[vs17]

I've been reading head-fi over the past few months while shopping for my first part of audiophile headphones. There really is a lot of great information on this site (mostly in the forums) that eventually led me to 3 choices. I decided to pull the trigger on 3 of them at Amazon for comparison and to keep the one I liked most. Long story short, I'm keeping the DT-800/32 over the ATH-M50s and HD-598.
 
I wasn't planning to get into high-end audio, I really just needed a new pair of headphones and wanted to do some good research first. Thanks to these cans I'm now hooked, but I don't have a setup of any kind... I bought the 32Ohm version of the DT-800 after hours of waffling between the 32/250/600 choice because I don't have an amp and wasn't planning to buy one. I'm powering this directly from my laptop/desktop/mp3 player for music/movies/games, so the 32Ohm decision seemed to make sense at the same time.
 
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the sound of my DT-880 headphones even in their current unamped 32Ohm state. They sound so amazing that I'm back on head-fi looking to maybe partnering them with a suitable amp at some point down the line. Since purchasing, I've done some additional reading about the differences in the DT models and am thinking that the 250Ohm 880 headphones might be even easier to drive than my current 32Ohm model due to their sensitivity (unless I am misinterpreting the thread linked, correct me If I'm wrong). I also see that only 2 months ago people were getting the 250 Ohm headphones for close to $200, whereas I just paid $300 for these 32 Ohm headphones...
 
I'm happy, I really am, but should I return these before its too late and get a different impedance rating? They'll probably sound incredibly similar, but am I shortchanging myself with a 32Ohm version of such a nice Beyerdynamic set. Perhaps I should wait for the price to come back down as well?

 

[brasewel]

If you're happy I would keep them. There isn't a whole lot of difference between the 3 models. I wouldn't wait for the price to come down as well, it's been that way for a couple of years now. Buy a nice amp now and be happy

 

[Canadian411]

I was in your shoes, did lot of research and ended up getting DT990 660 ohm because I wanted dedicated headphone for home use only.
 
My DT990 is directly connected to iPhone 4 (unamped), and sounds fine.  I know I miss lot of fine details and more punchy bass but I am satisfied so far.
 
I am planning to get portable amp SR71B once my budget allows, and probably tube amp with little better headphone like Audeze LCD2 or Sennheiser HD800.
 
If you plan to get an amp you should get the 600 ohm one, it's up to you.
 
 

 

[Canadian411]

Oh I forget to mention.
 
I bought my DT990 600ohm for $229 + tax + shipping from Amazon.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I owned the DT880/32, DT990/600, and DT770/600/ The diference unamped is prety big. To say the 600ohm sounds fine unamped, well...

 
The 32ohm didn't exactly sound great unamped either.
 
I wouldn't return them just to get a 600ohm though. The difference is so blown out of proportion here. The difference between them is that the 32ohm will do better with a portable amp than the 600ohm. My 32ohm DT880 sounded great with a portable amp, the 600ohm DTs however didn't. Just because they can get loud enough doesn't mean they're driven properly. The SQ improvement of the 600ohm over the 32ohm will be in the realm of like 5%. I have had two friends that had multiple ohm versions of the DT880s, and they both said that difference between them was borderline indistinguishable when driven properly.
 
Of course, you can listen to the golden ear folk here that have superhuman ears, so go with what you wanna believe.

 

[Eric_C]

In answer to your question, OP: No.
 
Go with what you know. You know the DT 880, 32 ohm version sounds good, so stick with it and be satisfied. 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

edit: I posted on the wrong thread.