Time to learn then 
The basic principle is:
I have a better gudie writen up in the lower part of this post here.
What I forgot to mention: Exercise makes perfect.
There are some solder-project kits available from various stores, or you get some cable and connectors and just give it a try.
Yep the reason I brought it up is because that end of the cable is 3m away from the drivers. You canât permanently ruin your headphones by learning how to solder on a new plug and you can probably learn how to do it quicker than an international exchange is likely to happen.
I donât see me doing it but, yeah that might be the best option. That cable could use several feet less of length.
Could send it to that guy who does the balanced mod
True enough.
So, have we reached a concensus about the next step up from the DT880? The DT1990? One of the T1 iterations? Something else?
I donât think so. I think the consensus is there isnât a true upgrade for the 880âs signature. Itâs frustrating, but thatâs the way it seems to be.
Not really a 1:1 replacement/upgrade for the 880 600 ohm imo, the closest thing is most likely the t1.2 with the right amp and you can sometimes get it to sound similar but itâs a different signature
The T1.2 sure sounds like something I want to try.
If you really want to stay in the area of the âbrighter tuned headphonesâ.
Then I would recommend that you finally move away from Beyedynamic as a real update from the DT880 600 ohm and opt for a Focal Elex or Clear, which both go in this tonal direction , but are in my opinion âless stressfulâ than the Beyerâs especially the DT1990 with their high peaks of their Teslar drivers.
The T1 2nd Gen. is more moderate but somehow boring to me and the 3rd Gen. lost the Beyer Mojo in itâs entirely.
But itâs always a question of personal taste!?!
Yes, I bet I would like the Focals. Would love to spend some time with them as well as with the DT1990 and T1.
I definitely wouldnât go calling the Clear a âbrightâ headphone. It does have that bit of an edge to it but comparing that to a beyer? Clears are incredibly neutral, clean, and transparent least to my ear, I didnât get much brightness like at all when I sat with them several times.
Remove the dampener this give it back that beyer house sound.
dunno, I found the T1 to sound better in the mids and was just more pleasant due to how relaxed it is compared to the 1990. 1990 and 880 are both rather aggressive neutral bright meanwhile T1.2 is V shaped unless using B pads on the 1990âs.
Fortunately, we all see things differently.
Otherwise there would always be only one manufacturer for each product group.
How boring would that be?
Dt880(600) was a pair i kept around for awhile, they scale really well and make a great companion while moving up the chain. I really liked what I got out of the zmf,audeze,hifiman lines, and can recommend those as a jump from the dt880, though I wouldnât say they are similar, just that I got excited for what they offered comparatively. The t1.2 is nice, but I still chose dt880 over it. The clears are really great, and anyone going from something like the dt880 would be impressed.
I always find this mindset interesting, mind if I ask why you choose the 880 over the T1.2? The 2nd generation of the T1 has been labelled several times to be a potential upgrade to the 880 granted they are most definitely of different signature.
Horribly boring and one of the reasons I am happy to see beyer extending out to other sound signatures. I do wish Focal would make a more budget friendly lineup though⊠all there headphones are $500+(excluding elear because itâs not well received and listen pro isnât all that grand imo) which makes entry rather difficult much like Audeze. Makes me more inclined to stick with Beyer, hifiman, and sennheiser
It came down to sig preference, dt880 to me was much more balanced all around, yea the t1 is a slight step up, but just like a slight upgrade to the 880. I just really like the sig of the 880 more, and wish they would do like a dt1880 lol, but t1 is a step up in detail retrieval. I felt their was just something like a veil perhaps on the t1, and the mids where less impressive to me than the 880, perhaps in timbre. But ultimately didnt feel the price difference was worth, maybe I expected too much from the t1.2? I felt the same with lcd2.2pf and Hexv2, the âupgradesâ, just didnt quite do it for me. I did however land on lcd24 as a 2.2pf upgrade. Timbre and sound sig are what i mainly focus on.
You may have expected too much from the T1.2 but considering the price difference I think thatâs quite fine all considering. I totally agree on the mids from the 880 though, I think itâs probably the best one for vocals out of the lineup right now.
For me music is first and foremost = emotion!
Of course, music can also be judged from a technical point of view:
How clean is the recording quality?
How precisely is the recording controlled?
Is the singer able to hold notes and reproduce them correctly?
etc. etc.
But do I really want that?
Is music just a combination of technical facts?
Or am I ready not to dissect the music, but to accept it as it is and just enjoy it?
As the respective artists probably want to express.
My selection and assessment of hi-fi equipment is accordingly.
Of course there are headphones that are technically simply perverted great.
A Focal Utopia, an Abyss AB-1266, a ZMV Verite`, a STAX SR-009S for example.
Technically, all masterpieces!
Seen in this way, they are clearly superior to cheaper headphones.
But does it speak to me personally, can I fall back into my wing chair and âenjoyâ music for hours?
Or is it sometimes just too sterile, too analytical, too demanding for me for that.
When I sit at my desk and concentrate fully on the music, it may be perfect, but not really for enjoying unless you are pedantic.
It is more likely that the sound of so-called âperfectâ headphones is technically âdestroyedâ by the use of tube amps so that you can listen to them more relaxed.
Perhaps that explains why, regardless of the price, a lot of people choose headphones such as the 6xx, 600, DT880, DT770, various Sonyâs or HifiManâs etc.
They simply meet the taste of most people and have been doing so very continuously for decades.
So to speak, perfection through imperfection!
Def for sure, considering the used prices for the t1 Iâve seen before, besides recently.
Def a strong point for me in a headphone. Has to have some forwardness with vocals, and real, lush timbre, but canât have that take away from other frequencies(6xx) 
Audeze and ZMF do this VERY well. Little bass bump,vocal timbre,and slight crispy highs. Mix that with some good width and depth 
That being said, if someone prefers the dt880, def look into an audeze(mainly the pre fazors), then zmf. I will add the hexv2,clears,arya in there too. I feel the dt880 can leave someone wanting some more bass, but not crazy amount, better done depth and stage as well, the dt880 is no slouch though, and people may also want better detail retreival and textures.
I think too why people like the dt880, is that it seems like its not quite a byer traditionally,.Just like itâs harder now to find pre fazor lcd, and a hexv2. The hexv2 is a warmer Hifiman, and was discontinued, same with the audeze prefazors. Companies go through changes and what not, looking to see what they can get going. ZMF really took over the warmer headphone desires.
This is all my speculation however!!! Lol, so grain of salt
I think the DT880 is both a blessing and a curse for Beyerdynamic. Itâs core design dates back to 1980 and they really caught lightning in a bottle. 40 years later itâs still a great headphone that sounds great with entry level amps and dacs and scales really well with higher tier amps and dacs. Even after listening to my Hexv2, LCD-2, or Lawton X00 I can put on the 880 and tell that itâs not quite as technically proficient as those but nor does it feel out of place. Thatâs the blessing part. The curse is I think itâs been really difficult for Beyer to replicate that signature and scalability with increased technicality and keep it at a price point were it would sell in meaningful quantity. Iâm sure in 40 years if they could do it they would have. But Iâm guessing it hasnât panned out yet and so theyâre trying to stay fresh by rolling out other sound signatures. I have no hard evidence for this, just reading the landscape, so to speak.
