I run balance modded DT880 600 ohms on a zen stack (with an FX-Audio tube in between).
I got an ifi go blu as a gift for my sister, but she won’t arrive for a few days so I am messing around with it right now.
Here is what’s got me mighty confused. I can barely tell the go blu and the zen stack apart?
The stack is better, more full, more separation, but it is by NO means a bad sound on the go blu.
They still sound great on the go blu, which has a third of the power.
Granted I have to crank it up easily twice as much to get the same volume, but there is still room left to go up, I’m at like 80ish %. I wouldn’t want to much louder though.
Internet wisdom has it that these headphones are near impossible to push, but this the blu is barely the size my thumb and its perfectly enjoyable?
Something isn’t adding up lol
hm have to try them again on my Zen Can before i sell it, but i think it tells a lot that i only ran my dt 880 on a BhC or my G111
Could be that the Can cant produce the voltage swing those 600ohm drivers really needs but from memory my otl and g111 mellow the treble out a bit and they get a bit better bass
Wouldnt recommend to invest in such amps only for the 880 but if you also have a collection of zmf 300 ohm cans those are good amps to drive them ^^
I have a hard time imaging how the ZEN CAN would not be enough, but then I also don’t have a point of comparison. Might be for the best if you ask my wallet though
The can put out 15V, which I understand to be up there and something the beyers need, but I also heard you want around 100 ohm output impedeance if I remember correctly? The zen can has next to none.
Even if they can sound better though…Imo they are more than usable on the blu, sure you aren’t getting the full potential I suppose but I expected way worse from how people talk about it.
Had the Can sounded like that I wouldn’t have complained either.
Although colour me curious for a more direct comparison.
Saw a review on amazon for the aune X1s GT that it while it could drive the DT880 600hm well enough, it was also supposedly far from achieving it’s potential. From what I can find the X1S is quite a bit less powerful than the zen can.
Comparing the go blu and the zen can then, the blu already sounds pretty good to me, and the can provides three times the voltage of the blu. The G111 seems to provide twice as much power still, but if the difference between the blu and the can was so small, how far away of the proverbial voice of god can the zen can possibly be?
They aren’t that hard to drive, I got them loud and sounding terrific on a Soundblaster X1 USB dongle which outputs 2.4v when it detects over 120ohm resistance. There was zero room to do a preamp reduction to equalize though, but they sounded good. It’s just one of those myths people say who have never had a pair of them (like the parrots on Reddit).
