Beyerdynamic makes a great deal of gear for each audiophiles and audio professionals, and a few of it comes at a excessive value. However, the Beyerdynamic DT 240 Professional headphones discover a candy spot providing skilled audio and a excessive normal in design for a lower cost level.
The DT 240 Professional headphones price $99 (£89, AU$139), making them extra reasonably priced than heaps of different studio monitor headphones. This value places them in shut competitors with a few of Audio-Technica’s cans, just like the extensively praised ATH-M40X or the wi-fi ATH-SR5BT, which might be discovered on sale in the identical ballpark because the DT 240 Professional.
They do an excellent job of presenting a well-managed stability of construct high quality and sonic efficiency, and so they match that with versatility, as a transportable set of headphones helpful whereas on the go or in a studio.
Design:
Our first impression of the DT 240 Professional headphones was that they’re small. The field they arrive in is low-profile, and Beyerdynamic manages that by placing small earphones on c-shaped arms (or “yokes”, as Beyerdynamic and a few others within the headphone biz name them) that may pivot 90-degrees to put flat in opposition to your chest or the desk. The result’s a pair of studio monitor headphones which have a bit extra portability to supply than loads of their greater counterparts.
The small measurement doesn’t scream low-cost, although. The headscarf and ear pads are coated in a easy and comfortable leatherette that’s greater than somewhat satisfying to our fingertips and ears. Notched steel sliders and aluminum yokes provide a transparent sense of sturdiness. The headscarf itself can be bolstered with steel, and although among the plastic components creak when flexing the headphones, the entire bundle feels sturdy, with a variety of flexibility.
That robustness is very vital, since these headphones may discover themselves in a backpack. We threw them in ours sometimes, and so they didn’t get bent out of form.
The DT 240 Professional’s headband spreads out the minimal weight of the headphones properly throughout the highest of our head, and it presents an excellent stability of clamping drive. It’s sufficient to carry the headphones on whereas shaking our head after recording a nasty guitar solo we all know we’re going to delete, nevertheless it’s not a lot we’re going to get a headache from the strain.
Comfy although the scarf is, the ear cups sadly didn’t get the memo. The ear pads are tremendous comfortable, however not very thick. However, worse than that, these over-the-ear headphones present how massive some regular ears can get. Ours couldn’t match totally within the opening of the ear pads, and that left them scrunched, feeling pained after some time. Smaller ears can match, nevertheless it’s not simply individuals with Dumbo ears that must heed this notice: when you have medium-sized ears and aren’t used to on-ear headphones, these will not be comfy after intensive use.
Past the sizing, the closed design can get somewhat heat and sweaty. Though we examined these in every week that noticed frost cowl the bottom and our vehicles transmission groaning on the chilly, our ears may get subtly clammy contained in the DT 240 Professional.
The included cable is a pleasant contact that lends to the flexibility of the DT 240 Professional. It’s a 1.5-meter cable with a coil that lets it stretch to three meters. One aspect ends in a 2.5mm plug that may go into both the left- or right-side headphone, leaving it to person desire. The opposite aspect ends in a sturdy three.5mm gold-plated plug that may screw into an included 1/Four-inch adapter.
Efficiency:
Beyerdynamic shines in efficiency with the DT 240 Professional. As studio monitor headphones, the sound produced isn’t very colourful, however that’s precisely correctly. All of the sound comes via clear and extremely properly balanced.
The bass is simple to select up on with out being thumpy, although with a refined punch at increased volumes. From the bass on as much as the excessive finish, all of the sounds mesh clearly, with the DT 240 Professionals not boosting one register over the opposite. We may distinguish between the guitar, the baritone guitar, and the bass guitar on The Fearless Flyers’ “Ace of Aces” –and, when Joe Dart is on the bass, you wish to ensure your headphones are letting it come via clear.
We toyed round with the DT 240 Professionals in a recording surroundings, and our acoustic guitar got here via completely crisp from the bottom notice to the best. A complete vary of piano notes performed collectively felt balanced, because the headphones maintained the readability of every notice.
The shortage of added colour might not attraction to some listeners, and we truly felt somewhat upset whereas listening to songs we’ve grown accustomed to with different headphones. Fortuitously, making use of a customized EQ in listening software program rapidly makes up for that. We bumped up the bass under 320Hz and the treble above 6KHz, and that gave again the soiled oomph we love in Of Montreal’s “Dour Share.” As studio monitor headphones, this lack of built-in colour is strictly what you need, although.
Although the DT 240 Professionals are closed headphones, they solely provide a small quantity of noise isolation. With nothing taking part in, it’s simple to listen to surrounding noises. Fortuitously, regardless of their measurement, these headphones can flip method up. Whilst you received’t at all times wish to dial as much as 11 simply so that you don’t hear exterior noises, it may be useful to have the choice to drown out in any other case loud and obnoxious sounds with extra nice jams.
Verdict:
Beyerdynamic has made a extremely versatile pair of studio monitor headphones with the DT 420 Professional headset. The detachable wire, small measurement and flat-folding hinges make them extra moveable than loads of different monitor headphones. The construct high quality can be commendable. Plastic doesn’t encourage confidence, however rears its face in fewer locations than we’d usually anticipate from a sub-$100 pair of headphones. We’ve our gripes with the match for our ears, however your mileage might differ.
When contemplating the strong construct high quality, it’s all of the extra spectacular that Beyerdynamic presents nice sound high quality as properly on the reasonably priced value of the DT 240 Professionals. Whereas listening, we actually couldn’t discover something to fault these headphones for sound-wise aside from merely being studio monitor headphones, which might naturally depart some music feeling somewhat dry with out customized EQ settings.
Although individuals with massive ears might wish to hunt down one thing that’s extra actually over-ear, these are an awesome decide for individuals with smaller or insensitive ears or for professionals needing a transportable set of studio monitor headphones as a counterpart to their major pair.