Yep, in this price range it’s the Beyerdynamic DT880 600 ohm hands down. It’s imaging (to hear footsteps and such) is best in class for <200USD. But you will need an amp. The JDS Labs Atom and Schiit Magni Heresy will give the most high frequency clarity to further improve imaging. The Magni 3+ and Liquid Spark will be just a tick behind but still excellent.
I hesitate to use “better” but they will be different. The 990 has what’s called a V shaped sound signature. That means it has a boost in both the bass and the treble. The 880 has a neutral-bright sound signature, pretty flat with a slight treble boost. Compared to the 880 then the 990 will have have more bass impact and rumble and only slightly more treble. For gaming their imaging performance will be very close. I give the the 880 a slight edge because it’s driver not being as burdened with the low end is a little more free to give more accurate treble response - but it is close.
So if I would like to go with DT880 and a modmic which amp/dac would work best with this? and do you think it would be possible to connect all this to xbox one x aswell? Do I need any splitters/adapters?
Sorry for asking too many questions but im newbie when it comes to dac/amps
No worries! Everyone starts somewhere. It looks like your budget is going up to about 300 Euro. What price are the DT880’s going for? Getting either an amp/dac OR a separate amp and dac stack in addition to the DT880 will likely take you over that total.
Yes. The One X has an optical digital audio output. That should allow you to connect it to any external dac with an optical input. I don’t know the Xbox well at all, but if it’s similar to a bluray player you may need to go into its settings and make sure that it’s set to output stereo PCM audio via optical (as opposed to surround sound). Are you also connecting a PC? That was my initial thought and if you need to connect both a PC and an XBox your options change slightly.
Let’s assume you need to connect both a PC and the XBox. It does not appear the One X has analog audio outputs. If it’s important to connect the Xbox then you’ll need an external DAC. The cheapest option would be the Fiio K5 Pro amp/dac. It has USB, optical, and coaxial digital inputs and a powerful enough amp for the DT880. It costs ~150USD so it might take you a little over your budget, depending on what price you can get for the Beyers. For about ~180USD you can get an SMSL M100 DAC and pair it with any ~100 Euro amp you can get your hands on in your area (Atom, Magni 3+, Heresy, or Liquid Spark).
If the Xbox is just a bonus and the PC matters most, you can skip an external DAC and go straight for any of ~100 Euro amps just mentioned and run your PC’s analog audio out directly into the amp.
Thank you for you replies I have ordered the headphones only and what would you say about sound blasterx g6 instead of fiio k5 pro? The price difference is only £10 so not much
I’ve not heard much about the g6. That alone gives me pause. Also it’s only USB powered. I don’t know that it’s amp will have the juice necessary to properly power the Dt880 600. Otherwise it has a very nice feature set. It’s up to you. Keep in mind though that a Schiit Heresy and and SMSL M100 together will only be about 30 Euro more.
For what its worth, I recently upgraded my setup to actually be able to use the AKG K701 I bought years ago. I got the Magni 3+ Amp to power my headphones.
For my mic, I didnt want a standing/boom mic after thinking about it and decided on the Wireless Modmic. I didn’t like the idea of having more wires so i went with the wireless. The Modmic is great tbh and you dont really need a stand/boom mic if youre not streaming.
