[trufunk]

Thanks kman1211! Now to continue my search!

 

[kman1211]

Has anyone had both versions, fully burned in, at the same time, and did a comparison between the two? I'm always a little skeptical of memory-based comparisons.

I've never owned both at the same time but have heard both at the same time on the same system and found them to sound different, it's not huge but it's noticeable. If you want a more concrete comparison, this person did a guide on them. Don't get me wrong the 250 Ohm is a great headphone, but I have to say the 600 Ohm just has that extra bit of smoothness, speed, and body to it's sound. How sensitive one is to the changes will affect how large the perceived differences are. What's small to some people can be fairly big to others.

On the DT 880, I can live with either the 250 Ohm or 600 Ohm, but I would take the 600 Ohm of the two if I had a choice. Which is what I'm doing I'm getting a DT 880 600 Ohm to replace my DT 880 250 Ohm.. With the DT 990, 250 vs 600 Ohm on the other hand is a matter of breaking or making the headphone for me as the extra bit of smoothness in the treble on the DT 990 600 Ohm makes it tolerable while the DT 990 250 Ohm is just a bit too much.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/guide-sonic-differences-between-dt770-dt990-models-more.513393/

 

[Sonic Defender]

Yes the idea that it sounds audibly different would take some pretty solid evidence. I think this is more of an assumption personally. Maybe there is some merit to the idea, but I think people sometimes underestimate what it takes for a meaningful audible difference. Still, I can't state as a fact one way or the other so I'll try to keep an open mind.

 

[SHAMuuu]

I can totally see the benefit of transplanting a pro headband for 600ohm premium versions if the 880 is your be all end all go to can. When pushed closer to the ears, the impact is defo increased, while midrange and treble stay somewhat the same. I have had enough time playing with pro and premium headbands to notice this. So i can see why a 600ohm pro 880 is highly desired. It would be hella expensive to put one together. Though I guess one could order the parts of headband instead of getting two headphones for transplant.

 

[pearljam50000]

Hi I'm downgrading from HD800.
Buying them without an audition.
Looking for a detailed sound.
My question is how painful is it going to to go from -HD800 to Dt880?
Will I be able to still hear everything on the recording? What else will I Be sacrificing?
Please encourage me friends (;

 

[wormcycle]

If you need to downgrade it is probably the smartest choice you could have made. Buy 250 or 600 Ohms. I owned both HD800S and DT880 for 3 months, my DT880 was 600 Ohms. You will not get the sound stage of HD800, you will not get a crystal clear instrument separation of HD800 but you will get a great articulation of music, lots of details, and deep controlled bass. Mids are very good and uncolored on DT880.

 

[kman1211]

Hi I'm downgrading from HD800.
Buying them without an audition.
Looking for a detailed sound.
My question is how painful is it going to to go from -HD800 to Dt880?
Will I be able to still hear everything on the recording? What else will I Be sacrificing?
Please encourage me friends (;

I can't say for sure as I never compared the two directly, but I never really struggled to listen to the DT 880 and kin after listening to a high end headphone as the Beyers have so little grain. But I would get the 600 Ohm version for the highest fidelity possible from the DT 880, especially since you're coming from the HD 800, probably the Chrome edition(no razor blade wings on the headband and a bit more comfortable imho) and you can get them for $142 new from an authorized dealer on ebay.

 

[Me x3]

Hi I'm downgrading from HD800.
Buying them without an audition.
Looking for a detailed sound.
My question is how painful is it going to to go from -HD800 to Dt880?
Will I be able to still hear everything on the recording? What else will I Be sacrificing?
Please encourage me friends (;

DT880 will give you the closer tonality to HD800, these two are very similar here, although HD800 is slightly drier overall and not as nice for some rock/metal music in my experience.
DT880 can provide a well behaved soundstage but it's not as good as HD800 in this regard. HD800 is wider and deeper with improved instrument separation.
DT880 is still airy and it's certainly hard to complain as it does the soundstage thing more than fine anyway.
Coming from HD800, pick the 600 Ohm version as it's the one that's supposed to be the superior variant. Beyerdynamic DT880 (250 Ohm) is still very good and similar, but... you know.

