[donunus]

Cerumenator,
Since you were asking about his a700s, i'll chime in with another similar can.

Ive had the a900s and I got excited for a day or two when I got them. In the end they were nasal and inorganic with a hollow sound typical of a closed headphone. If I were to rate headphones with a thumbs up or down, the a900s are a thumbs down.

 

[ast]

to OP:

come think of it, SA5000 should be a perfect fit for what you are looking for. I own both DT880 and SA5000. To me SA5000 has most of the goodies --- detail, speed, neutrality, as DT880, PLUS much better bass.



.

 

[nickchen]

If you look for involving groove, the DT880 is simply the wrong gear. It shines with the slower and the more "ernest" genres and gives them a very laidback audiophile touch. Fast paced music or rock sounds ridiculous with the DT880, that is Grado/Alessandro or AT territory.

 

[pataburd]

If you end up being ultimately disappointed with the DT880/2005, rest assured: you're not alone, believe me. Compared to the DT880/2003, the DT880/2005 were an abysmal disappointment to me and many others on these threads.

You simply may not like the DT880, and that's fine: no one says you "have to." I've had a similar experience with the Darkvoice 337 amplifier. While, in general, it's a well-lauded and desirable piece of gear on Head-Fi, it's just not my cup of tea at all.

Part of this experience is getting to know what you like, even when your likes and dislikes don't necessarily agree with the status quo.

 

[fuzydice]

Since there's some talk of a particular track and I've got some free time this morning...

A three-way headphone comparison of "Them Bones" by Alice In Chains.



-- Beyerdynamic DT880 2005 250ohm, stock (1000+ hours use)
-- Grado SR-60 with comfies, stock (500+ hours use)
-- Sennheiser HD580 with HD600 grills & HD650 cable (1000+ hours use)
-- Little Dot MKIII amplifier with stock power tubes and Mullard M8100 driver tubes (all burned in, gain left at '10' for all 3 headphones, volume roughly equalized for each headphone before comparison).
-- Moodlab Concept DAC
-- flac file->audacious->alsa->toslink->dac->amp->headphone

HD580:
- hi-hats burried slightly relative to sr60/dt880 on first verse
- no air at all in the highs relative to sr60 or dt880 -- sounds like everything is in a big black block & confined w/ the only release being laynes "I..."'s relative to dt880. Interesting given that these are not as in-your-face w/ the guitar as either the sr60 or dt880.
- bass guitar a bit muddy relative to sr60/dt880 on verses, though stands out a bit more on the chorus.
- More punch than dt880 on kick drums; less punch than sr60.

SR60:
- hi-hats more prominent than hd580, more air. Doesn't sound like all the sound is confined to a big block. more like painting the sound across your face instead.
- guitar has more crunch, in-your-face sound
- soundstage as created by laynes vocals ("I...") is pretty close to the hd580's despite how much more in-your-face the guitar is.
- punchier kick drums, definitely
- bass is slightly more recognizable during verses, less recognizable during chorus (opposite of hd580).

DT880:
- hi-hats about identical to sr60, never get lost in the chorus at all. On second verse, the hi-hats actually sound like they're made of metal (more detail?)
- the air in the hats and snare hits never let this sound like it's in a block as with the hd580, and the guitars aren't so close as to make you feel like the sound is being painted on your face like the sr60.
- guitar crunch is between sr60 and 580, though closer to hd580. Guitar is more in-your-face than the 580's but not as up front as the sr60.
- soundstage has depth of 580 & sr60 w/ laynes "I...."'s but also has some but of width that the other two do not seem to have.
- bass is about as recognizable on the verses as it is on the sr60's, but also recognizable on the chorus like on the 580--the best of both worlds on this track. However, the kick drums are not as punchy as the sr60 or hd580.

My personal conclusion: The DT880 is more enjoyable than the HD580 for this track, but neither is quite as enjoyable as the SR60 due to punchiness of the kick drums and given that I like the faster, harder Alice In Chains songs to slap me across the face a bit

. I'd take the DT880 or the SR60 over the HD580 any day of the week on this track.

[size=xx-small]Note that all of this is for this one track only. Do not extrapolate to other songs, artists, genres, etc.[/size]

 

[Cerumenator]

OK, so far 10 people ventured with an opinion on 'break in' on the DT-880's and 2 said there was a difference in theirs, and 8 said no - but not all 8 stated that they actually owned a pair themselves, so....

I'm hearing a difference, the bass is def opening up. No doubts.

This experience is also confirming a belief I've, and others, have had about modern recorded music - the sonics mostly suck. For rock, anyway. Compressed all to H-E -double hockey sticks and back, or recorded in lowfi to begin with to achieve a certain asthetic effect. Rock records just sound like TRASH nowadays!

