beyerdynamic DT 880 Edition 600 Ohm Hi-Fi- Headphone

Basic Build:Obviously, the build and appearance of both these headphone will be nearly identical. And that is correct, with the only difference being the outside of the earcups. The build quality of these headphones are among the best I have ever experienced. They are made of very high quality materials and feel very hefty, despite their light weight. The cable is nice and thick and is well connected to the headphone and jack itself. Although coated in an almost stiff plastic, I have no complaints about the cable. The headband, is also incredibly durable, able to withstand horrible abuse. In fact, I conducted an experiment. I actually grabbed the two cups of the headphone, and bent them backwards so that the headphone was completely straight in a flat line form. After that, I bent the headband in a very tight loop. After all this, the headband looked and functioned exactly as it did before, with absolutely no obvious wear or damage. Although I cannot recommend doing this for stress relief, rest assured that your Beyer headband will never break. If it does, tell me how you did it. Overall build is just fantastic. Beefy parts, solid materials, resistant design, and great feel overall.Appearance:Flat out, these look really quite fantastic. They look especially good when seen in person. In fact, the DT880 is one of the best looking headphones I have yet come across. As discussed in the previous paragraph, there is only one difference in the appearance of the DT880 and the DT990. The DT880 has dotted outer earcups, and the DT990 has slatted outer earcups. In person, and in my opinion, the DT880 looks superior to the DT990. But of course, all of this relies on the users opinion and preference. Both do look great, but the DT880 simply looks better. Most will tell you there are only two differences between the DT880 and the DT990, and that would be the appearance and sound. But I am here to tell you, that there is actually a third difference in which sets these two apart, and I will go into more detail on that in the upcoming paragraphs.Function:Since these headphones are identical build wise, this lead to the exact same headband adjustment. The headband adjustment on these headphones, is good, but not great. So far, the D2000 is clearly the king of adjustment, with it's superior clicking adjustment device. The Beyer headphones on the other hand, are a bit harder to adjust to your desired size. On the insides of the earcup arms, you will see many dots -- all of which indicate how far out the headphone is adjusted. From what I can recall, there are eight of them, with which being at eighth dot is the headphone at full size. Pulling them out can sometimes be a bit resistant at times, but once you get the specific size you want, you don't have to adjust them anymore, so it's really not a problem. This is actually quite similar to the HD650, except the HD650 doesn't have any way to guide you into how far you've pulled them out, so balanced adjustment relies on your eyes. Although, Beyer definitely isn't the worst, but definitely not the best when it comes to adjustment. The interesting thing about these headphones though, is even fully adjusted to the eighth dot, the headphone really isn't that big. So what does this mean? This means, if you close them all the way in, the are absolutely tiny, and can be great for storage or display. For some reason, they look even more fantastic when they are in their tiny form, but again, just another opinion.--------------------Initial Comfort:This is where both of these headphones differ from each other. But first, let me explain their initial comfort. Most people know by now that Beyerdynamic headphones are very comfortable. And I am happy to report, this is true -- but to some extent. The earpads a very soft indeed, and feel very good while wearing them. And the headband is generously padded as well, so most will find it comfortable too. But there is a slight problem with both of these headphones in terms of comfort -- especially with the DT880. First let me clarify that this may not be a problem to users with very small ears. To those of us with medium to large ears, there is a slight problem. Both of the earcups on these headphones are really quite shallow. In which, your ear WILL most likely be touching the inner foam of the earcups. To many this isn't a problem, but to some, it is the end of the world. The interesting thing is, the DT880 has "curved" foam inside it's earcup and the DT990 has "flat" foam inside it's earcup. This is extremely apparent not only while wearing them, but by taking off the earpads, it's clear they are to what I have stated. What this means is, your ear is much more likely to not only touch, but be irritated by the inside foam while wearing the DT880, than the DT990. Putting them on back and forth reveals that this issue is obvious, and the DT990 is clearly a step ahead of the DT880 in terms of comfort -- which is a real shame, because the DT880 sounds superior to the DT990. With that said, the DT990 feels absolutely fantastic when first placed on your head. It's pillow-like feel, and the relatively soft headband makes these a joy to wear.Long Term Comfort:Many will overlook something as important as long term comfort. They look for the initial shock in how comfortable a headphone is, and leave it at that. Unfortunately, no headphone I have ever owned feels the same after even half an hour after you put them on -- excluding the king of comfort, the AD700. No matter how soft, or how good they feel when you first put them on, they WILL feel different after extended wear. That said, the DT880 began to irritate me in less than a half an hour. Not only did my ears not like the semi-claustrophobic earcups, but they really detested to the foam. The DT990 on the other hand, even from initial wear, is quite obvious that they will be more comfortable down the road -- and they were. Unfortunately, I have only worn these for a little less than an hour, but with that, they still felt pretty good. Most may not even keep them on that long anyway, so in that case, the DT990 passes the test with flying colors. Sadly for the DT880, it's curved foam inside the earcup disabled me from wearing them for anywhere near as long as the DT990. A sad fact indeed, as I already mentioned that I liked the sound of the DT880 loads more than the DT990. That of which I will go onto in the next section.