[m_memmory]

I originally brought a pair of HD555 which was my first intorduction to the higher end sound available via headphones and were amazing to my ears - so much better then anything that I'd heard before up till that point.

Then I couldn't resist Dr Meir's pricing on the older DT880 and brought a pair that have just turned up and I'm listening to now (they must have about 20mins of burning in on at the moment!! lol) and I'm already thinking that these are wonderful - the step up from the Sennheiser doesn't seem a huge step but already I can see these being my 1st choice listening.

The bass seems to be there on all the music I've listened to already (and I've tried some classical and some harder rock to test) Maybe it's just that I'm getting used to listening to music as close to the way it was recorded but these sound great to me. Also so much more comfortable then the senns (and I thought they were really comfortable!)

 

[fewtch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by m_memmory Then I couldn't resist Dr Meir's pricing on the older DT880 and brought a pair that have just turned up and I'm listening to now (they must have about 20mins of burning in on at the moment!! lol) and I'm already thinking that these are wonderful - the step up from the Sennheiser doesn't seem a huge step but already I can see these being my 1st choice listening.

I didn't think they were much of a step up from my HD580s at first either... keep listening

. In particular, try some well recorded classical, even if you don't like the genre. At some point I realized the transparency was so good that if I closed my eyes, I could forget that I was listening to a recording and feel like a member of the audience (and this is with entry level supporting gear). No other headphones have done that for me... not the HD580, not HD600, not K501, not Grados, nothing.

 

[m_memmory]

Thanks for the tip - I used to listen to a fair amount of classical music when I was younger (there was a good mate of mine who was just amazing on the piano and I used to just sit there during dinner times at school and listen to him playing whatever he happened to be learning at the time... man it was bliss!) but I dropped off listening to it as I got a bit older.

Keep thinking that I should get back into some as it's so relaxing and I was thinking that I'd post a message in the music forum for some recommendations - I don't know much about any classical composers/pieces or anything.

Now listening to some of the acoustic albums that I've got though (like MTV Unplugged) and they sound blissful through the DT880s as well. In fact I would go so far as to say that it sounds more relaxed, laid back & "live" feeling then I've ever heard it before....

 

[Max Minimum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by m_memmory I originally brought a pair of HD555... Also so much more comfortable then the senns (and I thought they were really comfortable!)

I have the HD595's and the DT 880's. To me the Beyers are more comfortable on the ears, perhaps because they exert less clamping force. But the weight of the 'phones winds up resting on a discreet spot on the top of my head (probably also due to the lack of clamping force, at least partially), making it a bit sore after extended listening. Do you, or anyone else, have this problem and is there a fix for it?

After eq'ing the sound to reduce parts of the treble, I prefer them to the 595's for most tracks. Interestingly, because I've never been a huge believer in judging 'phones by graphs, the biggest spike shown on Headroom's fr chart for the 880's seems to be the culprit. Targeting (mostly) the frequencies just below the highest range seems to take the slight harshness (to my ears) out while still leaving them lively. Now that I look at it, I think my post-eq graph for the 880's would look a lot like the one Headroom shows for the HD650. Perhaps that's what I really want. Or am I becoming a deluded 'chart reader'?

 

[m_memmory]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Max Minimum I have the HD595's and the DT 880's. To me the Beyers are more comfortable on the ears, perhaps because they exert less clamping force. But the weight of the 'phones winds up resting on a discreet spot on the top of my head (probably also due to the lack of clamping force, at least partially), making it a bit sore after extended listening. Do you, or anyone else, have this problem and is there a fix for it? After eq'ing the sound to reduce parts of the treble, I prefer them to the 595's for most tracks. Interestingly, because I've never been a huge believer in judging 'phones by graphs, the biggest spike shown on Headroom's fr chart for the 880's seems to be the culprit. Targeting (mostly) the frequencies just below the highest range seems to take the slight harshness (to my ears) out while still leaving them lively. Now that I look at it, I think my post-eq graph for the 880's would look a lot like the one Headroom shows for the HD650. Perhaps that's what I really want. Or am I becoming a deluded 'chart reader'?

Not sure myself about the EQ - I have foobar play all my music with no EQ whatsoever and, so far, am quite happy with the DT880 (brand new today though) although the bass isn't as loud or noticeable as with the HD555 though I do think the bass goes lower (to my ears anyway) I can understand that some people would say they sound harsh as some music I've listened to the high-hats come crashing through very noticeably, more so then anything else I've listened with.... still have to say that I like the sound that's coming from them with pretty much everything that I've thrown at it.

As for the pain at the top - I've not felt anything like that. I've had them on my head for the past hour or so and if anything I can feel a little bit of pain (only very slight) round the rim of my ear which I think might be where the top of the pad is resting on it... not sure.

 

[MrJoshua]

I'm sorry to keep hyjacking this thread, but for anyone who's been following my little quest, I got a call from the store today to advise me that they've shipped out a replacement pair of DT990 Pro's today, for delivery tomorrow.