One particular revelation - a 1991 album by Single Gun Theory - bought it brand new, and dusted it off for evaluation on the DT-880's. This record was done very, very well, I think. Incredibly strong bass on this, one of the earliest trip-hop recordings. Oddly, these Beyers sound great with this CD. It handles the prodigious bass on this album very well - yet cries 'unkle' on so many other, less demanding recordings.

But they are doing better. Maybe 20 - 25 hours of break in so far. The improvement is there - I don't think it is mental gymnastics on my part.

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cerumenator /img/forum/go_quote.gif 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?

It's definitely not you. They are laid back (yes, polite is accurate) in the upper midrange and lower treble. They are lacking the snap in the areas where you require it to make those tunes punch through and move. You either get used to the sound and crank up the volume a bit or look elsewhere. I'm now able to listen to the 880 and appreciate what it does do well while ignoring some of the things it does that bothered me initially.

 

[kingmajix]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beagle /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm now able to listen to the 880 and appreciate what it does do well while ignoring some of the things it does that bothered me initially.

I was almost there myself. It is truly a great headphone and, after listening to it steadily for a few days, I was able to appreciate it and ignore the things that bothered me. After switching back to my 770, though, I realized that it was more "fun" for the music I listen to (hip hop/electronic).

No matter how much I tried I just couldn't settle on the 880.

Scott

 

[donunus]

its pointless to force oneself to ignore annoying faults. Its against the rules of this hobby to stop listening to the flaws of a headphone unless those flaws are pleasant to you.

 

[Ub3rMario]

I don't know why but my experience has been completely different than the majority with my dt880's. Maybe because they're the 2003 version. I find them to play rock (not really hard rock, but like classic rock) pretty well. I haven't had any real let downs and they seem very well rounded to me. I'm not feeling any very recessed frequencies either. Am i just too dumb to realize it? Maybe my ears are just untrained? Though i have played piano for about 13 years so I wouldn't think that's the case. I'm kinda freakin out that I'm having a really different experience haha.

 

[pataburd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ub3rMario /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't know why but my experience has been completely different than the majority with my dt880's. Maybe because they're the 2003 version. I find them to play rock (not really hard rock, but like classic rock) pretty well. I haven't had any real let downs and they seem very well rounded to me. I'm not feeling any very recessed frequencies either. Am i just too dumb to realize it? Maybe my ears are just untrained? Though i have played piano for about 13 years so I wouldn't think that's the case. I'm kinda freakin out that I'm having a really different experience haha.

Mine and not a few others' experience is similar to yours, UB3M. To my ears, the DT880/2003 absolutely "crush" the 2005 model in virtually every listening department. And while I do concede that the 2005 version did succeed in filling in a lower midrange/upper bass dip in the frequency spectrum of the 2003 version, that came at the disproportionate and correspondingly irreconcilable loss of both high frequency and low frequency extension. By comparison, I found the 2005 version "blah," embarrassing and unworthy of the name "DT880" as I had previously known and experienced it with the 2003 version.

 

[ph0rk]

I listen to a lot of my rock on an HD650. If it isn't exciting, it is the song's fault!

 

[nickchen]

Sometimes, I would think about equipping my 2003 DT880s with the 600 ohm systems from the manufacture. I really like it, but comparison to my Alessandros shows one major weakness: That thing is dead slow, mostly due to its greater affinity towards deep bass (the 2005 version is better in that respect).

Finally dropped that thought of getting 600 ohm systems, the improvements over the stock version only seem to be minor, according to several silverbacks. Moreover, the copper of coil systems seem to be so thin that it's very likely to be grilled when DIY-soldering them. I've heared rumours that even experienced Beyer workers produce lots of wastage when it goes to assembling the 600 ohm cans.

Anyway, I guess I'll put my Alessandros aside and spend this evening with my Beyer again. Its relaxed smoothness is something the Alessandros will never display (and also not the 2005 DT880).

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickchen /img/forum/go_quote.gif Finally dropped that thought of getting 600 ohm systems, the improvements over the stock version only seem to be minor, according to several silverbacks.

Minor?

I would love to see these threads.

 

[nickchen]

Do a search after "DT880 600", you get only 20 hits or so.

If a 2000+ member from 2004 states the differences to be minor in direct comparison, that weights for me more than a "best can since invention of fire" statement by a relativly unexperienced user from 2007.

It's all a question what is to be regarded as major and minor though. Being member of team earthed, I hear no differences between cables and only very little differences between amps of the same quality rank. Vice versa, sound differences between the 250 ohm and the 600 ohm versions will propably be "night and day" for team cable.