Beyerdynamic T1 2nd Generation 2016  Headphones Review

The Beyerdynamic T1 2nd Gen are great-looking over-ear headphones. They have a similar mesh design on the ear cups to the Beyerdynamic DT 880. They have similar semi-open circular ear cups, but the headband frame and hinges are a little different. They also have thick velour padding on the cups, and their overall feel looks premium and high-end.

Like most Beyerdynamic headphones in the DT lineup, the Beyerdynamic T1 2nd Gen are comfortable but can feel tight for some. The cups are well-padded and large, and most ears can easily fit inside them. The headband is also well-padded and distributes the weight of the headphones effectively. It is, however, a bit rigid and fairly tight, which can become uncomfortable during long listening sessions.

The Beyerdynamic T1 Gen 2's semi-open back design traps more heat inside the ear cups than the similarly designed Beyerdynamic DT 880. You may feel a temperature difference when wearing them for a bit, meaning they won’t be a great option for sports as you would sweat more than usual. This shouldn’t be too much of an issue during casual listening sessions.

Like most Beyerdynamic headphones, the Beyerdynamic T1 Gen 2 aren't very portable and take up lots of space. They don’t fold into a more compact format, and the cups don’t swivel to make it easier to slide them in a bag. They come with a nice hard case, but it's bulky.

The Beyerdynamic T1 2nd Generation come with a nice hard case that protects the headphones well against physical damage, water exposure, and scratches. The interior of the velour case is molded, and there’s no wiggle room that could cause damage to the headphones. However, this is a very bulky case, and it might be a bit hard to travel around with. It's still slightly less bulky than the Beyerdynamic DT 1770 PRO and Beyerdynamic DT 1990 PRO cases, but it feels more premium.

These headphones have a great build quality. They feel solid, thanks to their metal-framed headband and hinges. They should survive a few accidental falls without too much damage. Also, there are no exposed cables on the ear cups like the DT headphones, which is good.

The Beyerdynamic T1 2nd Generation are sufficiently tight on the head, and they won't fall during casual listening sessions. If the cable was to get stuck on something, it might not detach and could yank the headphones off your head. However, they're too bulky to run with comfortably. The large ear cups can slide off your ears during physical activity, so like most critical listening headphones, they won't be ideal for working out, but they aren’t designed for this use.

• Beyerdynamic T1 2nd Generation headphones
• 1/8" TRS audio cable
• 1/4" adapter
• Carrying case
• Manuals

The Beyerdynamic T1 Gen 2's frequency response consistency is very good. Like most open and semi-open headphones, they perform consistently in the bass range across different users, but you may experience a drop in bass if you wear glasses or have thick hair. They're also consistent in the treble range under 10kHz across multiple reseats.

The Beyerdynamic T1 Gen 2 have great bass performance. They have an underemphasized low and mid-bass, so they lack thump and rumble. However, this is to be expected due to their semi-open back design. There's also a bit of overemphasis in the high-bass range, which adds extra boom to mixes. Users shouldn't find it too overwhelming, though.

The Beyerdynamic T1 2nd Gen's mid-range performance is great. The response throughout the range is fairly well-balanced, but there's a small tilt favoring lower frequencies. The bump in low-mid is the continuation of the high-bass, which results in vocals and leads sounding slightly cluttered at the expense of their intensity and projection.

The Beyerdynamic T1 2nd Gen's treble accuracy is sub-par. The response is fairly uneven in this range. Vocals and lead instruments lack detail and brightness, while sibilants like cymbals are piercing.

These headphones have excellent imaging. Their weighted group delay (GD) is 0.1, which is excellent. The GD graph shows that their entire group delay is under the audibility threshold. This ensures a tight bass and a transparent treble reproduction. Also, the L/R drivers of our unit were very well-matched in frequency, amplitude, and phase response. This is important for accurate placement and localization of objects, like footsteps and instruments, in the stereo field. However, these results are only valid for our unit, and yours may perform differently.

The Beyerdynamic T1 Gen 2's passive soundstage is good. Due to the angled and deep drivers, there's a decent amount of activation and pinna interaction, and it's fairly accurate as well. Their semi-open back design also helps them to be more open-sounding than most closed-back headphones. However, there's no 10kHz notch present, which means that while their soundstage sounds relatively large, it will be perceived to be inside the listener’s head as opposed to in front.

The Beyerdynamic T1 2nd Gen have bad isolation performance by design. They're rated as semi-open but their isolation performance is very similar to fully open-back headphones, therefore they don't isolate well. They provide no isolation in the bass and mid ranges. In the treble range, they achieved about 14dB of isolation, which is sub-par.

The Beyerdynamic T1 Gen 2 have bad leakage performance by design. Due to being semi-open-back, these headphones leak a considerable amount of sound. A significant portion of their leakage sits between 200Hz and 20kHz, which is a very wide range. The overall level of leakage is also loud. With the music at 100dB SPL, the leakage at 1 foot away averages at 62dB SPL and peaks at 75dB SPL, which is above the noise floor of most offices.

The Beyerdynamic T1 Gen 2 don’t support Bluetooth. Thanks to their wired connection, you practically don’t have any latency, which is great for watching video and gaming.

You can use these headphones with any 1/8” AUX jack or even a 1/4” AUX jack, thanks to their adapter.