[Frosternal]

After kind of staring at audiophile equipment for a few years not wanting to take the financial plunge, I finally pushed myself to do it and now I'm hooked.
So I got myself a pair of dt770 80ohm headphones, absolutely loving the upgrade as im going from a pair of logitech gaming headphones(G930). I Bought a $35 portable dac & amp which is doing good enough for now.
The reason I got the dt770s as I wanted closed back due to me being a truck driver and sound isolation is essential. I was wondering about maybe getting dt990 600ohm for home listening/gaming. as open back is better for gaming and sound stage. I was thinking of going to the $600-$1000 range for home headphones eventually, am I better off just waiting and using my dt770s til then? Also what would be a good upgrade in that area if I like the sound of the dt770s/dt990s?
Oh, I'm also upgrading to a new phone in january and most likely going with the LG v30, is it as good as I've been hearing? I would love not having to carry a dac around if I don't need to, I would imagine a dac from the source would be better than using a dac on a regular phones 3.5mm jack.

 

[Rach13]

Hey,
Just like you I'm also new to higher end audio, (also totally new to Head-Fi as well), and I have some DT990 Pro 250 ohm cans connected to an E07K as the DAC and an A5 to add some volume, and this seemed like a good and relatively cheap entry point setup for me. I'm not sure how different the DT770 you have sound compared to my DT990s but these are very satisfying to me and (hopefully) I won't be looking to upgrade for a while. I would recommend these for the sound stage, clarity and immersive sound. My music is all completely new sounding with added depth and details and movies sound absolutely incredible . Surround sound has made me look over my shoulder a few times, haha.
For the record tho, I upgraded to these from some AKG K44s. So I was totally blown away.
If you can find the 250ohm dt990s cheap as a home headphones option and your DAC and amp can power them you could hold off a major upgrade for a while?
But if you want a portable option for your phone maybe something else tho?
Also I think if you want to really use your DAC as a DAC with your phone, you may need to connect it to your phone with USB/ OTG cable, not the 3.5mm out jack, otherwise you are using the internal DAC of the phone.
Basically if the phone has a good internal DAC you can just plug straight into the 3.5mm and add an amp if your cans need it. Otherwise you need to use USB / OTG if you want an external device to do the D/A conversion.

 

[Frosternal]

OOOOHHHH, I was wondering why the dac was doing almost nothing but adding bass to my phone, but was doing phenomenal things to my pc audio. thanks a lot for that info.

 

[Rach13]

No probs,
sounds like you have a DAC/amp combo, so it's bypassing the DAC but the amp is still getting some extra bass out of your cans,
Others here can give you waaaaayyyy more info on that if your interested, but I'm glad I could help!

 

[cossix]

As far as the 600 ohm Beyers are concerned, I'd stay away from those until you commit to buying a good amplifier. I don't think anything cheaper than the Magni 3 ($100) would do them any justice and even then, I've heard that the Magni 3 doesn't drive them too well. My suggestion is to either budget for an amp to with the 600 ohm cams, or stick to something like the 250 ohm version of whatever you like. The reason behind this is twofold. If your gear can't drive the high impedance 600 ohm headphone decently, then you'll get a mix of 1) lack of volume, and 2) lack of dynamics, which may make the music sound boring, flat, and/or lifeless

 

[Rach13]

Is there much advantage in getting the 600 ohm versions of these Beyers?
Do they sound much better / different?

 

[Dulalala]

Is there much advantage in getting the 600 ohm versions of these Beyers?
Do they sound much better / different?

There barely is a difference. Just save your money for a more worthwhile upgrade if you already have the 80 ohm version.

 

[Monsterzero]

I was wondering about maybe getting dt990 600ohm for home listening/gaming. as open back is better for gaming and sound stage. I was thinking of going to the $600-$1000 range for home headphones eventually, am I better off just waiting and using my dt770s til then? Also what would be a good upgrade in that area if I like the sound of the dt770s/dt990s?
Oh, I'm also upgrading to a new phone in january and most likely going with the LG v30, is it as good as I've been hearing? I would love not having to carry a dac around if I don't need to, I would imagine a dac from the source would be better than using a dac on a regular phones 3.5mm jack.

Interesting topic.

From my understanding the V30s has a quad DAC +powerboost that kicks in whenever it detects a 600 ohm load....Why it isnt a manual option I have zero idea.
Based upon my messing around with my V20 and my 600 ohm HPs I can say that it drives my sextetts (*600ohms) remarkably well for a phone straight from the HP jack.However when i try a less-than 600ohm load it doesnt do as well....So in this instance a 600ohm HP would be better than the 250 version.

The Beyer T1,either version is considered to be the Beyer flagship.I used to own the T1.1 and its one of those headphones that really need an OTL amp to squeeze out the final 10% to warrant the price tag.Havent heard the T1.2,but apparently it addresses the weak midbass issues of the first version.

AKG headphones are somewhat similar to Beyers in sound signature...bright,dry,detail oriented,but not quite to the same extent as Beyers.

 

[cossix]

Is there much advantage in getting the 600 ohm versions of these Beyers?
Do they sound much better / different?

Higher impedance doesn't equate to "better", and in this case I've heard they're pretty similar

 

[Rach13]

didn't mean to imply impedance equates to better at all, just wanted to know why someone might go for 600 ohm DT990s instead of lower impedance versions such as 250 ohm which may be easier to drive?

 

[cossix]

didn't mean to imply impedance equates to better at all, just wanted to know why someone might go for 600 ohm DT990s instead of lower impedance versions such as 250 ohm which may be easier to drive?

Some amps have high output impedance, which would make high impedance headphones sound better. It's referred to as Damping Factor. You want the headphones to have a resistance a few times greater than your amps output impedance. Also, tube amps tend to output more power into high impedance cans than low impedance ones, so owners of tube amps will likely prefer 300 and 600 ohm headphones to take advantage of the extra power

 

[Monsterzero]

didn't mean to imply impedance equates to better at all, just wanted to know why someone might go for 600 ohm DT990s instead of lower impedance versions such as 250 ohm which may be easier to drive?

Essentially what Cossix said...

A few of us have discovered the joys of vintage receivers as HP amps.Made in an era of no portable gear and no earbuds,the old gear was designed to drive 600(and higher)ohm HPs.When plugging a low ohm HP into an old vintage piece you most likely will hear a crap ton of bass bloat.

Also OTL amps play well with high ohm loads.

TL;DR

No need for the high ohm variants unless you have or plan to have the amp to drive them.

 

[Rach13]

My bank account doesn't plan to have the amp to drive them.

 

[Monsterzero]

My bank account doesn't plan to have the amp to drive them.

LOL!
Said every new member ever.
Youve joined the wrong forum.
Welcome to Head-Fi.Sorry about your wallet

 

[buke9]

didn't mean to imply impedance equates to better at all, just wanted to know why someone might go for 600 ohm DT990s instead of lower impedance versions such as 250 ohm which may be easier to drive?

One reason you see 600 ohm headphones especially monitor or studio headphones is they were made to be used in a parallel setup with many sets being used at once and that reduces the impedance of the whole lot. On most OTL amps it also increases the output the higher impedance means more power out. Another factor in a headphone being hard or easy to drive is sensitivity and that probably plays as big a roll as impedance.