never underpower a headphone… plain and simple just don’t. Whole world of issues from that ontop of the headphone being quiet
noticed I skipped this comment… dekoni pads for beyers are wonderful… it really just depends on what kind of sound your looking for though. If for competitive gaming though keep it the velour material. Beyers will actually gain a little more soundstage from the thicker dekoni pads without taking a big hit to imaging… its just that the signature changes by any pad swap. I own all the dekoni beyer pad styles except sheepskin which I got rid of as it makes almost of them sound quite bad.
pad rolling changes a headphones signature usually and in the case of beyers… that change is quite significant… something to keep in mind. For example a suede pad will dial back that treble by a pretty drastic amount but at the same time bring up the bass by a drastic amount as well…
@Falenkor oh well, to invest 400$, 200 on the asgard 3 and 200 on the 990, i prefer going for the 1990 pro that i know that my current amp will drive it alot better and i get a endgame headphone.
thanks for the guidance through this process man
@Falenkor quick question bro, pure soundwise not build quality or comfort, DT770 250ohms vs hd 560s for fps gaming, i never considered closed headphones due to its small sounstage and poor separation, but after reading more about headphones in general waiting for a good offer on the dt 1990 , i found that alot of ppl including you like the soundstage and imaging of this headphone for gaming, also its a plus for me to not hear ambient noise in my house. and another plus is that i found the headphone for 140$.
also do you think it could be tweaked via pads to increase the soundstage?
770s can have slightly larger soundstage if you swap the pads but they suffer bass issues in game…
560s are nice… not as good imaging but have slightly above the average soundstage for open back and still very good on the imaging… though quite reference grade in sound with some slight tones of higher treble they are more well rounded than the 770 and fit into more areas due to that… the sound also surrounds the head better due to being open back of course…
regardless I don’t think there is a real clear winner between the two… I would say just go with whichever of those two suits you more as both of them do the job just fine.
I’m bummed out with the never ending out of stock for the tygr 300r. Apparently it’s back ordered, back logged, back whateverd until August. I was thinking of getting other Beyer’s, but with a fiio e10k currently (using a shp9500 for like almost 4 or 5 years), I feel it’s a no go. Don’t really want to invest in a new amp right away. I’ve been seeing the hd560s being compared to the tygr’s. From what I research and what I’ve read from lurking in this thread, seems to be a decent fit for me. Been really into insurgency sandstorm and ironsight recently. They are close quarters fps games for the most part. Probably could save up for a decent amp as my next upgrade. Been eyeing the schiit magni 3+/ heresy since I hear a lot of good about them.
Yup just checked too. Listings are a week to a month old. They are all sold even though the listings are there . One was a 600ohm mod. Wonder how that works. Probably a driver swap or something?
yea that would be a driver swap probably with a 600 ohm 990 driver… not sure why someone would do that but whatever floats their boat I suppose.
The alternative is the 990 but only if you can tolerate its treble peak and drive it… though its best in its 600 ohm.
560s doesn’t particularly compete with the tygrs and 990 in terms of imaging and staging but it is quite good… just not as good… it does fit into more critieria though as its more of a reference neutral kind of sound
I’d totally go for Beyer’s, no doubt, but my shp9500s’ are like 5 years old and I just need a new set of cans. My plan is after upgrading to the hd560s or whatever I decide soon, in the future I’m probably going to upgrade my fiio e10k to a decent amp. I feel like then I will have a better upgrade path to the Beyer’s or whatever else I decide to get. I just need better cans for now.
Just joined but have been lurking the forums for a bit now. I just wanted to give you another opinion in regards to FPS sounds, as I use my headphones primarily for gaming. I have had the 600ohm DT990 for about a year now, powered by a modi(multibit)/magni 3+ stack. And while they were good the had their issues for me. I recently purchased 560s as a second pair of cans to try to see if something was more of what I was looking for. I really prefer the 560s sound over 990, the soundstage on the 990 is a good bit larger then the 560s, and that was my issue.
They both image phenomenally, but do to the soundstage difference I had a hard time knowing how far things were from me when using my DT990. Things sounded far off from me even if they were right next to me. Accuracy of the sound was good, but not knowing how far that sound actually was annoying and I couldn’t seem to learn to adjust to it. As for the 560s, the sound is good, I would say its not as good as the 990s, but pretty damn close. But to me the soundstage is near perfect for FPS and detail retrieval is top notch. So for me I do prefer the 560s for gaming over the 990.
But I do love soundstage for music listening. So if your use is for mostly gaming I’d lean towards the 560s, but if gaming is second to music I’d go 990.
this isn’t an issue with the game nor the headphones so much as the experience with the person which simply takes time… more specifically is that we are more used to a very small soundstage to begin with coming from gaming headsets which usually have extremely little staging so that level of narrow intimate staging is a bit more comfortable on something like a sennheiser since its more familiar and we are a bit more experienced with that kind of sound presentation.
