[devhen]

  Just had a look at Aus sites and the only place I can find with the genuine product wants $55 for them. Hmmm...

 
Don't worry about it because I got the softskin pads and unfortunately the news isn't good. While they increased the bass quantity and impact a bit, which was nice, they made the mids bloated, nasally, and almost echoey. And pretty severely so. I couldn't take it and I've put the velours back on my DT880 and put the softskins on my DT770 and they are doing better with them. There's still a boomy-ness to it but it offsets the DT770's recessed mids somewhat. I'll have to listen some more before I make a final decision on using these with the DT770s but I wouldn't recommend them with the DT880. These are the EDT770S softskins by the way. I'll probably snag a set of EDT990S just to see how they sound.
 
It's a shame because the pads are fairly high quality in feel and appearance, they're quite comfortable, and they look good on the DT880 Pros. They match the leather headband perfectly.
 
EDIT: I may have to retract what I said. I didn't use the "foam plates" (as Beyer's manual calls them) that came with the softskins, that's the foam piece that goes over the driver and under the pads, because they looked identical to the ones my DT880 came with as well as the ones that came with my black velours so I didn't bother. However, the "foam plates" on my DT770 are different (thinner and not grey on the back) so I tried the softskin's foam plates on the DT770 and they sound better now. I'm going to give this more time and possibly try the softskins on the DT880 again this time with their own foam plates and I'll let you know.
 

 

[pp312]

Waiting with baited breath.

 
There's a touch of deja vu here as I went through something similar recently with the velours v. pleather on HE-500. In that case I actually preferred the pleathers even though everyone else preferred the velours, plus they were heaps more comfortable.
 
(Wow, they certainly do look good in that picture. Perfect match).

 

[devhen]

I quite like these softskin pads on my DT770s now that I'm using the foam plates that came with them. They're obviously designed to be used with these particular foam plates but its curious because like I say they look identical to the ones that come with the DT880 and with the velour pads and yet these softskins sounded terrible on the DT880 with it's original foam plates. We'll see if that changes when I try the softskins again using their own foam plates. They did seem to slightly decrease the perceived size of the soundstage which I didn't like but it wasn't a big difference. Kind of the like the soundstage on the DT770 which is impressively wide but slightly less than the DT880.
 
Yeah these softskins are nice on the DT770s because they increase the isolation a bit. These are DT770 Premium 600 ohms so they don't clamp much and don't isolate real well but isolation is actually pretty good now with the softskin pads.

 

[devhen]

Welp, I'm eating my words again. The softskins increase the bass distortion on the DT770s which I suspected might happen because its related to how much airflow the drivers get and the softskin pads reduce the airflow slightly. There's noticeable sub-bass distortion at a lower volume setting then there was with the 770 velours. I didn't have that issue with the 880s though, since they're semi-open.
 
Looks like its back to the DT880s for these softskins, this time with their own foam plates...

 

[devhen]

Yeah the softskins still cause the DT880s to sound bloated and boomy and fatiguing. It seems the foam plates that came with the softskin pads are indeed the same ones that come with the velours. Maybe the EDT990S would do better with the DT880.

 

[pp312]

What was that? Softskins sounded terrible on the DT880 with it's original foam plates? Softskins increase the bass distortion on the DT770s? Softskins still cause the DT880s to sound bloated and boomy and fatiguing? EDT990S might do better with the DT880? The vessel with the pessel holds the brew that is true? The chalice from the palace....
 
 
 

 

[Leliana]

  I'm thinking of getting a HE-400 and/or HD600, DT 880. Basically I'm rockin Sennheiser HD 518's at the moment, but find that they do not do my music justice. I listen to Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Metalcore, Hardcore Punk. But also Trance, House, Techno, Soundtrack Classical, Ambient Electronic, Acoustic Indie, Chillwave/Glo Fi recordings. 
 
I've heard the DT880, HD600 before just not the HE-400. I've heard the HE-400 is fairly heavy and can be uncomfortable if you have a weak neck. I'm fairly petite and definitely do not have a strong neck, so that may be an issue.
 
