Beyer Dynamic DT 880 Premium 600 OHM Headphones

I'm just gonna start off by saying I love this headphone. It has dominated my head time since I got it. My HD650 gets no love anymore. They are just incredible. They're easily worth $400 in my opinion.

My first serious headphone buy (HD280 5 years ago not included), I got the 250ohm version and used it with an E17 for a month; I ended up returning them to Amazon due to getting the HD600 and HE-400, both of which I ended up selling and returning as well. I couldn't justify 2 pairs, let alone 3. I got the HD650 and it changed everything. I ended up selling/returning everything. Once I got the Lyr and Bifrost, it changed everything. So that leads us to early December 2012...

I had the money and decided to get myself a little sumpin sumpin if you know what I mean. I got offered a sweet deal on some great condition 880/600s and leaped at it. And here I sit, writing this ridiculous rave review about them.

What I love so much about them versus the HD650, which is great, is that they're exciting. The treble is sparkly and clear. There is a nice air to the music, something spacey to it. It's awesome. The HD650 is a bit more closed in and intimate. I listen to a lot of electronic music, so I expected to like the DT880s more. What I didn't know is how much more I would like them. Now, maybe I'm exaggerating... but they're the spice that my music needs! They make everything lively. With a little EQing, the bass is thumpier and wobblier. The best part is that the Lyr has an insane amount of head room, so they never clip or distort. It's just cerebral.

Versus the DT880/250s on the E17, the mids are much better and bass goes even lower. With the Lyr there's even more detail to the treble as well. I see now why almost everyone has the 600ohm model. It's just better in every way.

I can wear these for hours and my ears might get a little warm but only due to sitting inside earcups for 2 hours! They're light, sturdy and have just the right amount of clamp. In contrast, I think the HD650 is a bit tighter.

I think they're worth just as much as HD650s, because if you amp them right, they will reward you.

Source: MBP (optical}

DAC: Schiit Bifrost

Amp: Schiit Lyr

Tubes: 1972 Orange Amperex PQ (Holland)

Compared to the stock GE tubes with the Lyr, the DT880s are more revealing but warmer. Bass might be the tiniest bit less? But mids are even better. They sound almost just as good as my HD650.

Oh, and they work plugged into my iPad 4 @ ~80% volume. Perfect for movies and music. It's nothing special but it works!

-- TL;DR --

Basically to sum it up, the DT880/600s are some of the best headphones I've heard in my life, if not just due to my preferences. But their combination of detail retrieval, airy soundstage, incredible positioning, balanced but satisfying bass, and unfatiguing, sparkly treble is just...something to behold. It works well for almost everything, provided you have high quality source material.

Best value at this price point, in my opinion. Other close competitor is the HD600, which is great too, but emphasizes different things.

I love my DT880. 

Hi all, Zombie_X here with another review! This won't be as in depth as the T1's review but I will give you all the needed info. 

The Beyerdynamic DT880 sound can be classified as being treble oriented with slightly recessed mids (will get tot hat later) and having slow or muddy bass (will get to that as well). 

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GEAR USED: 
- Source: PC via Pop-Pulse SPDIF-II (to Optical), Marantz VC6001 CD Player 
- Amp: Woo Audio WA3+, Audio-GD ROC 
- DAC: Music Hall DAC25.2 (with NOS Mullard E88CC tube) 
- IC's : ZXAC custom made RCA and XLR cables 

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TREBLE: 
I find the treble on the DT880/600Ohm to be slightly smoother than the 250Ohm and 32Ohm models out there. It's very extended and crystalline in it's presentation. I find it to be harsh on poorly mastered or recorded material but when used with reference grade material the treble is to die for. Very articulate and grain free. 

MIDRANGE: 
Many say the DT880 is leaner in the midrange but I have to say they are not. The treble shines over the mids and makes them seem recessed or muted. The mids are very transparent with lots of detail and also have great resolving capabilities. Vocals sound very nice and realistic and guitars have an edge to them which is very nice. 

BASS: 
Yet again I hear this talk of the slow and muddy DT880 bass. The 250Ohm has this as well as the 32Ohm, but not the 600Ohm model. The bass is very punchy when needed and is very extended with great texturing and layering. It's is also not sluggish in anyway as long as the recordings bass is not that way. The bass is very tight and well controlled without being to dominant of the sound. Many on [...] have said that the DT880 also has bloated bass which is simply not true. 

SOUNDSTAGE: 
The soundstage is very well layered and offers a lot of detail and separation of the various instruments. I find it to be quite accurate and spacious with good air. In comparison to the HD600 it is a bit bigger in terms of width and depth of the presentation. It's not the biggest out there but it is better than others. 


