[Shaffer]

deleted

 

[pp312]

Wow, the DT880 thread has lost its friendly edge. And here I thought all DT880 owners were linked in eternal brotherhood. 

 

[knightboy140]

  Wow, the DT880 thread has lost its friendly edge. And here I thought all DT880 owners were linked in eternal brotherhood. 

why can't we all just be friends T_T

 

[Argyris]

I guess that treble peak can get to even the best of us sometimes.

 Me, I'm enjoying some nice baroque that I haven't listened to in a while. Smooth, airy, and perfectly balanced. The sound does this music justice and puts a smile on my face every time. 

 

[devhen]

^ Listening to my 880's right now as well and they do put a smile on my face every time with the added benefit that as I age and my high-end hearing deteriorates the treble peak will get even closer to perfection. 

 
Well, I ordered a 32 ohm DT880 for my brother as a Xmas present. He's using a DT 235 right now (which I also gave him haha, they're really great for the price) and the 235 is rated at 32 ohm / 95 db and gets loud enough for him straight out of his computer so the DT880 should work similarly since its rated at 32 ohm / 96 db. Anyway, I'll let y'all know how I feel about how loud they get out of computers and portable devices, and if my 250 ohm DT880 Pro actually sounds any different. If it turns out that he needs an amp I'll get him one but I don't think he will. I'm pretty excited for these, he's going to love them.

 

[knightboy140]

  I guess that treble peak can get to even the best of us sometimes.

 Me, I'm enjoying some nice baroque that I haven't listened to in a while. Smooth, airy, and perfectly balanced. The sound does this music justice and puts a smile on my face every time. 

Joe Hisaishi on my ciems..."studying" for finals
headfi is my place to procrastinate 

 

[Argyris]

I've had a passing curiosity with the DT235, though not enough to really justify picking one up. I know that its previous incarnation, the DT231, was quite popular and well-regarded at one time. I wonder why the DT235 sort of faded away, as it's essentially the same headphone from what I understand.

 

[devhen]

  I've had a passing curiosity with the DT235, though not enough to really justify picking one up. I know that its previous incarnation, the DT231, was quite popular and well-regarded at one time. I wonder why the DT235 sort of faded away, as it's essentially the same headphone from what I understand.

 
It sounds AMAZING. The DT235 is hands down the best sound quality for the money that I've heard. The big drawback is the comfort and another small drawback is that it doesn't isolate much at all. Other than that, its cheap, durable, can be tossed around or used out and about without having to worry about losing or breaking an expensive headphone, and the sound is spectacular for the price. I've never heard a headphone under $100 that had the kind of soundstage the DT 235 has. If you can get past the comfort issues, it competes with $150-$200 headphones in sound quality and even scales well with good amping. Like other Beyers including the 880, it seems to lap up every bit of power you give it and sounds even better and yet sounds decent and gets reasonably loud directly out of a portable device. Highly recommended if you want something thats cheap and can be banged around but still sounds good. Sound signature wise it is definitely warmer and bassier than the DT880 but it has a similar soundstage and tonality.
 
BTW, you can usually get them on Amazon Warehouse Deals for $40, like-new.

 

[devhen]

I don't mean to praise the DT235's too highly, don't get me wrong, something like the DT880 is definitely better, but not as much as you would think! The DT235 just surprised me so much because of their price. Of all the headphones I've bought and tried in the last couple of years (more than I'd care to admit) -- including many budget cans that I've bought in an attempt to find the best sound quality for the money -- the DT235 is the only one of them that I can listen to and forget that I'm not listening to one of my "good" headphones (HD600, DT880, K712, etc). I can't tell you how many times I've put on the DT235 and completely forgot that I was listening to them until an hour or so has passed and they start to get uncomfortable. That just doesn't happen to me with budget cans. Typically I can only listen to them for 10-15 minutes or so before it starts bugging me and I reach for one of my better cans (usually DT880 haha). So for me, that's saying something.

 

[TrollDragon]

Well I think I am going to pick up a pair of German Maestro 8.300D's as my closed headphone. Reading about all these headphones makes my head hurt...

 

[devhen]

Well I think I am going to pick up a pair of German Maestro 8.300D's as my closed headphone. Reading about all these headphones makes my head hurt...

