Beyerdynamics DT880 with more bass

ematthews

ematthews

Audioholic General
Purchased both the Beyer's and the Senn HD650. Love both but the Beyers have the sparkle in the upper end that I like. The only down side to them is it's laking in the bass department. Does Beyer offer a model like the 880 that would add bass to the same sound??
Thanks
 
ematthews

ematthews

Audioholic General
I thought the 990 would cost more. They are about 100 less on amazon.
 
ematthews

ematthews

Audioholic General
Anyone have an idea how the Ultrasone Pro 900 would compare to my DT880or my Senn HD650?
I like the idea of them having a lot of low end bass?
Thoughts?
 
M

MidnightSensi2

Audioholic Chief
More bass then the Beyer's or Senn's I would say you'd need to start looking at either EQ (cut the top and mids the leave bass... don't boost anything), or move into the Ultrasone Pro 900s. They are definitely fun with the bass. The thing is the Beyer's and Senn's are really for studios. So, they have extension but it's not going to be as pronounced.

I actually spent a week with some Pro 900s borrowed from a friend and found them to be a lot of fun. Especially for anything that came from the dub/engineer lineage: dub, reggae, electronic dance music, hip hop, pop music. Which I like a lot of that. For acoustic, jazz, classical, ambient.. what is fun with the bass on the electronic side became a little weird for non 'bass music.' The bass sounded a little separate from the rest. Also, sometimes even in electronic I would find if you listened loud the headphones had so much energy they'd kind resonate on your head... which, is typical for a bass heavy headphone, but, this would cause all kinds of funk and kinda take you out of the 'zone' that electronic is so good at getting you into. Also, the treble was harsh to me, and when you add that on top of some already harsh treble (like the steel bangs and stuff from DnB or reggae), it gets fatiguing.

My review of them would be: FUN!!!! For a while, not a long trip (2 hour flight, cool, 8 hour, no way). Also not great in non dub or sound system culture lineage genres. FUN!!! :)

One that's kinda inbetween is the Denon D2000. But, I didn't keep those long (nothing wrong with them, just, wasn't really my favorite for home, travel, recording, bed, exercise (lol, kidding, exercise I use cheap ones)... but I have a lot of headphones, so, I kinda have my favorites for each application, and this kinda had tradeoffs of each.

Best all around is actually some of the in-ear stuff. Sounds crazy, but, once you get the isolation from a good in-hear headphone, the bass comes alive. Like my Shure e535s, they are so sensitive that when you play electronic, it kind of reminds you of being in a club where you can't hear anything but the music. Then, upside of that, since the bass isn't exaggerated, you get to listen to other genres and it still sounds good. Further, because the isolation is so good (better than any noise cancelling over the ear), you actually listen to them at lower levels and it sounds louder. Plus, your iPhone lasts way longer because the volume is always really low (even though its playing loud).
 
ematthews

ematthews

Audioholic General
Well. Most of my music is progressive rock and Ambient. Post modern as well. I like bass but not over detail and a nice clear 3d sound. The Senn HD650 just not very clear to me. Any more suggestions.
 
M

MidnightSensi2

Audioholic Chief
Hm... not clear? You're running those through an amplifier right? Not just straight out of the an iPod or 1/8" of a laptop of a computer? Both those headphones basically require an amplifier. It's not even some goofy snake-oil audiophile thing, just their impedance and current requirements. I mean, they work without one, but, they'll sound dull and stressed, those are designed to be plugged into a DAC (or AD-DA, mixing board, plain ol' headphone amp or something with phantom power). You'll spend about what you did on the headphones to run them. Especially if you want a USB DAC built in (which you do).

Even at low volumes those headphones will sound kinda murky without an amp, basically how your describing it: lack of clarity To put it in home audio terms: Kinda like running a 4-ohm speaker that has a dip in impedence down to 1.8 with a tiny little amp with a tiny power supply. Even at pretty low volumes its just fighting. As far as amps, my ears aren't good enough to tell the difference as soon as you have one thats got enough guts and a decent design. So, your looking at either studio headphone amps or hifi headphone amps (both, well designed, do fine)
 
ematthews

ematthews

Audioholic General
I am running it through a Bellari HA540 amp..
 
M

MidnightSensi2

Audioholic Chief
Okay, was not expecting you to respond with a tube amp. lol.

Can you borrow a nice solid state and try that?

Other than that, I mean those two headphones are laying on the boards of a lot of studios right now. That said, they aren't running them off tube amps, which have big harmonic distortion and might be a cause of lacking clarity. Also tubes are really sensitive to impedance, I have no idea if your headphones are a good match (if they aren't, can actually cause damage).

One thing you could try in a store is PSB's new headphones. They have a built in amp, nice bass and a great soundstage for sealed design. Actually have a pair lent to me now from a friend. Surprised how good they sound. Was a bit of a snob going into it thinking it would be another slap a headphone together because its the trend design. But, this is well thought out.
 
M

MidnightSensi2

Audioholic Chief
Going back to your original thread of adding bass to the 880 but keeping the rest the same. I think a solid state and some EQ is all you need. Play with the bass region by cutting the midrange and high. Get it to where you think sounds the best using EQ. I have a pair of dt880s either here or at the office. I know I have 770s here, but they are a little different. Either way, I can give it a test if you'd like?
 

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