizzly highs. Not so here.

Drop DT177X
CSD
FAC



Here is the OG Beyer T1

Beyerdynamic T1
CSD
FAC or Changstar "V1"



Note how the CSD measurements back then extended to 5ms, much longer than the current sets where I stop at 3ms to really zoom in on any ringing.

 

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/beyer-amiron-measurements.4022/

Note quite there yet.

 

Last set of measurements (almost)

DT177X
Distortion (Traditional)



DT177X
Distortion (Alt)



DT177X
Attack and Decay Envelope of 10 Cycle Burst

 

@purr1n how well does it seal? Curious because I'm thinking of doing a purge and picking up a few specific use items. This looks like a good closed general use HP. strap a shorty balanced cable to it with an ES100 or UP4 and it will probably beat out the mainstream BT options quite a bit.

I use the HP3 at work for a lot of hip hop (well I did before we went fully remote) and, with the Loki, it absolutely works well.

 

There's a bass lift, but it isn't overemphasized. The lows sound flatter than say a ZMF Verite Closed and are nothing like the Heritage HP-3 or TH900 bass, where the bass is ginormous.

--

Here are some sensitivity figures. Note that my rig registers louder (higher SPL) or a given voltage compared to Tyll's rig.

Voltage RMS required to reach 102db SPL at 1kHz
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.828 Sennheiser HD6XX
1.447 Dan Clark Audio Ether
0.541 Focal Utopia
0.369 Drop x Beyerdynamic DT177x <--
0.217 Grado HF 3

Yeah, this will work fine from my computer outputs or iDuodenum XD-05+. At 32-ohms, it will ask for some current, that is more power will be required than something with higher impedance - but the thing is so darn efficient, like Grados, that we are talking about 4mW or 0.004W to reach 102db at 1kHz.

Bonus points to whomever can calculate voltage and power to get 92db SPL at 1kHz using the above info. LOL, this should be the test for new members to register.