[weekendtoy]

  Good morning, to all.
 
In order to get the most out of them, I also purchased the Little Dot MK2. As per my findings on the different forums, this combination seemed to be an ideal one. I definitely get a lot more volume now, although I do have to turn the knob all the way to 5 o'clock. The bass is not as deep as I had hoped it would be and in some FLAC files the highs tend to sound a little bright for my taste. I haven't rolled the tubes and don't plan on doing it any time soon, so it might have something to do with the stock tubes.
 
However, I'm really pleased overall with the DT880 and the way they now sounds in combination with the Little Dot.
 
If you have any advice on how I can get them to sound better, I'm really eager to learn.

 
I had the DT880 (600ohm) / Little Dot MKiii combo for several years, the sound was heavenly.  I sold the Little Dot to fund the purchase an an Oppo 105 with it's own dedicated headphone amp.  I regretted it immeadiately...

 

[devhen]

 
Do your headphones have a serial number sticker above the right ear cup? I received mine from Focus Camera (authorized seller according to Beyer) and they do not, although another head-fier that just bought from them does. I'm planning on returning them.

 
None of my DT770/DT880/DT990 have ever come with a serial number sticker on the headphones themselves, and I've purchased several of them. Its also normal to not have security seals on the box itself. They do have a serial number sticker on the box, at least all but my DT 880 Pro do.

 

[devhen]

  just received my dt880 250 prem. HOLY F the sound so precise, separation and sound stage just amazing, feeling like they are licking my ears even on integrated via, now waiting for modi2uber\vali2 in 2 days to decide about bass, mixed feelings atm.

 
The bass definitely improves a ton with amping. Just the other night my roommate and I were listening on our smartphones with the DT880 & the AKG K712 and it reminded me just how big a difference amping makes for the DT880. The AKG K712 sounds essentially the same without one, it just doesn't get as loud. But the DT880 sounds very different. With and without my iBasso D42 Mamba was like night and day. Without it there was very little bass and almost zero sub-bass. With the amp the bass sounded right again. Still very slightly less bass *quantity* than the K712, which is normal, but better detail in the bass. Extremely enjoyable bass quality in fact. When amped we both found the DT880 to be the better of the two. Un-amped the K712 was by far better. This depends on the type of music you're listening to of course but if you need good bass and sub-bass you need to amp the DT880.

 

[NXTk]

   
The bass definitely improves a ton with amping. Just the other night my roommate and I were listening on our smartphones with the DT880 & the AKG K712 and it reminded me just how big a difference amping makes for the DT880. The AKG K712 sounds essentially the same without one, it just doesn't get as loud. But the DT880 sounds very different. With and without my iBasso D42 Mamba was like night and day. Without it there was very little bass and almost zero sub-bass. With the amp the bass sounded right again. Still very slightly less bass *quantity* than the K712, which is normal, but better detail in the bass. Extremely enjoyable bass quality in fact. When amped we both found the DT880 to be the better of the two. Un-amped the K712 was by far better. This depends on the type of music you're listening to of course but if you need good bass and sub-bass you need to amp the DT880.

Thanks for response, HI2050 amount of bass was totally fine to me, modi2uber/vali2 already at the post office. Gonna take them tomorrow or day after. Since they got short working times at weekends 9am-1pm. Right now on VIA integrated anything below 60hz sounds weak and quiet compared to lets say 100hz which is like 3-4 times louder over 30hz sound in tone generator. szynalski.com/tone-generator/ whine 100% volume set everywhere.

 

[chihwahli]

  So I've had my DT880/600s for just under a year now and just a few days ago they seem to have really changed in the bass register. In general there seems to be more bass impact. When I first got the 880s they did feel a little bass light, but I got used to that. Now they're just right I think. It might be my ears adjusting, but it seems like I would be much past that stage as it's been a while. I know that burn in is somewhat a controversial topic, but has anybody else experienced a change after about a year in usage?

In our case, certainly in my case, the DT880 premium 600 ohm, did not have changed pads. I only own mine for about 1 month. I listen to music almost every day for hours. And gradually or suddenly the bass changed. As you have mentioned from low light to more heavy. In my case I would say the difference is like a light touching of a Chinese drum with the wooden stick, towards what it is now, it sounds like a decent hit with the wooden stick. My pads are still very new. So, so others have said, it must be a burn in of the driver. I also noticed a change with the high sounds.
 
It just sounds great now with the Valhalla  OTL tube amplifier plus Schiit Bitfrost 4490 DAC.
 
Edit: I didn't know that warming up tubes will make difference. This is also a possibility of the sound difference. In my case I start to notice a difference after about 2 ~ 2,5 hours. Didn't clock it, an estimate.

 

[NXTk]

Received Modi2u/vali2 amplification helped with bass a lot, +3db on 40hz helped also, for me amount of bass at lowest edge of acceptable for EDM and bass intensive music, for other genres especially all instrumental its just a golden amount and the quality is a top notch.
Listening 8 hrs a day, at low gain 90-100% vol.knob fits 250 ohms just great. Also got CloudX will be gifted to a friend, bass is boomy and flat, kinda hard to listen bass intensive music, brainwavez hm5 hybrid pads helped a bit, but i like HI2050 bass more. Nothing more to say.  Great headphones, love it.

 

[FuzzyD]

I ended up returning the DT880 and ordered the 990. After a day of A/B-ing I prefer the 990. It sounds more similar to the HE400 sound I'm used to. The 880 was quite nice don't get me wrong but I just simply didn't enjoy it as much. I also feel like the 990 brings everything to the table that the 880 does and then some. That extra bass and treble can be EQ'd down if someone feels it's too much. I enjoy the slightly larger soundstage too. Interestingly, the 990 box did have security stickers on it despite others (including Beyer themselves) saying they don't normally have them.
 
