[Envyous]

This was a great read!
I have the DT770 32Ohm, but I actually have the PRO version (Yes, 32Ohm PRO), witch apearently noone has heard of. When I bought it everyone told me sence it is 32Ohm it won't require anything more than my motherboard soundcard. I read this, saying the 32Ohm requires an AMP, and bought an ASUS Xonar Essence STX, and WOW the sound was so much better! I set my Foobar2000 to WASAPI output and use the "Hi-Fi" setting in the Xonar center. This headset has perfect, hard hitting, mids and tremble but it is not a bass monster like the DT770 80Ohm PRO. Concerning the bass, it is actualy quite weak, especialy on the lowest Hz. Maybe it needs an external AMP too? Or have the "bad" AMPs that is in the Xonar Essence STX, replaced?
Note that I might just be the one with the least amount of experience and clue about what I am talking about, concerning Hi-Fi sound.

 

[Zombie_X]

Hi,
 
The Asus Xonar Essence STX should be OK for the headphones. I know that this soundcard has exchangable OPA's and changing to something else could give you more power and better sonic performance overall. That is assuming the installed OPA is not meant for Audio but I am not sure. I don't mess with my soundcard too much. Nor do I believe in OPA's have different sound signatures at all.  I know DAC chips do as Wolfson DAC's always sounded smoother and more tube like.
 
Yeah the 32Ohm models are a bit harder to amp than you'd expect. They just need so much current. Needing an amp is entirely up to you. If you like how they sound right now then great!
 
If you are able to find a Musical Fidelity X-CANV8 that headphone amp drives the perfectly. The DT880 becomes lush and inviting (from having the tubes) and the sound is powerful and quick (from the solid state output). It's a great combo IMO. Though it may be out of your price range.
 
Another option is the Little-Dot 1+ hybrid amp. It's about $160 shipped or so but still plenty powerful. Not quite as refined or powerful as the X-CANV8 but still really good. It will drive them adequately.
 
 
 
Quote:

This was a great read!
I have the DT770 32Ohm, but I actually have the PRO version (Yes, 32Ohm PRO), witch apearently noone has heard of. When I bought it everyone told me sence it is 32Ohm it won't require anything more than my motherboard soundcard. I read this, saying the 32Ohm requires an AMP, and bought an ASUS Xonar Essence STX, and WOW the sound was so much better! I set my Foobar2000 to WASAPI output and use the "Hi-Fi" setting in the Xonar center. This headset has perfect, hard hitting, mids and tremble but it is not a bass monster like the DT770 80Ohm PRO. Concerning the bass, it is actualy quite weak, especialy on the lowest Hz. Maybe it needs an external AMP too? Or have the "bad" AMPs that is in the Xonar Essence STX, replaced?
Note that I might just be the one with the least amount of experience and clue about what I am talking about, concerning Hi-Fi sound.

 

 

[Rawrbington]

yeah.
i thought my 770/32 ohm sounded not so great without an amp.
but when amped i thought they were awesome.
 
whats strange is i read everyone say they are bass light but mine were far from bass light.
not as heavy as the pro80s but def not bass lite.  and the sub bass was pretty big

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

yeah.
i thought my 770/32 ohm sounded not so great without an amp.
but when amped i thought they were awesome.
 
whats strange is i read everyone say they are bass light but mine were far from bass light.
not as heavy as the pro80s but def not bass lite.  and the sub bass was pretty big

That's because Beyerdynamic seems to be making various versions of the DT770. The DT770/600 that I got was incredibly bassy, probably more so than the Pro 80s, and the 770/600 is known to be quite lacking in bass.

Ask Zommbie.

Speaking of, Zombie, shouldn't you update the 770/600 with a minor note stating that there may be a batch of 770's with severe bass bloat?

 

[Zombie_X]

Actually I am in the process of doing a massive renovation of the thread and am re-organizing some things in it.
 
Quote:

Quote:

yeah.
i thought my 770/32 ohm sounded not so great without an amp.
but when amped i thought they were awesome.
 
whats strange is i read everyone say they are bass light but mine were far from bass light.
not as heavy as the pro80s but def not bass lite.  and the sub bass was pretty big

That's because Beyerdynamic seems to be making various versions of the DT770. The DT770/600 that I got was incredibly bassy, probably more so than the Pro 80s, and the 770/600 is known to be quite lacking in bass.

Ask Zommbie.

Speaking of, Zombie, shouldn't you update the 770/600 with a minor note stating that there may be a batch of 770's with severe bass bloat?

 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

That sounds great. I wonder if Beyerdynamic changed the sound of more headphones just a weird bass heavy revision of the DT770/600. I agree with 95% of what you said about the 990 Pros, but I found them super bassy (bass headache inducing even), but the treble to be considerably less harsh than the 990/600. You did tell me (via pm), that the 990 Pro's bloated bass made the treble appear smoother, which I agree with, though your first page makes it sound like they are harsher. Lol.

edit: I would say the 990 Pro's bass bloat subdued the treble a bit, compared to the 990/600. The midrange is more in line with the treble now, but less detailed in general.

 

[Zombie_X]

Like I said I got to do revisions man . The 250Ohm Pro's do have a less refined and slightly harsher treble but the bass masks it quite a bit. Use an EQ to turn the bass down on the Pro model and you will see the harshness I spoke off.
 