These 600Ohm headphones need strong amping. I would recommend a nice OTL tube amp for them like my Woo Audio WA3+. They need a significant voltage swing to function properly.

This headphone is quite V-shaped, I never quite understood why it stood evenly with the K701 and HD650. I dislike the HD650 but that didn't prevent me from giving me it a bad review, because it's quite impressive.

Now this, no matter how I try to listen to this. It's too bright and sibilant. Even its siblings, the DT770 and DT990 gave me problems.

The bass was the only thing that was enjoyable, it extends very deep and is good for a dynamic headphone. When listening to acoustic music it's harsh, but rock and such is less harsh as the bass somewhat masks the highs a bit. I could see this being nice for rock.

But the detailing is not good as the K701 or HD650 or HD600. Even with that abundance of treble, it does not render low level information as I expected it to. Also the soundstage is pretty normal, not much different from the average closed back headphone. I guess being semi-open doesn't give you the best of both worlds as the HD600/650 and K701 have much better soundstages.

It's built quite nicely and quite comfortable though. But I don't like how it sounds.

I just finished writing this for my blog, but here is the full review...

It's been a while since I reviewed some headphones - to long in fact. If you followed the 'USB DAC/amp' project - I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it, but for now that's on pause while I return to headphones. Bring on the DT880 Premium - 600ohm, Beyerdynamic's UK distributor (POLARaudio) are providing me with some of their new catalogue to play with soon, but for now here is a little gem that I recently purchased. 

Rewind fourteen years and I was spending my own money on headphones for the first time. It was my first year at university, I had £40 to spend and they were the Beyerdynamic DT231's. I loved those headphones - until the headband elastic deteriorated, but that was after a respectable six years of good service (the cabling and drivers never failed). Over the following eight years I moved through the manufacturers and ranges, expanding my passion as I went. Everything that I've learned since has led me to see Beyerdynamic as a rather under-appreciated manufacturer in the consumer sector. Perhaps this is due to so many over-hyped, 'style-over-substance' brands that are more about fashion and celebrity endorsements than audio quality. 

My main reasons for choosing the £230 DT880 were: The semi-open design and the 'hard to drive' high impedance. I've been using a lot of closed back headphones recently and I'm all to aware of the audio quality advantages that open-back designs can bring. Since giving away my AKG Q701's I've lusted after that 'open' sound and it was the DT880 that caught my eye. Beyerdynamics new 'Tesla' range doesn't offer impedance values above 250ohms (accept with their flagship model, where 600ohms is the only option). So this 600ohm DT880 seemed like a great choice to give those powered headphone amplifiers a proper work-out.

    SOUND

The sound signature of the DT880 is very neutral*. That mantle usually brings with it a lack of bass presence that can disappoint some people in the musicality department. There is an undeniable truth to that with any 'neutral' headphone, but despite it not being suitable for bass-heads, it does still have a highly addictive quality. Yes the bass is lean / tight / detailed, but it's not as extreme as some 'neutral' headphones and not nearly as detrimental to the versatility and musicality as I'd expected. Any negative effect is mostly emphasized by lesser quality and less powerful amplification, connect it to a good amplifier however and the presence can very much impress.

I have heard the DT880's detail described as over-sharpened, or artificial, but I struggle to feel that while listening. There is a real crispness to the sound and a wonderful clarity to the detail that really brought music to life for me. Part of the driving force behind the beautifully rendered detail is a strong treble presentation (apparently less so on this higher impedance model). Despite the brightness I didn't have many issues with sibilance. Driven from a high quality amplifier and the treble sparkles with the best of them and renders an articulate performance. When driven poorly the treble is the first thing to get rolled off and so doesn't cause too much of a problem there either - you just lose some detail. 

The DT880's drivers are described as 'semi open', as far as sound isolation goes there isn't really much to speak of so they might as well be fully open in my opinion. The grills on the cups go straight through to the driver. Sound leaks, but slightly less on the outside compared to the inside. The poor isolation can kill your musical qualities if you can't control your surroundings. The up-side to this is a wonderfully airy presentation that does wonders to the soundstage, in both depth and width. Instrument separation is also superb here and I'd imagine very hard to beat at this kind of price.

    SOUND SIGNATURE

* A headphone's signature (or presentation) influences how much an individual enjoys their music, as much as, if not more than, things like detail and soundstage. So I'd like to take some time to clarify where the DT880's signature stands in relation to other headphones.

