[Makiah S]

  I am trying to EQ the treble so that it isn't as harsh. I didn't know where to start so I just used headroom's FR graph as a reference. In Electri-q, I did a -3dB at 6.3kHz and 8.7kHz as well as a -6dB at 11kHz. Is this correct?

your best bet is to use the graph as a refrance, then fine tune it by ear. Just start literally playing with your eq till you feel it sounds better. I did the same with my HE 400... ironically I Eq'd it to sound like a Dt 880 [minus eqíng in the bass as the HE 400 already had very linear Sub Bass]
 
Now My trifecta was DT 880 W1000x and HE 400. I was very happy, HE 400 was killer for EDM and Movies, DT 880 for Music, and the W1000x for Vocals+Rock
 
How ever, With the Right EQ, the DT 880 is about 95% as good as the HE 400, minus the speed. So while the HE 400 is imo a valid purchase [as I'm not a huge EQ fan] I only listen to EDM outside my house, where I need the Isolation of Closed headphones
 
Now that said, I really do recommend a W1000x to compliment the DT 880, I find them both to share a nice airy detailed sound, with the DT 880 having a spacious open sound, and the W1000x more intimate and personal 

 

[lolspops]

 

  I am trying to EQ the treble so that it isn't as harsh. I didn't know where to start so I just used headroom's FR graph as a reference. In Electri-q, I did a -3dB at 6.3kHz and 8.7kHz as well as a -6dB at 11kHz. Is this correct?

This was what worked for me till I got rid of that nasty crashing PoS...
The bass was only added as a trial and removed later...
 
 
Now I use this and have not had a problem since in foobar2K.
 

Surprisingly, it doesn't crash when I mess with it while the music is playing. I've tried to mirror your exact graph but how do I get the curve to be less "stream-lined"?

 

[TrollDragon]

  Surprisingly, it doesn't crash when I mess with it while the music is playing. I've tried to mirror your exact graph but how do I get the curve to be less "stream-lined"?
 

Just click where you want the dots on the line or click it and hit del to get rid of one.
Double click the 2 dots and enter the following settings:

First dot
Freq: 3500
Gain: 2.5
BW: 0.7

Second Dot
Freq: 6500
Gain: -9.5
BW: 0.5
 
Your lucky, crashed on me all the time....

 

[devhen]

FWIW, IMO you shouldn't reduce the treble quite that much if you don't want to significantly lose treble detail. Here's the EQ that I used to use quite a bit. The sub-bass hump isn't entirely necessary and results in slightly higher than neutral sub-bass so you may want to use a lower value there or leave it flat.
 
To my ears this reduces the glare of the DT880's treble and improves tonal accuracy while retaining as much treble detail as possible. However, I've since started listening to my DT880 without EQ and I've come to really quite like their stock signature.
 

 
Download for EasyQ: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/957144/00_880_01_7.xml

 

[TrollDragon]

  FWIW, IMO you shouldn't reduce the treble quite that much if you don't want to significantly lose treble detail. Here's the EQ that I used to use quite a bit. The sub-bass hump isn't entirely necessary and results in slightly higher than neutral sub-bass so you may want to use a lower value there or leave it flat.
 
To my ears this reduces the glare of the DT880's treble and improves tonal accuracy while retaining as much treble detail as possible. However, I've since started listening to my DT880 without EQ and I've come to really quite like their stock signature.
 

Would you dropbox that Preset for us good sir, it saves all the clicking and dragging. 

 

[devhen]

Originally Posted by TrollDragon /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Would you dropbox that Preset for us good sir, it saves all the clicking and dragging. 

 
Sure.
 
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/957144/00_880_01_7.xml
 
Keep in mind, I don't claim to be an EQ expert and this particular EQ is a lot more precise than the other more general treble reduction EQ's that have been posted so you'll likely need to tweak it to fit your particular tastes and your particular DT880 (standard driver variance, pad wear, etc.).
 
Check out the DT880's tonality with vocals after appylying this EQ. To my ears vocals become a lot more realistic sounding, getting much closer to the HD600's abilities in that regard, once the treble glare is slightly reduced.

 

[TrollDragon]

   
Sure.
 
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/957144/00_880_01_7.xml
 
Keep in mind, I don't claim to be an EQ expert and this particular EQ is a lot more precise than the other more general treble reduction EQ's that have been posted so you'll likely need to tweak it to fit your particular tastes and your particular DT880 (standard driver variance, pad wear, etc.).
 
Check out the DT880's tonality with vocals after appylying this EQ. To my ears vocals become a lot more realistic sounding, getting much closer to the HD600's abilities in that regard, once the treble glare is slightly reduced.

Much Appreciated!
 
I'll check that out tonight.

 

[lolspops]

  FWIW, IMO you shouldn't reduce the treble quite that much if you don't want to significantly lose treble detail. Here's the EQ that I used to use quite a bit. The sub-bass hump isn't entirely necessary and results in slightly higher than neutral sub-bass so you may want to use a lower value there or leave it flat.
 
To my ears this reduces the glare of the DT880's treble and improves tonal accuracy while retaining as much treble detail as possible. However, I've since started listening to my DT880 without EQ and I've come to really quite like their stock signature.
 
 

One of the glaring effects when I was EQing that I've noticed as well. Thanks, I'll give your settings a listen as well. Also, should I adjust the global gain or increase the volume on my amp? Which would give less distortion?

 

[Argyris]

I can handle their stock signature on most material. It adds a bit of extra sizzle over my personal calibration curve, and it can be quite enjoyable. However, there are some songs (usually with strong snare drums) that just light up my lower treble sensitivity, and I have to switch the curve back on. I've tweaked my EQ over the years, starting around 2011, and I've gradually zeroed in on the trouble spot. A notch between 5-6 kHz, with a few dB of general reduction between there and about 15 kHz, is all I need. The way I see it, it's a lot like getting a television or monitor that needs a bit of calibration before it performs optimally. The potential is there; it just needs a bit of tweaking to bring it out.
 
