[Sherwood]

There we go, back on track.

ATHfan, I think no mater what you're better off with the standard 250 ohm Beyers. The 600ohm were designed specifically for applications where they would be driven by gear designed specifically to drive headphones, usually in a professional environment. They are not entirely intended as consumer-grade headphones, and only in a community as crazy as this are they treated as such.

 

[ATHFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif There we go, back on track. ATHfan, I think no mater what you're better off with the standard 250 ohm Beyers. The 600ohm were designed specifically for applications where they would be driven by gear designed specifically to drive headphones, usually in a professional environment. They are not entirely intended as consumer-grade headphones, and only in a community as crazy as this are they treated as such.

I guess you're right. I was also considering the DT 880 (250 ohms) headphones though, but I figured if I would be able to drive the 600 ohms version, why not pay the extra 20 euros? So it's really up to this receiver's ability to drive these headphones.

 

[scompton]

x2, especially considering the difference in price.

I'm off work tomorrow, so I'll try to go to Best Buy tomorrow morning.

 

[Sherwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATHFan /img/forum/go_quote.gif I figured if I would be able to drive the 600 ohms version, why not pay the extra 20 euros?

Whee in hell are you buying the 600ohm Beyers? Last time I checked the difference was significantly more than 20 Euros.

God, I must be way out of the loop.

 

[Sherwood]

Ah, I see what I'm missing. The 600ohm model is a 20 euro option.

Are you planning on buying Beyer Manufaktur regardless of the impedance? I'm under the impression that stock 250 ohm Beyer headphones are less expensive than the Manufaktur, though I could be wrong.

edit: I just checked. Beyer 880s retail for about 220 Euro, which is 100 cheaper than the Manufaktur 600 ohm. Unless you really have to customize them, I think buying Manufaktur 250 ohms is a bad move.

 

[ATHFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scompton /img/forum/go_quote.gif x2, especially considering the difference in price. I'm off work tomorrow, so I'll try to go to Best Buy tomorrow morning.

Again: Thanks for your help!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif Whee in hell are you buying the 600ohm Beyers? Last time I checked the difference was significantly more than 20 Euros. God, I must be way out of the loop.

Beyerdynamic MANUFAKTUR: beyerdynamic Shop*-*MANUFAKTUR

Here the DT 880 costs 280 euros. To change the impedance to 600 ohms, you would have to pay an extra 20 euros.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ah, I see what I'm missing. The 600ohm model is a 20 euro option. Are you planning on buying Beyer Manufaktur regardless of the impedance? I'm under the impression that stock 250 ohm Beyer headphones are less expensive than the Manufaktur, though I could be wrong. edit: I just checked. Beyer 880s retail for about 220 Euro, which is 100 cheaper than the Manufaktur 600 ohm. Unless you really have to customize them, I think buying Manufaktur 250 ohms is a bad move.

I'm thinking about customizing it since I'm not really a fan of the grey, not sure though. Maybe I'll be better off purchasing the DT 880 from another store like you say. I just hope that if I do, they'll send me the 2005 edition.

 

[scompton]

Quite a few people who have owned both versions prefer the 2003 version. I have the 2005 version. I bought it used with some very minor cosmetic problems for $175.

I assume that you're in Europe since you are quoting prices in Euros. I see that Amazon.de has them for 215 Euros, which is much more that they cost here in the US. Amazon.com hast them for $179 and Head Room has them for $279 which is 189 Euros. I would think that there is somewhere in Europe that you can get them for significantly less than Manufaktur sells them for.

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATHFan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, you understand what I want from my audio system. Guess another way to put it is that I want to know if the RX-V663 is enough to drive the Beyerdynamic DT 880 (600 ohms) headphones as Beyerdynamic intended them to. Like Sherwood says, I don't really care that much about added sound signature that comes with a dedicated headphone amplifier. As long as the headphones are driven as well as the headphones' manufacturer intended them to (as opposed to the amplifier's manufacturer), I'm okay with it. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear about this first. I never owned a amplifier before, so this is all new to me.

