[Cyrilix]

I'm a few hours away from clicking the order button on these headphones, but I haven't read too much about them unamped. I won't have the budget for an amp until a few months later (looking to get an M^3 with STEPS), but how are they unamped? Coming from my MS-1s, would they sound disappointing? No soundstage? No improvement at all? Lack of detail/muddy? Or would they just be good, just not yet at its full potential.

More generally, what I'm getting at is...coming from unamped MS-1s and going to unamped DT880s, would that be an improvement for at least the next few months, or would it be a downgrade?

 

[Andresin]

FWIW.. I haven't tried the DT880 unamped, but I seriously doubt it would be close to as good as the MS1 unamped. At least the DT531 sounds very slow and congested unamped compared to the MS1 unamped. Of course this might partly be due to differencies in the general sound of the headphones, but I don't think the DT531 should be this bad. I don't really know yet though, since I don't have a high quality amp to try them on. My PA2v2 don't match well with the DT531. Just increases the bass without demuddyfieing it, and they still sound pretty congested. The MS1 improve nicely with the PA2v2 though

.

So, I think you're in for a disappointing few months

. They'll probably be listenable though. Also there is the not so slight possibility that I'm totally wrong.

 

[labrat]

Deleted.

 

[Cyrilix]

Quote:

Originally Posted by labrat What will you connect them to? I have connected them to both the iPod and the iRiver iHP-140 headphone-out, and they give sound. But these outputs lack the power to exhibit the dynamics and the volume these headphones can display, and it will just sound "flat", as described in another thread about the exact same theme here in Head-Fi. Try using the search-tools first, you can find a lot of info about your questions that have been answered before.

I've read tons of threads on the DT880. I just didn't figure that it would be easy to get info on unamped DT880, which is why I ask.

I will be using a M-Audio Revo 5.1, not a portable source.

 

[Andresin]

The Revo headphone out is pretty well amped. Or so I've heard. My brother thinks it works great for his HD555 anyway. Not as hard to drive as DT880:s, bit still.

 

[silence57]

880s at 250ohms are harder to drive than my 300ohm Senn 650s. Not-amped, skip it.

 

[labrat]

Deleted.

 

[Cyrilix]

Quote:

Originally Posted by silence57 880s at 250ohms are harder to drive than my 300ohm Senn 650s. Not-amped, skip it.

Do you have personal experience with the sound coming from unamped DT880s? If you do, please tell me about it.

 

[Veniogenesis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyrilix Do you have personal experience with the sound coming from unamped DT880s? If you do, please tell me about it.

I've owned a DT880 in the past and tried it unamped. It sounds very dry. The extension is mediocre on both the treble and bass ends. The sound is very thin and anemic; it almost sounds "sour".

I would strongly recommend an amplifier for the DT880. The DT880 is an amazing headphone but without good amplification, I find it quite hard to enjoy.

 

[YngwieJMalmsteen]

Properly amped they are the most neutral, balanced phones I've heard (with the possible exception of the he90), but without a good amp the low frequencies tend to be a little lifeless and underepresented. For this reason I find that senns (600/650) tend to "scale down" somewhat better despite also suffering from the dynamics issue.

Senn HD-595 does very well without amplification. Not as smooth or "clean" sounding as the DT 880 but the balance is actually very similar.

 

[Cyrilix]

Thanks for the comments, guys. Looks like I'm in for a few depressing months, but I'm willing to give it a try.

 

[kramer5150]

I for one was not impressed with them under-amped. Demo'd them with my guzzler Gmoy (tweeked for Grado synnergy), and they were a bit conjested and the bass was unimpressive. Plugged them into an SR71 and the difference was night/day.

Garrett

 

[moj0]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyrilix Do you have personal experience with the sound coming from unamped DT880s? If you do, please tell me about it.

I used the DT880 out of a soundstorm and sony network walkman for a month... The walkman was less louder. It had great vocals and soundstage--this has been pointed out in many expert reviews.

Driving unamped sure limits how loud you can listen. Beginning, i had no problems with it being underpowerd; i was busy getting blown away by listening to my music collection from A-Z. By the end of 1 month i felt the pinch to go higher in terms of quality and power, ie need for amp power..
I must totally agree with the following comment:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Veniogenesis I've owned a DT880 in the past and tried it unamped. It sounds very dry. The extension is mediocre on both the treble and bass ends. The sound is very thin and anemic; it almost sounds "sour". I would strongly recommend an amplifier for the DT880. The DT880 is an amazing headphone but without good amplification, I find it quite hard to enjoy.

BTW my opinion comes from novice experience only--I listened to good headphones without an amp!! Before DT880 i listend to sennheiser hd497 unamped.

Its great for watching DVDs!

Finally, listening unamped for a while before getting an amp --you'll only experience sweet sound...despite being dry, sour, thin & anemic, and not close to 100% potential.

 

[Spad]

I've used an 880 unamped from a PowerBook G4 fairly often while organizing my iTunes files. I don't know about your source, but I could easily live with the PB/880 if I had to for a while. IMO, the DT880 is one of the best bargains in headphones, and when amped I rate it between the SA5000 and HD650. I think most would agree that this is very good company indeed.

Another current thread mentions that Jan Meier has them for $210 shipped! I haven't checked, but if so I'd be all over them.

 

[BigD]

Soon I'll post some brief impression between my mcintosh pre-amp (head-amp built-in) and sherwood cdp. Of course, that's when I get them from Jan sooooon. Both units have headphone level out.