I’ve been doing research on a new pair of headphones to upgrade from my old uncomfortable(I often have real long gaming sessions) hyper x cloud alphas for competitive fps gaming like Apex Legends/Warzone and Destiny 2 and other non fps games and discord voice chat. I also want to use them for music if I get into it but the priority is fps.
I have a budget of $300.00 or so for the headphones and I will get an amp/dac stack to power it. I’m leaning towards the DT 880 600ohm with something like a shiit stack amp and dac with it. The main thing holding me back now is that I was pretty excited about trying open back but after reading so many reviews and posts I’m leaning toward the 880 as I feel it would be great for gaming as well as if I get into music(I listen to mostly rock).
How much of a difference is there between semi open headphones like the DT 880 and fully open back headphones? Is the 880 more open than closed? Will I still get the open back experience with it or should I look for something else? Any other recommendations(The TYGR 300 R is not in stock and looks like it will be a while). I do not want a mic on the headphones as I have a blue yeti desktop mic. Thanks!
and still the 990 is so much more open lol. there was a time where i’d recommend 990s all day long but the more i use these stupid he400se for gaming the more i love them. they are no joke just flat out better than 880s and 990s and i’ll still never get rid of my balance modded 990s. also they can run on pretty much anything that can actually be called an amp unlike the 600 ohm beyers. so thats my recommendation. he400se is a game changer for the price and it only gets better with a grill mod.
You will get good enough imaging from either. The difference is how airy it sounds, which isn’t exactly soundstage. I personally prefer totally open headphones, but the noise isolation is worse.
depends what you compare it to… if its compared to the 990 quite a bit of difference… 880 has less soundstage than that of the 990 and less air… it sounds a bit more intimate and has more isolation to it. Semi open are fine regardless… not really a deal breaker less you really want the fully open back
yes? it wouldnt be called semi open back if it was closed
its a middle ground, so yes and no
your fine with the 880… the cut above that would be outside of your budget. Tygr 300r is a redone up 990 without the treble issues so 990 can be a potential alternative only if you are not treble intolerant.
that would make them into a headset… for the most part headsets aren’t really recommended that much on here
Thanks. I ordered the 880 600 ohm. Regarding the isolation. Do you think a fully open headphone like the dt 990 would be heard through a desktop mic like a blue yeti sitting about 6-10 inches from my face? I was thinking that may be an added benefit of the semi open 880 that it would leak less sound to the mic so my discord voice chat does not hear my sound.
Thank you for the information. Do you think the semi open design of the 880 would be better for not letting sound get from the headphone to a desktop blue yeti around 8-10 inches or so from my face?
I am trying to get into listening to music more and I thought these would be a good set of headphones to use for both gaming and music(I listen to mostly rock) and I also liked that I have read that it is comfortable for really long sessions as I often game for 6-10 hours at a time. I also stream sometimes on twitch.
What amp and dac would you recommend for it in a budget of around $300 or less for the amp and dac? Non tube is preferred. I do not know much about audio and I would like something I can easily use without having to mess with settings a whole lot or at least not beyond the initial setup(I really do not want to EQ anything). Thanks!
nice, If you use noise gates or software like RTX voice it shouldn;t be a problem but if you plan on doing raw reccordings the mic will be able to pick it up as it’s rather sensitive but again using things like noise gates can negate that
Thanks. This is making me want to try the 990 now too. Ever since I first read about open headphones when I started my research last week I have been pretty excited to try it but then I read soooooo many people saying the 880 600 ohm was really good for FPS I decided on it. I have no idea if I am treble sensitive.
The 880 is great and does side wide definitely wider than the 600 series. If you wanted to know true width withing affordable price range I would take a look into audio technica air series or the hifiman 400i or 400se are those have veryy wide and open sound with my ears beyond what the 990 can do soundstage wise. The reason I shill the 990 is it’s imaging capabilities as to me it’s the best in the price range. The 880 is the safe pick though if your not sure about being treble sensitive
Thanks. I will look into those other headphones you mentioned. With the 880 being the safer bet in case I may be treble sensitive is it also a better headphone for rock music too? I was hoping by going with the 880 I was getting something really good for FPS but also really comfortable and good with the kind of music I listen to. What amp would you recommend for the 880 600 ohm? I’ve read some people say the asgard 3 is good but then on other websites I have heard people say the asgard 3 will not get you the full potential of the 880s. Thanks again.
absolutely agree but i will add that the he400se has really really good height separation and every bit as good of imaging. didn’t see it coming as not even my he6se has that and i thought it was a fault in the circle can shape limiting height for some reason but it turns out it wasn’t.
edit: also the driver being acoustically transparent does miracles for how open it sounds and seems to really help a lot. to give you an idea of how well the driver can get out of the way of sound, here’s it getting out of the way of light:
yes, but you can also change the sensitivity of the mic. I use T1.2 and had a blue yeti for a while without issues but I needed to adjust some things… I switched to Elgato later as its much better at letting me control what it picks up.
The 880 unlike the 990 is very well rounded… bright but not sharp like the 990 and very comfortable with some isolation but not like the 770 where its got a fairly hefty clamp. It’s a true middle ground with 600 ohms being its best sounding variation. The 600 ohm being able to be powered by the entry levels such as magni, liquid spark, atom, etc has a slight bump in the bass, bump in the mids so its quite mid centric, and the highs are raised and bright yet rather smooth. It’s still an aggressive sounding headphone as is beyers usual trait outside of a select few headphones but its not bad whatsoever and works just fine in a great many cases. At the same time, if one wanted say a more relaxive bassier sound for like… a movie or something you can pick up a set of pads… beyerdynamic headphones like the 880 respond immensely to just a simply swap of the pads… putting on suedes dips the treble closer to neutral but brings up the bass and adds warmth in the mids making it a warm sounding headphone with a bit more soundstage… this is just an example of course as there is other pads for it but its still an option. The other thing is that at 600 ohms it will grow with your setup as the headphone scales heavily with its equipment up to a set area… for example… youll definitely notice a difference if you went from magni to an asgard 3 as the soundstage picks up as does the detail retrieval to a very large degree.
$300 for just the amp and dac? Asgard 3 + modius or Asgard 3 w/ Multibit(it can have a built in dac called the multibit). If you want to shave some corners… pick up one of the entrys schiit magni and modi, monoprice liquid spark plus its spark dac or a topping d10 dac, jds atom and its respective atom dac. Note: in this hobby it pays big time to just search the used markets… especially for amps and dacs.
this is rather common for hifiman as they don’t put a lot in place of the headphone… however, much like the sundara I don’t recommend a hifiman if your using a more sensitive condensor like yeti… hifiman leak a LOT of sound and its hard to manage with a more sensitive dedicated mic without a lot of setup
Thanks! I really appreciate all the information and recommendations. I think I will try the Asgard 3 for the amp. You mentioned the modius that is the $200 dac from them. How much would I miss out on if I did the $100 modi 3+ dac instead with the Asgard 3? I would rather have a dedicated dac than the chip. Thanks again.