Volume wise, yes.. I know that only part of the equation, but if you never heard the 600 ohm properly driven you won't know what you are missing..

My 1800 drives my Sen 650's effortlessly.. Now, that wasn't the case with my HTR Yamaha receiver I had 2 yrs ago (the top of the HTR line) The bass was bloated, uncontrolled, extra veiled & dark..& lots of congestion in the upper regions.. My PAV2 did a better job with my 650's.. But the V1800 is another story.. The strength is the receivers low noise floor/& blackness.. Pure direct brings this out even more.. If the receiver had no ounce of grain or harshness it would really be stellar.. But there is a hardness to the sound.. Maybe a bit 'edgy'.. The V1800 is comparable with a lot of my head amps I owned..But some like the GS1/Bada12 are clearly above it.. No questions asked.. The greatest compliment I can give it is, I'm wondering how much it would cost to REALLY better the sound.. I'm concerned that midfi amps like the HEED wouldn't sufficiently beat it enough, if at all, to justify the 400.00 price tag.. Current I'm looking at the new amp that Bonner likes..

& you do want SC & HD audio through headphones, correct?

 

[ATHFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kool bubba ice /img/forum/go_quote.gif Volume wise, yes.. I know that only part of the equation, but if you never heard the 600 ohm properly driven you won't know what you are missing.. My 1800 drives my Sen 650's effortlessly.. Now, that wasn't the case with my HTR Yamaha receiver I had 2 yrs ago (the top of the HTR line) The bass was bloated, uncontrolled, extra veiled & dark..& lots of congestion in the upper regions.. My PAV2 did a better job with my 650's.. But the V1800 is another story.. The strength is the receivers low noise floor/& blackness.. Pure direct brings this out even more.. If the receiver had no ounce of grain or harshness it would really be stellar.. But there is a hardness to the sound.. Maybe a bit 'edgy'.. The V1800 is comparable with a lot of my head amps I owned..But some like the GS1/Bada12 are clearly above it.. No questions asked.. The greatest compliment I can give it is, I'm wondering how much it would cost to REALLY better the sound.. I'm concerned that midfi amps like the HEED wouldn't sufficiently beat it enough, if at all, to justify the 400.00 price tag.. Current I'm looking at the new amp that Bonner likes.. & you do want SC & HD audio through headphones, correct?

Correct! The Silent Cinema and HD audio are the main factors which would make me purchase the RX-V663. I understand that without a high end amplifier, the headphones might not sound as good in stereo as they would with the RX-V663. As long as the headphones sound their best in virtual surround, that's okay with me. In stereo the headphones should still produce the sound that the headphones' manufacturer intended them to (with the proper amount of power).

It would be nice to have the option (for later purchases) to connect a high end headphone amplifier to the RX-V663 and still be able to make use of Silent Cinema, but even if it was possible, I'm not sure if I would need that. Like Sherwood says, the Silent Cinema could suffer from the headphone amplifier's added sound signature. If that's true, I don't see it as a good idea to add an external headphone amplifier in my case.

But to make it short: I'm looking for the best virtual surround sound experience with the highest possible quality in stereo sound with headphones. Since I have a PC and PlayStation 3, I thought that the RX-V663 and DT 880 combo would be perfect for me. But I'm still open for suggestions. If another amplifier/receiver/headphones would give me better results, I'm glad to hear about it.

To clear things up even more, I'll be using the headphones for the following:

1. Playing PC/PlayStation 3 games
2. Watching BD/DVD/MPEG4 movies
3. Watching (fansubbed) anime
4. Listening to music from genres like Hip Hop and R&B

 

[scompton]

I made it to Best Buy and the amp sound very good with the DT880. It has no problems driving them with plenty of detailed bass. It was very nice. The only small issue I had was that there was some noise when the volume was cranked and not music was playing. Neither my NAD, starving student, nor portables amps do this with the DT880. You really have to crank it though.

They had an open box on sale for a little of $300. If I was in the market for such an amp, I would have bought it.