Let's hope these ones will be ok!!

 

[Towert7]

Wow, that was quite quick. Hopefully the next one you get will be fine.

Keep us posted!

 

[DatHak512]

Man... i really need to stop reading threads here! I've had a little seed of a thought in the back of my head for a while that's been telling me to upgrade my ATH-A900s to either a pair of DT880s or HD650s. *sigh*

I'd be using it with my HeadRoom amp (in sig), and so this thread has been of particular interest to me, though.

The way i see it, the DT880s would be great because i try to listen to my music only loud enough so that i block out my roomate's typing or anything else that's going on, and from what i've read here they'll sound better than the Senn's do at low volumes. Can anyone else vouch for this?

But then again, i am somewhat of a basshead as per the type of music i listen to most of the time. And the HD650 is supposed to mate particularly well with HeadRoom's amps? Gah, what is a guy to do?

Edit: i am unable to audition any of these cans, save buying both and returning one. But with burn in and all that, i don't know if i'd have the time to do a thorough comparison. I've been lusting after the DT880s since before i really knew anything about high-end audio, but now i'm torn!

 

[leeg]

Well, I bit the bullet and decided to try a pr of HD650's from Todd's Vinyl for an exc. price.

I broke it down to 2 things for me, I too love bass for r&b and house music, but am also getting into jazz and classical as I get older lol
So resolution and neutrality is what I'm after in additon to good bass extension and tightness. So I opted for the described musicality of the Senns over, from what I gather, a slightly dryer but nicer high freq resolution of the 880's. Secondly, the HD650'd just are more popular and I figured there must be a good reason.

Heck, if I find these not detailed enough, or too muddy for me, I can always sell them for min. loss of money and then try the DT880's

Timely thread and great information, Thanks!

Lee

 

[papakoks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrJoshua I'm sorry to keep hyjacking this thread, but for anyone who's been following my little quest, I got a call from the store today to advise me that they've shipped out a replacement pair of DT990 Pro's today, for delivery tomorrow. Let's hope these ones will be ok!!

fast service! hope the new set's ok so you could start enjoying them!

 

[MikeW]

I love my DT880's, my only complaints are brightness with badly recorded music, or just bright music in general (electronica). I have a very warm system and they can still be to bright at times. This combined with a loud volume can be annoying. It's very dependant on the recording though. I also woudlent mind a bit more bass, I want to try out a HD650 some day, but no money for that now.

 

[Kenny12]

personally i like hd600 better

 

[amartignano]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fewtch I've been pondering over my opinion of high end Senns (HD580/600, no experience with HD650 yet) vs. the DT880. It's almost like the DT880 designers were thinking, "let's create a headphone that sounds as close to live music as possible," while Senn designers were thinking "let's make the treble non-offensive, then get those distortion figures lower." It's like Senns were designed by engineers who don't listen to music, but were trying to make a headphone that most accurately reproduce recordings (based on computer graphs/charts) while offering a treble that's impossible to offend. Not to say high end Senns don't sound good (they do) but I've never once been fooled into thinking I was listening to anything other than a recording. The DT880 has fooled my ears quite a few times... it has a tendency with well-recorded classical to disappear off my head and only the music remains -- it really is that transparent (to my ears).

I don't think that HD650 are really engineered in that way...

But i totally agree with the DT880 sound as lively as possible, and "disappear" (as sensation of reproduction of music) with good classical recordings (especially if well amped).

Anyway, my thought about DT880 and HD650 (not "vs", I don't like battles in hi-fi...).

I've found the DT880 more "luminous" and warm than HD650. Not better, just different in colors and brightness. I try to explane with two images:

DT880 (more warm and "luminous")

HD650 (more cold and "dark")

Which image is more real? We don't know.
Which image do you like better? Only you know... (and maybe not, by instinct I thought that the HD650s image was "my image", but I've ended preferring the DT880...)

Clearly, this is a bit exaggerated in order to make my sensation more clear and "understandable"...

bye
Andrea

 

[NotJeffBuckley]

You just described sound using pictures... and some people are going to nod their heads and say, "Yep, that's exactly it. The pictures do relate to the sounds." I really don't know what to say about that.

Edit: I'm going to guess the second image is the original, or closer to it, based on the reddish tint to the blacks in the first image.

 

[fewtch]

That's not exactly it, but it's a better analogy than words like "veil" IMO. It is descriptive to a small degree of the differences I hear between the HD580 (by projection HD650) and DT880, but is nowhere near an exact analogy between sound and image.

P.S. NotJeff... there's a point where we have to do our best with what we've got, right? Words don't describe sound and neither do pictures, but at least it's a unique/interesting attempt to draw an analogy. You might say that numbers don't describe sound either, but... yes they do, right there on a CD (stream of 1's and 0's).