[Policar]

I'm about to buy a pair of Beyerdyanmic DT990 headphones to essentially replace a set of Grado 80is that are uncomfortable and that are slowly making me deaf (even though they sound fine).  I mostly listen to MP3s and do video editing.
 
I've heard that the 600 ohm model is the most highly regarded.  I have a Sony STR-DE185 receiver I got free and I was wondering if I could use that to drive these headphones.  I think it has a separate amplifier for headphones and should be loud enough.  My only concern is that my Grados actually sound worse out of the receiver (which is connected via a 1/8th to RCA adapter to my laptop) than they do straight out of my laptop, kind of fuzzier or more muddled.
 
Is this going to be a worthwhile set up?  Or should I get something entirely different?  Thanks.

 

[jupitreas]

The Sony receiver might have a relatively high output impedance, and this might be why the 32 Ohm Grado sounds muddy. High output impedance in an amp often messes with the low frequencies so this makes sense. If this is indeed the case, the 600 Ohm Beyerdynamic should not be affected by this issue since the output impedance of the amp is still going to be much lower than 600 Ohm.
 
With all this said, I do not have access to any specs or performance measurements of the Sony unit so please take the above for what it is - some educated guesswork.

 

[Rawrbington]

i'd just give it a shot.  those headphone jacks on receivers have been hit or miss for me.  Since the sony was free give it a try.  if its not great  then hit up some thrift shops/pawn shops/craigslist/garage sales/ebay for different ones.  typically some early early 90s and older have worked better for me than more recent stuff. 
 
i power mine fine out of a pioneer circa 1991. 

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
The receiver has a DAC in it, it's probably not a very good DAC, which is why the Grados were sounding like that. Big noise floor, jitter, and simply not good conversion. It will power the Beyers, but I would expect similar junk sound from it. Consider a new DAC/AMP. Beyers don't need much. A Fiio E9 for $100 will drive those 600ohm Beyers with authority. Just take a 3.5mm jack to 3.5mm jack from laptop -> Fiio E9 -> DT990.
 
Very best,

 

[blacknile]

I completely agree with this comment by jupitreas. I have a pair of DT880 600ohm that work nicely out of my integrated amplifier's jack (220ohm impedance). My old Alessandro MS1 (32ohm) instead sounded way better out of the PC's headphone jack. I'd say it's a problem of impedance mismatch.
 
Quote:

The Sony receiver might have a relatively high output impedance, and this might be why the 32 Ohm Grado sounds muddy. High output impedance in an amp often messes with the low frequencies so this makes sense. If this is indeed the case, the 600 Ohm Beyerdynamic should not be affected by this issue since the output impedance of the amp is still going to be much lower than 600 Ohm.
 
With all this said, I do not have access to any specs or performance measurements of the Sony unit so please take the above for what it is - some educated guesswork.

 

 

[Myxomatosis]

I mostly listen to MP3s [...]

If you listen to MP3s, you're gonna hate these headphones, sorry to say. The Beyers will take any sound issue and make it ten times bigger.

 

[Policar]

Hmm...I take it these will be very different from my grados, then?  I also have ultimate ears triple fi IEMs on my iPod and don't mind the sound of MP3s with them.
 
I'm also hopefully getting a decent turntable, so I want some nice headphones to use with that, but my primary source of music will be mp3s from an apple laptop.

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

Hmm...I take it these will be very different from my grados, then?  I also have ultimate ears triple fi IEMs on my iPod and don't mind the sound of MP3s with them.
 
I'm also hopefully getting a decent turntable, so I want some nice headphones to use with that, but my primary source of music will be mp3s from an apple laptop.

Heya,
 
Different from Grados? Absolutely. In a single word: bass.
 
(And the stark loss of mids)

Check out the DT880 instead.
 
Very best,
 

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

If you listen to MP3s, you're gonna hate these headphones, sorry to say. The Beyers will take any sound issue and make it ten times bigger.
 

I agree with this..at least with the DT-880. It seems like they instantly made 30% of my collection sounds like garbage. Yes, even lossless!
Not that I'm complaining.

 

[NimbleRabit]

Quote:

If you listen to MP3s, you're gonna hate these headphones, sorry to say. The Beyers will take any sound issue and make it ten times bigger.
 

This is completely ridiculous, please don't put much stock into this statement.  As long as your MP3's have a reasonably high bitrate, it won't make a significant difference.  If your music is badly mastered or has any problems the Beyers will certainly point it out much more, but using mp3's isn't a problem (this can and will occur with lossless/flac just as easily).

 

[fabio-fi]

 
Quote:

Hmm...I take it these will be very different from my grados, then?  I also have ultimate ears triple fi IEMs on my iPod and don't mind the sound of MP3s with them.
 

Yes, two different beasts. 
 

 

[Myxomatosis]

This is completely ridiculous, please don't put much stock into this statement.  As long as your MP3's have a reasonably high bitrate, it won't make a significant difference.  If your music is badly mastered or has any problems the Beyers will certainly point it out much more, but using mp3's isn't a problem (this can and will occur with lossless/flac just as easily).

Really?

I'll compress all my FLAC files to MP3 then...! Why bothering to use lossless FLAC filess when 128kbps MP3 files are the same!?


Seriously, MP3s are bad and they will butcher your music, like it or no!

 

[TMRaven]

That sounds like a sensationalist attitude to me.  320, 256 or even sometimes 128kbps mp3 will sound great, as long as the original recording and mastering are great as well.  Good quality headphones usually bring out flaws in the latter, and not the former.

 

[tdockweiler]

Man I need to not post when I'm dead tired.
For the record, I didn't mean to sound like all mp3s will sound horrible on the DT-990/880. Yes, it depends on how well recorded they were.
I think the DT-880 was the one headphone that made me want to re-rip all my lower quality tracks just to be safe.
I think when I did a blind test between FLAC and 320kbps mp3 I felt that 320kbps was perfectly OK. I'll need to do the test again.
Since hard drives are cheap, ALAC/FLAC or WAV is best!
 
The thing is though, is that even lossless tracks can often sound just horrible. It depends on the recording. Many classical music CDs can often be extremely bad.
 
If there is anything bad about the recording, the DT-880 will be revealing of this. Not so much because of the bit-rate.
Of course I do think 128kbps will still sound bad. Using a DT-880 (or any $200+) headphone with 128kbps mp3 doesn't make any sense to me.
Sometimes I've lost the CD though and can't re-rip them, so it's better than nothing.
 
With the DT-880 it's easy to weed out the bad stuff if you need to re-rip them. Sometimes it doesn't really help much if the recording is horrible to begin with.
 

 

[Rawrbington]

i agree that mp3 is not the problem.  its more about the recording/mastering process.  yes the beyers do reveal flaws but so does every good headphone i've heard.