the t.bone HD 990D

Looking for affordable monitoring headphones ("cans") for studio tracking, I compared Superlux HD660, Superlux HD665, t.bone HD 990D, Vic Firth SiH2 and Beyerdynamic DT-770M to each other and to my DT-770 pro 80. I know, not a really fair reference, but my idea was to seek for a series of cans that would not cost more, preferably less than my DT-770 and still would have proper, useful sound quality. From the types selected, you can guess that acoustic isolation was also a desirable feature, to prevent the sound from the cans bleeding into e.g. a singer's mic and thus saving me time cleaning up tracks from this bleed. I will review all of the models mentioned, each in their own product page. Here we go for the t.bone HD 990D.

The sound is quite dull over all of the spectrum. Although recommended by Thomann for drummers, because of it's claimed attenuation of 22dB, to me, it's isolation does not really differ from my DT-770pro or my good old Sennheiser HD250 linear II. Finally, it is not the most comfortable to wear of the models compared. But it is not an expensive pair of cans either, explaining the title of this review ;-) Anyway, not my choice in this quest, as you may have guessed.

These headphones are very sturdy and strong, with a feel similar to construction yard ear protectors! They are comfortable, if a little heavy, with a decent length of cable.

I would say these headphones are perfect for giving to a drummer really because they do provide decent noise cancelling, so the drummer can hear the track you are feeding him. In my case I am mostly feeding a click, which never bleeds through the mic either, so that's good.

I am not crazy about the sound. It sounds a bit muffled, so I wouldn't use these for mixing or even listening back if possible, and I wouldn't give them to a vocalist who wants to hear the best possible quality.

Overall, a very sturdy set of headphones that I consistently use on tracking sessions.

I bought these for use while drumming and practising. It's difficult to hear the sound from your phones when you want to drum at the same time. I thought these phones would have a good sound quality, isolation and comfort.

After a couple of months of testing i still wasn't satisfied with the quality. The sound sounds flat and sharp, i couldn't get a good sound. The isolation was not good enough so i had to turn the level up in order to hear and that made my ears hurt because of the sharp sound.

The cups that goes over your ears were a little too small for me, that made the isolation not so good for me. But it propably works better for you.

The good with these is the cord that is only on one side and wont be in your way, and it's really cool looking. Also the price is good.

Buy them iif you need extra studio or practise phones.