--------------------Bass:And now comes the section in which the DT880 and the DT990 differ most. The sound. Let's start out with the basics and begin with bass. Between the two, it's quite apparent that the bass is indeed different. Instead of putting it into confusing terms and long descriptions, I'll put it nice and simple. The DT990 has MORE bass, the DT880 has LESS bass. Yup, it's that simple, and is that self-explanatory. The DT880 has very "safe" bass, in which most will be happy with the bass it has to offer. It's not too much, nor is it too little, thus it's the perfect amount. I will definitely agree with that to some extent. Between the two headphones, the DT880 has the more favorable bass. In some songs, it had too little, just as the DT990 had too much. But the DT880's bass is safe -- in which it sounds perfectly acceptable and it won't be fatiguing, at all. It's deep, it's balanced, and it's clear. The DT990 on the other hand, is a bit more risky. It does indeed have more bass, but some can find it fatiguing, just as some will love the addition of more of it. To play it safe AND if I could keep one for bass alone, I would choose the DT880 no question. For fun listening, rock sessions, laid back, or analytical examining, I would still pick the DT880 for all of those categories.Treble and Overall Sound:This is where the storm begins. The treble is without a doubt, the trademark of Beyerdynamic headphones. They are bright, energetic, and detailed -- thanks to their overemphasized treble. But where they get their strength, is also where they get their weakness. Too much treble. Far too much. I'm writing this comparison to obviously compare and review the DT880 and DT990, and not to criticize it's sound based off listening to the HD650, but what I hear is what I hear, and I will share my findings. The DT880 and the DT990 are simply too bright for my tastes. With it's brightness also comes it's detail and energy, but also comes it's dryness, lack of body, and hollow sound. It actually reminds me of Grado headphones in a way that it has a very upfront and engaging sound. Due to this, I find it not only fatiguing listening to both, but find it not as enjoyable due to something being "left out" in the sound. To describe this, I will give you a mental image of their general sound signature. With "higher" equaling "treble" and "lower" equaling "bass", the Beyer's sound resembles an "upside down pyramid". Little support at the bottom, and too much weight up top. Due to this shape, the sound like I mentioned, sounds very dry, lacks body, and has a relatively hollow sound -- but with that has a very sharp and detailed sound. But, with all this information describing Beyer in a general sense, or more so the DT880, I will now give you a glimpse into the strange, twisted world of the DT990.After discovering my DT880 was too bright when compared to my reference HD650, I completely forget to also compare it to the DT990. I tested the DT880 vs the HD650 extensively, and only tested the DT880 and the DT990 briefly in the past (I quickly came to the conclusion I found the DT880's sound superior to the DT990, so I discarded the DT990 temporarily). So, after my extensive tests between the DT880 and the HD650, coming to the conclusion the DT880 was too bright, I went ahead and threw the DT990 back into the mix. Let's just say, I was blown away with the sheer amount of treble they presented. It was, in short, appalling. It was so incredibly bright, it rendered them almost unlistenable with all the variety of music I threw at it. With brightness comes sibilance, and with sibilance comes fatigue. The sound of the DT990 was so bright, it felt as if it was covering up all the other details in the music. Instead of the sound being "veiled" it was more like being "tinned", as everything in the sound had such a bright shimmer, which seemed to detract from the overall enjoyment. But, to make things even more interesting, the DT990 has enhanced bass as well. Now we have a bit too much bass that can blur into the mids, and WAY too much treble that eats the rest of the spectrum! An incredibly twisted sound if you ask me, but many may find it amusing! Overall, both of these headphones are extremely bright and lack bodied, balanced sound. The DT990 just takes that to the next level -- by offering an even brighter sound, and bass that can also render fatigued listening. In all, the DT990 is a very strange (and not preferred) headphone indeed. Getting fatigued by bass and treble at the same time is really quite the experience! The DT880 is a "tamed" DT990, and for that, it sounds much better for all kinds of music.--------------------Recommendation:Whatever you do, try them first if that's an option. Beyerdyanmic headphones give me more mixed reactions than any headphone I have ever tried, and to that, you really should try to listen to them and possibly compare, before you buy. If that's not an option, and you think the words: bright, dry, upfront, energetic, and detailed might engage you, then go ahead and buy the DT880, unless you are feeling extremely courageous and want to risk it with the DT990. But, if you feel like you want a more: balanced, emotional, full bodied, complete, unobtrusive, and smooth sound, then I strongly recommend the fabulous HD650. Whatever you decide, remember, I warned you about the DT990, so if you still choose to get it, may your ears endure such a sound...

