How Bright Are the DT880s Compared To the SA5000s, HD650, K701 ...?

[AdamCalifornia]

I find my Beyer DT880s somehow bright.
How bright are they compared to the
Sennheiser's 650, 600, 580, and 590,
Sony's SA5000, AKG K701, and other cans?
I'm am still burning-in my DT880s and occasionally listening through them
without any dedicated headphone amp. (I've ordered one!).
Will the amp decrease their brightness?

I can tell this:

My Beyerdynamic DT880s are brighter than my Sennheiser HD 595s (50 Ohm).

I have also looked at their frequency response curve as compared to the
Beyer's DT 990 Pro. The DT880s are less bright, but still bright.
Actually, they also have some dip in the highs as well?!
How about brightness of the AKG's K1000, Stax ...?

Could someone give us a link, or post the frequency responses of, say,
the headphones mentioned above?

Jokingly, listening the 'Dark Side of the Moon' on the DT880s makes me
sometimes feel that I am listening to the 'Bright Side of the Moon'

Adam

 

[Purgatos]

I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call the DT880s a bright 'phone. I would say that they can be a bright set of cans, but I wouldn't necessarily categorize them as such.

The only one of the cans you mentioned that I've listened to extensively is the HD600, which I would call outright dark. In comparison to that, the DT880 is certainly bright. Also, from the limited experience I've had with the HD650, they sounded even darker than the HD600.

 

[Mercuttio]

I'd call the 880 bright, definitely. It's quite a bit brighter than the HD650, but not as quite as bright as some Grado can be (the SR line).

I think one of the major unamped characteristics of it IS excessive brightness. A good amp (one without bright characteristics itself) will tame it nicely. What kind of amp are you getting?

 

[Purgatos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mercuttio I'd call the 880 bright, definitely. It's quite a bit brighter than the HD650, but not as quite as bright as some Grado can be (the SR line).

Well, I suppose he should take into account that I'm much more tolerant of brightness and much less tolerant of darkness than most people here.

 

[fewtch]

I don't consider them a bright headphone either. Their brightness is limited to a small part of the frequency spectrum, and to my ears acoustic instruments are affected very little, if at all. IMO the HD580/600 are substantially darker than the DT880 is bright, I.E. DT880 is closer to neutral (sounds like I basically agree with Purgatos).

To put this in perspective... I think the K501s are slightly on the darker side of neutral (on top, not due to bass) and they only sound very slightly darker to me than DT880... if anything, they're approximately equal to my ears with acoustic music.

 

[bill99hawk]

I found the DT880s to be too bright for me. The HD650s are great sounding. I do not hear any veil and they can at times sound a little bright. IMO I think the sound from any of these high-ends cans has to be matched well with the amp and source. If I were to have a darker sounding source and amp, then maybe the DT880s would have sounded better to me.

 

[Mercuttio]

The DT880 can be fairly neutral, if paired correctly with the right equipment. In my setup, it was just too bright.

 

[AdamCalifornia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mercuttio I'd call the 880 bright, definitely. It's quite a bit brighter than the HD650, but not as quite as bright as some Grado can be (the SR line). I think one of the major unamped characteristics of it IS excessive brightness. A good amp (one without bright characteristics itself) will tame it nicely. What kind of amp are you getting?

Yes, hopefully it'll improve with my HeadAmp Gilmore Lite ot NOT???

In the meantime I'm really listening to the 'Bright Side of the Moon'!
It's way too bright for me!

Adam