[gooeyrich]

Exactly... they're 220 ohms (per channel).
And they don't typically DISSIPATE much power at all.

However, there are several different things going on here - and they're all cool.

1) The easiest one first. Some few planar headphones are VERY inefficient, and actually require three or four WATTS into 30 ohms or so to drive them. These are the ones you hear about people driving with "speaker amplifiers" - usually by building some sort of adapter cable that connects to the speaker terminals but has a headphone jack wired to it. Very few headphone amplifiers can drive them well, and they're not quite perfectly matched to speaker amps either, so they've always been a bit of a problem.

The BasX A-100 will work VERY well with these models. (Remember that you will have to put on the internal jumpers - which also prevents you from doing it unless you really intend to. And also remember that putting this much power into normal headphones would be dangerous to the headphones and your ears.)

2) Really high impedance headphones (like many 300 Ohm and 600 Ohm Beyerdynamic models) require a lot of drive VOLTAGE to really sing. They're actually quite efficient, and don't draw much POWER, but you need enough voltage to drive them. Many headphone amplifiers have trouble with these simply because they don't put out that amount of voltage. (The reason is simply that they aren't designed to. It's not that it's difficult to design an amplifier that can run them well, it's simply that most headphone amplifiers are optimized to run "normal" headphones - which are usually between 30 Ohms and 50 Ohms; and those simply require different optimizations.)

You could actually run headphones like these on the A-100 with the jumpers on or off. Most other amps would probably be too noisy to connect their speaker output directly to a pair of 600 Ohm Beyerdynamic cans, but the A-100 is very quiet, and very clean, so it works just fine that way. (However, you don't gain much by bypassing the resistor, so we don't really recommend doing so.)

3) The resistors also serve a very different purpose. In virtually all vintage equipment, the headphone output was derived by using resistors, like we do in the BasX A-100. Back in those days it was simply a matter of saving money; they didn't want to bother with a separate headphone amplifier. By using dropping resistors, the same amplifiers that you use for the speakers can run your headphones. The main drawback is that speaker amplifiers tend to be slightly noisier than good headphone amplifiers. That's not a problem with the A-100 because we've designed it to be really quiet.

Another thing is that, by driving the headphones through a large value resistor, the impedance of the headphones is allowed to interact with signal. Most modern headphone amplifiers specifically aim to have a very low output impedance. This minimizes this interaction, and helps ensure that a given pair of headphones will sound very much the same with different headphone outputs and different headphone amplifiers. However, it is this variation that gives each headphone and amp combination its "distinctive personality", so wiping it away may not be a good thing after all. THIS is what contributes to the "great sound of vintage headphone outputs" that some audiophiles rave about so much (and we've brought it back).

The resistors also serve to "even out" the level between various headphones. While there's a lot of variation between both the impedance and the efficiency of different models of headphones, in general lower impedance models tend to be more efficient. If you work out the math, by delivering a certain signal level through a large value resistor, lower impedance headphones end up getting less signal. As a result, with the resistor, when you unplug and plug in different headphones, you are more likely to end up with similar output levels.

(You may be surprised to know that the "standard" for equipment back in the old days was for the headphone output to have a resistor..... often 120 or 220 Ohms.)

Check out the output power the A-100 delivers into headphones of various impedances (with the resistors).
You'll notice that it lines up VERY well with the actual needs of typical headphones.
Remember that these are MAXIMUM OUTPUT CAPABILITIES; so don't worry about "too much power for your headphones".

https://emotivalounge.proboards.com/thread/48439/basx-100-amp-available?page=3

 

[TrollDragon]

https://emotivalounge.proboards.com/thread/48439/basx-100-amp-available?page=3

If I was looking for a desktop amp the Emotiva Basx-100 would be my choice. Perfect power for my T50RP MK2 and the DT880s might see some benefit as well.

 

[terrys999]

Atom and magni should be sufficient.

I have the dt880 600ohm
Using adi 2 dac fs
Using low power -20 and they are loud! Adi 2 dac fs would destroy these phones on hi power and anything higher than -4

These DACs drive anything.

