Nord User Forum

Just an update…

Received Beyerdynamic DT1770 Pros this morning, along with an IFI Zen Can Studio amp. The moment I heard them, I knew I’d be sending them back. Absolutely diabolical! Allow this to be a lesson for how wrong the internet can be. You can do weeks of research (which I have), you can listen to and read every review, you can watch direct comparisons between them and my previous AirPods Max stating that the Beyerdynamics are leaps and bounds above, you can contact numerous people online telling you that the Beyerdynamics are hugely better than the AirPods Max - but unless you can try them with your own ears, you never know if they’re all wrong. In this case, they are.

Not only that, but I found the headphones I had been using - the Focusrite Scarlett HP60 MK3’s, which the internet says are cheap and rubbish - were far superior to the Beyerdynamics for listening to the piano. The Scarlett’s offer much greater clarity, intimacy, and realism. The Beyerdynamics made the piano sound muffled, woolly, like I had water in my ears.

In the modern age, long gone are the days where you can go to a shop and try stuff out. You have to buy it first and then send it back if you don’t like it. Frankly I’m staggered such supposedly premium headphones could sound so utterly garbage. Even through my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 interface listening to Hi-Res Lossless audio, they sounded far worse than my in-ear AirPods Pros. What a learning experience.

I understand your frustration and agree that testing such things as headphones, which are also quite subjective in how the sound qualit is perceived, is essential. At the same time price is not a guarantee for sound quality as we all probably know.

I have 3 different headphones in use currently, the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro, the Audio Technica ATH-M50X and the AKG K812. The K812 was the first one I bought 5 years ago, it was quite expensive but has an outstanding soundquality to me. I then bought the DT 770 Pro second-hand (at a very low price) since I needed it in the rehearsal room of one of my bands, and the quality is good but quite far away from the K812.

I then also bought the ATH-M50X for my second studio location which is the cheapest one, and guess what - it's significantly better than the DT 770 Pro for me, not far from the K812 and the price difference between the K812 and the ATH-M50X was 591,- Euros at that time, today it's more than 1.000 Euros!! The ATH-M50X was also a bit cheaper than the price of a new DT 770 Pro at that time.

Therefore my personal essence: If I would have to decide again which headphones to buy I would always go for the ATH-M50X which has a really great sound quality at a quite low price. But that's my experience and personal feeling, you might judge completels different. However, I suggest you try the Audio Technica ATH-M50X and see what you think, not a big investment and you may be surprised (but also maybe not).

Pianodrew wrote:Just an update…

Received Beyerdynamic DT1770 Pros this morning, along with an IFI Zen Can Studio amp. The moment I heard them, I knew I’d be sending them back. Absolutely diabolical! Allow this to be a lesson for how wrong the internet can be. You can do weeks of research (which I have), you can listen to and read every review, you can watch direct comparisons between them and my previous AirPods Max stating that the Beyerdynamics are leaps and bounds above, you can contact numerous people online telling you that the Beyerdynamics are hugely better than the AirPods Max - but unless you can try them with your own ears, you never know if they’re all wrong. In this case, they are.

Not only that, but I found the headphones I had been using - the Focusrite Scarlett HP60 MK3’s, which the internet says are cheap and rubbish - were far superior to the Beyerdynamics for listening to the piano. The Scarlett’s offer much greater clarity, intimacy, and realism. The Beyerdynamics made the piano sound muffled, woolly, like I had water in my ears.

In the modern age, long gone are the days where you can go to a shop and try stuff out. You have to buy it first and then send it back if you don’t like it. Frankly I’m staggered such supposedly premium headphones could sound so utterly garbage. Even through my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 interface listening to Hi-Res Lossless audio, they sounded far worse than my in-ear AirPods Pros. What a learning experience.

I say the interest is right the DT770's are great for recording they don't color the sound much. If you like AirPods then you like a very colored sound, but recording and mixing headphone that color the sound makes you mix unreliable when you play it on other systems. I have a pair of AirPods Pro II and I like them for casual listen, but for serious listening I put my DT770's on.

