[NotaLefty]

  Hi guys, I was just wondering what people think of the DT880 600ohm/250ohm vs AKG545 (which I currently own)
 
I understand that obviously these are very different phones but I still want to get an opinion from people.
 
If I do end up buying a DT880, i will be driving it with a DX90

Comparing the 880/600 with the 545 here. The Beyers are much more open sounding, have a wider soundstage, and have better detail retrieval. They are also much more balanced than the 545's and more comfortable. Considering that I got the Beyers for $70 less than the 545's, I'd have to say that there is no comparison between the two. 

 

[Tequilasunriser]

I think I'll be getting the 250ohm version because I heard they're not very different from the 600ohm And they're cheaper too. How accurate is this?

I've never heard the 250 ohm version, but I can tell you the 600 ohm version isn't really hard to drive. The max power handling is 100mV at 600ohms and by then you'll be blowing your eardrums out. I can even get rather decent listening levels out of my cell phone. Damn near any purpose built amp should have enough power. Only exception I can think of might be that tiny Fiio amp that's like the size of a quarter or half-dollar but even then, like I said, my cell phone can drive them to a decent level and if a phone can drive them, well, that says a lot...
 

  Well, if you're looking for a desktop amp, Bottlehead Crack IMO is a very safe (and excellent choice) for anything under $500.
 
Above $500, Woo Audio WA7 is an excellent choice. Plus it has a very good DAC built in.
 
Another good choice for around $500 is the ALO Pan Am... though you may want to spend a bit more for a tube upgrade for that one.

 
An amp's price shouldn't be a measure of its performance. Lots of money will be wasted following that mantra. There's no reason a $1500 pair of HD800s can't be driven transparently off of an O2 that cost $65 in parts. Hell, look at the popularity of the Schiit Vali + HD800 combo.

 

[Bill-P]

  Then there is also the Little Dot MK IV SE, Darkvoice 336 SE, Musical Paradise MP-301 MK3 to consider with cheap tubes these amps can hit well above their price point and compete with higher tier amps.
 
A used Woo WA6 with a selection of tubes would be a good bargain as well.
 
Over $500 I would head straight for the WA2 or WA6SE
 
Personally I don't think the Pan Am would have enough power to run the DT880's with any authority but I could be wrong...

 
The ALO Continental V2 was able to drive the DT880 600 Ohm to listenable volume under meet condition (very loud talking), so I'd think the Pan Am should have more oomph than that.
 

  An amp's price shouldn't be a measure of its performance. Lots of money will be wasted following that mantra. There's no reason a $1500 pair of HD800s can't be driven transparently off of an O2 that cost $65 in parts. Hell, look at the popularity of the Schiit Vali + HD800 combo.

 
Of course an amp's price should not be a measure of its performance.
 
But it is indeed a measure of how invested a person is in the hobby.
 
Plus whether an amp can drive a headphone "transparently" isn't the issue.
 
There is no headphone in existence that has a perfectly flat frequency response curve... or a perfect transient response. A "good" amp designed specifically for any headphone would have to have some amount of distortion in order to make up for the uneven frequency response and transient response. That's why we have people willing to spend thousands on an amplifier. Carefully measured EQ can probably counteract the frequency response, but it won't address the other issue.
 
And that's also why some consider the O2 "boring"... because it measures well by itself, but it doesn't particularly make any headphone sound "better". It might be good if all you really want to hear is just how the headphone behaves, but then where's the music?
 
We have engineers and physicists on the board. It's not like they don't know their stuffs... but a good number of them have opted for more expensive amps and components for the same reason as above.

 

[r010159]

  r010159,
 
Sure, that makes sense, and if you like what it's doing then it's great. Who knows, you might buy a tube amp and be disappointed because it doesn't quite do what the emulator does.
 
[deleted]
 
For the kinds of analog equipment that can't be outdone by digital, I think some of these tube headphone amps are a perfect example. Software tube emulators may get close to the real thing, but I wonder if it will ever be possible to truly match it.

 
I find that with the tube emulators that I tried, when I try to make the sound warmer, there is a loss of detail, IMO too much detail. I do not think this would be the case with the real thing.

 

[ccash]

Yeah, I think some of them just EQ the low end up to about 250Hz and shelve the treble down a couple dB. Instant warmth!