With headphones, I feel, it's much better if they give you a little too much of something, since you can always shave a bit off the top. It's when they don't give you enough that it's a problem, since it's usually a deficiency in the system itself (driver, interaction of the driver with the cups, etc.) that's responsible. Or, in the case of lack of treble extension, it's often a case where the driver starts breaking up after a certain point, so the manufacturer elects to roll the treble off in order to mask the issue. Shelve up the upper region and you just discover why the maker didn't do it in the first place.

 

[pp312]

The great thing about the DT880 is first of all that it's a very honest sound, virtually free of resonance and with a very even response, and second, that where it does have a genuinely identifiable flaw, the treble peak, it's very easily fixed with EQ or just a simple tone control. This is where it scores over the AKG rivals, in that their peak is lower, between 1 and 3khz, making EQ mandatory for an even response. Also, whereas a peak at 5.5khz may make some recordings over-sharp but will pass unnoticed on others, or even improve them, a 2khz peak wll make its presence felt on everything and will on some recordings be intolerable (at least, that's how I found the K702). Given an even starting quality, the 880 is just a much easier phone to get right.   

 

[Argyris]

I wonder what causes the peak. I wonder if it's an unavoidable artifact, or else if it's a case of it being the lesser of two evils that Beyer selected between when tuning the headphone. I feel like if there was anything they could have done about it they might have tried, especially since they have a pretty extraordinary headphone apart from that. The peak doesn't even ring, like a lot of peaks do. It's just an area of extra energy. Maybe they actually intended it to be there in that case, in order to set themselves apart from the HD600, which follows the DF curve to near perfection and, as a consequence, is usually described as less energetic sounding than the DT880. 5-6 kHz is generally considered to be more benign than either a bit higher (where you run into splashiness and a large portion of sibilance) or a bit lower (where you get shoutiness and hardness). I'm unusually sensitive to 5-6 kHz, and even in my case there are only a few really bad tracks where the EQ is pretty much necessary. And I haven't come across a single recording in my classical collection (after this past summer's sizable expansion, pushing almost 1,000 tracks) where the extra treble energy causes an issue. If anything, I like the effect--instead of increasing the highest overtones, it increases the sense of presence and ambiance.

 

[Makiah S]

  I wonder what causes the peak. I wonder if it's an unavoidable artifact, or else if it's a case of it being the lesser of two evils that Beyer selected between when tuning the headphone. I feel like if there was anything they could have done about it they might have tried, especially since they have a pretty extraordinary headphone apart from that. The peak doesn't even ring, like a lot of peaks do. It's just an area of extra energy. Maybe they actually intended it to be there in that case, in order to set themselves apart from the HD600, which follows the DF curve to near perfection and, as a consequence, is usually described as less energetic sounding than the DT880. 5-6 kHz is generally considered to be more benign than either a bit higher (where you run into splashiness and a large portion of sibilance) or a bit lower (where you get shoutiness and hardness). I'm unusually sensitive to 5-6 kHz, and even in my case there are only a few really bad tracks where the EQ is pretty much necessary. And I haven't come across a single recording in my classical collection (after this past summer's sizable expansion, pushing almost 1,000 tracks) where the extra treble energy causes an issue. If anything, I like the effect--instead of increasing the highest overtones, it increases the sense of presence and ambiance.

honestly I like how the DT 880 sounds, including the peak the only issue I have is how it's a tad grainy at times...well except with the vali. 

 

[Argyris]

  ...a 2khz peak wll make its presence felt on everything and will on some recordings be intolerable...

 
I take it you don't like Grados much, then? That's pretty much where they get their unique sound--a tall peak right around 2 kHz. Other than that, it's just a mid-bass bump and shelved up mid-treble, which isn't that unusual. I kind of liked the sound for some genres, but it was pretty much useless for classical. Nothing in the orchestra sounded right, particularly strings.

 

[Mdraluck23]

  your best bet is to use the graph as a refrance, then fine tune it by ear. Just start literally playing with your eq till you feel it sounds better. I did the same with my HE 400... ironically I Eq'd it to sound like a Dt 880 [minus eqíng in the bass as the HE 400 already had very linear Sub Bass]
 
Now My trifecta was DT 880 W1000x and HE 400. I was very happy, HE 400 was killer for EDM and Movies, DT 880 for Music, and the W1000x for Vocals+Rock
 
How ever, With the Right EQ, the DT 880 is about 95% as good as the HE 400, minus the speed. So while the HE 400 is imo a valid purchase [as I'm not a huge EQ fan] I only listen to EDM outside my house, where I need the Isolation of Closed headphones
 
Now that said, I really do recommend a W1000x to compliment the DT 880, I find them both to share a nice airy detailed sound, with the DT 880 having a spacious open sound, and the W1000x more intimate and personal 

 I just got a HE400 for $299 on the Black Friday deal, prior to that deal popping up I was considering the DT880. Do you feel like I made the right choice for that price? Which would you prefer if you had to choose between the two?

 

[bobcow120]

   I just got a HE400 for $299 on the Black Friday deal, prior to that deal popping up I was considering the DT880. Do you feel like I made the right choice for that price? Which would you prefer if you had to choose between the two?

 
The two are generally considered equals but each person's sonic preference will determine which pair they prefer. Seeing as the DT880 pro can be found for around $200, it would probably make them a better value. However, if you are not a fan of their sound signature then $300 for the HE-400 is also a pretty good deal.