Customer Reviews

beyerdynamic DT 880 Premium Headphones (250 ohms)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I do not have much experience with comparing of headphones, but I simply adore these. I use these beyerdynamic DT 880's mainly for listening to music (but they are also great for movies as well). I use them mainly in combination with my (humble?) NAD C-352 Stereo Integrated Amplifier for listening to CD's and DVD's. I have not yet tried them in combination with a headphone amplifier plugged into a mobile player or computer, but directly connected to the NAD C-352 they sound just wonderful, certainly the best I have personally heard so far - but I do have a limited budget ;-).
These DT 880's from beyerdynamic are actually only my second pair of high-end (?) headphones I have ever owned. Actually, my preferred way of listening to music is via headphones. I live on my own, I do have a pair of wonderful speakers (the exquisite, clean and clear-sounding Monitor Audio Silver RS6 - in a sense they sound quite like the headphones under review here), but one does have to take the presence of neighbours into account ;-) For those reasons I expect - and are constantly on the lookout for - the best (for as far as my relatively limited wishes are concerned). I think I now may have found it.
My 'infatuation' with the luxury of 'best possible sound' reproduced by headphones began only a few years ago, when, after careful consideration, I decided to buy myself a pair of Grado SR-80's. I think they are simply some of the best - not even taking into account the 'low' price of this set (certainly for such great sound). But as goes in these things, somehow I wanted even more, like maybe a little less harsh or direct sound (more 'rounded') and a better sense of soundstage (both very desirable for things like opera and symphonic/orchestral music), while at the same time retaining the same clarity and refinement of the Grado SR-80's, and so I began to look out for something even 'better'. Better is of course a relative term, certainly when comparing these two wonderful sets of (differently priced) headphones, both with their own distinctive 'character'.

ABOUT THE QUALITY THEY OFFER. These DT 880's are more expensive than the Grado SR-80's, but they are indeed better: they do offer more for the extra money (they are about twice the price, but certainly worth it, IMHO, certainly if one can spare the money). Well, they certainly sound different. To me, the DT 880's sound finely analytical, but at the same time 'relaxed' and 'civilized' or 'refined', offering a fine balance between the highs, middles and lows, without favoring any of those in any obvious way, thereby 'drowning out' any other element within the sound picture, like singing voices (which are, actually, like everything else, reproduced wonderfully crisp and clear, revealing more of their finer nuances and details than other headphones). I certainly like this very much; it is just what I want. Nothing is ever too much 'in your face' and at the same time you get the chance to hear a wealth of detail without getting fatigued. This last thing may have something to do with the fact that the reproduced sound is set - unlike any other set of headphones I have ever tried (up to now) - within a naturally wide and open soundstage: the feeling of 'as if you were there yourself', especially pleasant with opera-recordings and movies. This quality of the DT 880's is especially obvious in (live) recorded performances set within a wider acoustic space. The natural and honest sound-reproduction really pays great dividents here: one does really get a sense of the acoustics of the space the recording was made, adding greatly to the enjoyment, at least to this particular listener.
Maybe one slight 'disadvantage' of this honesty of reproduction may to some people be that any possible shortcomings of a recording (like hiss in analogue recordings) also become somewhat more apparent than with other headphones. But I personally have not found this to be annoyingly so, comparing the difference with my other headphones.
IMHO, one cannot go wrong with these headphones. They are really, really great. They offer an extremely clear, honest, wide-ranging and detailed sound picture that is extremely pleasing and refined (don't read 'bland'!) to the ear, but which truly brings out the best in any recording of any kind of music, I think.
I have grown to love them. If you can or would only want to spare the money for just one great set of high-end headphones that will serve all your needs, then these are the ones, I believe. Please try these for yourself and be amazed. Highly recommended.

These sound wonderful, especially when driven by a quality headphone amp. Top to bottom, lows, mids and highs, these headphones reproduce all types of music faithfully. The presenation and soundstage are a bit forward of what Sennheiser offers, but not so pronounced as to conflict with more sweeping classical pieces. Even on high-engergy rock music, they shine.

The comfort is top-notch, though if you haven't worn full-size over-the-ear (circumaural) headphones, anything in this class will require an adjustment. The round earpads do allow a variety of positions, whereas other 'phones with oval pads may form to your head slightly better, they do not allow variation in position.

The Sennheiser HD650 may edge out this headphone in ultimate performance, but not by a wide margin. The price and comfort are big advantages of this headphone, so many people may make this their overall top choice.