 
^ I've heard those are great. I've been quite interested in both the 8.35 D and the GMP 400. I would definitely be interested in hearing what you think about them.

 

[devhen]

So I've put on the DT235's once again and to be fair I should point out the soundstage, although its pretty great for the price, isn't as wide as the DT880 and they can sound a bit congested in direct comparison. They have a warm tilt to them so I find myself using a decent amount of volume to get the treble to the level I'm used to coming from the DT880. The bass tilt would probably make these pretty decent for loud situations but again the fact that they leak a decent amount and don't isolate all that well hurts their usefulness in those situations. Alas, they are far from perfect but remain my go-to recommendation for the $40-$50 range.

 

[Argyris]

I don't have a tremendous comfort track record with supra-aurals. Apart from that, it looks like you really can't go wrong for $50. I wouldn't mind having something around that I can just throw on when I want to listen to something quickly, or else an actually portable headphone. Normally I use my SRH440 for both, but my glasses have thick arms, so in order to get a proper seal I need to perch them on top of the pads. Not to mention that the fit adjustment system has gone loose, so I need to continually set each side properly. A lot of annoyance just to watch a cat video on YouTube, and I look like a real goof with the SRH440 on out in public. Or, to fit this month's TMAC theme, a doofus.
 
How do the DT880 and DT235 compare, balance-wise? I would expect that absolute extension would favor the DT880, but it's the stuff in between the extremes that we pay the most attention to, and I'm not expecting perfection.
 
EDIT: Your latest post seems to answer my question. I really wish somebody would come up with something inexpensive that has the same basic balance as the DT880, and maybe a bit of its treble extension. I'm not looking for perfect smoothness or technical capability, but something that isn't warm-tinted. I've had about enough of that balance in just about everything I've listened to that isn't the DT880.

 

[devhen]

  I don't have a tremendous comfort track record with supra-aurals. Apart from that, it looks like you really can't go wrong for $50. I wouldn't mind having something around that I can just throw on when I want to listen to something quickly, or else an actually portable headphone. Normally I use my SRH440 for both, but my glasses have thick arms, so in order to get a proper seal I need to perch them on top of the pads. Not to mention that the fit adjustment system has gone loose, so I need to continually set each side properly. A lot of annoyance just to watch a cat video on YouTube, and I look like a real goof with the SRH440 on out in public. Or, to fit this month's TMAC theme, a doofus.
 
How do the DT880 and DT235 compare, balance-wise? I would expect that absolute extension would favor the DT880, but it's the stuff in between the extremes that we pay the most attention to, and I'm not expecting perfection.
 
EDIT: Your latest post seems to answer my question. I really wish somebody would come up with something inexpensive that has the same basic balance as the DT880, and maybe a bit of its treble extension. I'm not looking for perfect smoothness or technical capability, but something that isn't warm-tinted. I've had about enough of that balance in just about everything I've listened to that isn't the DT880.

 
Yeah, the DT235 are definitely warmer than the DT880 and don't have the treble extension. They also have more bass quantity.
 
I hear ya man. In fact I was just thinking that as I put the DT235 on and gave them another listen-- that they're probably not the right fit for DT880 lovers because of the lower treble quantity. You're right, that seems quite hard to find, particularly in budget cans.
 
My glasses have thick rims as well and the DT235 don't cause comfort issues based on that nor do they need a really consistent seal. I share your feelings on supra-aurals. In fact, you could probably say I hate them haha. But that's because most of my listening is done in long sessions. For short sessions I don't mind supra-aurals. In those cases the DT235's are really quite comfortable for me.

 

[Argyris]

I lasted 10 minutes with a pair of Grados before I started experiencing pain. No amount of bending the frame helped in the slightest (thankfully, this was all reversible since I eventually ended up returning them and getting the DT880).
 
I don't absolutely dislike a bit of warmth; it's more that every non-DT880 thing I have leans in that direction, and I would really like something different. The SRH440 has a noticeable midbass hump, and while its treble spike is pretty prodigious and tends to balance things out, beyond that there isn't a whole lot of extension. It's just okay for classical, for instance; I feel like I would really need more treble extension and a more neutral lower end for them to ever sound correct here.