What trendy astronauts wear

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Headphonics.
Headphones are great. You can get the sort of sound speakers costing 15 times more produce. Unfortunately this only applies to the better type of headphone. Not those in-ear types, but the ones you must use in the home are always offering the best blend of sound quality and comfort. But there is more complex matters to consider, like the effect of using an open-backed or a closed-back earpiece.

Price?
£45 UK price is the norm; you might find them for less on the Internet. That’s just over $60.
Don’t get these confused with the other model (without Galactic) these are the new models with Galactic added on.

Do I look stupid with them on?
No. Well. These DT231 Galactic headphones from –B-e-y-e-r-dynamic look not that bad, in fact the basicness of their appearance is quite interesting, but it’s the little traits it has. Such as the semi-transparent blue plastic, which sets off the Velvet padding. The headband is made from some soft-plastic material, this is hung on the plastic-elastic-band that adjoins the two earpieces, all this does is make them easier to wrap to the unusual shape of human heads. The two earpieces each being small and compact –looking- are made to fit around the ears and rest the smooth velvet on your head. It works, they fit snugly and are probably the best fitting phones I’ve used. The cable runs through plastic band so it doesn’t hang down either side. Their design is nice looking, and they feel top quality.

Undercover.
Lurking somewhere inside the small shells lie the small speaker which will produce the sound. These are closed back designs. What this means is the enclosure that speaker has is blocked off from the outside world, it also means that background noise is almost fully blocked off. The effect of closed back designs is criticized as being a little thin in the bass department, as the air tends to restrict the speakers movement.

Specifications of headphones are quite ignored by people; but here they are:
Frequency response: 20-18000Hz
Impedance: 32 ohm
Sensitivity: 95dB
Max power: 50mW (0.05W)

The mass? 130g, not likely to break necks.

Plug in baby
As standard the DT231 Galactic come with a 3.5mm mini-jack, that’s 0.14”, but they do include a 6.25mm (0.25”) adapter. The cable length is a good 2.5m, longer always seems more sensible, and the cable is robust enough to last a long time, the joints at each end are strong too.

I plugged them into a Sony CDP-XB930 CD player to use them, but I did try them in various amplifiers. Like Kenwood KAF-3030 or Sony STR-DA555ES.

First Impressions
At first it takes a little while to get used to a sound which is right next to your ear, if you’re used to proper Hi Fi then the upfront sound can take time to get used to. This initial period is typical of headphones, but still the results of a proper set of headphones is astounding. Apart from sounding more forthright they do make the experience of listening to the music much more interactive. Small details are well received. With such music favourites like Radiohead’s Fake Plastic Trees. It’s the way that the smaller things start to show themselves, like the slight echo to the singers voice at the start of the track, and the introduction of a string slightly later on.

Dynamics are faithfully reproduced, the sudden increase in volume or pace is sent straight through with little smudging. The treble side of the Beyerdynamic DT 231 Galactic’s is very well rounded, in particular their way with cymbals/hi-hats or percussion instruments, all being crisp and fast, well timed and not over bright. Midrange is also impressive; vocals have a good tone and balance, maybe with a little enthusiastic bass area. Though the bass is quite impressive, especially for closed back designs, there is no escaping the way it lingers around the sides, not being particularly spacious or airy. But it is precise, and has plenty of slam with a lot of punch and no sagging.

On the whole the most positive aspect of the sound is its detail, this makes more complex music seem more satisfying. In other instances with simpler music they tend to show up foibles or errors in the track, like the “tape hiss” on some Nirvana albums.

Problems
The real difference between midrange hi fi and these midrange headphones is that all the sound is produced in a specific area, in order to recreate staging effects or panning the result gives you something which sounds much further behind than in front. For many CD compositions they are meant to be used with stereo speakers allowing the listener to imagine a band playing live. But with headphones the story is much more in-house.

Compared
As they only cost £45, you can easily compare them to other brands, from the likes of Philips and Panasonic, where it really shows the difference in performance at this point. The Beyerdynamic’s are enormously impressive compared to other branded headphones at this and higher prices. In most cases the difference is extensive, they’re more open and a lot more flat than other headphones; some just adding too much bass which can be overpowering.

Conclusion
For those who like to listen to music while travelling, or even at home, the Beyerdynamic DT231 Galactic headphones combine great sound quality and comfort that is hard to beat, and they look nice too.