AKG K701 has a lighter and more forward tonality relative to both DT880 and HD800. That means more upper midrange presence. This headphone is great in terms of soundstage and instrument separation, retaining a detail oriented nature like the HD800. I've A/Bed my K701 against my HD800S multiple times, with top class recordings, it's really interesting to see how close these can be in terms actual (hear-able) performance. You can hear a lot with the K701. But it's extremely picky with recordings and matching. If DT880 shines with 25% of the recordings and HD800 with 20% of them, then K701 shines with 10% of them. So keep that in mind, with less than ideal recordings it might appear as too bass light and/or overly forward. It's very good for acoustic music, audiophile classical recordings, warm jazz, some very refined studio works, you know... Mostly uncompressed, natural recordings made for purists. Otherwise it can sound unrealistically light and forward and skip cool sounding setups. With the right stuff these can offer unreal price/performance ratio. This used to be a 500usd headphone back in its days. Many people prefered it over HD800 when it was just released mainly because of the smoother response around the 6kHz region and less distant/relaxed and more vocal oriented upper midrange.

AKG K702 (at least modern version) is warmer than AKG K701, not as damped. With slightly smaller and more focused soundstage, not as forward upper midrange and slightly different, somehow sharper and drier treble response closer to that of K712 PRO. While it can be labelled as a better all-rounder than K701, in many ways it feels even further away from HD800 as it has a more opaque presentation of sound. Anyway it's still a fair HD800 replacement at a much more affordable price point.

 

[trufunk]

So, is the DT880 600 Ohm Pro still available for sale, or am I just looking at the Premium 600Ohm?

 

[kman1211]

So, is the DT880 600 Ohm Pro still available for sale, or am I just looking at the Premium 600Ohm?

There hasn't been a DT 880 Pro 600 Ohm for sale in many years from what I gather and it seems it was mainly sold in Asian markets, they are very rare. Pretty much all are going to be the Premium variant with a looser clamp. The Black/Chrome Special Editions are different cosmetically and basically use a T70/90 headband, which also clamps on the looser side. As to whether the Special Editions sound different than the normal premiums, I am unsure, maybe slightly.

 

[trufunk]

There hasn't been a DT 880 Pro 600 Ohm for sale in many years from what I gather and it seems it was mainly sold in Asian markets, they are very rare. Pretty much all are going to be the Premium variant with a looser clamp. The Black/Chrome Special Editions are different cosmetically and basically use a T70/90 headband, which also clamps on the looser side. As to whether the Special Editions sound different than the normal premiums, I am unsure, maybe slightly.

Thanks again, kman1211!

 

[pearljam50000]

is it possible to use the 32OHM version unamped?
I'll add an amp in the future for sure but would want to use it unamped for a while.
how much worst would they be compared to the 250 and 600OHM version when amped?

 

[Me x3]

For reference DT880 (250 Ohm) is slightly harder to drive than HD800.
DT880 (32 Ohm) is easier to drive but the quality of your setup will play an important role anyway.
Chances are you'll be fine in terms of power, but SQ? That's far from granted.

I see little reason to pick the 32 Ohm version when your planing to improve your setup in the future.
You can use the 250 Ohm version 'unamped' for a while anyway.

 

[pearljam50000]

what's the difference between the special edition chrome DT880 and premium DT880?

 

[gefski]

Has anyone had both versions, fully burned in, at the same time, and did a comparison between the two? I'm always a little skeptical of memory-based comparisons.

For me, my 250 Pro is more neutral, slightly less bright, and just as solid on the bottom end than my 600 Premium.

However, and this could be significant, the 250 is 6 to 8 years old (has new pads now), while the 600 is less than a year old. I'm not suggesting burn-in as much as being unsure what small changes Beyerdynamic may have made in those years.