Exactly, one's appreciation for the DT880 grows the more time one spends with it. It's not in your face appealing, as some phones will be - usually, with some bumped up/colored characteristic - but I think that's the thing with a neutral headphone: there's a sense of the organic in them...

I recently fell into this music player rabbit hole, and after extensive testing, I'm down to Pure Music & Audirvana. In the current versions, these two seem fairly close to me: the differences: Audirvana seems to have a more analog / tube-like sound. Sometimes it seems that it makes the music...

  Thanks Bill! Will be on the lookout.   Also, do you have any experience with the ALO Island? Seems it has a similar sound signature. Also, since I have the 250 ohm version of the DT880, seems that the Island should be enough to power it. 

  Quite right Claritas. Agree with everything you've said. Having heard it, I agree that the K702 is lifeless, direct from out of a laptop's headphone out; however, the DT 880 Pro (250 ohm) isn't. Incidentally, I'm not the only one who's arrived at this conclusion with the DT 880. 

  Claritas, these are 250ohm, not 600 ohm. I too didn't expect this, but unless you're listening at insane levels, they actually sound pretty good through the Air's headphone out. 95% of classical music works well: the volume levels are too low for the remainder 5%, but this can be fixed with a...

The DT 880 Pro. 250 ohm. You'll get them for $185 on Amazon. They are incredible for classical - and since classical tends to be well recorded, I've never once heard any of the fabled treble sharpness on them. Plus, they run very well off my iPhone & Macbook Air, directly off the headphone out...

  Even I wanted to avoid flattening the pads, so I put the a think book / diary between clamps, at the point where the headband ends. This stretches the headband, but doesn't put any pressure on the pads.    Incidentally, I think manually stretching the headband every few hours works better...

  About the clamping, just manually stretch out the headband slightly, a few times, on a few occasions - that did the trick for me. Plus, I just put a small diary where the headband meets the clamps: this also stretches them out and I think 2-3 days of doing it fixed things for me. Please note...

  I completely agree. You know the moment when everything sounds perfect, and because you're not missing anything musically, there's nothing that prompts you to go in for that next upgrade. I'm in that stage of bliss with the DT880. Sure, you can always find the shiny new thing to lust over...

My DT 800's are barely a week old, and one of my velour pads is already showing signs of wear - in fact, at one place, if I look carefully, I can even see the cloth underneath, at the point where a section of the velour is going in the opposite direction to the fall of the cloth. Also, the foam...

Thanks Ian, that's a very cool video.   I noticed you've put up a video on Mastered for iTunes: what are your views on that? Subjectively, I I find it sounding about the same quality as my CD rips, so am quite tempted to start buying all my classical music using that.

Claritas, you were absolutely right; nothing wrong with the phones, just a source problem. I'm guessing 320kbps streaming is not all it's made out to be.   When I hear it the music on a Mastered for iTunes track, or straight from CD, the sound is so much cleaner, and there is zero distortion...

Ah, thank you Claritas! That could be it.    I was listening on Rdio, though it transmits at 320kbps, and I was under the impression there's hardly any quality loss at that bitrate.    About the 650, if I like the sound of the HD 201, do you think I'll like the 650? Can't find a way to...

This typically happens at the peak of her voice. Is this normal? Has anyone else experience this, or do I need to take it to Sennheiser for replacement.   I've seen this when they're powered directly from my Macbook Air or iPhone, as well as when powered from my Miniwatt amp.   Also, an...