Although I prefer the AKG K701 for most of my listening, this competing entry from Beyer is so close that it's almost a coin toss. (One recent comparison in a headphone artcle came up with a dead heat.)

This is surprising, considering that the DT880 is one of the most reasonably priced of the major mid-priced headphones. The bass is full but nicely textured - not a touch of bass bloat to be found here. The highs are detaied and never seemed sharp to me, and the overall sound offers a huge soundstage. Instead of the music being on top of your, these Beyers lend a perceived distance of a few feet; ths makes classical music sound doubly elegant, and surprisingly makes rock music grandiose in an appealing kind of way.

These headphones don't require a headphone amp, but certainly profit from one. The 30 ohm version makes for more volume, though the 250 ohm version is standard, and best for most daily listening.

The DT880 sounds great, but lacks a tad of the K701's high-end sparkle. Conversely, Beyer's value, comfort, and workmanship can't help but impress. This is a phone that has labored under the shadow of the AKGs and the Senn 650s, but listeners are always impressed by the DT880s sound. It may be your best value in a mid-priced, all-purpose headphone.

Hi and thank you for reading my review. I am a 30 year old medical student that loves headphones. I currently own the Shure E4's, Senn 650HD, a few others. 1 hour ago I opened up the Beyers. The box is nice, the headphone build quality is phenomenal. Metal, details, leather, plush velour. I love this headphone already. But what about the sound...so much written on the bass (lack of.)

I'm not even letting these things break in yet. I set my eq so that the highs are more recessed because I can't stand sssssss, and shhhhh, in my music. Rush, jazz, hip hop, Dave, Jack Johnson, Sarah Mclachlan...through a few I know I listen to routinely while studying with my Senns. I never would have thought that the sound quality could be richer than the Senns, and now I know-yes it can get better. Liquid sound, dynamic, fluid, bass heavy if you have the eq settings, detailed even with the highs tapered. I can't wait till this thing is broken in.

I don't have the vocabulary with all the audiophile adjectives but what I can tell you is that I wish i bought these instead of the senns. People say that that the 650's are great for MP3's because they smooth out all the crap from compression, but I have to say that the Beyers, even though they are less forgiving-sound richer. The music coming into my ears right now seems like it is a mile wide.

The senns had a death grip on my head. After about 30 min of studying my ears would be hot, i'd have to take them off. The beyers feel so nice, so soft, and so intimate compared to the senns. I thought that these headphones would be harsh, too honest for my music collection and I was wrong. I just heard the singer of Rusted Root laughing during a guitar solo- I never heard that from the Senns or the Shures.

I am happy and I would definetly recommend these headphones for their comfort, beautiful sound, and build quality. I love these headphones, I really really love these headphones. Bass is very nice, mids are glorious, treble is very nice (still breaking in.)

First of all, read the other reviews carefully. I've noticed that several of them are actually reviews of the DT770s and the DT990s. These comments are about the DT880s. And at least two other reviews refer to these as "sealed" headphones. They are NOT sealed...they are open-backed and will not seal out ambient noise or help you keep your music to yourself.

I'll be brief. The tonal balance and clarity of these phones are very, very good. Comfort is exceptional, as is quality of construction. They are a good value for their price range and can be highly recommended for you to audition. Are they "the best"? Not in my opinion. My AKG K-701s and Sony MDR-SA3000s have better high-end clarity, but slightly less low-end. My Grado 325is have much better presence and imaging, though they are less comfortable and not constructed as durably. The Sennheiser HD-650s sound better overall. I'd suggest comparing the DT880s to a few of these I've mentioned.

I will also reiterate what others have stated: these are relatively inefficient headphones. You WILL need a headphone amp to enjoy these. If you can't afford a nice headphone amp (be prepared to spend at least $125 on an amp), buy some Sennheisers. Also, be aware of this when you audition the DT880s. If you switch between these and a pair of more efficient headphones, you will probably be unduly impressed by the simple difference in volume.

I just purchased the Beyerdynamic DT 880 after reading every possible review on the internet. Rather than just reiterating everything that other reviews have covered on the internet, I'll try to focus on a few things that may help you make up your mind.

A little disclosure first - While I am not a "true" audiophile, I am a HiFi consumer. I own 2 NAD receivers, KEF Uni-speakers as for primary system and B&W CM1 (they are awesome) speakers for my secondary system. I listen to most of my music via MP3, as in a NYC apartment as space utilization is key and CDs were one more thing I could get rid of.

