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headphones1999
0
Oct 1, 2013
grate heaphones better then akg q701 sony ma900 HD600 k340 !!!
Tristor
97
Oct 2, 2013
headphones1999Had the opportunity to demo some similarly priced headphones recently at a Head-Fi meetup. I brought along my DT880 600Ω with me and did some side by side listening, stack was Yulong D100 Mk2 + Schiit Lyr. I certainly enjoy the sound of my DT880s, however I must say of all the headphones I listened to I was most impressed with the AKG K702 65th Anniversary in comparison to the DT880. I felt like the K702 Anniversary had much better bass reproduction than the DT880 in particular while still maintaining a nicely detailed and transparent midrange and treble. <br /><br />Although, considering the price range of these when not on sale, I honestly have to say nothing has come close to matching my HE-500s until you get in the HD800s or Stax sets and they're only a couple hundred more. For the price though the DT880 is an absolutely fantastic headphone, especially on sale. I grabbed these the last time they went up on sale here on Massdrop and I'm very happy with them for my rig at the office.<br /><br />Having heard the 250Ω and 600Ω both, I can honestly say the 600Ω does sound better. It has a blacker background and more detailed highs. That said, the 600Ω is one of the hardest headphones I've had to drive competently and also pair well. Be aware that if you go for the 600Ω version you will be spending some bills on a proper tube amplifier, and they do really need the tube treatment to lend them some warmth.
qaspok
3
Oct 2, 2013
TristorI'm curious since so many people are mentioning that the 600ohm version sounds better, did you try both headphones on the same amp with the same audio sample? From what I have read, including a lot of test measurements, the frequency response is worse if the amp impedance is greater than 1/8th of the headphone impedance. On the other side, if the amp impedance is much lower than the head phone impedance than the amp will have a hard time driving the headphones. If you have a properly matched amp, the impedance should make no difference. However, if you plug 250 ohm and 600 ohm head phones into the same amp there would be a clear winner since the amp will only be well matched for one of the two. Since people are unlikely to do a side by side comparison with an amp that under powers the 600 ohm headphones, my guess is that the test is being done on amps with higher impedance than the 250 ohm headphones should ideally have.
dqniel
125
Oct 2, 2013
radleyAmazingly useful article, radley. Thank you.
Tristor
97
Oct 2, 2013
qaspokI used a Schiit Lyr for the comparison as the amplifier, according to its specs the output impedance is less than 1Ω. http://schiit.com/products/lyr. I can't claim to be an expert on impedance matching, however the Lyr seems to be capable of driving the DT880s with ease, as it puts out almost half a watt at 600Ω. I primarily use the Lyr for powering my HE-500s, but since I was going mobile for the meetup, I only took one amp with me.
MikeSattler
74
Oct 2, 2013
qaspokI've had the 600ohm version as well as the 250ohm version. I didn't have the 250 and 600 at the same time but I ended up selling the 600ohm version because it was way too bright for me. I actually tested the 600ohm side by side with a friends 32 ohm version and the 32 sounded much better in my opinion. Warmer and more balanced, with more bass punch. The 600's really had no bass punch at all. I may have gotten a bad pair though cause in retrospect they really did sound quite awful. FYI i used a bottlehead crack+speedball on the 600ohm, and a Bravo V2 on the 32ohm when I was testing.
qaspok
3
Oct 2, 2013
radleyHis tests are in line with what I was expecting. I would have to invest in a better amp to power the 600s. I don't think it is worth the extra cost for a very minor difference in sound. It's good to see some real world testing of these with different amps though. Thanks.
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