Can my Aune X7s drive DT880 600ohm?

Thank you. These cans are not cheap so I really want to be careful when choosing something that will be used for many years. There’s someone who says that my amp is not powerful enough and then there’s someone who says it’s okay to use the x7s. Can I ask you what “se” means? Fidelo x2 are not available here.

se = single ended (jack unbalanced output)
The thing is, from whay I understood you are looking for an headphone that as good imaging soundstage and a warm relaxed sound signature and possibly that you can drive with the amps that you have already. The options that i see are:

dt-880 good imaging and sound stage but cold sound signature (i own it)
hd650 imaging and soundstage pretty similar to the 600 but with a warmer sound signature not worth if you already own the 600 and you think to keep both (i owned it)
k712 should be warmer than the 880 with a good soundstage and imaging (never tried)
fidelio x2 not avaiable otherwise pretty much what you’re looking for (tried)
harmonic dyne zeus an improved x2? many people say that (never tried too expensive imo)
hd560s pretty neutral more bass and more treble then the 600 and 650 slightly better soundstage (I tried it but I didn’t like it and I sended it back since for analitical listening the 880 is better imo)

after there are many others headphones designed especially for gaming but i don’t know them

Thank you for the explanation and recs. I’m probably going to look more into DT880 600ohm since they are more available. I hope people won’t kill me for this but I hate the physical design of AKG headphones. I heard so many praises about 560s but I was afraid it was too overhyped, I think that I could skip them since I already have the neutral HD600. The rest is again unavailable here:(

Another option is returning my Aune X7s for better amps (like Rupert Neve Designs RNHP - very expensive) but I would hate to do that because of the strict transportation in Central Europe due to pandemic. Also I don’t see a point in buying high-priced amps because of one headphone.

Good luck with your research, I hope you’ll find what you are looking for, but really not be worried for the aune is not perfect but is pretty solid for drive high impedance headphones personally I owned a lake people and a lehmann and I sold them after the aune because the lehmann wasn’t as clean and the lake people was almost identical to the aune with the headphones i had double the price with a gain switch inside and only single endend. About the RNHP here many people really like it but actually it will struggle much more to drive the 880 than the aune in single endend, the rnhp is designed for drive low impedance dynamic headphones and planar headphones that does’t require an huge amount of power. I’m curious to try it because people really like it but the design actually is really simple and cheap like 50euro if was made in china.

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I dunno man, we might need more jumper cables… you couldn’t possibly run this very old headphone in 600 ohms off less than $100 amplifier cough cough.

^ below $100 and run the 600 ohms… not the best, but do work fine.

ah, I see. Yeah they are quite demanding but not to a crazy degree since most $100 entry level dedicated amps can run them… the issue with x7s is all that power is located in it’s balanced port like a lot of amps… if the 880 was balanced it definitely can run off that x7s with no issues in high gain but I can say the same for other amps like THX 789 and IFI amps

really depends on what your looking for as 770 is more of a V shape while 880 is neutral bright… 770 is more comparable to the sharper 990 while 880 is in it’s own area less you include 1990 or T1

That narrow soundstage kills it for gaming for me personally… I can use them fine casually but everything feels too close to me…

Tygrs are only available on their own directly from beyer or through third party… you can use Hifishark to search multiple sites for someone selling them… I have also seen beyers b stock parties selling on reverb for tygr at like… $149 which is ridiculously low for this headphone.

this is definitely true… the x7s won’t be the best for tygr due to it’s low ohm factor but be really good for 880s since it’s specifically designed for high impedance… it’s only that unbalanced port that’s lacking.

very reference, bright neutral sennheiser… above the average soundstage and good enough imaging… properly well rounded and nice in my opinion… I wouldn’t rate it higher than the beyers for fps gaming but it still is up there

Would you recommend me to rather look into another amp or different headphones? So I guess Tygr is out of picture. They are available but they are sold only with that microphone for the same price as HD600. I don’t want to order outside the country because of the pandemic and strict customs rules.

Thank you for the advice. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one having the weirdest setup in this audio hobby:D lost of mysteries regarding almost everything.

Either or really. Honestly I’d recommend selling the x7s less you plan to get balanced headphones later… just grab an asgard 3 or something like a lake people as they are single ended with alot of power. Entry levels work fine too and you can usually find like liquid spark for $70. Note if I recall theres an aune dedicated single ended amp too… been a while

Not the most popular option but you can always either mod the 600 ohm balanced(you don’t need an ultra expensive cable… I used newfantasia for a while and those are like $40) or go the 250 ohm route

Other headphones really depend on your sound preferences which I don’t think I seen reading through here

What about FiiO K5 pro? Aren’t they more powerful than X7s in terms of unbalanced ports?

The k5 pro has half of the power compared to the aune in se, what do you dislike about the aune?

I tried to do some research about the specs calculation. There’s a general rule that “amplifier output impedance should be lower than 1/8 of the headphone’s impedance”. The output of X7s is 11 ohms which is definitely lower than 1/8 of 600 ohms. So that should be fine? However what about the SE port? DT880 600omh requires the power (miliwatts) of 16, voltage (vikts RMS) of 3.08 and current (millamps RMS) of 5.1

I couldn’t find these requirements on Aune X7s. The only thing I found was the output impedance.

You are correct about the damping factor, (the aune is 10ohm at least the 2018 version i don’t know if in the newer is different) is important check it with dynamic headphones that have variable impedence and phase curve and keep it at least around 8/10 times, so the aune is ok with high impedance headphonese and should be able to drive planars as well. The aune is specified to have 300mW at 300ohm, it’s safe to assume that it can produce 150mW at 600ohm that are enough for the 880 since in the official datasheet of the headphone the maximum power handling specified is 100mW.

If you’re uk based? then Custom Cans can mod your own 880’s with a detachable and balanced cable, just mail them with your requirements :+1:

https://customcans.co.uk/s/s/index.php/

I think it’s actually 250mW at 300 ohms, so about 125mW at 600 ohms. In terms of power it seems doable. What about the voltage?

The current is related to the voltage and the resistance I=V/R so if the amp can generate 150/125mW with a load of 600ohm it means that it will generate enough voltage.

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Thank you. This is all so new to me so I’m sorry if I sound airheaded. Not exactly cheap so I want to make sure I’m buying something I’m certain will be beneficial for me.

Buy a new headphone is never a simple choice

Hey. It’s me again. Sorry:D I just found an used A20 amp from Beyerdynamic. It costs the same as my Aune X7s, which is about 300 USD. Do you think I should return the X7s and go for A20?

I’d personally go for the Schiit Asgard 3 instead at $200. It pairs really well with the dt880 600 ohm from my experience and so far has only just been outshined by the RNHP for me.

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Asgard has been recommended to me several times. I know it’s probably really good but they are not available in Central Europe. I really wish they would start cooperating more with the European market, both Drop and Schiit.