Sibilance on DT880 250ohm

[0324]

So, I just got a new pair of 250ohm BeyerDynamic DT880 Pros in the mail today. I've been listening for about 30 minutes, and at high volumes, "s's" sound hissy. I'm not an expert on headphones, but my $100 Sennheiser HD 439s did NOT hiss at these volumes. This is kind of disappointing as I expected these headphones to be a lot better than my 439s. 
 
other relevant information:
file type: FLAC (800kbps+)
amp/dac: FiiO E11 

 

[0324]

will this change upon breaking them in?

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

So, I just got a new pair of 250ohm BeyerDynamic DT880 Pros in the mail today. I've been listening for about 30 minutes, and at high volumes, "s's" sound hissy. I'm not an expert on headphones, but my $100 Sennheiser HD 439s did NOT hiss at these volumes. This is kind of disappointing as I expected these headphones to be a lot better than my 439s. 
 
other relevant information:
file type: FLAC (800kbps+)
amp/dac: FiiO E11 

 
Quote:

will this change upon breaking them in?

 
Heya,
 
They are bright headphones. Any recording you have that has microphone hiss and noise floor will be revealed. A much less resolving and darker headphone like the HD439 didn't reveal it to you.
 
Go to HDtracks.com and listen to samples there. See if it all has hiss. If not, it's your recordings at home with it recorded into the track and therefore played back with honesty to you. If you hear it on every single thing you listen to, then check your player's settings, equalizer, and the Fiio's gain setting, and keep the gain to low.
 
If you cannot figure it out or resolve the issue, simply equalize 7khz, 8khz, 10khz, 12khz by -2 db or so.
 
Very best,

 

[pp312]

As for burning them in, my experience is that yes, the high end does gradually smooth out as you burn them in, though the 880 will always be a slightly bright headphone without EQ. And as MalVeauX says, the HD439 is probably rolled off to some degree so you're not yet used to full range headphones. The trick with any new phopne, unless you absolutely hate them out of the box, is to give yourself time.   

 

[0324]

One thing that helped was putting the volume all the way up on my computer and foobar2000, thus allowing me to lower the volume on the E11 itself. I still occasionally hear a hiss at high volumes when an "s" is stressed. I expect that to fade as I break them in, and it really isn't much of an issue even now.
 
Thanks guys.