[ReDVsion]

Soundstage is one of the DT880s great qualities, but if you don't like the overall tonal balance, it means nothing. I find the DT880s require a lot of ear burn-in time to accustom yourself to these headphones (then again, I use the K240S, which some find to be the antithesis of the DT880). They did NOT impress me right off the bat. However, when my ears became completely accustomed to the presentation of this headphone, I find music to be much more involving than I ever concieved of it being.

 

[Dan the audioman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReDVsion Soundstage is one of the DT880s great qualities, but if you don't like the overall tonal balance, it means nothing. I find the DT880s require a lot of ear burn-in time to accustom yourself to these headphones

I agree. The soundstaging of the beyers is truly amazing. It was is what i like about them most, but unfortuneatley I found out that these cans simply DO NOT ROCK! I find that the 650's out of a gilmore rock so much more, its stunning.

I also agree that these require "ear burn-in". It is a different sound, very unlike grados. If you are a grado fan, and listen to a lot of rock type music, you will most likely find these phones difficult to use.

Best Regards,
Dan

 

[DouglasB]

wallijonn, you are quite right that the DT880s have a larger soundstage than the Sennheisers. I rank soundstage as a relatively unimportant quality in headphones, so I forgot to mention it. It is very legitimate that people have different audio values. I prefer a smaller, more speaker-like soundstage rather than a larger “surround sound” as long as the musical sounds are clearly separated, which for me is the case with the Sennheisers.

No matter how much I burned-in the DT880s and my audio brain, I still did not hear good tonality and resolution from the DT880s.

 

[BigD]

Hi,
I would like to know if hd650 and dt880 are very source sensitive. It would be very informative to know if hd650 and dt880 are very tolerant with portable players like mp3, md, cdp.
From many previous threads, I heard hd650/perreaux is very good combo.
How'bout dt880/perreaux combo???
Currently I have a perreaux v.5 and it has been extremely difficult with k501 (also very sensitive to music source as well).

 

[Dan the audioman]

The DT880 doesn't sound bad without a great source. However, when you do use a really nice one (~$2000ish, for example: Arcam FMJ CD33), it really opens them up. IMO, it is still not worth it. Nevertheless, this can be applied to many other cans.

 

[BigD]

Thanx dan,
when you say it doesn't sound bad, you mean it doesn't sound good or it sound above average???
anyone with dt880/perreaux combo???

 

[Dan the audioman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigD Thanx dan, when you say it doesn't sound bad, you mean it doesn't sound good or it sound above average???

No problem. Sorry, I was a little vague with that statement. When I say it doesn't sound bad without a great source, I mean that lower-end players still proficiently power the DT880's enough for them to produce good sound, but if you want a large improvement, you're going to have to make a huge jump in price to pay for a source worthy enough for the job. As I mentioned in my above post, this price gap, IMO, does not justify the sound improvement.