Beyerdynamic DT 73 IE In-Ear Monitors REVIEW – To Live Outside The Law You Must Be Honest

My review sample of the DT 73 IE arrived just as I was absorbing the news of the Pope’s passing. Now, I have no reason to believe that his untimely demise was triggered by his meeting with JD Vance a few hours earlier, but it’s certainly possible that his heart exploded after reading Trump’s genuinely demented Easter message, which finally perfected Trump’s synthesis of Charles Manson and Caligula. In any case, Francis was a compassionate, sincere guy (imagine that) and may he rest in peace.

The $499 USD DT 73 is part of a new series of four differently-tuned IEMs which range from studio-flat to bass-oriented; per Beyerdynamic, the DT 73 is designed for string, wind, and keyboard instruments, with  “linear bass and midrange” and a boost in the high frequencies. The very small earpieces are well-built and commendably sleek and light.

However the included, oddly-designed MMCX cable has a springy, rubbery top which tends to pull the shells out of your ear and makes fitment difficult. I replaced the stock cable with a generic memory cable which allowed for secure fit and good isolation, but candidly I shouldn’t need to do so at this price point. Very easy to drive at 16oHm/115dB; more power didn’t radically change the signature.

Tuning on the DT 73 is, to put it politely, “analytical”—they present a brilliant, lean, and extremely crisp sound and which has a ton of high-end detail but is almost devoid of any low-end thrust or presence—you get the contours of bass frequencies, but none of its depth or heft. Soundstage is very wide and high, and imaging is extremely clean—each performer on orchestral works is precisely located.

Tonality, however, sounds somewhat over-etched and unnatural to me—percussion has very fast attack and decay but lacks much reverberation or guts. My typical heavy guitar rock sounds straight-up weak on these—the lack of low end highlights voices forward to the point of near-shrillness, and guitars sound thin and overbright, without the intended grunge and bite.

Since Beyerdynamic promotes these as optimized for more orchestral-oriented instrumentation, I auditioned them with violin-centric stuff like Apocalyptica and Kronos Quartet as well as solo piano from Keith Jarrett. Perhaps needless to say, the results were considerably better—every glissando, bend  and hum was captured deftly, and (especially at louder volumes) the performances took on an in-studio quality. Acoustic jazz was also meticulously reproduced but, again, lacked any bottom and sounded somewhat incomplete, as if the entire 20Hz-200Hz region had been EQ’d out of the recording.

Given my sonic pallete, I’m the wrong guy to review this type of specialized product; for around the same money something like Sennheiser’s IE500 will deliver less high-end resolution and significantly less high-end extension, but a much fuller, natural-sounding tonality.

I fully acknowledge that there’s a class of listeners who will find the hyper-revealing DT 73 to be a very attractive product, and there is something to be said for owning a series of IEMs which cater to different genres (even if you might achieve the same end with a single IEM with swappable filters). Given my primal music tastes, I personally would not be a buyer, especially at the ambitious price, but would be anxious to hear the fuller-range variants in the DT series.

Disclaimer: These were loaned to us by Beyerdynamic’s excellent PR rep and will be returned to her. We appreciate the opportunity.

Specifications Beyerdynamic DT 73

Contact us!

99 Bluetooth & TWS Devices