I am aware that 'neutral' means different things to different people, let me try to clarify this. I have heard headphones like the V-Moda M-80 described as neutral but this is only true if you compare them to a 'bass-head's presentation like Dr. Dre Beats. Don't get me wrong, the M-80's are not bad, but they have quite a punchy bass and a treble to 'rolled-off' to be truly described as neutral or 'reference'. The Beyerdynamic DT770 pro is somewhere between the M-80 and DT880, but neither the M-80 or DT770 pro could be described as 'bass-head' or 'DJ' headphones. If you need a fair bit of bass kick to your sound and like Dr. Dre Beats be careful here (Beats have lots of bass and a muddy midrange - Audio Technica Pro700 mk2's, AIAIAI TMA-1's or most Denon's do this better, I only mention Beats to help make a point here because they're common).

Now let's talk about the 'reference' AKG 701: If you read my review on the AKG you'll see that I found it enjoyable, but a little to bright and lacking in bass. The DT880 fixes both of these issues for me, being both less bright and having more bass weight, without straying to far from neutral. In fact I would say it's more neutral than the AKG 701 and certainly a more musically versatile presentation. The soundstage of the DT880 is similarly spacious, with almost as much crisp detail as the AKG 701, but without loosing so much bass kick, or gaining so much harsh treble.

    MUSIC

Here are some music tracks and how I felt the DT880 coped with them:

• K.D. Lang: "Perfect Word" - This track was displayed with a real sense of vibrancy that made a highly enjoyable performance. The vocals are very up-front in this track and sound beautifully clear, but it makes a lot of the background instruments feel overpowered. Despite this it was effortless to pick them out due to the great separation and clarity of these headphones. With a stunning sense of timbre the guitar sounded beautifully textured and the subtle soundstage is treated with great finesse.
• SebastiAn: "Ross Ross Ross" - This whole album is a great test of sibilance (TOTAL). I was a little worried about the strong high frequencies (peakiness) of the DT880 causing discomfort with bright sounding Electronic music, but I was pleasantly surprised by how little harshness I encountered. You probably won't want to take this music to such high volumes as genres like Rock or Classical. I didn't find much issue here, ,but those who like their treble well rounded (rolled) off will probably not be to happy here. The crisp and clean detail adds an impressively bold feeling to Electronic music for me and I rarely felt the need for more bass either. At least once I'd spend a few hours getting used to this sound signature.
• Beethoven:  "Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op92, Allegro Con Brio" - From the very beginning of this track the DT880s display a wonderful sense of both powerful energy and delicate detail. Instruments feel clearly positioned and well layered, with hardly any sense of muddling. The detail is so nicely defined here than I got a real sense for the performers moving to create this energetic music. 
• Henry Jackman: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter "What Do You Hate?" - I chose this track to see how much low-end bass presence could come through. This is a piece that needs some real kick to get a good impact accross. Despite it sounding more powerful on my more bass heavy headphones, there is a better sense of space, clarity and detail here.
• Incubus: "A Certain Shade of Green" - I don't think I noticed just how complex Incubus music was until I heard it through these headphones and that's especially true of this track. The layering and transparency through a good amplifier is simply stunning here! Surprisingly I felt a lack of bass here more than with Electronic music but it wasn't terribly off-putting. Again I think this is something that will take a little while to get used to, I am switching between different headphones often. If you don't, it likely won't bother you.
• Dr. Dre: "What's The Difference" - I may dislike headphones with his name stuck on them, but he has some great songs. Most people will know that neutral headphones are great for creating music,  expect these headphones to suits this kind of music well, so let me use this example to say how versatile these headphones are. 

I own most of these songs on CD, they are ripped to lossless audio and played from a PC. The audio is generally transferred via a generic USB cable to a DAC, using WASAPI - event style on JRiver's MC17 (buffering from the RAM). I also chose these songs because they're on Spotify, so if you have a premium subscription you should be able to find them easily and check them out for yourself in decent quality.

    DRIVING: IMPEDANCE

If you want to be able to run the DT880 from a portable player then it would make sense to opt for the 32ohm version. Personally, I would not recommend headphones this large or lacking in isolation as something to use 'on-the-move', but each to their own.

I would only really recommend compromising on the 250ohm version if you know that you will be using a USB powered DAC/amp (or something similar) most often. Even then it's probably best to make sure it's got a gain boost to be on the safe side.

If you will be mostly driving your headphones from a mains powered amplifier then I highly recommend going the whole hog and getting these - the 600ohm version. From what I have read this one has the most rolled off / nicest treble.

