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I’ve owned the Beyerdynamic DT531 for almost two years now. None of my other headphones even lasted more than 5 months. The nickname 'Groovalizers' really matches this cans perfectly. It is warm, a little bassy, but fast and can rock as well as a Grado.

Breaking the sound down:
The DT531 has a very likable and musical sound with a warm balance. The mids sounds pleasant and natural. Highs is a little unrefined but is there and not lacking. It is a little bassy, but bass amount can be adjusted easily with source or amp tweaks. Even with bass like that, the DT531 can keep up pretty well with fast music, not lagging behind and sound energetic. Instrument separation is quite decent and the soundstage is pleasantly wide although without much depth. The overall sound sig of the DT531 makes it rarely sounds blatantly ‘wrong’ with most music. It is a great headphone for people who just want to use one headphone for their diverse playlist.

Comfort is among the best, it has the same lush velour pads like those of DT770/880/990 but lighter and clamps even less. Seriously, the comfort of the Denon DX000 series has nothing against the DT531. I would've liked a thicker cable but the thin stock one is actually useful when you move around a lot.

Where the DT531 fails is that no matter how good it is, it is still a mid-level headphone at best. If you dissect the sound part by part, you’ll realize that the bass is not deep enough, highs is not very refined, and the detail is ordinary at best. It just can't match the technicality of higher end headphones (DT880, K701, and such...)

What makes it a winner for me is its unmatched versatility. It is the most versatile headphones I've owned by a mile. It always sound great with movies, any music, and out of any source, with surreal comfort too. How I wish all headphone rigs can be as easy as this.

Best midfi ever. I really loved the DT531, and indeed, I never got into contact with a fon of such immense genre bandwidth and coherence. EVERYTHING sounds great out of a DT531 (even in crap 128 kbit quality out of cheapest portable sources).

Bass is a bit boomy, the mids quite natural and well extended, the highs a bit rolled off (which I partly cured by hardcore quartermodding).

The reason I gave them away was their low and midfi-ish level of detailling and my developing "trebleheadism" (consequently I hang around with DT880 & CD3000 audio scalpels now).

If you see the DT531 groovelizer 2nd hand, you propably get a much better (relative and absolute) value than a A900 or A950 LTD. They appear sometimes at EBAY auctions (mostly DE, AT or CH) for 60ish €.

The discontinued, oft-sought after so-called "giant killers" known as the Beyer DT531 are indeed very good headphones, especially for a mid-level system where one wants to be able to enjoy the music, and not spend like a madman for the high-end. Though the high-end is out there and can put on a more technically correct, though not necessarily more listenable act than the DT531's.

These cans have a nice snappy bass response as the foundation of their sound. It is pretty clean bass, though not overly deep, with nice impact and slam, when properly driven. The midrange continues the general theme of being nicely musical and yet fairly detailed, making these cans very easy to enjoy listening to. The treble however is a bit of as issue, as it has a tendency to sound a bit unrefined, like some Grado models (though not as severe). The soundstage is nicely wide, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary.

These cans are built of hard plastic with a few other parts, relatively shoddy by Beyer's tank-like standards, but average on the whole. The cable is very thin and does not seem very strong.

These cans need to be amped to sound their best, because they can sound a bit thin without enough power. It doesn't take an overly expensive or powerful amp though, just enough power to get them going nicely.

The DT531's are some of the most comfortable cans around, due to their ultra-plush pads, low weight, and easygoing headband. They are about as close to forgettable as headphones get. Considering their build quality, openness, long cable, and desire to be amped, they are not really a good idea as portable cans.

If you can find a pair of DT531's out there somewhere, they would make great starter cans, or would be very nice for the aforementioned mid-fi user who wants to stave off high-end fantasies and just enjoy the music in comfort. Or even for the dedicated headphone junkie, the DT531 can still find a place as its fun, forgiving sound and great comfort make it a go-to headphone.

My ratings:
Bass Extension: 6
Bass Impact: 7
Bass Quality: 6
Mids Quality: 7
Highs Quality: 6
Soundstage: 6
Detail: 5
Portability: 2
Isolation: 0
Comfort: 9
Durability: 7
Improvement with Amplification: 7
Value for the Money: 8

I consider these headphones a cross between the Senn HD570 and Grado SR225. They have the imaging and sounstage of the Senn (that is large and atmospheric) and the musical ability and pace of the Grado SR225. They also work well on portables thanks to their sensitivity and they are comfortable to wear for long periods. I have stuck with these as my main phones for a while now, not because they are the best at any one area, but because they perform well in every area. No matter the music or system, they sound good and I can live with them on my head for a long time. They respond very well to better amplification however and work especially well with the Musical Fidelity XCans V2 which gives them a silkiness that takes them well up in the next level of phones. They are not good mates for the Creek, Rega or Grado amps for some reason. All seem to add a certain glare and graininess to the treble. They also rank as my number one phone for use with the iPod (10GB version). It provides a degree of attack which is surprising and will even impress Grado owners!

I came upon the DT531s looking for a headphone that meshed the qualities I enjoyed from the AKG K240S and Beyerdynamic DT880. I was not extremely impressed when I first received them; the highs did not have the smooth, effortless texture of the DT880s nor did it have the bass extension. The mids, while being more colored than the DT880, did not have the richness I was used to with the K240S. It did an admirable job for most every genre, but my other headphones were simply better at certain things.

