Beyerdynamic DT770 / DT880 / DT990 / MM300 600 ohms

Thanks, I understand they scale well, but not much has been said about the
880/600’s eq response.

I really enjoyed this post :grinning: :+1:

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What would you recommend for a proper amp?

at least a magni 3+ or a liquid spark really. but asgard 3 is great value if you can find it on sale or used

Funny thing is… I have one!! I haven’t given it a full test drive but sampled it for a bit and found it a bit muddy (typical warmer sound from the Cavalli) and underwhelming. I’ll do some amp swapping and put it through its paces this weekend.

+1 for A3.

I sold my first pair of dt880 600 ohm, and purchased a set that was modified balanced to get a little more power into them. Turns out this isn’t really necessary. Huge amounts of power isn’t the point. It’s more about voltage headroom and “clean” power delivery. As several people have commented, these little SOBs are very revealing of the quality of your signal chain. Just because your amp CAN put sufficient power into 600Ohms doesn’t mean is SHOULD put this much power into 600Ohms. 600Ohm headphones will push the amplifier output stage into a unique operating mode (any significant amount of current through 600Ohm creates a large voltage drop, eating into the headroom of the output stage - good amps can handle this, lower cost amps often cannot - tube amps love it).

This stacks on top of what many have already said - these headphones are very revealing of their signal chain. If your amp is operating at the edge of it’s voltage range, it won’t sound it’s best (or at least sound much different than it does when it’s more centered in its operating range)

A3 sounded good with these. Jot2 sounds good (SE and balanced). My favorite (in my very limited experience) has been the LakePeople G111. It has a 60V internal power supply, giving it huge amounts of headroom to cleanly run 600ohm headphones.

One of my favorite uses of the DT880 600ohm is movie watching. The crazy detail and imaging makes any environmental sound effects impressive. Rain in a scene is very vivid. I’ve used an EQ to turn up the bottom-end for movie watching, which was nice. But it’s not really necessary.

As I’ve upgraded my signal chain these headphones continue to give a nice return. Both the HD6xx and dt880 600ohm are the darlings of this hobby - buy themearly in your experience - sell them because you want to “upgrade” - then buy them back a year later when you realize it was your signal chain holding them back, not the headphone itself :ro fl:

[if anyone is interested in trying some EQ on their DT880, I have a Loki mini+ to sell that I would let go for a good price - pm me!]

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What? No Lyr love? :wink:

Like i was jabbering on about before, these cans are a delight. I completely agree that they only tell the truth when it comes to sources/chains/signals. It was the first thing i noticed, there was extra in the sound but somthing kept it subdued.

I sincerely appreciate your perspective and knowledge surrounding amp and headphone interplay. I love long form responses that are informative, not long winded. :slightly_smiling_face:

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For those who are interested in a more technical look at the 880, rather than a review, along with a very comprehensive demonstration of a balanced cable mod I really like this video

His insights into the small differences with the 990 are interesting

[Edit] Because 900 is not 990

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Completed a rewiring mod to the 880 today. Wire between drivers is now paracord sheathed Elecaudio FC105T 45 strand per 0,12mm copper audio cable. I added a 4 pin mini xlr socket to make it balanced (because why not as I was already rewiring the whole thing).

Cable is a temporary one I put together from spares. Next month I’ll make one from the same stranded copper cable with a more interesting weave and a 4.4mm jack.

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Just thought I’d post some updates: So I like these DT 770s quite a bit as monitoring headphones, if there’s an air conditioner or a fridge or whatever in the background during a recording, I can definitely hear the noise floor through the headphones. They’re lightweight and they isolate well, which makes them easy to take around with your camera/audio gear.

I don’t particularly enjoy them for music, but that’s also not what I bought them for.

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