SPOTLIGHT ON OUR HEADPHONES:

87 YEARS OF HEADPHONE EXPERTISE

What has happened between the presentation of our first headphones in 1937 and the launch of our anniversary DT 770 PRO X Limited Edition last month?

Our headphones have been at home in many areas for decades: in the professional recording studio, in the living rooms of audiophiles, on the commute to university or work, or in the world of gaming. They are professional tools, indispensable everyday companions and the highest level of listening pleasure while on the go. We’ll take a look back, from then to now, and give you some exciting insights.

HEADPHONES ON THE RISE -

HI-FI HEADPHONES FROM BEYERDYNAMIC

In the 1980s, headphones became increasingly important in our portfolio and heralded a major change in our company. At the beginning of the 1980s, the digitisation of music was progressing rapidly. The CD quickly overtook cassettes and records as the new digital sound carrier. It was on the rise for almost ten years until the MP3 audio compression process came onto the market in 1989. This once again revolutionised the music industry and thus also had a major impact on developments in our sector.

This period could be described as a kind of “technical arms race” in the industry. New materials and substances such as composites, rare earth magnets and magnetisable stainless steels came onto the market, enabling us to develop new headphone systems. Thus, headphones became more and more important. In the 1980s, we presented our first hi-fi headphones with the DT 770, DT 880 and DT 990 models, the last two models of which are still available today as the DT 880 Edition and DT 990 Edition.

The DT 880 made a special name for itself at the time, as it was the first dynamic headphone with electrostatic playback properties. This model achieved a new level of audio quality that was unrivalled at the time.

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF OUR HEADPHONES AND LAUNCH OF OUR PRO CLASSICS

In the 1980s, we increasingly focussed on the choice of materials in order to make our headphones as comfortable to wear as possible – which is particularly important for headphones for professional use, as these headphones are often worn for many hours at a time. This resulted in the further development of our first hi-fi models and the presentation of our PRO headphones DT 770 PRO, DT 880 PRO and DT 990 PRO, which were initially considered an insider tip in the industry. Plastic brackets gave way to more stable metal brackets, the contact pressure was increased and a great deal of attention was paid to ensuring that the construction of the PRO models guaranteed increased durability.

Slowly but steadily, the headphones gained a good reputation in the PRO world and established themselves in the market. On the US market, the DT 770 PRO received an enormous boost in popularity thanks to an 80-ohm version produced exclusively for Guitar Center.

Even after more than 30 years, it’s hard to imagine studios and productions all over the world without the DT 770 PRO. For that reason, this classic also has an important role to play in our 100th anniversary celebrations. For our anniversary headphones, DT 770 PRO X Limited Edition, our classic model was combined with the latest technology of our studio headphones, the STELLAR.45 transducer. The result is a headphone that has the proven sound signature of the DT 770 PRO and guarantees studio reference sound on various playback devices thanks to the wide frequency response of the STELLAR.45 driver (48 ohms). Thanks to the detachable cable, the handset also offers plenty of flexibility.

ENTRY INTO THE AVIATION SECTOR

In 2006, we ventured into the general aviation sector, utilising synergies between our different areas of product expertise. The outstanding DT 770 Edition closed headphones have been combined with a gooseneck microphone for maximum speech intelligibility. This is how beyerdynamic’s first aviation headset, the HS 200, was born. This model and all the subsequent aviation headsets were particularly popular with amateur pilots and flight schools. We have been active in the aviation sector until 2013 and have used the experience and developments gained during this time to conquer another field.

HIGH-END SOUND WITH OUR TESLA SYSTEM

Around the same time we entered the gaming segment, a new field for luxury headphones gradually opened up on the audio market. After carefully observing this development, thoroughly sounding out the market and taking the corresponding technological development steps, we presented our answer to this demand at the IFA in Berlin in September 2009: the T1 high-end headphones (1st generation).

To provide the ultimate high-end sound with our T1, we developed the all-metal Tesla system, which ensures transparent, spatial and distortion-free sound. The magnet used in our Tesla driver system is significantly larger than in other headphones and is not located inside the voice coil, but in a ring shape around it. It also has a particularly strong magnetic field (magnetic flux density), which is measured in Tesla units and is well above the one Tesla mark for our headphones with Tesla systems. In addition, our technology enables a more powerful and distortion-free reproduction as well as better detail resolution. Thus, our high-end headphones were able to deliver even better performance on MP3 players than other comparable models at the time. The closed counterpart to the T1, the T5, was added to our high-end range in 2010 and impressed with its high-end sound on portable devices.

In the years that followed, our development department worked steadily on further developing the Tesla system with the aim of making high-end Tesla sound possible for smaller headphone models as well. This engineering skill and development spirit resulted in three different sizes of Tesla driver – 45 mm, 35 mm and 11 mm -, which found their place in our headphones.

The T 51 i, which we presented in beyerdynamic’s 90th anniversary year, impressed specialised press and customers alike as mobile headphones in the higher price segment. The “T” in the name stands for our Tesla technology, which also ensures balanced sound on the move. The functional, somewhat technical design of the headphones is very reminiscent of the beginnings of our headphone history and harkens back to our first model, the DT 48.

The concept of true-to-life, distortion-free and transparent sound was soon reflected in an even more miniaturised form in our first high-end XELENTO in-ear headphone series. The magnet was shrunk by a factor of 16 compared to the T1 transducer, making all other components equally delicate and requiring the utmost sensitivity in the production of these systems. In 2022, the 2nd generation of XELENTO in-ears was successfully launched on the market.

At the same time, we endeavoured to bring high-end sound to the market with wireless headphones. We wanted to realise the high-quality sound of our wired models without a cable, and we succeeded with the Bluetoothâtransmission range of the Amiron wireless. This model also features our impressive Tesla technology. The remarkable spatiality and presence of the Amiron wireless immerses the user in the audio world of their choice.

To this day, our Tesla sound transducer is the centrepiece of our audiophile headphones, whose sound we are constantly developing further. That’s why the 3rd generation of our flagship models T1 and T5 impresses with even finer sound tuning since 2020.