[Achlys]

Etymotic ER2SE runs circles around DT880 in tonality and technicalities

 

[Deceneu808]

I don't like potatoes. I mean they taste good when you actually eat them but they are not very nutritious so my personal conclusion is that potatoes are bad.

 

[Sefelt103]

To be honist, I don’t know. I have not listened to them yet…. My dear old dad owns way to many headphones. Maybe he has one packed away someplace.... I should ask him

PS, that’s me trying his headphones…
PPS... he has about twice the number of headphones on this photo

That's some collection of headphones. The Sennheiser HD540 Gold is a headphone I've wondered about for quite a while. My early HD580 (flat plate) from around 1993 has an exquisite 'golden' sort of treble that I find addictive. Must try one of those and a Reference 600Ω one day. Anyway don't want to go off topic from the theme here of the hard to drive Beyerdynamic DT 880 (250Ω and 600Ω).

 

[dakanao]

First that Achlys said he loved the DT880, but it’s only after he read the measurements that he heard the distortion. Obvious ASR troll.

 

[Achlys]

First that Achlys said he loved the DT880, but it’s only after he read the measurements that he heard the distortion. Obvious ASR troll.

As I said, I heard the distortion before, but I thought it was the "resolving" capabilities of these headphones that many gush over. These headphones are anything but resolving.

 

[Achlys]

transient response is useless…music is useless?…

If the headphone can't keep up with the music it's distorting...

 

[TrollDragon]

If you detest the DT880s that much why are you in this thread? My guess is to just stir the pot... None of the members here actually care that you don't like them, sell them and move along.

 

[Deceneu808]

@Achlys It's ok to feel this way about a product that you spent money on and you are not fully satisfied with. I can only guess everyone respects your opinion on them because guess what. It's all subjective. There is no single truth. You may think there is but that's just your ego. Of course a 199$ headphone is not perfect but neither is a 6000$ one. Think about it for a second, everything is subjective, especially audio and sound. A Miata, on paper is objectively bad versus a Ferrari but that doesn't make it less desirable and fun to drive. We can argue all day that you tripped over a log and broke your leg and it's the logs fault for being in the way and now you are on God's mission to warn everyone about the damn log. I can argue that your mind was not in the right place at that time and that's the cause you broke your leg, your fault, not the logs. But neither of us would speak the "truth" in the end. Long story short, sell them, move on.

For a change of topic I'm curious what pads are you guys using and what amplification. What's the best combo you've found so far ? I settled on the Dekoni Choice Suedes which most people hate. I do too but hear me out. I managed to EQ them straight from my DAC and found the sweet spot for me and my ears alongside the Feliks Elise

I added 2.5 db @60Hz Q0.7
-2.0 db @200Hz Q3.5
6.5 db @ 1.15KHz Q0.7 &
Holy moly 12 db @ 4.5KHz Q1.3

 

[Achlys]

Yeah, it’s best to ignore him. If someone would post a graph of an LCD 2 having the same fr response as the DT880, he would hear them as sounding the same.

That’s the type of minion of that borked measurements site you’re dealing with.

No because they don't measure the same in distortion...

 

[dconrad]

I might just be a pleb with the 32 ohm version, but they sound pretty good to me, bass distortion or not Direct out of my dap/laptop, too.

Curious why nobody ever speaks about the 32-ohm version, is it that much worse, or is it just audiophiles like bigger ohm headphones just because?

 

[Sefelt103]

It's all subjective. Think about it for a second, everything is subjective, especially audio and sound.

I wish I had a pound for every time someone wrote 'it's subjective'. Many years ago I wrote on a thread that dropped like a rock through headfi:

3. The myth that audio sound quality is purely subjective
Just because a person likes a contortion of a recording doesn't mean an accurate representation of the recording (that the person won't like) is lower quality. Sound quality is sound quality, it's determined by the audio chain and not the listener.
I suppose it depends what type of audiophile you are. One whom SQ and accuracy is paramount (minority) or one whom SQ and accuracy isn't (majority). I'm a little like Achlys in that I liked this headphone and now I'm not so fond of it. I suspect many of the latter would reject the DT 880, but it doesn't quite satisfy the former either. Interesting headphone.

 

[dakanao]

I wish I had a pound for every time someone wrote 'it's subjective'. Many years ago I wrote on a thread that dropped like a rock through headfi:

3. The myth that audio sound quality is purely subjective
Just because a person likes a contortion of a recording doesn't mean an accurate representation of the recording (that the person won't like) is lower quality. Sound quality is sound quality, it's determined by the audio chain and not the listener.
I suppose it depends what type of audiophile you are. One whom SQ and accuracy is paramount (minority) or one whom SQ and accuracy isn't (majority). I'm a little like Achlys in that I liked this headphone and now I'm not so fond of it. I suspect many of the latter would reject the DT 880, but it doesn't quite satisfy the former either. Interesting headphone.

But have you started disliking it, just after you’ve seen the distortion measurements of this headphone, or before you saw the measurements?

 

[Sefelt103]

Curious why nobody ever speaks about the 32-ohm version, is it that much worse, or is it just audiophiles like bigger ohm headphones just because?

I fell into that trap 600Ω > 250Ω so it must be better. I wish I had the lower impedance one now. There were loads of 250Ω for sale and I was looking for the rarer 600Ω. Another mistake was not realising how insensitive this headphone was. Wrong again I'm afraid. The 32Ω doesn't get as much love as many people have these high output impedance (OTL) amplifiers that don't like low impedance headphones. With less turns of wire they might give rougher sound compared to the higher impedance. There saving grace of course is they can easily be driven from mobiles, media players, low power amplifiers.

But have you started disliking it, just after you’ve seen the distortion measurements of this headphone, or before you saw the measurements?

It was before, I guess I'm just not a bright sort of headphone person. I don't want to EQ either. I used to think headphones were so simple years ago and now I've finally realised how intricate and complex they are and just about every assertion ends up being wrong somehow. I have a sort of grudging admiration for Beyerdynamic and in some ways I am surprised so many do seem to genuinely like their DT 880 versions with the phenomenally successful HD650 which kind of mirror each other. It's got a certain kind of style.

 

[Achlys]

I might just be a pleb with the 32 ohm version, but they sound pretty good to me, bass distortion or not Direct out of my dap/laptop, too.

Curious why nobody ever speaks about the 32-ohm version, is it that much worse, or is it just audiophiles like bigger ohm headphones just because?

The 32 ohm has the least bass distortion. It's the best version by far.

 

[H T T]

The 32 ohm has the least bass distortion. It's the best version by far.

That is the first time I have heard that assertion. Please provide supporting links to assuage my cognitive dissonance.