When I began to sell my gear, everything had been sold but the DT531. Since I had nothing else to listen to, the DT531s got more eartime than they had before. And slowly, I forgot about the comparisons between my other headphones. They didn't do everything perfectly, but it didn't matter.

The DT531's sound lies just on the cusp of what would be called a truly refined headphone. The treble is fairly smooth, light, and airy, but can have the tendency to be a bit harsh. The mids are not lush, but not exactly dry either, and can be slightly grainy. The bass is impactful, but still lacks the tightness of more expensive headphones and does not go all that deep (and in the wrong system, it can sound like a lot of the low-bass is simply missing).

The beauty of the DT531 is that it has no glaring faults, and it straddles between the sonic aspects that tend to divide opinions on most headphones: it has a fairly expansive soundstage while still being a bit forward, and can manage to sound smooth and light on one piece of music while being gritty and aggressive on another. Whatever the music calls for, the DT531 can deliver, and this means that the DT531 can be further 'tweaked' to sound more to one's liking. In my case, I wanted a warmer midrange and smoother treble with more bass extention; I got a tube amp, and the sound is so close to my ideal that I rarely give other headphones a second thought. Others might like a more neutral sound that focuses on impact and dynamics, and the DT531 is more than capable of performing this task as well. It is by far the most versatile can I have ever used, yet despite its ability to change based on different amplification, it sounds remarkably good out of lesser equipment such as stereo receivers and CD-players.

In short, the DT531 is not the master of any genre, but it will save you the trouble of having to switch headphones when the music changes from classical to heavy metal, and you won't feel like you're missing much of anything in doing so. If you have more specific musical tastes you might be better off going with a headphone that suits those genres specifically, but if your music can change from Mendelssohn to Metallica in a heartbeat, there are few headphones that will make the change so effortlessly as the DT531.

These are definitely worth hunting down. They have a nice liveliness about them, probably caused by a small mid-bass hump in the frequency response, that makes them very enjoyable. They are relatively neutral, but more on the bassy side of neutral without being overly bass heavy and without the bass affecting the mids. The bass is good but doesn't extend as far as I would like and the detail is very good but not excellent. These headphones require a little bit of amplification to sound their best but they don't need an expensive headamp. A regular receiver's headphone jack should do. The cable is a bit thin and flimsy. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that they are VERY comfortable.

A great all-round package and great value for money. Highly recommended.

Ah, my favourite headphones :)

No, they're not the best headphones ever made and no they aren't the most "hifi" sounding headphones around but for the price they're extremely hard to beat. I often favour these over far more expensive models.

With an overall very smooth sound these are often summed up as "groovy" sounding. Detail is good, but not in your face. Bass is good, midrange is smooth and highs are fairly relaxed sounding, without being recessed.

If you break the DT531 down into individual characteristics it doesn't rate that well compared to some other models, but the whole is easily greater than the sum of it's parts in this headphone's case. If you ate all the ingredients for spaghetti bolognese individually it wouldn't taste nearly as good as the end result, but just like with good audio gear you should be able to still taste the ingredients in a good meal. If you get my drift!

As a few people have already stated, these are one of the most forgiving headphones around for those who want an enjoyable, if not neccesarily audiophile sound for a good price.

These headphones are very comfortable, the pads are made from soft velour material that does not cause any irritation to the skin, the clamping force is just right, and the headband design is a double headband which takes some of the weight off. Even the cable, despite it being thin, does the job of not adding any undesired weight to the headphone. Overall, the headphone looks cheap and plastic, but the comfort is sublime.

Hardware wise, I have begun to think it is a folly to try and get too much from this headphone - theres not much need. Give it a decent source, and an amp that can provide lots of power and punch, preferably an amp that has a forward sound in the midrange, and you will get an excellent sound from this headphone. I have found its match in my Stereo speaker amp with its inbuilt headphone socket, which provides excellent punch, good depth and quality, a more forward midrange than I have yet found with a dedicated amp and has kept the metallic treble down to a minimum. I have to wonder if this is how they intended people to use it. For me, if you are going to embark on an audiophile journey, then I would personally pick another headphone, as to me these seem more like "match to taste then stay there" type of phones.

What I feel I have got in the DT531 is a headphone that is not the best in audiophile terms, but is a more fun, less fussy headphone, which with the current rig is very punchy, nicely forward, really warm, but with good clarity and detail and even has a good soundstage. With the right system, it even treats poor recordings sympathetically. There are a few negatives, bass could perhaps go deeper, but for me thats not much of an issue now, the treble can be a bit metallic with the wrong setup, and refinement surely isnt at the top of its list - but that gives dance and rock an additional bite that some smoother headphones simply lack. These headphones clearly excel at delivering electronica, rock and pop music with the right system.

After having many of Beyerdynamics models, for me, while less technically good than many of them, this model stands out as being the most fun, and one can achieve an enjoyable sound on a small budget with these. Unfortunately they are discontinued, which is a shame because Beyerdynamic really produced a classic design in these headphones.

My system at time of writing:-
EMU 0404 -> Rotel RA-01 -> Beyerdynamic DT531