The expansively deep soundstage imaging and precise tonal balance of the Beyerdynamic Tesla T1 headphone is a stunning feat of audio engineering, partly due to freshly patented driver arrays creating over '1 Tesla' of flux density at the voice coil. This remarkable advancement results in extraordinarily accurate signal response, immeasurably quick dynamic range extension and beautifully uncluttered timbral textures. The stringent build quality and attention to manufacturing detail is superb, as is the strong pewter-gray look. Our highest possible HeadRoom audiophile headphone recommendation. Hand made in Germany; individually serial numbered.Review this product
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T1
Posted by x on 2013-05-11Posted on Beyerdynamic Tesla T1
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros:
Cons:
*****
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you?
Worth every penny
Posted by Shameless Gear Head from Unity, ME on 2011-02-04Posted on Beyerdynamic Tesla T1
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: clarity; balance; bass is solid but not overpowering or muddy
Cons: None that I can hear, feel or see
This is an astounding product. It has taken some years for me to get to the point where I feel that I can appreciate headphones of this caliber. The experience is almost overwhelming. The soundstage is expansive and the precision of the sound is unlike any other high end headphone that I have experienced. The experience is unmatched by any of my other none-too-shabby cans. Even poor recording sources sound better with these phones. Pricey but worth it if good sound matters to you. I can't imagine how break-in could improve these phones but I will certainly test the proposition. It is hard to put these down.
22 out of 27 people found this review helpful. Did you?
Tesla T1, The (not so) New Kid On The Block
Posted by Zombie_X from Milwaukee, WI on 2010-12-18Posted on Beyerdynamic Tesla T1
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros:
Cons:
NOTE: This is copied from my Head-Fi.org profile, Zombie_X.
I won't get too technical or get too in depth int his review. I will just state what I believe these headphones do and how they sound, just very straight to the point.
The T1 is beyerdynamics' latest entry into full size open dynamic headphones. This model can achieve one Tesla with it's new driver and magnet system. This allows the T1 to be far more efficient and easier to amp than the DT880/600Ohm by quite a bit. This also means your amp won't strain to power them like some amps do with the DT880/600 (and this is from my experience).
IMO the Tesla 1 is at about the same level of the HD800, but I vastly prefer the T1 as it sounds more natural and dare I say less synthetic than the HD800. The HD800 has a leaner sound with more prominent treble and less bass, though the bass on the HD800 is slightly more accurate.
Well onto the sound. I will be comparing to the HD800 in this review as I find them to be in the same league. I will go in sections: DETAIL, TRANSPARENCY, TREBLE, MIDRANGE, BASS, SOUNDSTAGE, CONCLUSION.
DETAIL:
With this headphone you can hear a lot of things you may have never heard before, such as footsteps, raindrops, and even whispering. The detail retrieval is very close to that of the HD800, but rather more subtle sounding. The HD800 seems to revel in it's ability to bring out the smallest details. The T1 still has nearly the same amount of detail as the HD800, but it's just not so painfully obvious. The HD800 makes you want to focus on the details while the T1 is more of actually listening to the music, but that's my view on it.
TRANSPARENCY:
Man oh man these cans can reach deep into the music. They are so transparent that you can hear nearly everything that's there. I don't have the HD800 on hand but I would say the T1's are slightly more transparent. The transparency really shines in the midrange where the guitars and vocals are. The guitars are so crisp and clear and you can hear fingers sliding up the fret board and can hear little nuances in the voices of singers.
TREBLE:
The treble on the T1 is really great for many reasons. It extends just as high as the HD800, but unlike that headphone it is not as in your face. To me the T1's treble is very smooth without a hint of stridence or harshness. It also sound more natural to me. The treble is also very airy, not as airy as the HD800's, but very close. I also found the treble to be very detailed.
MIDRANGE:
The T1 has the best midrange I have ever heard. It has exceptional resolving capabilities as well as being more transparent than the HD800 in my mind. I also found the midrange to be more fleshed out than the HD800's, and though the T1 has neutral mids they are very slightly warmer. This warmness makes music sound more natural and lifelike. To me the HD800's mids were really good, but a little thin and could be somewhat lifeless on certain recordings.
