[Cerumenator]

Just got them today, I'm listening to them now as I write this.

Couldn't pass up the deal Amazon is selling them for, they were $174 on 8/31, I checked the price on 9/1 and they went up to $214, so I clicked to buy before they went up anymore. Seems every other reputable place sells them for $279-299.

I'm not terribly impressed. Verging on full-fledged disappointment, wishing I got the Grado SR-225's for $200. Thought I was getting a good deal on these at $80 off regular price.

Anyone know what Amazon would think about trading them in for the Grado SR225's? If they are a direct seller of those, of course....

I know it is recommended the DT-880's burn in for 100-200 hours. My question is this: How MUCH will they improve? Like 20-30% ? Or like night and day? Because, from what I'm hearing right now, my $65 Sony VR-6 sounds better to me, overall. It's like there's a switch somewhere I'm forgetting to flip on.

Let's see... the closed VR-6 has better bass. The DT-880's have better detail, timbre prob more realistic, better separation - but all at lower volumes. Once I punch up the bass a bit, they don't seem to tolerate it at all. The overall experience is a bit too clinical for my tastes, just not that engaging.

Example: Alice in Chains "Them Bones" -- know how that song just kicks off, like RIGHTNOW? The Beyer's are saying "umm, no thank you, we don't appreciate that kind of nonsense. Try some Bach."

Now listening to the Allman Brother's Live at Fillmore East, a recording well known for it's sonics, and the bass line in the track "Don't Keep Me Wonderin" is just begging to drill it's way into my brain, but these Beyer's won't let them.

I don't think of myself of a basshead. But on these... c'mon, these things are just plain POLITE. 16 years ago, I bought some DT-990's, and just remember how fantastic they were right out of the box. Maybe my ears are shot?

Using Foobar, FLACs, Yulong DAH1 mark DAC with its own headphone amp. Which is what I've been using for the VR-6's and Senn HD-555's.

OK, maybe these sound a little better than the VR-6's. I've been playing with the EQ a bit. Big V shape. I'm gonna get another beer and keep listening......

So yeah, I know they'll improve, but just how much?

 

[Caution]

generally speaking, burn in doesn't make a night and day difference, It's arguable that most of the difference heard is from getting used to the particular sound signature of the gear.

Unfortunately I felt the same way with the 880s until I got my self a tube amp, they really crave for tube amplification, else they just sound flat and unengaging as you mentioned.

Listen to the 880s for a week or so, and then have another listen to your v6s and see if your opinion still says the same. If you still don't like the 880s and don't want to fork out the $$ on a tube amp, you may be better off with a different set of cans.

 

[warpdriver]

These kinds of threads always go in one direction.

"I'm disappointed in my new cans"

answer 1:
- "give them a chance, they'll improve a lot and your ears will get used to it"
answer 2:
- "mine were flat sounding, and after 200 hours, they transformed"
- "check your source/amp, mine didn't come alive until I tried them on brand YXY"

I liked my DT880's but they never WOW'ed me. They were competent cans but I never had the OMG moments with them....I felt they were pretty good to evaluate recording quality, and soundstage of recordings but I never really LOVED them. Eventually I stopped using them and sold them. I do think they were better than SR225 which became more annoying to listen to even as they burned-in....so YMMV

The great amazon price almost tempted me to buy them again to give them a second chance but then I realized that I would never used them after I found the Swiss-Army knife of headphones, the Denons

 

[asher7323]

Mine just came in today too =)

Except the price changed from 174 the morning after I bought them, by lucky chance.

I'm really enjoying them so far, but the bass is definitely less than my Sony's. Running them through iBasso D2-Boa and equalizing a bit for the bass I think they are excellent. But does the rest sound 100$ better? Probably not, but I still like them.

If bass improves on burn in I would like that a lot, because I can definitely see where you are coming from. On my iPod I set EQ to electronic and I found that helped it quite a bit.

I'm going to burn them in while listening however so it's going to take a while, so if you rush the process please update us on the bass.

 

[Cerumenator]

Denons - Oh, about 10 years ago, back when they used to have headphone kiosks at Circut City, I bought a pair of $80 Denons after they blew away everything else on the the kiosk, up to and including those cans costing over twice as much. Left the place thinking I stole them.