    DRIVING THE 600ohms

I was surprised that even some portable devices get away with adequately driving the 600ohm DT880s. I managed to get decent volumes from the Google Nexus 7 and the iPhone 4, others didn't fair so well so this is far from ideal, just don't completely rule this out. Volume issues aside portables faired respectably well in the audio quality department (unlike the AKG 701/2 which was crippled in audio quality, rather than volume - with portables). 

Most USB powered DAC/amps didn't fair much better than portable players in the volume department here. Of course the quality is better, but volume issues were equally as bad as portables and worse than plugging directly in to a computer or laptop.

A mains powered amplifier is really the way to go for serious listening on the 600ohm DT880. I managed to test a few amplifiers like this, some combined with DACs - like the two Yulong machines for example (U100 / D100 mkII) and some dedicated. The Audinst HUD-MX1 is a good option on a budget, if you go for this I recommend opening up the chassis and switching the jumper to the high-gain mode. Also it would probably be best to power it from the mains in this case, which is a rare option for a USB powered DAC/amp. One of the best driving qualities I found for the DT880s was with a dedicated headphone amp (I used the Shonyun SH-301 Pro). This was fed by the Yulong D100 mkII DAC. It produced the most energetic and transparent sound. The Epiphany Acoustics EHP-O2D was also superb as it brought out plenty of that lush detail and added a nice warmth to the sound. This worked really well at balancing out the DT880s bass and treble more to my liking. Presentation wise the Epiphany wins hands down here and at a fraction of the price it makes a killer combination!

    COMFORT

This is one of the most comfortable headphones that I've tried. For it's size It's a pretty light 270g, it has soft padded ear-cups with a good level of clamping force - not too much (like the similar looking DT770 Pro) and not too little (like the AKG K550). The padded headband is simple but great for long listening - I never once felt it was touching my head (unlike the lumpy one found on the AKG Q/K701). With the soft material and an open driver it doesn't make your ears to hot either. It's also pretty easy to position the ear-cups so that nothing touches them. Beyerdynamic deserve a lot of credit here, it might seem like a couple of simple boxes ticked but if you've tried lots of headphones you will know how many miss this mark. This equals my impression from the Denon AH-D7000.

    BUILD

I really like the construction of the DT880, it feels like they could withstand a knock or two without showing any signs of misuse. I really like the delicate styling of the grills and there is a lot of metal here. The armatures are not the best styled shapes that I've seen, but are thick and strong. The adjustable headband, like most Beyerdynamics from this range, is not the most elegant mechanism but once you have it where you want it there is not much to find fault with.

Beyerdynamic offer a custom built version of the DT880 (as well as the DT990 and the T50p) - called 'Hifi Manufaktur' - direct from their website. Any of the three impedance values can be chosen (32, 250 or 600 ohms). Custom colours and textures can be picked for almost every part of the headphone individually, there is even an option of a real leather headband. You can have two lines of text engraved into a metal plate on the side. This is a very nice touch for people who like to have something unique, I wish more headphone companies would offer this service.

    FINAL WORDS

The DT880 is a very comfortable, sturdy headphone, with a wonderfully neutral, airy sound and beautifully crisp detail. It's friendly with more equipment than you might think but takes good advantage of high quality sources and amplification to utilise it's full potential (especially true of the 600ohm version). 

This is definitely not a headphone for bass-heads, but neither is it the most lean bass presentation that I've heard. Before the DT880 I could easily describe my perfect presentation as having quite emphasised bass, but the DT880 is reshaping what I want from my music. Yes, ideally I would like to add a slightly heavier bass presentation to this sound, but not at the expense of anything else that it offers.

If you are looking for transparent, dynamic, open sound and have high quality amplification to power it - I highly recommend giving the 600ohm DT880 strong consideration as your next headphone. For me it has a brilliant balance of sonic features, at a stunning price and with little weakness. 

Greetings, this is a very brief review of the DT880 Premium 600 Ohms. 

First of all, let me start by saying that these cans are the most comfortable pair I have ever experienced so far. The clamping is very soft and has light pressure on the head. Beyerdynamic cans have legendary comfort.

SQ wise, the DT880 is a great all rounder. Every part of the frequency response is perfect and not recessed in any way. It is very full sounding and I haven't have a thought that something might be missing. I find them neutral sounding with a good bass response and they offer astounding clarity. Oh and have I mentioned that they are smooth? Of all the tracks I listened to, I don't think harshness even exist. Soundstage and instrument separation is remarkable - not huge but not small either. They sound fantastic with all the genres I listen to and I can say that they are one of my favourite cans of all time. 

One more thing to mention, they do require solid amping. I've tried using them with no amp and failed miserably. But other than that, it's all perfect. Five stars all the way.

Verdict: Excellent cans, recommended A++.