The Beyerdynamic DT880 Discussion thread

[soke]

Hey there, I came in to join the club and ask some questions

I got a 880/600 recabled and balanced from a fellow headfier 10 days ago.
These have the standard beyer leather pads with the holes in their back.

I like their sound and all, but got some problems.
I have a saffire pro 24 soundcard (pretty good dac in there..) from where i got 2 jack to xlr balanced cables (not expensive ones) going into my SPL Phonitor amp. The 880 are balanced and i use a (pretty good) adaptor balanced-to-single end to connect to the phonitor.

The thing is I have to turn the volume from the saffire all the way up to 0db and then the phonitor to sth around 2 o clock to get decent levels. Their bass then is sometimes is loud, it vibrates my skull!
I find my ears fatigued both from the pressure of the pads and from the sound after like 20-30 minutes.

Is there something wrong with my 880? pads? connections?
I was so eager to have this setup as my monitoring aid for mixdowns etc and now find it.. well not bad but.. not what i hoped for too!

I ve got the phonitor on sale and thinking about selling the 880 too but if there was a workaround, I'd definitily keep them!

ps> I tried contacting Jmoney to get some pads, but have sent 2 emails and have got no answer.. Any ideas?

 

[nierika]

I think you just made a lot of bassheads jealous.

 

[soke]

Lol!
Never heard a darth before but i guess it would sound sth close to my 880!

It's not bad, and i do listen to bass heavy music (techno, dubstep, dnb etc) but I think that all that bass would result in me making bass-light mixes.
And the thing is I bought this setup cause i couldnt afford decent monitors. My tascams give me no image of what's happening in the <100hz range!

I hope changing the pads (If I could reach jmoney) will smooth things out, keeping their neutrality with some good bass/sub-bass imaging. If not, look for them in the FS forums bassheads

 

[tdogzthmn]

I briefly owned a DT880 250 and I do remember it having an enveloping sound stage that sounded a little off. The K702 by comparison is much more spacious and has wonderful instrument separation.

 

[dukja]

I did own K702 and the soundstage presentation was not much different from DT880/250 (to me at that time and I did not feel like to compare the soundstage carefully). There was other much more different characters that caught my notice first.

However, I did not compare the soundstage between 600 & 250 ohm too much until yesterday. So maybe the difference of DT880/250 & K702 was there, but it just escaped my notice. Now K702 is gone and I cannot compare them.

 

[pataburd]

Just got a pair. Much more coherent and lively than the DT880/250/2005. The DT880/600 definitely have a "pulse" unlike their DT880/250 counterparts or their DT880/250/2003 predecessors.

Although I must admit that I miss the high end extension and seemingly endless airiness of the DT880/250/2003, the DT880/600 offer better balance and midrange cohesion and are a different but well-engineered design in their own right. However, I sometimes find the bass rounded to the point of being tubby and obtrusive (but that can probably be minimized/eliminated with better tubes), and I just cannot seem to suspend my disbelief long enough to get used to the treble constraints of the 600 ohm version compared to the 250 ohm, 2003 version.

The DT880/600 sound richer and more liquidy than the 250 ohm version, IMHO. If I get a job offer within the next few weeks, I would like to pick up a pair of the DT880/2003 and do some more a/b-ing. If I HAD to pick only one or the other . . . well, that's what I want to find out. : )

These offer a good compliment to my K501, and sound very satisfying driven by the Bada PH-12--ah! those 6SN7 dual triodes!

 

[Kees]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pataburd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just got a pair. Much more coherent and lively than the DT880/250/2005. The DT880/600 definitely have a "pulse" unlike their DT880/250 counterparts or their DT880/250/2003 predecessors. Although I must admit that I miss the high end extension and seemingly endless airiness of the DT880/250/2003, the DT880/600 offer better balance and midrange cohesion and are a different but well-engineered design in their own right. However, I sometimes find the bass rounded to the point of being tubby and obtrusive (but that can probably be minimized/eliminated with better tubes), and I just cannot seem to suspend my disbelief long enough to get used to the treble constraints of the 600 ohm version compared to the 250 ohm, 2003 version. The DT880/600 sound richer and more liquidy than the 250 ohm version, IMHO. If I get a job offer within the next few weeks, I would like to pick up a pair of the DT880/2003 and do some more a/b-ing. If I HAD to pick only one or the other . . . well, that's what I want to find out. : ) These offer a good compliment to my K501, and sound very satisfying driven by the Bada PH-12--ah! those 6SN7 dual triodes!

I am pretty sure the 2003 DT880 are 125 Ohm.

 

[jpelg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kees /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am pretty sure the 2003 DT880 are 125 Ohm.

Nope, Patrick is correct - 250ohm.

 

[Superfrag]

Headroom has both the 600ohm as well as the 250ohm version, but I just wanted to ask, are those 600ohm actually the correct 600ohm version you'll are talking about?