I am not much of a headphone person - I always prefer speakers, but I can't listen to them during the day when working from home as I have my significant other working from home as well. I have a bunch of budget headphones including HE4XX, 58x Jubilee, and the DT 770 80ohm. I bought a xDuoo TA-26 to use as a preamp for speaker system, but it was just OK for that purpose and I kept reading how high impedance cans sound good with the TA-26. So this amp drove my curiosity to try out the 880 600 ohm as a budget choice.Before getting the DT 880 600ohm, I actually first got the DT 990 600ohm because I read how the bass in the DT 880 would be lacking. However, I could not stand the brightness of the DT 990 and returned it immediately. It was simply too much even though I use a Denafrips Ares II for a DAC (smoother sounding R2R), and upgraded smoother tubes on the TA-26 (ShuGuang CV181-Z, Soviet 6N5S).Comparing the DT 880 600 ohm to my DT 770 80 ohm, the flatter response of the DT 880 ohm immediately becomes apparent. DT 770 sounds somewhat boomy in comparison, though I suspect that is exactly what some might be looking for esp. movie watching. It took a few songs for me to get used to the DT 880, but soon I began to prefer it over the DT 770.DT 880 is definitely more for audiophiles wanting a balanced sound - I am used to the balanced sound on my speakers as I use DIRAC Live with its linear gradual slope target curve and this headphone is the closest to that sound profile. Bass is very much there in spades if the music itself has it, but does not artificially add to it (which feels "boomy" to me). The result of this flatter response is that the bass doesn't overwhelm the music and so you are able to appreciate the details across the entire frequency range. While flatter, it is in no way dull and definitely on the energetic side likely due to its mildly pronounced treble.My only criticism of the DT 880 is that it has some of the brightness of the DT 990 600 ohm. Even if it is considerably toned down compared to the 990, it can get to be a bit much for harsh recordings or long listening sessions.TA-26 was able to drive the DT 880 600 ohm to sufficient volume levels. Any louder and hearing is likely to get damaged for long sessions. Where the DT 770 80 ohm presented itself with a noisy hum coming out of TA-26, the DT 800 600 ohm presented it only faintly. I suspect the difference in impedance is likely causing the difference. I have found that it was best to max out the volume on the TA-26 and use my source to control gain, rather than the other way around as I was hearing significant distortion suggesting that the headphones wasn't getting sufficient power.I never took a liking to the 58x; always sounded a bit dull for my taste. Maybe Sennheisers are not for me. The HE4XX were used mostly for electronic music or watching non-music content. I use it with a xDuoo MT-602, but I expect to shift to the DT 880 for all music going forward. The DT 880 also sounds more full bodied and its brightness tamed a bit with the TA-26 compared to the MT-602. The TA-26/DT 880 600ohm pairing along with a semi-decent dac (a used Sanskrit 10th MK II at the cheap end) is the one to get if looking for a full package.So in summary:Bass: 770 80 ohm > 990 600 ohm > 880 600 ohmBrightness: 990 600 ohm (harsh) > 880 600 ohm > 770 80 ohmUpdates:1. I tried using the Brainwavzaudio sheepskin memory foam earpads and while it tamed the brightness of the headphone, it made it very dark sounding. Be very careful choosing aftermarket earpads with the DT 880 because of its very delicate and revealing nature.2. I tried ASR's EQ suggestions using Equalizer APO and they sound even better with the harshness tamed. Here is the Equalizer APO config file if anyone is interested.Preamp: -4.3 dBFilter 1: ON LS Fc 60 Hz Gain 4.0 dB Q 1.0Filter 2: ON PK Fc 210 Hz Gain -2.0 dB Q 2.0Filter 3: ON PK Fc 4300 Hz Gain 4.0 dB Q 4.0Filter 4: ON PK Fc 5700 Hz Gain -6.0 dB Q 5.0Filter 5: ON PK Fc 8300 Hz Gain -7.0 dB Q 5.03. The longer I have been using the DT880-600 with the TA-26, the more I have become aware of it its very good imaging capabilities. I also now have the CSS Audio 1TDX speakers which have similarly spectacular imaging and glad to have the DT880 when I can't listen on the 1TDX. However, the sound staging of speakers remains unmatched ("front of you, behind the speakers" vs. "in your head, slightly above like a voice/stage of god?"), and the room pressurization by the subwoofer in the speaker system feels more visceral than headphones. Because of this, the DT880-600 will always remain my 2nd preference, to be used when I can't use speakers.

