[RobertR]

I got the beyer 880 and wonder why there is almost no mention of it in these threads like when it was introduced To my ears its as good as my er4 and I think deserves more publicity. Considering the price its a bargain.

 

[joelongwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertR I got the beyer 880 and wonder why there is almost no mention of it in these threads like when it was introduced To my ears its as good as my er4 and I think deserves more publicity. Considering the price its a bargain.

Agreed!

 

[blessingx]

Yeah, it has minority status (possibly because of availability in the U.S.), but when I did some searchs on the DT880s a couple months ago there were quite a few threads. When it was introduced, if I remember correctly, group consenses here swung quite favoribly towards it, and away from the HD600, before leveling out a bit as equals/near equals.

Very nice comparison by AdamZuf in the Featured Reviews section, BTW.

 

[av98m2]

Probably because its no longer the flavour of the month here and that you cannot upgrade the cable unless you're willing to perform major surgery on the 880s. Otherwise its an excellent pair of cans.

 

[wallijonn]

Some of us still promote it heavily, but once it was judged to not have whomping bass and has high amp demands many may have lost interest. The fact that it is perceived as boring because of its flat response did not help its cause. But some of us prefer flat, neutral with an overall balanced sound to air guitar rockabilly rap techno ramped up midranges and screeching highs.

 

[nierika]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallijonn But some of us prefer flat, neutral with an overall balanced sound to air guitar rockabilly rap techno ramped up midranges and screeching highs.

Is that so? I actually prefer my "techno" (not "the air guitar rockabilly rap" kind) with a flat, neutral presentation.

 

[wallijonn]

Many people want DT770 bass from their DT880 when playing Techno. Hey, I listen to Techno on my DT880s too. It just doesn't have the slam of a Grado. Nothing wrong with that. It's just that some people want more bite out of their DT880s than it was made to provide.

 

[hottyson]

The Beyerdynamic DT-880 has tremendous and accurate bass if you drive it hard. It has spectacular highs as well. It can reproduce the female voice, and reverberation better than any headphone that I have ever heard. For a very small portion of my music it is my best headphone.

Give Jewel a listen through this headphone and you will fall in love. (Most likely with Jewel's voice.) Also give Enya a listen with this headphone and you will find it very pleasing. For some detailed listening you might try pairing it with a hefty amp such as Ray Samuels Audio Emmeline XP-7. Perhaps a PPA or similar muscle would work along the same lines.

For extreme bass hook it up to a Marantz that has all three tone controls (Bass, Midrange, and Treble controls) and play some hip-hop or electronic music. If you turn up the bass a couple of notches you will see just what kind of damage the DT-880 is capable of. (BTW, you can do this with the Beyerdynamic DT-770 if you want a lobotomy. But I don’t like the DT-770)

The DT-880 headphone cable does not need upgrading. Some have tried some experimenting but usually conclude that there is no improvement with a cable upgrade.

 

[ITZBITZ]

The DT880 is an excellent headphone. Driven with a PPA, there is plenty of power to bring out the bottom end. I listen to Electronica (think psytrance, electronic-dub, ambient, non-vocal) and also rock (Ben Folds, Barenaked Ladies, others) and these headphones do very well. In listening tests, I used a variety of female vocal material (you know, girls that don't scream such as Fiona Apple, etc.) and the clarity was incredible.

POWER seems to be the ticket with these headphones, not volume. For some rock music, bass boost is sometimes useful (6-12dB) but not required. But with the bass boost enabled, the lows kick in hard and fast and you realize that the headphone has plenty of bass potential without getting too loose and blubbery sounding.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

I thought the DT880 had a very nice bass, with good power and impact, and this is coming from a guy who mainly listens to heavy metal. In fact I liked the sound all around, it seemed very balanced, detailed, and accurate. My only complaint would be that it is like the anti-DT531 in that it just doesn't get you into the music, I spent more time analyzing each part of the sound, no matter the system I stuck it in. If I had infinite funds, I would buy a DT880, simply because of their accuracy, they look to be a great tool for testing out other gear, and seeing how it changes. I also liked the typically great Beyer build quality and comfort. I get a more musically fufilling experience, whether listening to metal/rock, classical, or techno, from the CD3K woody, but I can definitely see the proper place in one's lineup for a DT880. It did do quite well with my Gilmore V1, I actually liked the sound of that better than the Grace 901 with these cans, though a great tube amp really brings out the mids (of course that goes for any cans) for the best overall sound I've heard from them.

 

[Sisyphos]

I do agree that the DT880 are really good sounding headphones.
They are more comfortable than the HD650 and their sound qualities are on a similar level.

 

[TMC]

It's an often overlooked headphone these days in favor of Senn 580/600 which I personally enjoy less due to the somewhat recessed treble. I find DT880 to be very well balanced in frequency response with a quite detailed presentation without being overly analytical. I've read some comments about them having too much treble, which I've personally only noticed when playing a few of my brightest recordings. The treble sparkles especially with cymbals and won't be too much unless the recording is also. As long as you don't plan on using them straight out of portables/soundcards or are looking for thumping bass, I can fully recommend them.

 

[lini]

Hmhmhm, I don't know... The DT880 didn't seem to work for me - to my ears it just sounded somewhat thinnish and lifeless, while I was hoping for a refined DT531...

Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini

 

[TMC]

lini: Did you use the DT880 out of your HA-1 mkII? I'm using that right now and I don't find it thin. But then again I expect the leader of team groovalizer to enjoy more bass than me

 

[raif]

yah, the dt880 doesn't have whompin bass, like the hd 580/600/650, sony cd3k, grado rs-1/ps-1/ or even hp-1000.