[PiccoloNamek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMahler /img/forum/go_quote.gif Learn from my mistake. I bought the W5000 last week........I nominate them for worst headphone I've ever heard at any price. They don't sound anything like the ER4. First of all, the ER4 have a fairly balanced sound. The absence of bass in the W5000 is awful. I'm not even a big bass head, but these had no bottom at all. NONE......to my ears, the roll off began around 120 hz and I couldn't hear anything below 50. The upper mids hurt my ears. I will get slaughtered on this site for saying this, but I honestly prefer the sound of the stock ipod ear buds to the audio technica W5000.........don't buy these!

Although I don't think they are the worst I've heard, I too would not rank them very highly. The upper midrange is bumped and the low end is tubby because it's a closed can.

 

[oak3x]

Where can you purchase the 600 ohm version of the DT880?

 

[KT88]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oak3x /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well it seems that many don't consider the DT880 as neutral. If this is the case, which headphone would you consider? How about impressions on the W5000??? My reference IEM are Etymotic, which I simply love the sound!!!

The W5000 is a nice can, its very detailed and fast. However, it just has almost no bass which makes the sound very cold and analytical, not fun at all

 

[Pibborando]

I've just tried EQing (in Rockbox) to make the 880's response as neutral as possible. Basically I looked at Headroom's response graph for the 880s and adjusted accordingly.

My settings are as follows

LS: 1.5dB, 160Hz, 1.0Q (this boosts the gradual falloff of low frequencies starting at 160Hz)
PK: -0.5dB, 300Hz, 0.7Q (slightly reduces midbass hump)
PK: 0.5dB, 1,500Hz, 0.5Q (this boosts the little dip at 1,500Hz, affecting only a small area)
PK: -3.0dB, 8,000Hz, 0.5Q (this helps take care of the big spike around 8,000Hz)
HS: -5.0dB, 16,000Hz, 1.0Q (this attenuates the big treble spike starting at 16,000Hz)

The treble is more under control now, and there's finally some real satisfying bottom end. I think vocals are a bit smoother and more intimate too. Turning the EQ off, they become noticeably thinner and tipped up in the treble. I like the change.

edit: The change TO the EQ, not back from it.

edit2: Also changed the precut to -1.5dB to avoid clipping.

 

[Art Garfunkel]

The DT880's are close to neutral except in one area...they do overemphasize the treble just a bit, which does make them seem very alive and detailed.
I would prefer this presentation over a tipped up upper midrange/lower treble any day, however.
Other than that, the 880's are very close to neutral indeed.

Agree 100%. The bit of 8-10k treble favouring lends itself to an airy presentation, as opposed to spikes into the ear around 5-7k (K812/HD800).

 

[NotJeffBuckley]

While you're at it, tell him to watch out for sub-prime mortgage investments, they're bad eggs and trouble's a-brewing in 2008!

But as long as I too am bumping the ancient thread, I reckon DT-880/600ohm have good neutrality in much of their frequency range with some hype to the treble that makes them airier and more detailed than flatter contemporaries. What is contemporary to a DT-880 though is a fair question, since it's a 40 year old driver technology (even if there have been some revisions over time). I consider it to be a stellar performer at its price these days. Back when this thread was made, it was a lot closer in price parity to the others being discussed here; now it's half or lower versus those, and still made in Germany. Love me some Beyers

(I guess it's only fair to note you can get AKG K701 for a song these days compared to then, too, but production on them moved some time back to overseas factories and in my opinion their less expensive "nice headphones" like the K701 suffered somewhat from that move in terms of QC, maybe? - though I give credit to the Slovakian-made models like the K712, love those... Do they justify a substantial price premium over the DT-880 as they cost now, well, I dunno, the DT-880/600 are one of the best performing headphones I've ever used under $200 for sure!)