I don't remember the model, they were smallish, closed, looked a lot like the current $20 Sony MDR-150's. Those were my main cans for about 3 years or so.

Reading a lot of good stuff about their new models. Checking out Amazon's return policy now. I just want something that makes me go WOW right out of the box, and improve even more as they burn in.

And my next purchase will be a tube amp, prob the Little Dot MKIII, or IV.

 

[Shahrose]

imo, dt880 has lean but great quality bass. the dt990 really hits the sweet spot. it keeps the detail, texture and extension of the dt880s, and raises the punch and volume.

 

[Punnisher]

I find them to be warm sounding yet highly detailed. Warmer than Grados, that's for sure.

I had my doubts about them but now I think they're excellent. My amp is a Corda 2Move.

 

[eruditass]

i really like them, when i turn them up loud they dont fatigue the hell out of me or bring one frequency to the front, save maybe a bit too much of the cymbals and treble. the mids and bass when i turn it up sound amazing. the grados i have listened to get way too fatiguing at higher volumes. at lower volumes i think the beyers sound worse than the grados i've heard.

fwiw i dont believe they changed at all with burnin. the only can that had a noticible change was the marshmallows.. boy did they suck before.

 

[QQQ]

Quote:

"Them Bones" -- know how that song just kicks off, like RIGHTNOW? The Beyer's are saying "umm, no thank you, we don't appreciate that kind of nonsense. Try some Bach."

Yes!! Brilliant way of describing what dt 880 exactly are!! They will always be like that.

 

[alavan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cerumenator /img/forum/go_quote.gif Using Foobar, [size=x-large]FLACs, Yulong DAH1 mark DAC [/size]with its own headphone amp. Which is what I've been using for the VR-6's and Senn HD-555's. OK, maybe these sound a little better than the VR-6's. I've been playing with the EQ a bit. Big V shape. I'm gonna get another beer and keep listening...... So yeah, I know they'll improve, but just how much?

This is terrible for DT880.

 

[cooperpwc]

Burn in did in fact make a day and night difference for me. When I first got my DT880s, they sounded like felt wrapped around my ears. 100 hours later they had opened right up. 200 hours and I think they were stable in their signature - and good.

Today they are supreme. Of course, USB Monica and the Earmax Pro intervened in the interim. (I never thought that the DT880s sounded warm enough with the MicroDAC but that's my tastes.)

 

[Corbet]

DT880s are considered a "neutral" headphone that can really gauge the quality of the recording. This can be good and bad - certain albums will sound AMAZING (anything from the Beatles), certain albums will sound boring.

Having said that, the jump from my SR-80s to DT880s was quite difficult. I loved my SR-80s and it was really hard to go from the Grado sound to DT880s. They're totally different headphones.

 

[wavoman]

I have both 880/250's and 880/600's. I don't think burn-in really changed much, to be honest.

In the consumer model (lower headband pressure) I think the 880/600's are only available on the beyer web site under the MANUFAKTUR program.

I like the 250's yea, but the 880/600 is something totally different. It solves all the OP's problems. My friends and I maintain a ranking, like major league baseball sandings, as we test HPs in 2-way battles, on classic rock, and classical. The 880/600's are gaining fast, battling Senn 600s and Grado GS1000's on classical, and AKG 701's and AT AD2K's on rock. (We are keeping the closed phones, the Ultrasones and the Denons, out of the battle for now).

The 880/600 may be the best (semi)-open, dynamic, circumaural HP for sale today.

[All testing was with stock cables. We are now about to re-cable everything. Of late, we have switched to the Head-Direct EF1 amp -- RCA clear top tube --for testing, with a Sony CDP].

 

[ast]

to OP: what you heard is the signature of DT880. I don't believe burn-in will make any difference. DT880 IS light on bass in terms of volume and impact, although some argue the quality/extension is there. What you get is the dead on neutrality or realism at mid range, i.e. human voices. It's not a perfect phone and especially not for bass lovers, for that you may want to look into Denon 5000/2000, RS-1 or HD650 for similar price range.

 

[alavan]

DT990 have a great bass(much better than HD650), may be you can try them.