I personally wouldn’t take the 560s over a 990 but it would depend on the game really… beyers are naturally built tougher so they can potentially outlast the sennheisers but the capabilities of the 990 exceed that of a 560s… however, in games where large soundstage really isn’t particularly necessary… regular cod, overwatch, csgo, etc this really doesn’t matter and 560s works just fine and may be found a bit more comfortable as mentioned due to its familiarity and intimate sound presentation… its due to this that quite a few gamers who frequent the more smaller map style fps games also love the Focals as Focals have exceptional imaging but again a much more intimate presentation to them… while the soundstage is good on them its not as good as the beyers so to speak. Soundstages issues rears up if your playing very large games… hunt showdown, apex in some games, fortnite in some cases, battlefield, arma, planetside, etc those games where the player can be really far away the soundstage can give you just a pure edge on them especially if dealing with someone fireing sniper rounds or something. However, being able to place at a certain distance comes strictly from a players skill… every headphone will distance differently it just takes time from the player to really adapt to this… could even take potentially months. Due to this needing for adapting is another reason I do tell players who come to me for advice to forget about large soundstage headphones if they plan to attend the big league competitives… because by the time your used to large soundstage cans like a beyer your not that used to the junky small soundstage crap you have to use during tournaments which is a big detriment.
nonetheless, I am glad to hear you found that the 560s work for you and that you enjoy both headphones… thanks for swinging by and dropping your thoughts on it
Would you say the elex would be a better fit for me if I prefer the smaller soundstage, but want more comfort and better sound for music? Would you say the focals have as good or better imaging to the 560s? I would love to try them but they are just so expensive and there is no place to go try them out.
Absolutely but it is quite in your face more aggression yet has a good size stage…
Depends on the focal… if elear its debatable… elex yes it out performs 560s… sounds alot better too imo. The level of clarity and detail on the elex is nuts. Very good headphones and imo of someone likes the earlier sennheiser like 58x, 560s, etc they will more than likely really enjoy focal
Buying DT880 600ohm with Sweetwater in the USA for 200$ today.
AMP options is the struggle: I watched this guys video about various AMPs with the DT 880 600 and he said the Heresy wasn’t as good as the Liquid Spark which I can’t get in Canada. I can get a Beyer A20 for about 350$ CAD but it’s a lot of money and I doubt it’s worth it. I guess that’s the question, for just gaming would I really hear the difference? Warzone only use case.
Edit: The Double headphone output is neat but mostly useless
I suppose if you want them new, sure… though I normally recommend buying used especially for beyers since they hold up quite well… seeing how you can get a mint 600 ohm beyer for like $100-$125.
those that state one amp isn’t as good as the other sound wise is speaking purely from a subjective viewpoint… theres little wrong with heresy… its that spark synergizes a bit better with beyers since the liquid spark adds warmth and treble roll off making it fill in a few gaps in the signature. Either amp will drive them just fine and entry level amps sound differences are fairly marginal while noticeable… its not by much.
skip this… I would sooner tell you grab an asgard before saying to spend that kind of money an amp as the asgard is far superior
I get this question a lot actually so I do need to elaborate for the future people reading… YES you will absolutely hear a difference in your games fps included. However, fps games have their own sound engine limitations as they love to cut corners every which way… will these sound additions help in competitive placements? most likely no, as unless its helping with imaging and spatial recreation maybe some in the upper mids or treble then its not really helping you with anything… it just makes the sound better and clearer.
The dt 880 over there is a very strong headphone… its weakest spot is in its bass which is very easily solved through warm amps such as the liquid spark or just some simple eq which you can bump through peace apo which is a free software on the pc… you don’t need the bass bump in fps but if your listening to music and wanted that extra bit of bump to the bass its an option… go with what you can afford and that is entry level…
Magni and heresy are similar and offer a very good sound though its not as warm… its a bit more colored and natural
JDS atom is the super neutral clean amp next to the Topping amps though topping tends to lean a bit clinical
Spark this is the warm amp of the entry levels. its worth the money and generally you can find them like the others above used market at round $70.
IFI Zen this is ONLY a viable option if your beyer 600 ohm is balanced… as you can then use this units balanced port which will drive them. This is the other warm option and a great budget choice as its both an amp and a dac with a bass button and the warm characteristics similar to the spark. However, only good if the 600 ohm beyer has been modified with a balanced cable.
soundblaster g6: this is probably the ultimate gamer budget option right now… capable of driving 600 ohm beyers and sounds good. Its not as good on sound quality but if your explicitly just a gamer and don’t much care for audiophile levels of sound this is an amazing option. 7.1 for those who appreciate it, scout mode which is a preset for footsteps on the eq board, small so takes little desk space making it handy for those of us on laptops and some console setups, compatible with the new gen consoles. It’s main draw back is that its not the best at sound quality like the entry level amps… it is however a fairly good dac in its own right and can be turned into a dedicated dac paired to a stronger amp later down the road if one wanted to jump down the rabbit hole of audiophile
It’s funny you mention that, I think there’s literally been like three different listings for an 880 600ohm over in the buy/sell thread during the past two weeks, e.g.:
I usually buy used due to this… people in this hobby do tend to take very good care of their headphones especially in the higher price brackets… and others myself included do place headphones like that here for sale… hell I just sold my mint 1990(it had a slight defect in the left cup where the swivel made a pop sound… only when you were messing with it though…) for $390. You can even snag liquid platinum at around $400 which is an amazing amp thats usually over $600.
there are others if you prefer used… and there are some on here who do live in canada so may be worth asking around. others are places like head-fi, reddits avexchange thread, and you can use hifishark as well to scour multiple websites for a good deal
. One was a 600ohm mod. Wonder how that works. Probably a driver swap or something?