Or should I order from Moon-Audio since chinesekiwi in the first post confirmed that the Moon-Audio one's are actually 600ohm?

 

[pataburd]

Just checked my pair with a multi-meter. It looks like ~580 ohms on the right channel and ~600 ohms on the left, for a 3-4% deviation (which I am not too happy about).

Well, I probably should get a digital meter, since I am interpolating with an analogue needle on a coarse scale (100 ohms between hash marks). Both channels are not "nailed" to 600 ohms, that's for sure.

How much of an impedance mismatch would translate to an audible degradation in sound quality? I'm not sure what the acceptable tolerance would be at the manufacturing plant, either, maybe +/- 3%?

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pataburd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just checked my pair with a multi-meter. It looks like ~580 ohms on the right channel and ~600 ohms on the left, for a 3-4% deviation (which I am not too happy about). Well, I probably should get a digital meter, since I am interpolating with an analogue needle on a coarse scale (100 ohms between hash marks). Both channels are not "nailed" to 600 ohms, that's for sure. How much of an impedance mismatch would translate to an audible degradation in sound quality? I'm not sure what the acceptable tolerance would be at the manufacturing plant, either, maybe +/- 3%?

Yeah.. Too bad the transducers are not perfectly matched & carefully selected like they do with the T1 & DT48A. maximum frequency response deviation of ±1 dB

 

[dukja]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pataburd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just checked my pair with a multi-meter. It looks like ~580 ohms on the right channel and ~600 ohms on the left, for a 3-4% deviation (which I am not too happy about).

I am sorry to hear about the mismatch. I was under the impression that the manufaktur version has better match according to some posts. When I got mine 600 ohm manufaktur, I wasn't too happy about the 0.67% mismatch, either. But 3% is a little bit too much. Are your regular (so-called premium) or manufaktur version?

My measurement is as follows:
Quote:

Originally Posted by dukja /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just measured the impedance @ DC and they are stock 250-ohm: 239.5/240.5 => error: 0.42% vs manufaktur 600-ohm: 614.6/610.5 => error: 0.67% So now I am sure manufaktur probably will not guarantee giving you better balance on left & right drivers. But I am sure my left and right hearing has more imbalance than that (not to mention when allergy comes in).

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pataburd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just checked my pair with a multi-meter. It looks like ~580 ohms on the right channel and ~600 ohms on the left, for a 3-4% deviation (which I am not too happy about). Well, I probably should get a digital meter, since I am interpolating with an analogue needle on a coarse scale (100 ohms between hash marks). Both channels are not "nailed" to 600 ohms, that's for sure. How much of an impedance mismatch would translate to an audible degradation in sound quality? I'm not sure what the acceptable tolerance would be at the manufacturing plant, either, maybe +/- 3%?

My Manufaktur 600Ohm DT880 has perfectly matched drivers, I had issues in the past with non Manufaktur 600Ohm DT770, sent back 3 pairs due to severe channel impedance mismatch on all 3 (similar to yours) plus one came w/o dampening cap on one driver and another one w/o caps at all, didn't check the 3rd one. I was even contacted by Beyer regarding that issue and they assured me that whatever the problem they have on assembly line, it will be taken care of. Got my 4th pair from B&H this week, it looks very fresh, some different labeling (Audiophile 600Ohm sticker on the box), has perfectly matched drivers, 615Ohm on both and all dampening caps are in place. Either pure luck or new batches go through better QC.

Speaking on DT48, DT48E I had at once also had some mismatch between left and right driver.
Just for the record, all other non-Beyer phones in my collection have perfectly matched drivers.

 

[pataburd]

Mine are the "Premium", not the "Manufaktur" version. Hopefully, Amazon will issue a refund for me on these grounds. Thank you for the instructive and supportive feedback. : )

 

[shane55]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew_WOT /img/forum/go_quote.gif My Manufaktur 600Ohm DT880 has perfectly matched drivers, I had issues in the past with non Manufaktur 600Ohm DT770, sent back 3 pairs due to severe channel impedance mismatch on all 3 (similar to yours) plus one came w/o dampening cap on one driver and another one w/o caps at all, didn't check the 3rd one. I was even contacted by Beyer regarding that issue and they assured me that whatever the problem they have on assembly line, it will be taken care of. Got my 4th pair from B&H this week, it looks very fresh, some different labeling (Audiophile 600Ohm sticker on the box), has perfectly matched drivers, 615Ohm on both and all dampening caps are in place. Either pure luck or new batches go through better QC.

I just received mine (also through Amazon). At work, so I can't do anything with them (but look and drool).

Box has sticker as well. Molded plug-end has 600ohm (symbol).

OK, here come the stupid questions: How do you check for ohm balance? What kind of device is used? Where do you check (do you have to dis-assemble the cans)?

Also... if imbalanced, what is the effect... different volume levels, different sonic signature?

shane