BASS:
The T1 definitely has more bass then the HD800 and this means more body and impact. I also found that the T1's lower most regions are a little rolled off, but not by that much. In fact I think the rolled off bass can make music sound more natural. The T1's bass still extends nearly as deep as the HD800's, but has more body and impact without sacrificing control or tightness. The bass of the T1 is more impactful than the DT770/DT880 but less than that of the DT990. The bass to me is perfect in it tonality and texturing capabilities which are really exceptional.
SOUNDSTAGE:
The soundstage is clearly much bigger than any of the DT770-DT990 variants and is also airy. I found it to be almost as big as the K702's soundstage, but has more depth and height to it. It's a really big stage that is nearly as big as the HD800's, but to me the HD800's is a little too big. The T1's is very spacious and provides great reproductions of spatial nuances and separation of instruments as well as providing a more accurate stereo image. Speaking of imaging, it's nothing short of incredible. You can place musicians on the stage really well and little nuances can be picked out really easily.
CONCLUSION:
I find the T1 to be a very good headphone and also the best reference all rounds out there. It has a very liquid and natural tonality that is heard to beat at any price. It's easily my no.1 recommendation for those who do not have a budget.
One thing to note is that these headphone will require a powerful desktop headphone amp for reaching their maximum potential. I suggest a good OTL headphone amp or powerful solid state amp. the Woo Audio WA2 and WA3+ amps are OTL and can drive this headphone no problem. A good solid state amp would be the Audio-GD ROC/PHOENIX as well as a Beta 22.
Also the T1's are very unforgiving of low quality audio and if fed crap, they will spit it back at you. As for me I don't really care as I will use them anyways ;)
69 out of 72 people found this review helpful. Did you?
The best 880 ever ;-)
Posted by Airwin from next to my PC in Berlin, Paris or London. on 2010-10-22Posted on Beyerdynamic Tesla T1
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Comfy, analytic _and_ musical
Cons: Price a bit, but you get what you pay for.
Knowing the 600 and 250 Ohm Beyers (880s), both are pretty good headphones and (still) best values in the market (IMHO).
But the T1 got a better soundstaging, is as fine, or finer than the 600 Ohm 880, and so solid sounding like the 250 Ohm 880.
Driven with a solid amp in balanced mode, the headphone is a absolute beauty, even with the regular plug it is famous.
No headphone is perfect, so the T1. He needs a little equalization to get even better. (Like Senn HD800 and others can getting better with a good EQ / digitally EQ)
Notching the 8 kHz peak a bit (-5 dB) and between 80 and 400 Hz a little (-3 dB), and there it is: My heady for the next few years.
Well done Beyerdynamic, well done!
Why not the Senn? I prefer the oldschool, simple headphone design.
21 out of 27 people found this review helpful. Did you?
What do you want from your headphones ?
Posted by mentor561 from Boston, MA on 2010-08-01Posted on Beyerdynamic Tesla T1
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: The SQ with no bias without being sterile
Cons: The Cost
Have you ever gone into an audio forum and asked or seen folks asking for a recommendation on a headphone to buy ? Yes we all have and have you noticed the well intentioned folks there ask if the requester is a bass head or treble head? Again for most everyone this is an affirmative nod.
This is because in most cases a headphone can be biased towards one or the other. It is very rare that we see one that comes along that is equal at both ends of the spectrum and everything in between. The Tesla T1 is one such rare phenomenon. Its wide dynamic range allows it to perform effortlessly across the entire rang of human audible frequency spectrum. This is achieved without making the music feel sterile. In fact the music feels just like the recording / mixing artist intended.
On the con side this also means these phones are wasted if you are not using this with equally reference quality source inputs and a clean powerful headphone amp. You will be just as well served with some of the less expensive models if the rest of your setup is not in the same league.
Kudos to Beyerdynamic for a creating a top notch reference headset. This is going to be a hard act to follow.
10 out of 17 people found this review unhelpful. Did you?
No Oops Moments
Posted by Eric0 from Canada on 2010-07-26Posted on Beyerdynamic Tesla T1
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Accurate sound, not clinical, ease with multiple genres
Cons: Expensive
These headphones are something else. Sound comes out of them effortlessly and is pure and quite lifelike. The T1s are balanced and quite accurate in their sound reproduction but are never clinical. Some people have even gone so far as to say that there is nothing remarkable about the sound. To me, that means the T1s are perfect. They aren't tweaked to have massive bass quantity or sibilant treble that sounds good for an hour. Instead they present music as though you are in the room.