 

[TrollDragon]

Finally some decent weather for a little listening session on the Deck. Rush "Gold" on the X3 in 24/96, Xanadu on the DT880's sound sweet from the little tube hybrid. (6BQ7A Tube)

 

[Chris J]

Finally some decent weather for a little listening session on the Deck. Rush "Gold" on the X3 in 24/96, Xanadu on the DT880's sound sweet from the little tube hybrid. (6BQ7A Tube)

You $&@!
I hate people like you!

 

[TrollDragon]

You $&@!
I hate people like you!

Haters gonna Hate... It is going to piss rain for the next 3 days so "Git R Done" while you can.

 

[Gavern]

So...decided...DT880 250ohms it is...but...PRO or Premium?! Only £3 difference in price.

 

[r010159]

  So...decided...DT880 250ohms it is...but...PRO or Premium?! Only £3 difference in price.

 
I am hard on the things I purchase. So I purchased the Premiums due to better construction with aluminum. 

 

[Chris J]

Haters gonna Hate... It is going to piss rain for the next 3 days so "Git R Done" while you can.

Er.....I'm a lover, not a fighter?

 

[Chris J]

The ALO Continental V2 was able to drive the DT880 600 Ohm to listenable volume under meet condition (very loud talking), so I'd think the Pan Am should have more oomph than that.


Of course an amp's price should not be a measure of its performance.

But it is indeed a measure of how invested a person is in the hobby.

Plus whether an amp can drive a headphone "transparently" isn't the issue.

There is no headphone in existence that has a perfectly flat frequency response curve... or a perfect transient response. A "good" amp designed specifically for any headphone would have to have some amount of distortion in order to make up for the uneven frequency response and transient response. That's why we have people willing to spend thousands on an amplifier. Carefully measured EQ can probably counteract the frequency response, but it won't address the other issue.

And that's also why some consider the O2 "boring"... because it measures well by itself, but it doesn't particularly make any headphone sound "better". It might be good if all you really want to hear is just how the headphone behaves, but then where's the music?

We have engineers and physicists on the board. It's not like they don't know their stuffs... but a good number of them have opted for more expensive amps and components for the same reason as above.

Come on, dude-sicle. OK, I may have made that word up.
Any state of the art headphone amp like the TOTL Sennheiser or the big Bryston must have been designed for flat as the proverbial board frequency response and the almost immeasurable noise and distortion.
These aren't flaky tube amps that sick, twisted perverse people like me profess to liking and waxing poetically thereof. Unless you are referring to tube amps that look like a leftover prop from Frankenstein? :eek:
Are you?

 

[Bill-P]

Come on, dude-sicle. OK, I may have made that word up.

Any state of the art headphone amp like the TOTL Sennheiser or the big Bryston must have been designed for flat as the proverbial board frequency response and the almost immeasurable noise and distortion.
These aren't flaky tube amps that sick, twisted perverse people like me profess to liking and waxing poetically thereof. Unless you are referring to tube amps that look like a leftover prop from Frankenstein?

Are you?

 
Well, both you and I know well enough that music also happens in the time domain, and not just the frequency domain. So something that measures super flat may still have its own behavior in the time domain that we can't "see" on a graph that has... no time axis.
 
We probably would be able to measure that but I suspect people don't want to... because then who would go out and buy $100 amps anymore? 

 
And then there's the fact that there really is no such thing as a "flat" frequency response. They have been trying to correct the "flat" frequency response curves as of late...
 
But then the other side of the equation would start to sweat profusely because that would mean another issue: that every single audio equipment we have designed up until yesterday would not have a "flat" frequency response. 

 
Such is the state of this hobby.

 

[TrollDragon]

Do you guys EVER pull the stick out and just enjoy some music? xD

That's what it is all about isn't it?

Or am I missing something not listening for the non resonant sonics of Dyna Mat in some other domain...

Do I need remote desktop for this domain or do I already have an account?

"For I have dined on HoneyDew and drank the milk of Paradise!"

 

[wahsmoh]

Do you guys EVER pull the stick out and just enjoy some music? xD

That's what it is all about isn't it?

Or am I missing something not listening for the non resonant sonics of Dyna Mat in some other domain...

Do I need remote desktop for this domain or do I already have an account?

"For I have dined on HoneyDew and drank the milk of Paradise!"

hehe I listen for the love of music. I just pulled a funny in my playback queue on Foobar2000. I went from Megadeth "Symphony of Destruction" to Fleetwood Mac "Landslide." That is how versatile the DT880 is folks. Going from metal straight to acoustic rock without a care in the world