Also of note, there's something about the ear pads on the 880 all black edition with the T90 style headband that is different. They are a little firmer than the 990 pads and the material is not as soft as the 990 (and I imagine standard 880) gray pads. The standard gray pads are silkier and softer both in the foam and the velour material making them a little more comfortable.

 

[devhen]

  Interestingly, the 990 box did have security stickers on it despite others (including Beyer themselves) saying they don't normally have them.

 
Yeah, the DT990 I recently purchased did have security stickers on either side of the box but they're the only Beyers I've seen that had those. Mine are the all-black limited edition version and the pads do seem a bit stiffer than regular Beyer velours. AFAIK the pads are made by hand so its possible that they just produced a batch of blacks that happened to be stuffed with slightly more padding. Unfortunately that means they will take even longer to wear down to where, IMO, they sound their best.

 

[NOSAudiophile]

From what I gather these headphones are some of the longest in production yet rated only #220 in Head-fi?  Can someone explain this to me? Thanks!

 

[Slaphead]

From what I gather these headphones are some of the longest in production yet rated only #220 in Head-fi?  Can someone explain this to me? Thanks!

Well there are a lot of good headphones out there, but I think the primary reason is the growing attitude that anything over 3 years old is inferior to current models. This is something I've noticed amongst younger people - millennials especially, who have experienced the biggest year on year increase in performance with digital technology, and therefore expect the rapid improvements to apply to everything else - which it doesn't. There's also the fashion thing to take into account as well.

It's a shame really, as there are a lot of headphones such as the DT770,880,990 and the Senny HD25 that still hold there own overall, and are bargains for the prices that they're being currently sold at.

People also fail to realise that there's been no real progress in driver or acoustic technology for around 50 years. Dynamic systems and acoustics were well understood way prior to that. Electrostatic stuff was around in the late 60's early 70's, and planar dynamic was being produced in the early 70's.

The biggest changes today come in the form of subjective tuning, rather than objective and real improvements.

 

[kman1211]

Well there are a lot of good headphones out there, but I think the primary reason is the growing attitude that anything over 3 years old is inferior to current models. This is something I've noticed amongst younger people - millennials especially, who have experienced the biggest year on year increase in performance with digital technology, and therefore expect the rapid improvements to apply to everything else - which it doesn't. There's also the fashion thing to take into account as well.

It's a shame really, as there are a lot of headphones such as the DT770,880,990 and the Senny HD25 that still hold there own overall, and are bargains for the prices that they're being currently sold at.

People also fail to realise that there's been no real progress in driver or acoustic technology for around 50 years. Dynamic systems and acoustics were well understood way prior to that. Electrostatic stuff was around in the late 60's early 70's, and planar dynamic was being produced in the early 70's.

The biggest changes today come in the form of subjective tuning, rather than objective and real improvements.

That is true. I fall under the millennial group but I realized there really hasn't been any real improvements except maybe better utilization of the transducers but there hasn't really been much if any improvements in the transducers themselves. I mean the original dynamic driver, the DT 48 stills holds up today and surpasses most headphones in many aspects even today. I have a DT 480 which shares the same driver as the DT 48 and with a little modding it's the best headphone I've owned and I bought the thing for $100.

 

[NOSAudiophile]

Well there are a lot of good headphones out there, but I think the primary reason is the growing attitude that anything over 3 years old is inferior to current models. This is something I've noticed amongst younger people - millennials especially, who have experienced the biggest year on year increase in performance with digital technology, and therefore expect the rapid improvements to apply to everything else - which it doesn't. There's also the fashion thing to take into account as well.

It's a shame really, as there are a lot of headphones such as the DT770,880,990 and the Senny HD25 that still hold there own overall, and are bargains for the prices that they're being currently sold at.

People also fail to realise that there's been no real progress in driver or acoustic technology for around 50 years. Dynamic systems and acoustics were well understood way prior to that. Electrostatic stuff was around in the late 60's early 70's, and planar dynamic was being produced in the early 70's.

The biggest changes today come in the form of subjective tuning, rather than objective and real improvements.

 
Awesome comment! Since I'm now looking at headphones for private listening at home looks aren't a factor for me nor is sound leakage. And your thoughts may just get me into vintage audio game all over again. I used to occasionally hunt for vintage tube amps and tubes until they got too expensive (yikes). I've been out of audiophile hobby for a number of years now but this opportunity to re-discover old headphone gems just might get me into this hunt again. And subsequent hunt for decent source/dac/amps. yikes! 

 

[FuzzyD]

  From what I gather these headphones are some of the longest in production yet rated only #220 in Head-fi?  Can someone explain this to me? Thanks!

 
I've been visiting this site for years and this is the first time I even realized there was a "rankings" list here.

 

[devhen]

 

  From what I gather these headphones are some of the longest in production yet rated only #220 in Head-fi?  Can someone explain this to me? Thanks!

 
I've been visiting this site for years and this is the first time I even realized there was a "rankings" list here.

 
Same here. Is this what you guys are talking about? http://www.head-fi.org/products/category/over-ear

 

[NOSAudiophile]

   
Same here. Is this what you guys are talking about? http://www.head-fi.org/products/category/over-ear

yes that's what I was talking about. haha yeah that's crazy you didn't know. easiest way to look at the offerings out there and get a sense of the people's preferences here.