That aside, I think anyone who loves music will appreciate these headphones for home or studio listening. They sound great, are really comfortable and block out more sound than traditional open headphones. If you are not familiar with headphones of this caliber, you will find yourself noticing new things in music that you had never picked up before. Typically, headphones that allow you to do this are analytical sounding, but I don't feel that way about the DT 880. It just sounds like it is reproducing the music the way it was recorded.

First contrarian comment: You can absolutely drive these with an iPod. I have a 5th generation iPod, and I can tell you that if you turn it up to 90%, these headphones get loud. Many other reviews have said otherwise. While I have not used a true audiophile headphone amp to see what I was missing, they still sound very good with the iPod and did not seem distorted.

Second contrarian comment: I had read that these headphones do not have driving bass, and that if you like electronic music, you would be unsatisfied. I have not found this to be the case. People who want exaggerated bass will not be happy with this headphone, but listening to Simian Mobile Disco and Daft Punk with the DT 880 put a pounding to my ears. I have other headphones that can absolutely put out more bass, but they didn't sound this balanced.

One area where the other reviews are correct and I think it is worth noting, these headphones will point out if your music is recorded poorly or if you are listening to MP3s with a low bit rate. 128k compression won't cut it. These headphones while overall sonically balanced seem to favor the treble a little more than the bass or midrange, and MP3s tend to be compressed the most in this area. I found myself noticing artifacts from the compression process where I never had before. If anything, this isn't really a flaw with the headphones, but a flaw with my plan of getting rid of all my CDs. As most of my MP3s are compressed with a variable bit rate of over 200k, I haven't found that this is a huge issue.

The cable on the 880 is nice. Approximately 9ft long, straight, with a 1/8" jack with ¼" adapter. This is ideal for me. I bounced the cable around a bit and got little to not noise transference to the phones.

One final note - other reviews have noted that the burn-in for these headphones to sound their best is 200 hours. I have not gotten to that point with mine yet... I am at about 10 hours... so I may come back and adjust this review another time. But even without the additional burn in time, I would be surprised if a music lover did not enjoy these headphones. It has made listening to music while doing nothing else fun again. And on top of that, at the time of this review, the price to value ratio is heavily in favor of you buying these headphones. Overall 4.5/5

Update: At around 60 hours of burn-in my few qubbles with the headphones went away. The highs mellowed a bit, the mids began to come to life and with more color. Fiona Apple and other female vocalists sounded stale at 1-10 hours... at 60 they sound warm and inviting. I have not noticed a change in the bass, but regardless there is a very noticable difference following a substantial burn-in. If you are giving these as a gift you may consider doing this for the recipient as they probably would skip this process without prompting.

To start with, readers of this review must realize that the 250-ohm version of these phones was designed by beyerdynamic to be used with a fairly powerful home audio system. The 32-ohm version was designed to be a better match for the iPod/laptop crowd... of which I am not a member.

For me, the reason for this purchase was rather specific: I have a moderately high-end 5.1 home theater setup (Yamaha / Klipsch / Philips / Toshiba / 58" Samsung Hi-Def Plasma), and for quite a while now, I've been looking for a way to watch DVDs and listen to CDs late at night, without disturbing my neighbors (I live in a fairly upscale 55+ mobile home park)... but also without losing the incredibly accurate sound fidelity to which I have become deeply and happily accustomed.

Finally -- having read almost every online review that exists of the 880's and their chief competitors -- based on my listening tastes, I decided on the 880 Premiums.

Upon first listening to them, I will admit that they seemed to be very slightly treble-heavy -- and a bit light on the bass end. Even so... without any break-in at all, I thought they sounded REALLY amazing -- very clear and clean -- and initially, I honestly could not have been more surprised and pleased.

That was two weeks ago. Since then -- while I've listened to a number of CDs and watched several DVDs -- in order to more rapidly burn them in, I've been playing CDs through them almost around-the-clock, with them mounted on a foam cushion, instead of my head. As of this evening, they have accumulated just over 200 hours of use, so I consider the burn-in to have reached completion, and -- as I'd hoped -- the further into the burn-in process the 880's have gone, the more even, smooth and true they've ended up sounding. So, amazingly, what started out as being phenomenally good -- to my ears, at least -- has gotten INFINITELY better!