Anyway what I've come to ask is does anyone know if the Magni/Modi pair match well with the DT880 and should I get the 600 or 250 ohm model for that combo. 
I'm thinking the 880 would be the go for Ambient, Soundtracks and maybe acoustic. The HE-400 I've heard does pretty well for metal and aggressive rock for what I'm looking for (non bright/fatiguing sound for already up front music)

 
Again, good to see you sign up to headfi.
 
I'd go
 
DT880 (600ohm) - Soundtracks - Ambient - Acoustic
HE-400 - Trance - House - Techno + Rockin out (in a non fatiguing way)
+ Audio GD 15.32 - this amp/dac combo is a great entry level set and has multiple input types. Has more than enough power for both headphones to sing. I've used a 5.32 with the DT880 with good results before myself.
 
The HD600 is not really a fast can and while good for some rock, probably no good for your styles (laid back a bit too much).
The HE-400 is pretty heavy compared to some other cans, depends on where you sit on that regard. Perhaps you could get it and let yourself get used to it/use something to rest your head on. The Phillips X1 might be a more comfortable option for electronic, cannot say how it does for metal though.
 
The 880 has a mostly neutral and airy sound. Having heard them yourself you would know, but I'll also say they are a good all rounder for plenty of music. Very very good can and supremely comfortable.
 
The HE-400 from past ownership was, quick and fairly revealing. There is a dip in the mids but using velour (which you get seperately) improves this. I enjoyed them for stuff like Dream Theater, Death, Deftones, Amon Amarth etc for rocking out.
 
 
 
Quote:

  Waiting with baited breath.

 
There's a touch of deja vu here as I went through something similar recently with the velours v. pleather on HE-500. In that case I actually preferred the pleathers even though everyone else preferred the velours, plus they were heaps more comfortable.
 
(Wow, they certainly do look good in that picture. Perfect match).

 
I went through the same thing. The Velours were hard as hell and uncomfortable. I preferred the Pleather sound as well by some chance.

 

[Argyris]

^ +1 on all the comments and genre recommendations above regarding the DT880. I had a pretty lengthy response typed out before where I went into detail about the sound, but then I reread the post and realized Lady had already heard the DT880 so I figured I was just preaching to the choir.
 
So I'll just say some stuff that might not have been apparent from a limited amount of time auditioning. The DT880 scales well with complexity, handling additional sonic elements with ease. This is a big part of why it's so versatile, IMO. I've never once thought that they sounded bogged down or like they were trying to do too much.
 
The DT880 also has this uncanny ability to render the space around the different sonic elements. There's information in that space; it's not just dead air. The DT880 does a good job of retrieving this information. This is the sort of thing you notice more when it's missing, since it's subtle. If I had to guess which attribute facilitates this effect I'd say it's good treble extension.

 

[Makiah S]

n i enjoy the dt 880 for metal as it has great speed n nice upper mids low treble. In addition im egar to see how a nice dac n amp like the audio gd 10es2 improves the whole sound sig

 

[Tallulah]

Hey guys, I'm confused,
I own the Beryerdynamics DT 880 Pro 250 Ohm and the FiiO E10.
They sound pretty nice... But today I tested my Beyerdynamics on my inboard Realtek HD audio chip, and... Ta-daaaaaaah! I can't hear any difference...
I'm not sure if there's so much "placebo" in the headphones world, or I'm "deaf", or my inboard audio is cool.
 
It's well to know that at least it has a headphone amp integrated, my motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3 and it owns a Realtek ALC889A chip. (Latest drivers installed).
 
I've tested it with normal flac songs in Foobar2000, some high resolution flac (24 bit 96kHz Vinyl rip from Hotel California) and a sin wave generator.
 
The inboard was able to get to a good listening volume while playing the vinyl rip (wich have a very low volume compared to today songs).
 