I went to a jazz festival and picked up the CDs of a few of the acts I saw. I was amazed at how close the sound from the T1s was to actually being in the room. Oftentimes when you compare a recording to the live show you get the oops moment. That moment where something clicks in your head and you realize the cymbals didn't sound sharp enough or the bass wasn't deep enough. I've never had a moment like that with my T1s.
The T1s are comfortable and a true pleasure to listen to even for long periods of time (7+ hours). Paired with my Ultra Desktop Amp I can hear every detail in a song from the lips of a singer opening to the pianist breathing. Burn-in time is around 60-100 hours. After that point the treble softens a touch and the mid-range opens up just a little bit more. Build quality on the T1s is excellent for headphones. They are made mostly of metal and all the hinges have a solid connection, even the cable has quite a bit of heft to it. I used to think my AKG K701s were well built, now the K701s feel flimsy and cheap even though they are in fact well put together.
18 out of 19 people found this review helpful. Did you?
So musically unreal that is almost creepy!
Posted by ferrarilover10 from Afton, TN on 2010-07-25Posted on Beyerdynamic Tesla T1
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: The best headphones in: comfort, sound, bass, and even value!
Cons: No cons or problems after 60 hours of use!
Over the years I have acquired several high-end phones but I was skeptical of these Beyerdynamic T1 phones. That fear was put to rest upon inital use. Straight out of the excellent case these are the absolute best I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. As before mentioned, I have had Grados, Sennheiser, AKG, and yeah Bose, got tricked into those. But now I use them for target practice with my Beretta handgun. The Germans positively know how to reach our ears with these Beyerdynamic phones. Most headphones lack at least one area that needs correcting but not these. These hit every area perfectly. Bass, clarity, and comfort. It is as if I'm right next to every artist I listen to. If only every manufacturer can produce this much enjoyment for their customers then the dream would be real. Purchase these phones before the world ends! You can die happy then!
17 out of 21 people found this review helpful. Did you?
The Best headphone ever
Posted by alto63 from Budapest, Hungary on 2010-07-22Posted on Beyerdynamic Tesla T1
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: musicality, flat response, realistic soundstage
Cons: None
I should say that T1 represents the current state of the art in headphone technology. With such a musicality and linear frequency response, it will be really hard to take off the headphones and go back to listening to music through loudspeakers. T1 requires a really good headphone amp, I recommend the exeptional C.E.C. HD53N solidstate headamp. I found out that T1 is a better than Sennheiser HD800( a fantastic headphone as well) in every terms except the wearing comfort.
Recommended product with no doubt.
13 out of 17 people found this review helpful. Did you?
Quite simply the best!
Posted by Leaffan from Toronto on 2010-01-29Posted on Beyerdynamic Tesla T1
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Neutral, revealing and still very musical!
Cons: Nothing yet!
All I can say is: WOW!!! I have literally heard things that I missed over the past quarter century. Now, I used this same disk at a local hi fi shop this past Saturday and the HD800s and both cans revealed things on this recording that I never knew existed.
From memory, the HD800s had a sound stage that just dropped your jaw, but as I listened, the music seemed slightly clinical. With the T1s the sound stage is still very impressive (however not as expansive, but a depth was there that I can't remember on the HD800s).
The micro detail retrieval was pretty much the same; but where the T1s win for me is their musicality. They really made the music jump out and sing (The Great Gig in the Sky just had me totally entranced). As well, the bass is presented in a slightly more forward fashion (still very neutral), but gave the sound of a tinge of lushness that I really love.
beyerdynamic really has knocked it out of the park with this one!
As well, with about 50 hours on these, the sound stage seems to have opened up even more and the clarity (although incredible right out of the box) has improved.
Comfort wise, I've gone 2 hours + with them on my head and they are very comfy indeed (I still rate the HD800s and DT880s as probably the most comfortable cans I've ever had on my head). I would put the T1s right at number 3 for comfort.
These puppies will be with me for a very, very long time!
85 out of 91 people found this review helpful. Did you?
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