Listening to a sound demo with a 880 of the 1990? Well 1990 is brighter so that could cause some potential listening fatigue as well. 880 could be your potential limit
1 Like
I have to agree on the Darkvoice, I LOVE how they sound on those tubes.
I have barely used these since they returned from Germany so I grabbed them this morning. I immediately flipped the dip switches on my Violectric V220 and powered it up.
Then I thought to myself, âI have never used them with the Liquid Platinumâ, due to the SE fixed cable.
You know what? It is not bad.
And I have never seen the volume knob go past 11:00 before, so that is kind of cool. 
I have two inputs set up: XLR in and SE via a Schiit Loki. Both sound really good. They definitely sound more open than the LCD-2 Classicâs.
2 Likes
The DT880 and the Senn HD600/650/6XX are an odd combination of being rare-yet-common treasures. With each new amp and dac upgrade I bring in my DT880 and 6XX continue to impress me with how much more they have to give. For $200 headphones their ability to scale up and keep sounding better and better is astounding. Itâs rare for audio products to truly punch above their price point but these two do it. They are also such common models - theyâve sold a ton! - out there though that I think theyâve somewhat artificially inflated hope that other budget models will do the same. Thus, hypetrains are born that donât pan out and expectations have been generally warped. Thatâs just my read on it and a fancy way of saying âI agree!â Keep enjoying those DT880!
7 Likes
Iâve gotten to a point where when I search for amps or dacs, the first question is, âI wonder what this will sound like with my dt880s.â What a great value.
2 Likes
Hi guys
I have an Schiit Vali 1st gen , I currently have HD650 and Meze 99 classics and Iâm satisfied. I am weighing in to buy a DT880 600 ohms. Do you think you would or should change the amp?
Thanks for the help
Iâve heard they can be driven on little power but only sound good when given quite a bit of power.
If Iâm correct the Vali 1 pushes about 115mW at 600Ω and thatâs⊠not a lot.
Will it make sound? Yes. Will it sound as good as it should? No.
1 Like
Vali should drive it fine. I disagree with @toruc_macta some as Beyerdynamicâs own amps, which they rec for their 600ohm cans, top out at about 100mW at 600ohms. They use a large output impedance to drive up damping factor, though. However, I really havenât heard a large output impedance make a big difference for DT880, but nor do I have lots of time experimenting with that yet.
Either way, at DT880 600 is an incredible value. Mine keeps scaling up and sounding better and better with improved amps and dacs. You could have it for a long time.
5 Likes
itâs weird because Iâve heard both sides of the argument. From âanything can drive 880-600âsâ to âyou need a speaker amp to run them properlyâ (see Zeosâ review :p)
1 Like
And the truth is somewhere in the middle
IME âZeosâ and âfactual accuracyâ donât always go together. The guy is a solid ambassador for the hobby and his opinions on sound can be valid but when he gets into objective territoryâŠless reliable.
4 Likes
Could just be a personal taste thing? I know that seems to be a taboo thing and everthing should be objective fact⊠But maybe you can like a can more with more power while someone else likes the can just the way it is?
Everyone hears differently. So if you donât really hear that much of a difference bfrom a magni 3+ vs a emotiva basx then to you the magni 3+ will do the job just fine and you donât need a basx. But if you hear a massive difference or the amp and headphone just synergizes that well then thatâs your truth
I agree that there is a strong perception out there in some circles of this hobby that personal preference is taboo. Many individuals in those circles tend be very loud, too. I donât know how we got here as a hobby when the appreciation of music is subjective from the outset. Since we reproduce music electronically, there are aspects of the circuits that can be measured, but they end up saying quite little about the end userâs experience. Questions like âhow much power does headphone X need to reach 90dB at 100Hz?â is a question we can objectively answer. âHow good will headphone X sound with amp Y?â is not a question for which there is an objective answer.
3 Likes
Somewhere around 375-400mw is where 600ohm beyers shine. I recommend that everyone out there mod their 600ohm beyers, plug them into a balanced output and never look back.
Quantity power =/= Quality Power,
880(600) likes power from a dedicated amp source, rather than from a phone or sound card.
Doest mean you cant run it off those, however:
Different quailties go into amps, and from my experience, ive heard the 880 scale well on better and better amps, and it shows, regardless of how much power. From an atom,asgard3,darkvoice,Gilmore lite, g111,mz2,xi Broadway. There lies the subjective nature, to which sounds someone would prefer.
So basically, you can always improve your 880 experience haha
The sticking point with a statement like that - and I think @Bmn1251 was alluding to this - is that typically an amp that can deliver 375+mW at 600 ohms is already a more expensive, higher quality amp than your $99 entry-level amps. Iâm not really aware of a budget amp that can push that much power at 600 ohms, actually. So there is already a conflation of quantity and quality here.
1 Like
Hiya, are these a good first entry into âheadphonesâ.
I have focused on Iems, and own Lz A7, tin p1, starfields, ibassoit00,blon 03.
I have a topping a50s/d50s amp/dac with more than enough power to through at them.
Although, I am considering buying a pair to dual input balance mod it, as my headphone amp is 4.4 balanced.
Are theses a good âall rounderâ for music, gaming ?
Personally, I wonât recommend the 600 ohm variant as an entry level headphone. If you really want to have a dt 880, I would recommend the 250 ohm variant. Tyll also recommends the 250 ohm variant to most people. I donât understand why so many people want the 600 ohm, maybe because of the hype around it. The thing with the 600 ohm is that it is quite hard to pair with amps. Yes many amps can drive them, but I would not say that they are driving them at their best capability. However, there are some studio oriented amps such as the Samson S-Amp that will give you the most sound for a low price for the 600 ohm variant. What I mean by the most sound is the closest sound to what the Beyerdynamic A2 and A20 would produce when paired with the dt 880 600 ohm.
Iâve seen some graphs showing that the different variants have different sound signature, but I think itâs just because of poor amp pairing. When the 250 ohm and 600 ohm were paired with the A2, their sound signatures are not that different.
Regarding amp pairing with the 600 ohm, I think that is what makes the headphone quite unique in some ways. The 600 ohm variant reacts differently with the amps that you give, and that is exciting in its own way. You literally can get a different sound signature from the dt880 only from changing amp.
So, if you are willing to try different amps to pair with the 600 ohm, then go ahead. Itâs just a tricky headphone to have for someone who just started.
1 Like
I think it just depends on budget, the 880 can compliment many headphones,and adapt to many amps, it can be included on a great audio journey. Can serve really well as a reference point too, imo. But of course you want a decent amp to go with it. But like a 880,asgard3, and one of the $99 dacs, can be such a great starting point, which is easily under $500