While my DVD collection includes every type of film imaginable, my CDs and music-concert DVDs are primarily jazz and classical. Last night, I watched Pat Metheny's "Speaking of Now: Live" DVD, and even though the spacial representation of DTS 5.1 is lost, the accuracy of sound reproduction through the 880's was flawless, and their sound stage is open enough that I never felt as though I wasn't "in" the film. I also found this to be true while watching my Blu-Ray of "Avatar" the night before; COMPLETELY realistic.

Tonight, I watched my Blu-Ray of "Jeff Beck - performing this week... live at Ronnie Scott's", featuring the 20-something phenom Tal Wilkenfeld on electric bass. Let me just say... while many reviewers seem to feel that the 880's bass response is somewhat lacking, I personally am ASTOUNDED at their ability to so clearly define, express, and reproduce every nuance of intonation and touch in the playing (for instance) of acoustic standup bass... right down to the lowest notes of which the instrument is capable. At the same time, neither deep electric bass notes nor loud, low drumtones are ever the least bit harsh, distorted, or uncomfortable in any way... yet they are fully, perfectly, and accurately THERE. Pure pleasure!

And while the 880's certainly can't reproduce the (literally) earth-shaking Low Frequency Effects of which my 12-inch Klipsch sub-woofer is capable, the very-low-frequency response of these phones, in the midst of explosive, calamitous film action, is FAR beyond my expectations. Several times now, in fact, in the middle of some on-screen battle or disaster scene, I honestly have spontaneously taken the 880's off my ears, just to make sure that my sound system really was NOT on!

Final evaluation: WOW. I absolutely LOVE them!

Pros: sound, style, comfort
Cons: none other than price.

DT 880 is one of the best out there. Here's why:
1- Acoustics: this is serious stuff. Tonal purity and imaging are amazing. Yet, you need some power to drive the transducers, though not that much. I upped the amplification around 3-4 dB, and boy! Right out of the box it performed. I have tried a number of genres including classical (Respighi's Botticelli Pictures) where the oboe comes to life, and rock (Simple Minds)-you'll hear everything to perfection. One word of caution,though: The bass is very musical, deep and clear all the way down to the bottom of the range. Those who look for a booming bass should go with other than DT880.

2-Comfort: These headphones aren't that heavy. The fabric padding is soft and comfy, and the fit is perfect. As for listening comfort, DT 880 does not give me that "noisy" feel that some other sets do. I can listen to it for hours without getting tired.

3-Style and construction: DT880 is beautiful set. like most other German designs, style is defined by simple lines and geometrey. Yet, the bold style has no "retro" look. No cheap plastic or flimsy supports or joints is used in its construction. Very functional for a user who doesn't require very much mobility.

I highly recomend this product to music enthusiasts. Happy listening and hearing what you've missed

The Beyerdynamic DT 880 headphones are awesome. They are sturdy, VERY comfortable and have exceptional sound quality. I was a bit hesitant to lay down the money for these headphones but I had tried a friend's pair of 770's and knew these had to be at least that good. I listen to music and sound almost all day at work through these headphones and the 880's allow the best comfort in ANY headphones I have tried, and I have tried many.

If you value high quality sound reproduction and comfort, look no further. You will enjoy these headphones.

When opening the parcel containing the headphone, we can notice that a travelling bag is supplied, which is very useful for itinerant audiophiles. Then, we can see that the headphone has a metallic armature, which is a sign of robustness. Then, by wearing it, we have at once a huge sensation of comfort, which lets think long listening will be possible without any physical fatigue. It is more comfortable than Akg, Sennheiser or Grado headphones for example.

The sound characteristics delivered by this headphone are the following ones:
highs are very clear and very well detailed, which allows an analytical listening of melodies,
mediums are pleasant and their presence are solidly delivered,
basses respond very well, and ring with an admirable fullness.

This headphone fits the audiophiles, who look for a detailed sound image, allowing to follow in a clear way the various voices which express themselves in any music.

Classical and baroque music are very well delivered, with an extraordinary detail level. We can even hear on some recordings the interferences made by the instrumentalists when playing (metallic keys noises from a saxophone or a clarinet for example).

Jazz amateurs will be satisfied by hard-hitting trebles returned by this headphone, as well as by the line of bass which frames solidly this style of music.

Rock will not be in rest, but amateurs will perhaps be more attracted by a Grado headphone for example.

The quality of the music listened to through this headphone, makes me recommend it for any audiophile wishing an upper quality headphone, of strong, very comfortable conception, and allowing an analytical and detailed listening.