If there's any difference... is it worth? (I've also readed in some sites that the 250 ohm version don't really need an amp)

 

[Chris J]

I guess you own a good quality audio chip set on your mother board. Consider yourself lucky!

The analog audio output on my HP notebook sounds very muffled. A FiioE17 is a definite upgrade from my HP notebook's headphone jack.

 

[Makiah S]

I guess you own a good quality audio chip set on your mother board. Consider yourself lucky!

The analog audio output on my HP notebook sounds very muffled. A FiioE17 is a definite upgrade from my HP notebook's headphone jack.

 
Actually I think the issue is, that Talluah is using his Headphone out as his source, which means the amp [which doesn't add much color] is being fed by well a poor quality source. So while your on board may have enough power to drive it, the crappy signal really impede's on the what ever color or sound stage the amp might add to the headphone.
 
So it's hard to compare "amp'd out of On Board" to "un amped out of On Board" trust me I did the same thing with my Dt 880 Pro 250s, I had like 3 amps an they all sounded pretty much the same out of my On Board [the ones with bass boost sounded a smidge bassier with boost on] BUT once I got my oDac the differance between the amps was a little more different.
 
My tube had a nice warm bass smooth mids and highs [out of the on Board it sounded like mud] my solid state e10 had a NICE tight bass a little brighter treble than the Tube and a Smidge less sound stage over my tube [again out of my on Board it too sounded like MUD... well Muddy Water ;3] and my Matrix M stage, sounded about as nice as the E10
 
SO to really hear a differance you need a cleaner source for the amp to work with. Still keep your amp, a dedicated dac requires you to have an amp to adjust the volume out of it, and imo dedicated dacs are sonically = to [and sometimes cheaper] than a dac with a headphon amp intergrated into  it

 

[Tallulah]

But the FiiO E10 is not only an amp, but a DAC too. I don't really understand what you are saying... So the problem is that I should have a dedicated DAC?

 

[MrEleventy]

Actually I think the issue is, that Talluah is using his Headphone out as his source, which means the amp [which doesn't add much color] is being fed by well a poor quality source. So while your on board may have enough power to drive it, the crappy signal really impede's on the what ever color or sound stage the amp might add to the headphone.

So it's hard to compare "amp'd out of On Board" to "un amped out of On Board" trust me I did the same thing with my Dt 880 Pro 250s, I had like 3 amps an they all sounded pretty much the same out of my On Board [the ones with bass boost sounded a smidge bassier with boost on] BUT once I got my oDac the differance between the amps was a little more different.

My tube had a nice warm bass smooth mids and highs [out of the on Board it sounded like mud] my solid state e10 had a NICE tight bass a little brighter treble than the Tube and a Smidge less sound stage over my tube [again out of my on Board it too sounded like MUD... well Muddy Water ;3] and my Matrix M stage, sounded about as nice as the E10

SO to really hear a differance you need a cleaner source for the amp to work with. Still keep your amp, a dedicated dac requires you to have an amp to adjust the volume out of it, and imo dedicated dacs are sonically = to [and sometimes cheaper] than a dac with a headphon amp intergrated into  it

E10 can't be used as amp only so that's not the case. I think Tall just has a good chipset

 

[devhen]

E10 can't be used as amp only so that's not the case. I think Tall just has a good chipset

 
Agreed. Built-in sound cards are much better than they once were and some motherboards have a focus on decent audio and use above average chips. If you don't need the extra volume provided by the E10's amp then it probably won't sound much better than your onboard sound, if at all, which seems to be the case.
 
Whether or not the DT880 "needs an amp" is subjective. They get decently loud out of my Galaxy S2 but not loud enough to satisfy my needs. If your onboard sound card gets them loud enough then I guess in your case they don't require an amp.
 
If you want to findout how much of a difference good amping makes, if any at all, try your 880s out of something more powerful and higher quality than the E10. It is said that the 770/880/990 don't need a whole lot of power but do sound best when given plenty of voltage. I doubt the E10 is swinging much voltage at all.