I've had mine now for 11 years - recently bought a pair of HD 600 Sennheiser for Mother and should have bought these - I have the 600 ohm - they take power to drive but to me they're fabulous, well built; and if you're worried about the unreplaceable cord I've had zero problems with it, it's sturdy. I had a pair of Koss and used to trip over the cord the head piece connections broke I had it wired together for a while the cord shorted out they're in a box somewhere - so I was hesitant to buy these due to the similar design but they're built much much better - I hope they still are. If you want bass boost these aren't beats they're flat clean and pure; if you're looking for the latter and have power these are for you.

J'ai beaucoup hésité avant de me lancer sur un vrai casque audiophile. J'avais eu un casque Sennheiser bluetooth bas de gamme, et plus récemment un Sony XM2, qui reste excellent pour du visionnage de contenu multimédia en bluetooth (du YouTube, etc,...). Mais je recherchais depuis un moment un vrai casque à coupler avec mon DAP raisonnable (baladeur audiophile), un shanling m2s. Après avoir entendu parler des beyer, j'ai tenter de découvrir la différence entre les 770, 880 et 990 et finalement, je me suis rangé du côté du 880, version 600 ohm.Le DT 880 est un casque ouvert et sa reproduction sonore est la plus neutre des trois casques (on reviendra sur le son plus tard).Niveau confort, et bien c'est du très bon mais si mes oreilles étaient un poil plus grande, je toucherais les coussins et ça serait sûrement désagréable, donc faites attention à ce niveau là. Aussi ce confort est très bizarre et donc subjectif : il ne sert pas du tout la tête, ce qui fait qu'on a tendance à ne pas trop le sentir, mais même les coussins ne nous touchent pas trop alors la sensation est étonnante. De ce point de vue là, je préfère quand les coussins t'englobent vraiment (comme mon XM2).Visuellement le casque est plutôt joli.La sacoche de transport semble de bonne qualité.Petit défaut selon moi, le câble n'est pas détachable (et pourtant très long ! (3m)) donc niveau réparabilité, bof bof.Bon qu'en est-il de l'écoute ? Déjà il m'a fallu le coupler à un ampli, car cette version 600 ohm (qui est celle qui aurait le meilleur son des trois variantes) est difficile à driver. Je me suis donc tourné, avec mon budget, vers le Fiio K5 Pro et c'était le meileur choix selon moi pour cette gamme de prix (allez voir ma review là bas pour des détails)./!\ Avant de le mettre sur mes oreilles, je l'ai rodé avec tout pleins de registres différents provenant de mon DAP durant toute une journée (24h) et le niveau sonore bien poussé.Résultat quand je l'ai finalement mis :Le son est vraiment très ouvert, il respire bien plus qu'un XM2 fermé, il est très clair.- Les basses sont très subtiles, pas trop poussées, ça ne plaira pas à ceux qui veulent de grosses quantités de basses, mais au moins elles sont raffinées.- Les medium sont très bon, il y aurait sûrement mieux sur des casques comme les Sennheiser HD 600 ou 650, mais celui ci se défend très bien.- Niveau aigus, ils sont très clairs, très impressionnants, et même percutants au niveau des 8kHz ce qui rend l'écoute fatiguante très très rapidement sur certains genres de musiques. Même après réduction après un EQ, ça reste prononcé, mais ça fatigue un peu moins. Mais ça peut en déranger beaucoup.Malgré ça je trouve l'identité sonore très intéressante et je me demande ça donnera quoi après quelques centaines d'heures d'écoutes.En résumé, je pense que c'est un excellent casque pour ce prix si bas, mais il vaudrait peut-être mieux le tester quelque part avant de se décider ou alors tenter et au pire le renvoyer. Je pense que soit vous l'adorerez immédiatement, soit vous le detesterez, mais ça vaut le coup de tenter. Beyer m'a surpris sur ce casque.Edit : Après un mois de dure écoute, je reviens sans changer la note pour dire que les aigus sont vraiment très perçants même après rodage, et le fait d'EQ jusqu'à temps que cela soit supportable sur certains genres de musique fait perdre énormément de clarté et de détail au son, ce qui est impardonnable. Ceci étant, pour une écoute à bas volume, ce casque est peut être l'un des meilleurs, car les aigus prononcés permettent dans ce cas précis de mettre en avant les fameux détails, et le son devient alors excellentissime car toujours très précis. Donc casque à recommander pour des écoutes calmes, et donc pas pour de la musique qui tabasse.

