I am looking for recommendations on a new set of high impedance headphones to pair with a Dark Voice OTL tube amplifier. Here is my current list of criteria and my reasoning for each:
Greater than 100 Ohms impedance. - This is based on what I have read is needed for pairing with an OTL tube amp such as the dark voice. Please, correct me if I’m wrong.
I would prefer it to NOT be a Sennheiser or Beyerdynamics. - I have had QC issues with Sennheiser which has been a massive turn off. And I have had about 15 minutes of listening time to a DT 770 250 Ohm and absolutely despised the way they sounded. Like, I was enthralled by how bad they sounded to me.
Less than $200. - If at all possible. If necessary, I can wait and save more though.
Available on Amazon. - I want to use those sweet, sweet reward points.
For further information on what I do like, the following are the headsets I have listened to and enjoyed:
1More Triple Driver
SIVGA 004
Monolith M570 - these are my babies and I adore them
I mean you have already eliminated the classics lol. If you look used you might be able to find a r70x, so that would be pretty nice imo. My typical go tos would have been 600/650 or a 880 600 ohm in this range, but those aint going to fit the no sen or beyer. Perhaps find an AKG K240 600ohm? I think you are either limited by budget or the no sen/beyer requirement.
M0N, I knew you would be the knight in shining armor here haha. Not great news though! But this does unfortunately confirm what I have found in my own research so far. So, if you don’t mind, let me ask you the following questions.
Between the 6XX and 58X which seems to get the most from pairing with a tube?
Do all of the Beyerdynamics have a similar sound signature? Like, would a 990 600 Ohm really sound so similar to a 770? I have always seen Beyerdynamics offerings sort of grouped together which gave that impression.
If I pushed my budget up, what other options could I be looking at?
Easily the 6xx imo. The 58x does sound nice, but it’s got some unnecessary bloat on there. The 6xx fills out on a tube, and imo gets the body it needs, where the 58x already has that body and a bit more isn’t always good
I personally wouldn’t say so, and they also change a fair bit on a tube. Just to check, what did you dislike about the 770 (just to see if it’s something that is shared between all beyers), also what amp did you have it on?
How high are we talkin here? Stuff in the 500 range could be the ndh20, a used beyer t1.2, dt1990, but I wouldn’t suggest going higher than that because you would want to upgrade the amp at that point
I completely disagree but to each their own… the 880 may be somewhere to look because I don’t think your dislike for the 770 will carry over as the sound signatures are pretty different
Well, if worst comes to worst, I will be considering the Sennheiser 6XX then. I guess I am ready to be hurt again!
Its been a few months since I heard the DT 770s, so I won’t be able to give a lot of details. And it was being powered by my FiiO K5 Pro. My main complaint was the treble sounded murderous. Like, I couldn’t get anything out of the songs because the high notes seemed to over shadow literally everything else. But it was more than that, everything just sounded somehow to be indescribably wrong. @donjklassen I realize I’m in the minority on this opinion, I just can’t help it!
What about in the $300 range? That would definitely be achievable for me on the shorter term.
Is there any reason you would recommend the 880 over the 990? I am very ignorant on their differences.
And I just looked into the r70x and I am not about that headband style. Last pair of headphones I tired like that were very uncomfortable after more than an hour or so. And that is not something I want to gamble $300 on it.
My bad regarding the 770. I thought you meant on a tube but you mean you just don’t like it in general. I had issues with it as well and ‘modded it’ (pads and foam… not real mods) but on the darkvoice I enjoy it in its stock form. It does a good job of smoothing everything out imo.
So the 880 is more neutral overall, and imo more refined sounding, also not as elevated treble energy which might be up your alley. The 880 600 is more neutral tad brighter where the 990 is more v shaped
I do think that with your experience with beyer you might be safer off with a senn lol, but if you get a chance I would try the 600 ohm beyers if you can
I will keep the 880s in consideration then. Might be fun to try and redeem the brand in my eyes haha.
As a last question, what about the Sennheiser HD 600s instead of the 6XX? The upshot for me is that I can buy them off Amazon and leverage my rewards points which will make the process of saving up for them more than a bit less painful. I looked it up, and they are 300 Ohms. I also know that those are the model Zeos has customized and makes several appearances in his reviews.
Ah I would do that then imo, the 600 are actually my preferred off a tube amp, they are more intimate and neutral than the 650 tho if that might bother you
Well M0N, I think that is the plan then. I will save up for the HD 600s and pair those with the dark voice. I bought the thing off drop, so I probably have a good 3 months before it gets here anyways!
@donjklassen Hey man, worst comes to worst you can save up for the HD 600s later. I don’t think they are going anywhere. And I will probably wonder about whether I would have preferred the 6XXs haha.
I’ll reserve judgement until I try it with a bottlehead crack but I wasn’t terribly impressed with it on the darkvoice and it’s not the darkvoice because I really enjoy the 880 and 770 with it
I think the 650s benefit from tubes personally, but that’s more a case of preference and I can easily understand someone liking them more off of a ss amp. In the case of the 600, I think if you don’t prefer it off of a tube amp you may not like Sennheisers. For a headphone that’s been around that long to still have a following, it has to be doing something right. For my taste, the 600 on a tube amp (either cheap or expensive) is just a really enjoyable experience
I do agree but not to the extent I had imagined given the fanfare. That said I’ve used one tube amp and two sets of tubes one being stock dv tubes so judgement stays fully reserved.
Personally, I think the 650 is a bit overpriced. For the $200ish price tag, the 6xx makes a bit more sense and is a gateway headphone for a lot of people into this hobby. It’s a headphone that makes people realize they will benefit from a dedicated dac/amp setup, and when driven properly is an eye opener for a lot of people who’ve only used the earbuds that came with their phone for the past few years. I think the 6XX does a really good job at $200 with imaging and instrument separation, but at $500 the 650 has a lot of competition. I still think it’s worth it due to the fact that they last forever, and it’s a good reference headphone since so many people own one, but I don’t know that I’d recommend someone paying full price for a 650 today. And I’d really only recommend a 600 to someone using a tube amp