It is interesting just how little you can pay for ear pads that actually feel as nice as the originals. These were under £7 when the originals are over £20. They are softer to the touch and feel to have the same luxury feel tho them. They also appear to have an even softer sponge inside too. The hole in the middle seems to be a fraction smaller than the originals as well as the whole thing actually, so are a little tight to get on. I bought them as in the picture, they don't have the holes as shown in my image below. The originals have loads of holes which I think results in too little bass, or more like the treble spike to be too apparent. I worried at first, but after trying them, they sound brilliant. I wouldn't want any more. It keeps it controlled while making the sharp spike in the treble (which i find a bit unpleasant) more balanced with the rest of it. Before these pads, I use some Hi-Fi man ear pads as I have mentioned further up the thread. They sounded very good but they are probably the most firm ear pads I have ever used. Not sure why they need to be this firm really. I will stick to the ones I have just bought here as they are so comfortable and make them sound better than the originals too.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Soft-Sponge-Ear-Cushion-Cover-Earpads-1-Pair-for-Beyerdynamic-DT770-DT880-DT990/233430185465?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
Below shows the new ear pads on the headphones and the original ones to the right. To experiment before I bought new ones, I tried covering up all the holes on the original ones with PVC tape, and that did make a difference to the bass. I personally think the originals shouldn't have these holes from the start. I'm used to bass light headphones. I have the audio technica ATH-AD700s and they seem to have even less bass than these, but don't have a slightly unpleasant spike to the higher frequencies in quite the same way, even though that is certainly the area they are excellent in.
I also bought this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ear-headband-Pads-for-Beyerdynamic-DT440-DT660-DT770-DT860-DT880-DT880PRO/151645378472?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
The headband seemed to go tacky in very little time. I'm quite surprised by this given they are premium headphones. I have had this one for at least as long and despite maybe feeling a bit cheaper, it has shown no sign of damage, is thicker and feels like it will last much longer.
My biggest problem with the DT880s is the reliability and build quality (in one area), which actually was a similar story i had with the AKG K702s, though these are far better than them. The K702s were built badly in general in my opinion
I first of all bought the 250ohm pro version with the coiled cable. These barely lasted 3 months before cutting out on one channel. This was because of some fault with the coiled cable. From that experience, I decided to skip going for that model again and went for the premium 600 ohm as it hat a straight cable. The difference I notice with these is that the metal isn't painted, and I am wondering if that is the reason why the adjustment is incredibly slack compared to the pro version. The pro's at leased clicked into different sizes with a satisfying click each time. These wouldn't stay in their position at all and the metal was clunking and rubbing against the headband (didn't know this at the time) So I returned these more or less instantly and got a replacement.
The replacement was just as slack. I think the little dents in the metal make next to no difference in terms of helping holding them in place. These ones were not quite as bad in terms of the metal rubbing. Luckily, the larger head you have (quite big in my case), the less likely this issue will be there. If you can see on the picture, I have wrapped some grey PVC tape (to try and hide it) and wrapped it around the metal. This keeps it permanently at the size I want it and stops it shrinking and then rubbing again. These headphones are generally built really well in most areas. But I think a major weakness is that plastic part that the adjustment goes through as well as the design of the adjustment part. This bit should be stronger than many other areas as it has to cope with movement. An odd choice to have this as cheap plastic that will wear over time. Luckily my solution with tape has worked and I just have replaces the tape a few times over the time i have owned them.
This above is an area that I think really wasn't thought about properly. It from my experience would make them incredibly annoying to use on a very small size. As I explained, the tape i have put on prevents them from sliding up any further, so for me they are fine now, just think it is a design flaw. As when they are any closer to a smaller position, the tip of the metal bar scrapes against the headband when the ear cup is moved. It is not a nice sound hearing metal scraping against metal and it also kept getting stuck unless you move the ear cup in a specific way. I thought I would see more people point this out. Before I thought to put PVC tape where I have, I tried bending the metal slightly with some pliers to prevent it contacting the metal headband quite as much. I also first wrapped PVC tape around the tip of the bar where it says 14 which at least prevented that horrible metal on metal rubbing sound when putting them on and removing them. But this really limited the adjustment, so I bent it back and put tape where I have shown. So basically, from all 3 DT880s I have had, they are not nice to use on their small sizes due to this design. As the tape stops them going up any higher, no matter how much you move the cups now the tip of the bar just about avoids contacting the headband so it doesn't clunk or get stuck.
I've had my latest pair of premium 600ohm DT880s since june 2018, so a reasonably long time, but I still find it rather annoying that I have had to spend a lot of time working out a solution to the poor design.
The sound is just my preference, so I that is down to me wanting to replace the ear pads. But I would be interested to know if others have had problems like i have experienced.
After all this experimenting I did some time ago, they are now nice to use and the headband and ear pads i came across make them even better.