The Beyerdynamic DT880 Premium Ed. 600-ohm is a dynamic driver, semi-open (basically open) around-ear headphone designed for professional-use cases with professional-grade gear. It's been hyped up a fair bit recently even though it's been on the market for a long time. Does it live up to that hype?TL;DR - It's a great headphone. More neutral than 770, and not as bright or sibilant at 990. More soundstage than HD 600-series and better imaging. Absolutely does NOT require "ALL THE POWER" to drive, but needs more than portable gear can offer.Packaging, Build & Accessories - Comes in a cardboard box with a graphic. Inside is a zippered, leatherette carrying case with a foam cutout for the headphone and cable. Pretty standard fare. Comes with it's carrying case, and a threaded 1/4" adapter.Mostly plastic build, with metal grills, yokes, and a metal band that runs through a padded-leatherette wrap. As it's a single cable from the left ear-cup, there is an exposed, black rubber wrapped cable coming out of the top of each ear-cup. The pads are actually the silver pads from the DT 990 and are not "880-specific". It feels like it's designed to survive some sh*t, as any headphone designed for professional use should.Sound - It really is quite neutral. It sounds good, like it's been tuned following research and time. More treble energy than HD 600 but hasn't ever hurt like the HE-350 did, with tracks mastered too hot. Seems to have more bass than HD 600 as well. However, it seems to change it's sound based on the output impedance of whatever it's plugged into...600 Ohm headphones should ideally sound the same with almost any gear, but really low OI gear seemed to have a change in the low frequency region, sounding a bit more bloated, and melding a bit with the midrange. Using them with more higher Z-out sources yielded the best sound to my ears. The Topping DX7 Pro has around 10-ohms of Z-out, and according to available material, the Emotiva A100 BasX has around 200-Ohms, and the Darkvoice 336se has >100-ohms as well. These are the amps that sounded the best. Subtle differences, but that was my preference.Conclusions - As someone who listens to music as a hobby and not a profession, I feel these are worth their asking price. I tried them with a variety of amps and I consistently found that higher output impedances are my preference for getting the best sound out of them. That makes sense though, because a lot of professional gear has higher Z-out. 880 600-Ohm isn't bad, or unlistenable with sub-1-ohm output impedance sources or anything though.The DT 880 600-ohm has a max power handling of 100mW per channel. That means, if you amplifier can output around 100mW or better at @ 600 Ohms, it's more than capable of driving these to destruction. For reference, the BasX A100 in direct drive mode can output a claimed 600mW into 600-ohms, and 200mW into 600-Ohms in normal mode! Way more than enough power to drive these hard AF. Heck, the Topping DX7 Pro gets these plenty loud and sounding good for most music around -20 dB in high-gain. I had to max it out when I was watching some TV shows with tracks mastered quietly, but still.I want to remind people not to believe everything you hear or read on the internet. My power numbers come direct from Beyerdynamic's, and Emotiva's websites. Do your own research to determine what is necessary. You definitely don't need a BasX A100 in direct drive mode WITH a DAC running more than 2 volts to drive these to satisfying volumes, but you will likely need more than an Apple Dongle, DAP, or USB bus-powered amp.However, these are a fine mid-fi headphone and definitely worthy of being added to most folk's stable.*Disclaimer* - I have not been paid or otherwise had someone attempt to influence the content of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. My ears are not a universal measurement rig. Perception of audio is subjective and no review is a suitable substitute for ears-on time with a product.