Quote:

That sounds great. I wonder if Beyerdynamic changed the sound of more headphones just a weird bass heavy revision of the DT770/600. I agree with 95% of what you said about the 990 Pros, but I found them super bassy (bass headache inducing even), but the treble to be considerably less harsh than the 990/600. You did tell me (via pm), that the 990 Pro's bloated bass made the treble appear smoother, which I agree with, though your first page makes it sound like they are harsher. Lol.

edit: I would say the 990 Pro's bass bloat subdued the treble a bit, compared to the 990/600. The midrange is more in line with the treble now, but less detailed in general.

 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Ah I see. I didn't spend too much time with them, as the bass was getting on my nerves. If I had wanted just headphones for immersive gaming, those would be probably the best I've heard as the bass isn't constant in games like it is in music.

Other than that, I wuldnt put the Pros in the same league as the Premium 600s. They sound similar, but different enough to conclude that the 600ohm is of a higher quality.

 

[Chris J]

Quote:

I've been researching these a lot so this thread has been a real boon.  I finally have a few bucks set aside  and am pretty convinced on the dt880 600ohm's.  My current set-up is Grado HF-1's (or Senn. HD 25 1 -ii's depending on mood/music) run thru WooAudio 6SE amp.  I love the sound of both, Any one else listen to HF-1's thru tubes and also love their 880's?  Is the listening experience/ sound sig. difference worth it?  Mostly, I'm happy with my current headphone set-up but want a lil' different flavor...

All I can tell you is that I love the sound of my DT880/600 ohm thru my La Figaro 336C vacuum tube amp. This is an OTL amp and is about 1/4 the cost of a 6SE so..............I would expect a lot more from the WA 6SE........you lucky person!
I like the little warmth and sparkle I get thru the 336C.
When I bought the DT880s I compared them to several Grados:  SR-60, 80, 225 and 325.
I love the Gados but the DT880s are far more neutral and balanced and accurate. Definitely a different flavour from Grado. Also I think the DT880 are super comfortable.
But I'm still getting some Grados someday!
Just my opinion...........YMMV.
 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

LIKE A BOSS.




Actually, just messing around, and while it is far from ideal, my Sansa Fuze V2 actually plays them just loud enough to consider them decent,and doesn't sound like utter crap. The softer treble from the lack of juice makes them easy on the ears, just to fall asleep to.

 

[Chacobo]

Thanks for the extremely detailed guide!

 

[domino584]

How fatiguing is the treble on the 880s?  Would lowering the treble a bit help out?
 
Would you lose sound quality because of it?  I just don't want to be hurting my hears.  Can ear fatigue cause damage?

 

[Chris J]

Quote:

How fatiguing is the treble on the 880s?  Would lowering the treble a bit help out?
 
Would you lose sound quality because of it?  I just don't want to be hurting my hears.  Can ear fatigue cause damage?

 
IMHO.....
 
The treble on the DT880 is very smooth, it is one of the things I really like about the DT880.
The frequency response is so flat that I can't see why you would want to lower the treble.
There is a very small peak somewhere in the treble, but you would need a good parametric EQ to tame it. It doesn' really bother me, it is so slight.
 
The Grados, AKG K70x series, DT770 and DT990 are normally characterized as having excessive treble.
 
Loud volume damages your ears, I suspect the ear fatigue you are talking about is just high volume.
 

 

[HaVoC-28]

 
Quote:

 
IMHO.....
 
The treble on the DT880 is very smooth, it is one of the things I really like about the DT880.
The frequency response is so flat that I can't see why you would want to lower the treble.
There is a very small peak somewhere in the treble, but you would need a good parametric EQ to tame it. It doesn' really bother me, it is so slight.
 
The Grados, AKG K70x series, DT770 and DT990 are normally characterized as having excessive treble.
 
Loud volume damages your ears, I suspect the ear fatigue you are talking about is just high volume.
 

DT-880 treble like DT-770-990 still very proeminent , on my setup there is more treble with DT-880 - 600 ohms than on K702 ... and you can see it clearly on graphs ... the bump at 10000 hz is higher on DT-880 than on K701 . 
 
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/AKGK701.pdf
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/BeyerdynamicDT880600ohm.pdf
 
 

 

[Chris J]

Quote:

 


DT-880 treble like DT-770-990 still very proeminent , on my setup there is more treble with DT-880 - 600 ohms than on K702 ... and you can see it clearly on graphs ... the bump at 10000 hz is higher on DT-880 than on K701 . 
 
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/AKGK701.pdf
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/BeyerdynamicDT880600ohm.pdf
 
 

Weird...........the graphs on Headphone.com show a different story, which lines up with what I hear on my set up.  I added in the Q701 because that's what I have.
The K702 and Q701 show more energy in the 2-3 kHz region which pretty well lines up with what I hear on my set-up:  more pronounced treble in the all important presence region.
I hear a more mellow presentation from my DT880/600.   The Q701s sound more up front, but have a larger soundstage.
Yes the DT880 has a bit more sibilance at 10 kHz, but I don't find it too bothersome.  A lot of recordings don't have too much energy up there.
 
http://www.headphone.com/headphones/akg-k-702-black.php
 
YMMV..................I have different amps.