Portable Amp for the Beyerdynamic DT 880 250 ohms (Premium)...

[abesh]

Hey guys,

Just got my DT 880s and I love them. I feel like throwing out my ATH M50x and Beyerdynamic DT1350 after listening to the DT 880. Missus wants my 880 but I am not letting her take it... If this is what it can do with a low powered amp I would love to see what it does with one that can do it justice!

I tried driving them with JDS Labs and Biosciencegeek CMoys but these do not have enough power to drive them. I know the recommendation is to get tube amps for these cans but I am looking for portability too as I travel for work.

I have a budget of around $150 and I am looking at the Fiio A5. If portability was not a concern I would have most probably gone for a Schiit Vali 2. The A5 seems to have enough power to drive it, only concern being it is a relatively neutral amp. Do you think it is a good choice for the headphones ? Should I be looking at any other portable amps at that range ? Will the bass boost on the A5 contribute to the sound signature of the DT 880 ?

Thanks so much !

 

[PurpleAngel]

I would try and talk you into getting the FiiO A5.

 

[atarione]

the A5 could be a winner ... I have a old FiiO E11 (i basically never use) i never tried it w/ met DT880's because i would never use them portable...but it sounds pretty good trying it now w/ galaxy S8 > Fiio E11>DT880's (250)

a5 is more powerfully than my E11..E11 is a bit under powered it seemed

 

[abesh]

Awesome ! Thank you ! I will most probably get my hands on a A5 today. I will try and report back

 

[buke9]

+1 on the A5 had a E12 several years ago and it is very powerful would run my old Alpha Dogs to ear bleed levels and they weren’t real easy to drive and the bass boost can be fun.

 

[abesh]

Extremely excited to try the A5. I am literally waiting for the UPS truck to deliver it...

 

[RhisorHier]

I have both the 250 ohm and 80 ohm versions of the 770 pros , and my experience with the E17K ALPEN 2 is that they don't sufficiently drive the 250 ohms. I also don't think my LG V20 sufficiently drive them either. The only thing powerful enough I have is my Yamaha receiver which can push 400 ohm headphones.

 

[buke9]

I have both the 250 ohm and 80 ohm versions of the 770 pros , and my experience with the E17K ALPEN 2 is that they don't sufficiently drive the 250 ohms. I also don't think my LG V20 sufficiently drive them either. The only thing powerful enough I have is my Yamaha receiver which can push 400 ohm headphones.

Well the E17 puts out 200mw at 32 ohms and the A5 puts out 800 mw at 32 ohms so there is a big difference between those two.

 

[abesh]

The A5 just got delivered and I could play with it for 5 minutes before I hit the gym ! Initial impressions : This thing is quiet ! No hiss, no sound whatsoever ! At low gain I had to push the volume to full to get decent output from the DT 880s (bass boost off). With High gain and Bass Boost on whoa ! What a difference ! Booming bass, amazing mids with the treble tamed a little. Volume knob set to about 50 %.

Will play around after I come back from the gym in 90 minutes and update !

 

[buke9]

Awesome! They took the power of the E12 and the noise floor of the E12a made for sensitive Iems and put them together. Glad your liking it.

 

[abesh]

Spent a couple of hours with the DT 880s and the amp and its been a rollercoaster of a ride. The DT 880s (guessing it's not the A5) seem to make badly recorded music included some oldies sound really crappy. Soundstage is really good but not out of the world. Clarity is fantastic, I am hearing things in songs that I have never heard before. The bass boost on the A5 is a big plus. The DT 880s seem to handle a wide genre of music extremely gracefully. Overall I am really happy with this combo.

A question though, do I need to burn in the DT 880?

 

[abesh]

I cannot get over the fact how clean the A5 sounds. Comparing my BSG Cmoy with bass boost on I noticed that the bass was clipping on the BSG CMoy on certain tracks but was just immaculate with the A5. I am in love!

 

[atarione]

Spent a couple of hours with the DT 880s and the amp and its been a rollercoaster of a ride. The DT 880s (guessing it's not the A5) seem to make badly recorded music included some oldies sound really ****ty. Soundstage is really good but not out of the world. Clarity is fantastic, I am hearing things in songs that I have never heard before. The bass boost on the A5 is a big plus. The DT 880s seem to handle a wide genre of music extremely gracefully. Overall I am really happy with this combo.

A question though, do I need to burn in the DT 880?

burn in is ummm controversial.. but yes the dt880 will make bad recordings sound bad indeed... i quite like mine with quality recordings... but bad recordings / low bit rate mp3's are going to sound quite rubbish to be sure.

 

[Magicman74]

Another Amp I recommend for the Beyers, DT770, 880 Premium & 990 pro (I own all) is the Topping nx3... I actually like it better then the A5. The topping has a better soundstage, and the bass boost is better for the Beyers...The topping is dead silent as well..also the build is better. Another plus is you can find the Topping for $48-$60 on ebay...

 

[abesh]

I am a noob so please forgive if I do not understand concepts but I took a look at the NX3. Seems a little underpowered for the DT880 2500hms no ?

Topping NX3 maximum outputs
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103mW (RL=16Ω, THD+N=1%)
98mW (RL=32Ω, THD+N=1%)
30mW (RL=250Ω, THD+N=1%)