 

[ATHFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scompton /img/forum/go_quote.gif I made it to Best Buy and the amp sound very good with the DT880. It has no problems driving them with plenty of detailed bass. It was very nice. The only small issue I had was that there was some noise when the volume was cranked and not music was playing. Neither my NAD, starving student, nor portables amps do this with the DT880. You really have to crank it though. They had an open box on sale for a little of $300. If I was in the market for such an amp, I would have bought it.

Thanks! This is good news indeed.

I really appreciate your help.

What do you mean with "cranked" though? What kind of noise did you hear?

After hearing the 250 ohms version of the DT 880 with the RX-V663, would you say it would be able to drive the 600 ohms version just as good?

I think I'll be getting the DT 880 from the MANUFAKTUR site afterall. Amazon.com doesn't allow Dutch customers to order the $179,00 DT 880 from their site. Looking at other sites, I would only spare 50 euros tops considering the added tax duties and shipping costs. Plus, I rather have a customized version of the DT 880 with different colors.

Again: Thanks for your help!

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scompton /img/forum/go_quote.gif I made it to Best Buy and the amp sound very good with the DT880. It has no problems driving them with plenty of detailed bass. It was very nice. The only small issue I had was that there was some noise when the volume was cranked and not music was playing. Neither my NAD, starving student, nor portables amps do this with the DT880. You really have to crank it though. They had an open box on sale for a little of $300. If I was in the market for such an amp, I would have bought it.

Pure direct should fix this problem..Limits the circuitry being used to reduce excess noise.. Even with PS off, My 1800 stays very quiet, even on very high levels.. Of course it's above the 663, too.. Glad it sounds good..

 

[scompton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATHFan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks! This is good news indeed. I really appreciate your help. What do you mean with "cranked" though? What kind of noise did you hear? After hearing the 250 ohms version of the DT 880 with the RX-V663, would you say it would be able to drive the 600 ohms version just as good? I think I'll be getting the DT 880 from the MANUFAKTUR site afterall. Amazon.com doesn't allow Dutch customers to order the $179,00 DT 880 from their site. Looking at other sites, I would only spare 50 euros tops considering the added tax duties and shipping costs. Plus, I rather have a customized version of the DT 880 with different colors. Again: Thanks for your help!

It will probably drive the 600 ohm DT880. Of course I don't know for sure, but it can drive the 250 ohm to extreme volume. The noise is a hiss when nothing was playing and the volume is turned up much louder than you can listen to anything without going deaf. Supposedly, it's not uncommon. It's very common with portable players and very sensitive IEMs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kool bubba ice /img/forum/go_quote.gif Pure direct should fix this problem..Limits the circuitry being used to reduce excess noise.. Even with PS off, My 1800 stays very quiet, even on very high levels.. Of course it's above the 663, too.. Glad it sounds good..

What is pure direct?

 

[ATHFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scompton /img/forum/go_quote.gif It will probably drive the 600 ohm DT880. Of course I don't know for sure, but it can drive the 250 ohm to extreme volume. The noise is a hiss when nothing was playing and the volume is turned up much louder than you can listen to anything without going deaf. Supposedly, it's not uncommon. It's very common with portable players and very sensitive IEMs.

Thanks! This is good news!

Quote:

Originally Posted by scompton /img/forum/go_quote.gif What is pure direct?

It's one of the options of the Yamaha receivers. Although I haven't heard it, it's supposed to bypass all the unnecessary conversions of the sound to make it sound better (or something like that).

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATHFan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks! This is good news! It's one of the options of the Yamaha receivers. Although I haven't heard it, it's supposed to bypass all the unnecessary conversions of the sound to make it sound better (or something like that).

Higher fidelity, lowered noise floor.. I prefer it for music.. That & the "music enhancer" feature. If you use the PS3 as a CD player, set the Bit mapping to 2 & 3.. 3 seems to be the most popular.. Google it to find out what each does.. & use ACC or ATRX when you import the music..Makes for a quiter, smoother listening experience..