As for trying things out first that's over that's why pretty much everywhere has return policies, just return the DT770 and move on.

Schorsch wrote:I understand your frustration and agree that testing such things as headphones, which are also quite subjective in how the sound qualit is perceived, is essential. At the same time price is not a guarantee for sound quality as we all probably know.

I have 3 different headphones in use currently, the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro, the Audio Technica ATH-M50X and the AKG K812. The K812 was the first one I bought 5 years ago, it was quite expensive but has an outstanding soundquality to me. I then bought the DT 770 Pro second-hand (at a very low price) since I needed it in the rehearsal room of one of my bands, and the quality is good but quite far away from the K812.

I then also bought the ATH-M50X for my second studio location which is the cheapest one, and guess what - it's significantly better than the DT 770 Pro for me, not far from the K812 and the price difference between the K812 and the ATH-M50X was 591,- Euros at that time, today it's more than 1.000 Euros!! The ATH-M50X was also a bit cheaper than the price of a new DT 770 Pro at that time.

Therefore my personal essence: If I would have to decide again which headphones to buy I would always go for the ATH-M50X which has a really great sound quality at a quite low price. But that's my experience and personal feeling, you might judge completels different. However, I suggest you try the Audio Technica ATH-M50X and see what you think, not a big investment and you may be surprised (but also maybe not).

Okay, so last night I went ahead and ordered some M50X’s. They arrived this evening, and immediately I could tell listening to the piano they were much better than the Beyerdynamics. They sounded vastly different to the Scarletts on the piano, and more realistic on the treble. For Hi-Res Lossless listening too, they were much better and more convenient than the Beyerdynamics.

The issue however is with the bass on piano. I’m finding that even with the bass turned all the way down on the EQ, the moment my left hand reaches down the low end, it swamps the rest of the music. For me, that’s an unsolvable issue. Thanks ever so much for the recommendation though. If you never try, you never know. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Consider perhaps an open-back or on-ear headphone:. These don't seal like the closed back, over ear types, so tend to have a more muted sub bass response.
The ATH M60X is the same driver as the M50X so might be a logical next step. It's an on ear though, so feels decidedly different to over ear type headphones.

I came here looking for chat about using AirPods as IEM with my stage 4 (even if it’s not the best solution) just temporarily at least. I noticed you mentioned using them. Are you saying this is a thing? They can serve as an IEM? I am a new Nord owner. Will my NS4 communicate directly with AirPods (through my phone)? no idea how to make this happen, I see nothing about Bluetooth or cabled connection in my manual and can’t find any instructions/advice. If I need something to interface with, what would I use? I am not a sound person. Any help helps!!

In aptX Low Latency, Bluetooth has a delay of ~34 ms. Which is quite low for Bluetooth standard which goes up to 150 ms. But is usually inacceptable for musicians: You play, you wait just an instant, then you hear. Something you really need to get used to if ever. I wouldn't stand more than 10~12 ms.

So, chordless headphones is something you will need to look deeply into. No chance with consumer products. There are wireless IEM solutions, but you will need to first earn some money to get them. After all: Before using a wired headphone with an IEM sender and receiver belt pack combination, why not just use a wired headphone?

And no: Nord products don't have any wireless technology on board - neither WLAN- or BT-MIDI wich would be acceptable latency-wise.

American Pie wrote:I came here looking for chat about using AirPods as IEM with my stage 4 (even if it’s not the best solution) just temporarily at least. I noticed you mentioned using them. Are you saying this is a thing? They can serve as an IEM? I am a new Nord owner. Will my NS4 communicate directly with AirPods (through my phone)? no idea how to make this happen, I see nothing about Bluetooth or cabled connection in my manual and can’t find any instructions/advice. If I need something to interface with, what would I use? I am not a sound person. Any help helps!!

There are no good inexpensive wireless solutions, including AirPods. The extended latency makes things unplayable.

Bite the bullet, spend >$100 on a nice set of open-back headphones with a cable, plug it in, and enjoy.