[TrollDragon]

Nothing worse that waiting for gear to arrive. The MK II will be a great amplifier, stay out of the Little Dot Tube Rolling Thread, your wallet will thank you.

Pick yourself up a pair of these driver tubes, they are one of the best the thread has found for a non modified LD.



http://www.ebay.com/itm/6HM5-6HA5-EC900-export-quality-audio-triode-tube-NOS-FREE-SHIPPING-/300879467071

 


Tube rolling never ends!
LOL!

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin... Keep those Fire Bottles Rollin.

That glow reminds me of the quest to seek the sacred river Alph and walk the caves of ice.

You could have told me that before.LOL

I think I did, but I could be wrong... You have evolved past the B7G's and gone to octals anyway.

 

[TrollDragon]

I have been playing around with some tube emulators. Of course nothing like the real thing, but I think it gives me sort of idea about what can a tube amp can do for me.  I find that it can round out the sound where some music is less harsh. But this is at a loss of detail.

Can a tube amp tame the DT880s? How well do these phones work with a tube amp? The more I think about this, the more I realize that this may be the way to go for me and my DT880s.

When people have a desire to "change" the sound of a headphone, it makes me wonder if the DT880's are possibly not for you?

 

[Chris J]

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin... Keep those Fire Bottles Rollin.

That glow reminds me of the quest to seek the sacred river Alph and walk the caves of ice.

No more cables of ice here, the temperature has risen above zero Celsiuso out here in Southern Ontario.
Occasionally the sun even shines!

 

[Tequilasunriser]

 
Can a tube amp tame the DT880s?

 
Yes.
 
I use a Bottlhead Crack with my DT880s. That's some silky-ass **** right there. For smooth sound on the cheap with the Crack use a Sino power tube and an RCA clear top gain tube (about $25 total if you shop smart.)

 

[genclaymore]

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin... Keep those Fire Bottles Rollin.

That glow reminds me of the quest to seek the sacred river Alph and walk the caves of ice.
I think I did, but I could be wrong... You have evolved past the B7G's and gone to octals anyway.

Yea there fire alright i touched them after unplugging every thing to change the gain and burnt my fingers, removing the larger tubes. Prolly could boil some water if you place a pot over them.

 

[TrollDragon]

Yes indeed, the power tubes do get rather warm.

First rule of chemistry class, hot glass looks exactly like cold glass.

The gain is something that usually never gets changed, my MKIV arrived with a gain of 3 and I thought oh boy what a waste of money this was. So I read 5 was the critics choice and it was night and day with respect to sound quality. Some run at 10 but I found it getting too loud at 9 o'clock so I switched back to 5 with a happy 11 o'clock getting to loud with the DT880's.

All personal preference, try them all and see what you like best.

 

[genclaymore]

Yea, I trying 5 atm and i find it can get too loud around 9.

 

[TrollDragon]

This is with the T90's yes, they are a lot more efficient than the DT880's, so 3 or 4 might be your sweet spot depending on the sound.

 

[genclaymore]

No wonder you said depends as I just read the gain change the sound signature, I did not know that at first. and my manual labels 4 wrong.

 

[TrollDragon]

I found the gain of 3 on the MKIV to be very flat and lifeless, I had to turn it up to 2 o'clock to get a decent level and I really did not like it.

Like I said before the best thing is to give them all a try and see what you like best.

 

[rodweb]

How can different gain affect the sound lol? Isn't it just about volume!?

 

[rev92]

I have had 880 pro's, very nice headphones!

 

[Chris J]

How can different gain affect the sound lol? Isn't it just about volume!?

Oh no! :eek:

May as well argue why roll tubes, they are all tubes aren't they?

 

[rodweb]

Oh no! :eek:

May as well argue why roll tubes, they are all tubes aren't they?

One thing has really nothing to with the other.

First case you're just changing the multiplier of by how much you want to amplify.
Second case you're changing an important physical part of the circuit.

Let's say you have two gain level:
Level 1: +6dB
Level 2: +12dB

If you're listening @80dB using the level 1, then when you switch to level 2 and lower the volume to equals the previous @80dB, sound should be EXACTLY the same. If it's not the same, the circuit was implemented wrong, simple as that.
But if you don't match both levels when comparing, of course level 2 will seems "better", because more volume will increase your perception of details and stuff.

 

[MUSICCURE]

I had the 880 pro on my Amazon wishlist for thee months, waiting for the price to go below 199.  To my dismay, recently they crept up to 275.  To my luck, I got a refurbished pair at 179$ that arrived today.  Love the coiled cable and familiar Beyer comfort.  I was concerned about the 250 ohm on my E17/E09k.  I thought for sure I'd be on high gain.  Low gain drives the 880 just fine with room to spare on the volume pot.