Beyerdynamic DT-48A 'Audiometric' Headphone Review #2
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In early 2011 I had the notion to order a new Beyer
DT-48 headphone, because I hadn't owned one since 1989
and I was curious about whether the sound had changed
since then. I wasn't expecting anything like today's
better sounding headphones, I just wanted to get
reacquainted with what I thought was the most peculiar
and intriguing "primitive" headphone sound I had ever
heard. I don't mean primitive in the sense of rough or
distorted or crude - just the opposite actually -
rolled off severely on the ends but crystal clear and
ultra-smooth in the middle.

As soon as I fired up my new DT-48E I was both
delighted and disappointed. Delighted in the new hi-fi
sound that still had the peculiar metallic sound of the
old DT-48, but disappointed that the midrange sound I
was looking for was mostly obscured by the new, wider
frequency response. I was satisfied that Beyer did the
best they could with the old design, and disappointed
in the test results that Innerfidelity got with the new
DT-48E I sent them for testing.

A few months later after sending the DT-48E off to a
new owner, I was looking at photos of the DT-48A with
the beautiful red and blue earcups, and wondering if
the things that Beyer said about better driver matching
and accuracy with the 'A' headphone compared to the
'E' version could possibly be true. Other users were
saying similar things, especially in the DT-48 topic at
Head-fi. Personally, I doubted that the 'A' would be
any different from the 'E', but I still wanted to know,
and looking at those red and blue earcups I went ahead
and placed an order for a new DT-48A.

So with low expectations I fired up my new headphone,
and lo and behold it was different. Perhaps the
difference was subtle, and maybe what I heard was
influenced by the beautiful earcup colors. The bass
however was dramatically better. So after more than a
month of listening I can now say the following with
confidence:

The new DT-48A with oval pads has the best overall
sound I've ever heard in a headphone, by a small
margin. The bass is good to 70 hz or so, and below that
is recessed by 3 to 5 db but does not roll off. From
70 hz on up to the extreme highs it's pure bliss. The
new DT-48A sounds better than the DT-48E, and for users
who have the 'E' or who have the 'A' without the new
oval pads, they wouldn't know what they're missing.

Note than when buying a new DT-48A and listening with
the round pads, if you then switch to the oval pads you
will notice that the volume drops quite a bit. That
drop in volume is what Beyer designed into the new oval
earpads, to lower the efficiency and extend the bass
and treble accordingly. And for some odd reason, the
bass is much better with the 'A' headphone than with
the 'E' version.

At this point I don't see a reason to request new
measurements for the DT-48A oval pad version from
Innerfidelity or anyone else, since the measurements of
the 'E' version in early 2011 did indicate where the
significant deviations from flat response occur with
that headphone, albeit the amount of deviation was far
greater than was indicated in the extensive listening I
did with test tones afterward.