Beyerdynamic T70 Headphones Review

Is this the secret to domestic harmony?

by Ed Selley
Hi-Fi Review

2

Highly Recommended
Beyerdynamic T70 Headphones Review
MSRP: £330.00

What is the Beyerdynamic T70?

The T70 is a full size home headphone and at first glance looks very conventional but in reality has some interesting design features. We'll cover most of those in due course but one of the immediately notable aspects of the T70's design is that it uses a closed back. This runs counter to a great deal of conventional wisdom about the design of full size headphones. That the T70 is a little different from the norm at the price should not be too surprising though as Beyerdynamic has a history of going their own way in this regard.

In the recent boom in headphone sales, as you might expect, a great many new brands have arrived in the UK, either as startups, existing manufacturers entering the category or new brands being imported. Against this, the existing players in the industry had a few options to stay in the public eye. They could compete in the sectors that have developed over the last few years - especially the 'Nomad' and 'Hybrid' sectors. They could also go for more lifestyle finishes and colours or they could try for a bit of celebrity tie in. If you look through the ranges of many existing headphone manufacturers - Sennheiser, AKG and Bose to name but three - you'll find some examples of all of these options being exercised.

Running counter to this is Beyerdynamic. The German brand has been making headphones for forty years and responded to the boom in headphone sales by doing pretty much nothing. If you take a look at the company website, you will see a solitary model that might possibly be seen to be 'lifestyle' but the rest of the range remains wedded to categories that existed before the boom and comes in colours and finishes that are entirely prosaic. Despite this, the brand has prospered and enjoys a very loyal following. The closed back design also means that the T70 might be able to offer a solution to headphone use when someone else is still in the room. Does this work in practise?

Design

Beyerdynamic T70
The T70 is built around a pair of dynamic drivers of unspecified size but based on the size of the enclosures themselves will likely be somewhere between 40 and 50mm. The most significant aspect of their design is that they include a design attribute
unique to Beyerdynamic, the 'Tesla' magnet. This takes the form of an annular type design with a hole in the middle as opposed to a more conventional solid type. The idea is that the magnetic flux is better controlled and a more consistent force applied on the driver itself. The reason that the drivers are referred to as Tesla models is that the magnetic flow through the driver itself is measured at one Tesla. This is a fairly esoteric measurement outside of a physics lab but in reality this translates into a fairly powerful magnet for a pair of headphones.

The drivers are themselves mounted in a closed back enclosure that completely encases the ear. The enclosures themselves are completely circular which is in keeping with the Beyerdynamic design ethos. I usually find that oval enclosures are the most comfortable shape based on my experience but the T70 is actually very pleasant to wear. The housings are large enough to avoid feeling too constrictive and there is a reasonable distance from the edge of the pad to the covering of the grille that further aids comfort.

The enclosures themselves are mounted in a headband that is relatively large and of a fairly conventional design. The T70 offers reasonable adjustment for different sized (and shaped) heads and the pads themselves have an excellent vertical range of movement but their horizontal axis is rather more tied down although not so much so that there is any real comfort issue. Spend a little time looking at the T70 though and you realise that the design is really well thought out. With an all up weight of 330g (less cable so in reality, slightly more than that), the T70 is not a lightweight design but the spread of weight across the band is extremely good and the Beyerdynamic manages to feel lighter than it actually is.

Beyerdynamic T70
The T70 is supplied with a fixed 3m cable that is supplied firmly with home use in mind and should allow you to be a reasonable distance from your equipment. By the same token, it is also pretty much useless for portable devices but points towards their home use origins. This does make the presence of a 'half brother' to the T70 a little peculiar.

The Beyerdynamic tested here has an impedance of 250 ohms which is not horrendous for home use but does make them a little harder to drive from portable devices (although the Chord Mojo or Oppo HA-2 won't have a problem with them and the Pioneer XDP-100R was also able to get reasonable volume levels). If you are looking for a more portable orientated headphone (albeit one that is still full size and equipped with a 3m cord) you can order the T70P model that has an impedance of 32ohms that is much easier to drive. I'm not completely sure who this is aimed at but now you do at least know that it exists.

The no nonsense approach of Beyerdynamic is everywhere in the T70. The build is excellent and there is a sense that all the materials have been chosen with a view to their longevity as well as their aesthetics and tactility. The build is extremely good and it feels substantial and likely to last the course. You don't get a huge amount of equipment with them- Beyerdynamic limits you to a pouch and a quarter inch jack but you feel like you are getting your money's worth for your £330. The only minor area of annoyance is that the cable from the enclosure to the headband is exposed and technically vulnerable to snagging but in a home environment, this should not be a huge issue.
Beyerdynamic T70
The reason that the drivers are referred to as Tesla models is that the magnetic flow through the driver itself is measured at one Tesla

How was the Beyerdynamic T70 tested?

