Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrvile /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I actually think the opposite...I owned the DT880 for a month then promptly sold it because its highs were too shrill. I would personally avoid Sylvania tubes to use with the DT880 as they have a bit more emphasis on the treble (which is great with Senns).
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It may be strictly due to listening preferences, but I am frequently puzzled when other Head-Fiers call the highs on the DT880 "shrill," or their bass somehow deficient. When you say "shrill" do you mean "harsh" and/or "grating" on the ears? If so, then that was never my experience with the DT880 over an 8-month period. Nor did I ever feel that the DT880 lacked bass. (I did/do, however, think that the DT880 (2003) lacked lower-to-mid midrange body, which was why I eventually sold mine.)
With respect to Sylvania tubes, I disagree with your statement, too, that "they have a bit more emphasis in the treble." My impressions of Sylvania tubes are that they tend to be pretty even, balanced and "tight" sounding across the frequency spectrum.
Well, anyway, I realize that my wife is more sensitive to treble than I am, so maybe I can relate to--although never completely understand--a Head-Fier's wincing at the treble response of the DT880.
Along another vein: for you, the listener, does affinity for a given headphone consist mainly in wanting to hear (a ) the headphones the way they were voiced by the designer/maker, or (b) the way one's listening tastes dictate?
If one buys cans, like the DT880, whose sonic signature is known
a priori to be primarily extended (or, if you will, slightly "forward" in the treble), then why should he immediately set about to "tame" this sonic trait (which is perhaps the capstone of the cans' design)? Rather, why not exploit it, instead? If every headphone must sound, for example, "Sennheiser-ish" in order suit my listening tastes, then why would I wish to stray outside that (self-imposed) listening constraint, acquire another manufacturer's product, then proceed, for instance, to try to make the DT880 sound like the HD600?
Too, it might boil down to "brand loyalty" or "preferring a brand name 'house sound'" in league with one's listening preferences. I very much enjoyed my listening time with both the HD600 and the DT880--the latter more than the former : ) --but I enjoyed each with respect to its own, unique set of apparent, sonic design parameters. Personally, I've come to decidedly prefer the Ultrasone Proline 2500, but that doesn't diminish the genuine pleasure I derived from either the HD600 or DT880 when given opportunity to audition each of them at length. The SA5000 were headphones that I learned to like over time; the ATH-A900LTD, on the other hand, were headphones I enjoyed rght off the bat, then subsequently enjoyed less and less.
It's often a strange sequence of decisions that gets us from here to there in this funny world of audio-/head-philia. I can't be too sure about myself, either: does my preference for the 2500 exist in its own right (i.e., as a pure element), or is it a compound of all the partial preferences I've developed from my exposure to other headphones antecedent to the 2500? Probably a bit of both, and perhaps more due to the latter than the former--at least for me.
This discussion also raises the issue of objectivity versus subjectivity: do I like something for what it is in itself, or for what it is to me?