 

[gooeyrich]

Amplification

The actual impedance is never less than 600 Ω, and more importantly, it's almost purely resistive. These are trivially easy to drive so long as you have enough voltage from any real headphone amp.

Beware of the many expensive but wimpy headphone amplifiers with no more than 2 V RMS output, which isn't much more than the 1 V RMS output of an iPod. These wimpy amps are the ones often powered by batteries and sold with exotic DACs at high prices for use with iPods, but read the specifications carefully to be sure that they have plenty of output. Ask an electronic engineer if you need help.

A proper headphone amp should be able drive these to about 7 V RMS or 20 dBm or 100 mW into 600 Ω, which is more than deafening.

I auditioned these with various amplifiers, and the sound didn't vary — just the maximum output, which of course will vary the perceived bass response.

https://www.kenrockwell.com/audio/beyer/dt-990.htm

Eh..every reputable source says an Atom or Magni is more than sufficient, time to stop listening to the peanut gallery saying you need a nuclear power plant.

 

[gooeyrich]

Power handling capacity. . . . . . . . . . 100 mW

https://north-america.beyerdynamic.com/dt-880-edition.html

Per the spec sheet under downloads.

 

[Shane D]

I ordered a set today from Europe. I am in Canada and there are none here (600 Ohm).
I got them for less than the list price here.

Very curious to try these out

 

[gooeyrich]

I ordered a set today from Europe. I am in Canada and there are none here (600 Ohm).
I got them for less than the list price here.

Very curious to try these out

What kind of amp will you be using?

 

[Tademeus]

What kind of amp will you be using?

I second that question. DT880 need to be properly amped. When connected to ARCAM rHead, they get muffled in busy music sections, but when connected to Beyerdynamic A20, they sing! With A20 amp they are a perfect match (mines are 250 ohm). Seriously, if I’d get A20/DT880 combo at the beginning of my headphone journey, I’d save some noticable amount of money...

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

https://www.kenrockwell.com/audio/beyer/dt-990.htm

Eh..every reputable source says an Atom or Magni is more than sufficient, time to stop listening to the peanut gallery saying you need a nuclear power plant.

It’s a pity that Z reviews is so big. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the guy and find him entertaining as well as sympathetic...but because of the way he does reviews there seems to be a whole slew of newcomers to the hobby that can’t tell when he’s talking about stuff he simply doesn’t understand. He started this recent DT880 600 ohm hype as well as this proposterous claim that it needs a regular powerplant to sing properly.
The truth is that most newer headphone amps have more than enough power to drive these sufficiently. Amps today are generally far more powerful than the ones that existed when this headphone was released.

Want a DT880 and need an amp that can drive them well? Get a Magni, Atom or any similar amp and you’re good to go. Sure you can also get the Emotiva, fiddle with the jumpers and then never use more than about 2% of it’s juice and additionally get a fair bit of distortion. Any of the above mentioned amps are better imho and are far less likely to throw a fit.

 

[TrollDragon]

OTL and DT880s are pure bliss for me. An Emotiva would be perfect for my Fostex planars, but to each their own.

 

[Shane D]

What kind of amp will you be using?

I have two amps in mind for them:
1) Mapletree Audio Design Ear+ HDII tube amp.
And
2) Violectric HPA V220 amp.

Both are SE, so I don't see any need to do a balanced mod at this point. I do have a Liquid Platinum, but I don't see that even coming into play, at this point.

 

[CJG888]

Quite. A decent OTL will give them the voltage they require. You will need quite a lot of solid state power to match that.

 

[terrys999]

time

https://www.kenrockwell.com/audio/beyer/dt-990.htm

Eh..every reputable source says an Atom or Magni is more than sufficient, time to stop listening to the peanut gallery saying you need a nuclear power plant.

I agree.
My adi is Over Kill
I only got this dac for Equaliser ect.
Most reasonable DACs can drive dts
Hell even my irdac 2 drives em to unhealthy levels.

 

[gooeyrich]

 

[Sefelt103]

Good review by Wheezy. Interesting that he finds the bass to significantly roll off, most reviews find the bass extension to be a strength. He also likes the imaging which many don't find particularly good.