The T70 has mainly been used with a Naim Supernait 2, ND5XS and XP5 XS power supply and an Avid Ingenium Twin turntable, all connected to an IsoTek Evo 3 Sigmas Power supply. This has allowed the testing of lossless and high res digital, on demand services such as Spotify and Tidal and vinyl. It has then additionally been tested with a Yamaha RX-A3040, Cambridge Audio 752BD blu- ray player, Sky HD and Panasonic GT60 Plasma to test with on demand and broadcast TV and film material. A small amount of testing has also been undertaken with the Chord Mojo and Pioneer XDP-100R using a similar selection of lossless and high res material.

What does the Beyerdynamic T70 sound like with music?

Beyerdynamic T70
One of the reasons why the majority of highly regarded home headphone models are open back is that there is a perception that it is only by venting some of the activity of the driver to the rear of the enclosure that you can achieve a truly spacious and open sound. Spend five minutes with the T70 and this statement - if not completely incorrect - is at least only half the story when designing a pair of headphones to deliver a spacious sound. The T70 manages to create a performance that is open, airy and spacious despite the lack of venting. IN DREAM by Editors manages to sound open and unconstrained. There is no sense that the soundscape is being constrained or shrunk and instead, you get the full extent of this brooding and rather wonderful album.

With spaciousness taken care of, the T70 goes on to demonstrate a set of characteristics that are the very definition of Beyerdynamic as a brand and the reason why the company has maintained such a loyal following. Like many headphone brands, Beyer has a strong professional pedigree but this seems to manifest itself in a different way to many rivals. The T70 is accurate and used with the Chord Mojo, which is pretty much the embodiment of accuracy, it would make a passable tool for mastering, but this never seems to come at the expense of refinement and - more importantly still - fun. The Beyerdynamic manages to sound punchy and expressive with a wide variety of music while simultaneously delivering what is on the recording. The warts are still there but the T70 seems content to let you draw your own conclusions about them.
Beyerdynamic T70
Perhaps just as importantly, the T70 never imparts a false sense of energy onto recordings that really don't need it. Listening to Nils Fram's Spaces - an album I was unaware of until the Christmas period - the Beyerdynamic is completely at home with the radically different challenge of this sparse and almost fractured album. The ability to go from near silence to full tilt without any perceptible lag or delay, gives the T70 a truly invigorating presentation. In many ways, thanks to that innovative 'Tesla' magnet, the T70 can match the exceptional transient speed of the Oppo PM-3 while delivering a far greater sense of bass impact.

All the time this is happening, the T70 leaks pretty much no noise back to the outside world. Use them in a normal UK lounge and you can enjoy a thoroughly invigorating concert for one while other people sat next to you watch TV at low levels. The absence of venting combined with the seal that the sprung weight of the band and the padding achieve is enough to ensure that this is a very quiet pair of cans indeed.
Beyerdynamic T70
The T70 manages to create a performance that is open, airy and spacious despite the lack of venting

What does the Beyerdynamic T70 sound like with film & TV?

If being open backed helps with music use, it can really assist with the realism and scale required for decent AV use. If you don't choose dedicated 'surround' headphones (which adhere to slightly different rules to conventional stereo 'phones), open back models are the quick and simple way to making an action blockbuster have some of the scale it needs to sound believable. The T70 is not quite as able to subvert these rules as it is with music but the way that this sealed headphone can produce a believable rendition of Pacific Rim that is not to be sniffed at. The Beyerdynamic does a fine job of creating a space big enough for a giant robot and alien monster to sound right in. The bass extension is sufficient to give the effects enough crunch and impact to be enjoyable and the T70 does an equally fine job of keeping dialogue and on screen information intelligible.

None of these positive attributes go missing when you switch to broadcast TV. In what has become something of an acid test for any pair of headphones or earphones, the Beyerdynamic does an excellent job of keeping the dialogue in Elementary understandable even when the rather strange mixing of the soundtrack - it almost feels like the people that master it never meet - is at its most curious. As a means of watching TV when other people in the same room don't want to, the T70 is very, very capable.

Conclusion

Pros

  • Involving and lively sound
  • Well built
  • Very comfortable

Cons

  • Not pretty
  • Not small
  • Not suitable for portable use

Beyerdynamic T70 Headphones Review

In a field of headphones that offer leather, stainless steel and industrial design that is at times almost achingly elegant, the Beyerdynamic T70 is big, utterly conventional to look at and rather staid. That long, fixed cable makes it a bit of a bust for use as a nomad type design too. Behind the conservative appearance however is a real star of a home headphone. The T70 is able to deliver the space, refinement and sheer effortlessness of open back headphones while leaking no noise back out to the world around it. It balances accuracy and impact with a forgiving nature and refinement that make it a fine partner across music and film. Beyerdynamic haven't been too bothered with the design trends of the headphone boom - they've been too busy delivering a truly world class product. If you are looking for headphones solely for domestic use, these come highly recommended.

Scores

Build Quality

.
.
8

Ease of Use

.
9

Sensitivity

.
.
8

Design and usability

.
.
8

Sound Quality

.
9

Value For Money

.
9

Verdict

.
9
9
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

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