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Driving the dt990 600ohm: choices, choices.

post #1 of 11
7/7/11 at 3:51pm
Thread Starter 
I've been looking closely at buying a beyerdynamic dt990 or 880 for quite some time now. Since I haven't owned open phones before, I've settled on the 990. I've made the decision that every head-fier inevitably makes: time to pull the trigger and splurge.

Only problem is, the 600 ohm is understandably pretty hard to drive well from what I hear. I imagine my clip+ or my onboard soundcard wouldn't like to try, and my fiio e7 probably wouldn't perform so well either.

So my question is as to whether or not the e7+e9 combo would be capable of driving the 600 ohm dt990 as its supposed to be driven. Would I be better off waiting for the fiio e15 from what you all have heard? Or should I just scrap solid state entirely and go straight for tube? If that's the case, I'd be in the market for a tube amp under 300 usd that would do well for the 990.

Let me know what you guys think! Thanks.
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post #2 of 11
7/7/11 at 8:07pm

I am awaiting my 600ohm DT880s to pair with my Schiit Valhalla. This amp is well respected and according to many members here, and one of the co-founders of Schiit Jason, is very well suited to drive the 600ohm cans. I have been using my Valhalla to drive my Grado HF2s which are low impedence, but still sound very, very nice with the Valhalla. I just couldn't resist hearing a high impedence set.

 

I'm sure there are other great amps, but the Valhalla seems to pack a great deal of value and quality performance for $349. Hope you find the right match for you. As a side note, I have spent over 30 years listening to solid state and I own a really nice integrated with a kickass headphone section. Despite this I love the Valhalla, and surprisingly, so did my brother who is very much into audio and tends to think I buy things with little real benefit compared to previous stuff. He really liked the Valhalla so that is some feedback from a solid state user. Cheers.


Edited by Sonic Defender - 7/7/11 at 8:18pm
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post #3 of 11
7/7/11 at 8:13pm

Little Dot mkiii, I have it paired with my DT880 600ohm. I have decided that these are all the cans I need and wont be upgrading for a long while. Although pro900 seem to be FoTM and are tempting... damn this site.

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post #4 of 11
7/7/11 at 11:08pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by DayofCalm View Post
Let me know what you guys think!

 

Here’s a second vote for the Schiit Valhalla. I use it to drive my pair of DT 990/600 Ω, and I’m very happy with the sound. I’m sure you will love this combination too.

 

Werner.

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post #5 of 11
7/8/11 at 12:51am

I would forget about the Fiio line and go for a Schiit or Darkvoice 336 or MP301 Mk 2

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post #6 of 11
7/8/11 at 5:08am

Heya,

 

I power my DT990's on my Little Dot MK3. Fantastic. And looks sweet.

 

Very best,

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post #7 of 11
7/8/11 at 3:09pm
Thread Starter 

Awesome guys, thanks for the feedback. Depending on how the finances go in the near future (going to wait to get either amp 'til after I have the headphones in hand), I'll probably either get the LD MK3 or the Schiit Valhalla. I'm still a little curious about how the Fiio combo would perform with the 990, although I realize the above choices would probably be superior. Thanks again dt880smile.png

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post #8 of 11
7/8/11 at 3:15pm


the fiio should be able to power them but come on man you know you want need the evil glowing contraptions that are tubes in your life.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DayofCalm View Post

Awesome guys, thanks for the feedback. Depending on how the finances go in the near future (going to wait to get either amp 'til after I have the headphones in hand), I'll probably either get the LD MK3 or the Schiit Valhalla. I'm still a little curious about how the Fiio combo would perform with the 990, although I realize the above choices would probably be superior. Thanks again dt880smile.png



 

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post #9 of 11
7/8/11 at 3:25pm
Thread Starter 


I soooo dooooo triportsad.gif Stop being the evil voice on one of my shoulders! I could drop an extra 350 on a valhalla, or I could just be happy with the ss fiio setup I already haveee :p

Quote:
Originally Posted by alv4426 View Post


the fiio should be able to power them but come on man you know you want need the evil glowing contraptions that are tubes in your life.



 



 

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post #10 of 11
7/16/11 at 1:50pm

DT 990/600 ohm works better with OTL type tube amps.

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post #11 of 11
7/19/11 at 1:46pm

The Woo WA3 OTL drives my 300 ohm Sennheisers with ease. I hear its great with the DT 880/990's. 600 ohm as well.

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