[duxbellorum]

Price (including amp tuning) is mainly what decided me between the Beyer and the AKG, I went with the DT880 Premium 250 ohm (I know the curly cable would drive me insane). Less money now means more money for better amp/dac later. 
 
We'll see how the phones perform during burn-in.
 
Thanks for all of the advice so far!

 

[duxbellorum]

Per the last post, I just received my Beyerdynamic DT880 Premium 250 Ohm headphones.
 
I won't take a strong stance on these headphones until they are past burn-in a couple hundred hours down the line.
 
At present, through my amp (Maverick TubeMagic D1 with upgraded opamps and tubes), they have relatively subdued bass, perfectly natural and even mids, and "sparkling" trebel. There is no mid bleed, the phones just sound utterly fantastic when playing anything in that mid range. I am listening to Bach's cello suite through my desktop setup right now, which really milks the butter zone of these headphones. The only shortfall might be imaging. There is plenty of air space around the instruments, but it is hard to tell precisely where they are. That could just be a problem with my recording. 
 
Plugging the phones into my phone (iphone 5), I am playing music at 4 clicks down from maximum, that's comfoirtable for listening, maximum is decently loud.. Switching to some Mastodon, I am putting the phones to maximum, and that is definitely loud, although I could see a serious metal fan wanting a little bit more volume to produce the concert experience, but for that she should just get a nice amp!
 
Techno, electronica, and dubstep all play really well on these phones, probably about as well as they can out of anything.
 
The two shortfalls of this headphone so far are a lack precise 3d imaging and the sparkle in treble. When a violinist plays a scale up to the top of its range, with perfectly even volume, these phones will play some notes louder and others softer. It's not much louder or softer, just barely noticable for me, but there you go. I'll probably do some EQ to even things out on my desktop setup. 
 
A feature that some might consider shortfall is the relative lack of base. I think a truly neutral headphone would have somewhat more bass at the low end, and sometimes when there are two simultaneous rhythms in super low bass and mid bass, the low bass isn't quite loud enough  compared with with the mid-bass. 
 
Wow, listening to Ghosts N' Stuff Nero Remix through these is Amazing, the mid and trebel centered sound has so much texture that I hadn't heard before, but it's an example of a song in which someone else might want more bottom end.
 
For the price, I think these phones are a really really good buy, and a great listening experience. 
 
Thanks to CrocCap and pp312 for some good advice. 

 

[Sonic Defender]

  I won't take a strong stance on these headphones until they are past burn-in a couple hundred hours down the line.
 
 
 
For the price, I think these phones are a really really good buy, and a great listening experience. 
 
Thanks to CrocCap and pp312 for some good advice. 

Which headphone are you talking about?

 

[duxbellorum]

Dt880, I just added it to the post.

 

[pp312]

 
For the price, I think these phones are a really really good buy, and a great listening experience. 
 
Thanks to CrocCap and pp312 for some good advice. 

 
 
You realize of course that I charge. 

 
For the record, what was the price? Here in Oz the price has shot up in the last year from around $275 typical retail to over $400, which changes the dynamic somewhat. They were always the cheapest of the 'mid 3' but now seem on a par with the others, even the Senn 650. Not sure why this is.

 

[duxbellorum]

Here in the States, amazon has them for 286 list price which turns in to $309 after tax. If they hadn't been available for that price, I would definitely have jumped up to the he-400i. 

 

[pp312]

Is the 400i actually an 'up'? I'm not sure. I chose my DT880 Pro after long comparision with an HE-500. After I'd sold the 500 I had a chance to buy another at an irresistable price and did another long comparison with the 880. Again I chose the 880. The beyer just seemed much more open and realistic to me (this is with classical/orchestral).

 

[Russian1]

  Looking for a set that is portable, does a great job with classical music and guitar, and has mid/trebel focus with base definition, but not so much oomf. Good sound stage would be nice, but probably hard to find in my price range.
.....
PM-3 reviews say they are good all-around, but perhaps lacking in trebel and thus not ideal for classical music. They are quite appealing as a highly portable entry into the Planar Magnetic world, but it would be nice to hear from a classical music fan who has heard them.
....
 
 
What will make Brahm's String quartets sing?

 
Well, I am not a classical music fan, but I do love classical music along with other kinds of music. 
 
I own PM-3, as a portable actually. I did not listen to classical music in them, but when you asked - I did. 
 
If you can live with a narrow sound stage PM-3 are very good for classical music (for their price). 
Everything else is very good - mids especially. Maybe just a little bit more bass, than necessary. I wouldn't go so far as to call these cans lacking in trebel, I'd say their trebel is mild and not shrilling at sibilants which makes listening more comfortable. 
Separation is quite nice, but the instruments are pretty close as you can guess. 
 
I like a lot of air between instruments and a wide sound stage when listening to classical music, that's extremely important for me. So when at home I'd never us PM-3 for classical music. I use open cans. 
 
But outside... You don't have much of a choice and considering their compact size and being truly closed PM-3 are good for the job. 

 

[lltfdaniel]

  i have the pm3 and the dt880, and i did listen to some classical on both, dt880 is much better. 
 
i dont think the pm3 treble is bad, but a phone like the dt880 is better suited for classical
 
 
 

And Classic vinyl especially with the dt 880.

 

[duxbellorum]

Everything I read said the he400i was a very different headphone from the he500. The main cons listed by reviewers were small sound stage and the lack of defined base comapred with the he-400. 
 
The first problem is one that I don't really mind, given that the sound quality in general is considered so much better. The latter is of even less concern to me because I don't listen to much bass resolution heavy music.

 

[Sonic Defender]

  Everything I read said the he400i was a very different headphone from the he500. The main cons listed by reviewers were small sound stage and the lack of defined base comapred with the he-400. 
 
The first problem is one that I don't really mind, given that the sound quality in general is considered so much better. The latter is of even less concern to me because I don't listen to much bass resolution heavy music.

The 400i is quite nice. I owned a DT 880 for more than a year with a top quality SS amp and I have had the HE 560 for a year with a great amp and DAC and I can tell you the 400i is a very good value/performance headphone. I'm far more impressed than I expected I would be. The 400i lacks the finest bass detail of the 560, but it offers a little more punch. The treble is also very nice, to my ears while less dimensional than the 560, it is also less bright (haven't seen measurements of the 400i) and still nicely detailed. The 400i should certainly get some serious attention as a top value/performance headphone. It even sounded nice driven by my Blackberry with an E12 as the amp.​

 

[MLegend]

Here are measurements 400i - http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/HiFiMANHE4002014.pdf  560 - http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/HiFiMANHE5602014.pdf

 

[Sonic Defender]

  Here are measurements 400i - http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/HiFiMANHE4002014.pdf  560 - http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/HiFiMANHE5602014.pdf

Thanks, I'm going to go look now.

 

[duxbellorum]

 
Thanks, I'm going to go look now.

When you buy yours, just have them sent to me. 
 
I'll take care of that pesky burn in for you =D

 

[Sonic Defender]

  When you buy yours, just have them sent to me. 
 
I'll take care of that pesky burn in for you =D

Too late, my brain is already burnt in to the 400i. Really like the signature, maybe as I much as I liked the 560, but not sure yet.