Beyerdynamic DT880 vs DT990 for MIXING

[pskjr]

Hey all, long time, no post...

A good part of my mixing and editing is done at my church office where noise needs to be under control. I don't get to spend too much time mixing on my nearfields (although I always make sure to reference them before the final mix is done), so I need some good headphones specifically for mixing. I currently use the Beyerdynamic DT770 for tracking, as they're closed-back, but I'm looking for something with an open back that would be better suited for mixing. I'm looking to stay within the Beyerdynamic line, as I've had incredible experience with their products. This brings me to the DT880 versus the DT990. The DT990 are purely open-back and seem to be more purposed for mixing, while the DT880 are semi-open and seem to be more of a "best of both worlds" type option.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience using both of these models and how they differ sound-wise, as well as which model would be better purely for mixing, as my DT770 will remain my tracking headphones. I'm looking for as flat a frequency response as possible, and don't mind spending the extra money if the DT880 are worth it and sound that much better. Thanks in advance for the input!

[DrummerMan]

I've used the 990's for about 4 years now. My studio situation has been in flux and I needed something that I could at least get preliminary mixes on whether I was in my bedroom or at the park waiting for my kids. I honestly never imagined that I'd be able to get as successfully accurate mixes from these as I do (especially considering my significant left-side hearing loss). I have actually done plenty of scoring jobs where I used these headphones and my laptop speakers as the ONLY references and have been extremely happy with the results when translated to other sound sources after the fact.

They're especially good at getting what's going on in the lows and low mids. The only place where I feel like I can't trust them completely is in parts of the mid to upper-mids, which is where the laptop speakers come in handy since that's pretty much all they reproduce.

I've never tried the 880's, but I was thinking about getting some 770's for recording because I like these so much.

[pskjr]

I've used the 990's for about 4 years now. My studio situation has been in flux and I needed something that I could at least get preliminary mixes on whether I was in my bedroom or at the park waiting for my kids. I honestly never imagined that I'd be able to get as successfully accurate mixes from these as I do (especially considering my significant left-side hearing loss). I have actually done plenty of scoring jobs where I used these headphones and my laptop speakers as the ONLY references and have been extremely happy with the results when translated to other sound sources after the fact.

They're especially good at getting what's going on in the lows and low mids. The only place where I feel like I can't trust them completely is in parts of the mid to upper-mids, which is where the laptop speakers come in handy since that's pretty much all they reproduce.

I've never tried the 880's, but I was thinking about getting some 770's for recording because I like these so much.

Thanks for the feedback! I'm definitely intrigued by the fully open design of the 990s, but I'm also thinking that the semi-open will at least cancel a little of bleed, so that may be better in an office setting. I absolutely love my 770s and they are fantastic for tracking with the fully closed-back design. The DT770 M series is also designed strictly for tracking drums and for referencing during live mixing and they provide extremely good isolation.

As of right now I'm leaning toward the 880 simply because (from the reviews I've been able to gather) the frequency response is slightly flatter. I can't find an actual frequency response curve though, so if anyone can shed light on this that would be great!

[jhharvest]

I have had the DT880 for 10 years or so now. Very nice cans for general listening but I wouldn't pick them for mixing. They are a bit too "nice" sounding, imo. At the very least you would need some grot box to reference against. Also they cut the background noise hardly at all.

My reference cans for mixing are the Fostex RP50 (uncomfortable, heavy and sound "crap") and Stax001 (lightweight and very, very "hifi") which seems to get me a decent compromise.

Obviously horses for courses, so maybe try to get a loan pair and try out the pairs you are interested in.