177X GO thoughts and measurements

I had been wanting to try the DT 1770 Pro, but after reading reactions here and having a bad experience with the Tesla driver in both the DT 1990 & the T1 v2, I had decided not to. With Drop claiming to have “smoothed” the FR, I decided to check them out.

Testing gear & notes

• MOTU Ultralite mk4->Monoprice THX 887->miniDSP EARS
• My measurements were done following miniDSP manual and recommended curve. I still want to move to something more recommended here but I wanted to stick to my comfort zone to minimize variables. I will be moving over soon, along with my new amp. Obviously my measurements are only comparable to each other and void against anything else.

Disclaimer (pretty much same as DT880 post)

• Proper headphone measuring is hard AF. I have been doing it for a year, reading a lot of stuff here and on the old Changstar site. I am certainly NOT good at it yet. I have about 50 sets measured under my belt and continue to learn. I welcome constructive criticism on my measurements. Level matching here is super tough. The Beyerdynamics are not outstanding at matching driver set. My miniDSP EARS has one channel that is 1db more sensitive and the pot on the THX leaves some channel matching to be desired as well. In addition, these headphones are more sensitive to the treble variation in regards to positioning.
• My images are watermarked with my logo. Time is valuable and it matters to me.

Aesthetics and build

• Still made in Germany, glad to see they didn’t cut corners here.
• Drop version is 32 ohm instead of 250 ohm of the 1770 Pro. I wish they hadn’t done this, but I get it. The world is moving to portable and convenience, having them be able to be driven by ipads and phones is probably a good move.
• Drop version has 4-pin balanced cable connector instead of 3-pin of the 1770 Pro. This part I don’t get. Pleasing the audiophile crowd with an audiophile connector would make more sense if leaving it 250 ohm. At 32 ohm with a balanced connector, you are going to have a bunch of buyers buy aftermarket balanced cables for their new headphones then figure out they need to attenuate the hell out of the signal.
• Personally, they should have either gone 32 ohm portable and left the connector alone or 250 ohm and done the 4-pin connector.
• You do NOT get a bag or case, which you DO get on the 1770 Pro.
• You do NOT get a 2nd cable; you DO get an additional (coiled) cable with the regular pro.
• You get two pads, same as pro, EXCEPT Drop includes tailored Dekoni Sheepskin pads with uber slow rebound memory foam. They are VERY nice and comfortable pads. The black/gun metal colored velour pads are much softer than the cheaper black lines velour. They are almost as soft as the silver velour but not the same. Different, not necessarily better or worse. The foam is stiffer than in the silver ones.

• Clamp is good but not too tight (I assume same as Pro).
• Isolation is pretty strong. These have far more isolation than semi-closed Fostex variants and such. These are good office cans.
• All other build features appear the same. I do still want to note it has the same headband as the 1990 and I dig it. It is comfortable and easy to clean. Awesome.

Measurements

Velour pads

It appears Drop did succeed in both making the bass to mids transition smoother and pulling the treble peak down a bit. I actually really like them with these pads. These are “Fun” headphones for sure. Great imaging, bassy, some sparkle up top. They also have a decent sound stage for being closed backs, albeit with some plastic reverb. The only thing that really stands out for me is that the same dampening that is aiding in reducing the treble spike is also costing the headphone resolve. These are not as resolving as the 880 600 ohm for comparison. This doesn’t really surprise me, as the same thing happened with the 1990 when I tried to put material in front of the driver or EQ the fatigue out of it.



Dekoni Sheepskin pads

You can see some bass is added, but not in regards to sub bass. Bass heads may enjoy the bass added from the additional seal but you can also see it crushes the treble/detail. I find them foggy up top with these pads. While I love the comfort of these pads, the trade off is not worth it to me. YMMV.



For a grounding reference point with my alien measurements, here they are with my measurements of the DT 880 Black edition. These obviously have more bass, a more even mid transition and less treble.



My subjective conclusion;

These are pretty good closed back headphones. I have some gripes with some of the decision tree, but that will be super subjective and based on use case. At the original asking price of $380, I like them a lot. For $450 for the current drop, I like them a little less. Personally, I would have a tough time deciding whether to grab the Pro version and tweak the FR, get a case and coiled cable and stick a few bucks in my pocket ($428 shipped on Amazon right now). Surely some would prefer the 4-pin and 32 ohm for a few dollars more.

In any case, these are pretty good headphones in a pretty limited market for good closed backs.

 

I used them in an office with SW-51 for about half an year, almost exclusively till "the quarantine" hit. Impressions with velour pads were pretty positive - comfortable, non-fatiguing(at least for me), not a typical closed-back sound.
I didn't like sound of included Dekonis, but I don't remember the exact details now why.
If you are looking for closed-back headphones - give them a try.