[Thaddy]

Well, today Fante7 and myself decided to get together at my place. He wanted to spend some time with my HD650's, and I wanted to hear his DT880's on my newer Millet. We both came to the same conclusion regarding the DT880's, and also had some interesting discussion regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the HF-1's.

I want to take some more time to think about what I'm going to write, but to hold you guys over, here are some pictures. Also, this would be a good time for the Grado die-hard's to click the "Back" button on your browser

Here are the DT880's and HD650's ganging up on the HF-1's. You can see they went for where it counts, right in the woodies.

I've got an interesting grin going, I think I was listening to some Yes.

Jon liked the HD650's, but clearly...he needed some more juice from the Millet.

We finally came to the conclusion that the HF-1's needed a recable job. So, I just decided to box them up so I could ship them to Larry.

And finally, after all of that listening, we got hungry. I called Pizza Milano's and before we knew it we had some pizza to quiet our stomach's.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thaddy And finally, after all of that listening, we got hungry. I called Pizza Milano's and before we knew it we had some pizza to quiet our stomach's.

LOL, finally a Grado box finds its' place in life

 

[fante7]

It was definitely a fun day. I will try to post some impressions later.

 

[Thaddy]

Ok I'll bite...

For reference, I used the following music:
Porcupine Tree - Warszawa
Dave Matthews Band - Live at Red Rocks
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon [Original Master Recording in FLAC]

After sticking some 12AE6A's in my Millet, I was ready to give the DT880's a more critical listen. The first thing I noticed was the lack of low end the DT880's have. However, it's not a bad thing. I can follow basslines much easier compared to my 650's. Notes aren't felt as much...rather, I can hear them better. The 12AE6A's gave a much more punchy low end than my 12FK6's, and Jon seemed to agree, as these are also his tube of choice.

One area where the DT880's seemed to falter a bit was the upper treble range. I was hearing a tad bit of sibilance in some tracks with a lot of cymbols and high hats (most notably "Shesmovedon", from Warszawa). That frequency range seemed to draw a tad bit too much attention, and I found myself concentrating on the upper range, as opposed to just relaxing with the music. However, this is a small fault, and wouldn't stop me from purchasing the DT880's in the future.

Another area the DT880's shone was the guitar solo in Money. Gilmour sounded absolutely incredible. I was particularly impressed with the solo within the solo, where it's just Gilmour and his jazzy riffs. The sound was so raw and uncut, and the DT880's really let his guitar show off it's true tone without anything to get in it's way.

As for the HD650's, I think this was Jon's first time hearing them, so I'll let him comment on them. As for me, I love them

 

[Borat]

Funny pics.

Are both your modded E-MU 0404 and Toshiba SD-3950 connected to the Millet? Which source were you using when you did the testing?

I look forward to more impressions.

 

[Jahn]

And how about the HF-1 comparatively?

 

[EdipisReks]

funny stuff, but only at headfi is it called a "mini meet" when your buddy comes over to listen to music

 

[Mikey01]

Did everybody go around the room and introduce themselves? How many tables of equiptment did you have?

 

[gpalmer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikey01 Did everybody go around the room and introduce themselves? How many tables of equiptment did you have?

Hey, that's not funny, you know what it looks like when ayt999 and I get together for some listening time?!?

 

[Thaddy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Borat Funny pics. Are both your modded E-MU 0404 and Toshiba SD-3950 connected to the Millet? Which source were you using when you did the testing? I look forward to more impressions.

Oh yeah sorry, I forgot to mention this. Both the 0404 and SD-3950 are hooked up to my Millet, but we only used the 0404. Also, it's worth noting that she has all the mods done, with the AD8086 opamp.

I'll write some more detailed impressions of the HD650's vs. the DT880's a bit later if anyone is still interested.

edit: Mikey01, unfortunately, being a member of Team College-Fi has it's downsides, as this was all the equipment present. However, Jon and myself both felt that for the amount of money we've spent on our setups we can't imagine doing much better

 

[Salt Peanuts]

Looks like you guys had fun. I need to remember to listen to a Millet at the Boston meet this time around. I didn't get around to doing that at the last meet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gpalmer Hey, that's not funny, you know what it looks like when ayt999 and I get together for some listening time?!?

Yeah, buy you guys aren't exactly the "norm" are you?

 

[fante7]

What I'm going to say is probably not going to be very surprising, and these are light impressions since I didn't spend hours going back and forth.

So, DT880 vs HD650. This was actually my second time listening to the HD650, the last time being several months ago out of a Gilmore Lite and I forget which CDP, but I don't have a great memory of that sound. My usual setup is in my signature, CD6000 OSE > Millett > DT880. I wish I had my CDP with me to pin down the differences between the headphones with my own source.

So I sat down with 0404 > Thaddy's Millett (with 12FK6) > HD650(with Oehlbach) and put on Mahler's 5th (Zander). The first thing I noticed was that the soundstage was much smaller than I was used to and the music certainly sounded more distant. The sound was pretty laid back, and thick and rich. Then I put in Power Windows by Rush and listened to the first two songs. My complaint here is that the vocals are a little too distant, but otherwise it sounded pretty good. I also listened to some Yes, Opeth, and Megadeth.

In general the DT880 seems a bit more detailed, forward, and more well resolved in the low end and the HD650 more euphonic and relaxing. Both are refined and technically competent.

 

[Voltron]

Did John Grado sign that pizza?

Nice going guys, micro meets are fun.