HD650 Vs Beyer DT880?

[Hamsterer 0]

Hello,

 

I used to own a Marantz CD-7 source paired up with a heavily modded Sugden headmaster driving a pair of HD600 with the cardas smurf cable.

 

I felt I wanted more resolution and dynamics with my music thus I recently sold off the headmaster amp.

 

I generally listen to orchestral music and operas.

 

I'm keeping the source but I am considering changing the cans. I'm thinking of the new Grace 902 for amplification.

 

For the phones, I have narrowed my choices down to the HD650 or the DT880. What do you recommend?

 

My findings so far:

 

DT880

-extremely high resolution

-great dynamics, speed and pace ( This is important to me. I enjoy listening to a great orchestra(e.g berlin philharmonic+karajan) blaze through a fast and furious modern piece. Also with this quality I can truely appreciate the nuances of the playing of great musicians. Ability to compare the playing of various great musicians and orchestras.)

-ability to hear bass lines(something I value alot. With the old HD600s I generally can't really hear what the double basses and cellos are playing in loud complex orchestral pieces. Tho the fault could lie in the sugden.)

 

HD650

So far what I read of this phone is that it is basically a souped up 600?

 

I generally dislike overly smooth and syrupy systems. before I moved over to headphones, I preferred SS over tubes in general.

 

Therefore any suggestions? I read of much comparisons between the DT880 and HD600. Seems like the DT880 suits my tastes better. However how does it compare with the HD650?

 

While searching the forum, I stumbled across this post by a poster named Mackie:

 

"FWIW, I dumped HD600 for DT880 and now, I'm completely bowled over by HD650. I can't imagine how glorious the cans will sound after a cable upgrade to Zu Mobious, Cardas, Equinox etc. "

 

So the HD650 triumphs over the DT880 in all aspects? Please advise and discuss.

Thanks and cheers

Edited November 21, 2004 by Hamsterer

[Rameish 0]

Hamsterer,

 

First there's no easy answer. The Marantz CD 7 is one of the most natural performers out there (although my time with it back in 1999 or 2000 was very limited). It has balaced outputs and I believe its a true balanced design - I could be wrong there). If so you should look into a true balanced amp, however the Grace is an unknown item to me but does have balanced inputs (please double check this as like I said it's an unknown entity to me).

 

As for the Senn HD-650 (and the Senn HD-600) vs the Beyer DT-880, the Senn HD-650 does indeed correct several of the "flaws" in the HD-600. However the Beyer DT-880 isn't the "fastest" headphone out there. The, now defunct, Beyer DT-931 was/is a lot faster and a bit brighter. The soundstaging is also different. I still mention the DT-931 cos it's one of my favourite cans (next to the AKG K-1000 and Grado RS-1 or HP-1).

 

There are no sure answers here but do give the Grado RS-1 a try (at Music By Design @ The Adelphi 2nd level). Also I think Hung Brothers at Sim Lim may still have stock of the Beyer DT-931.

 

The AKG K-1000 is a touch metalic and it's a little bass shy which would mean a tube amp to drive it.

 

In short, give the Grado RS-1 a listen with or without the Grace and take it from there.

 

There's a Grado HP-1 on sale in our classifieds (it used to belong to me before I sold it to the current owner). It's a very nice sounding headphone and has legendary status in head-fi.org I would say it's a very neutral headphone that still "musical".

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

[Mackie 0]

Both HD650 and DT880 will serve you well in your preferred genre ie orchestral and opera music and in actual fact, it's the compability/synergy with your source and amp which is the key concern. On a standalone basis, cost is also another factor. HD650 was recently advertised at a whopping price of $838 but I reckon it could be cheaper but still significantly more expensive that DT880 which currently sells for a little less than $400. Check with Hung Bros at SLS to verify.

 

HD650 is definitely not a souped up HD600 or I wouldn't have revisited this cans since I had replaced the latter with DT880. Many users here can testify HD600 and 650 or basically quite different. If cost isn't consequential and your Grace amp is capable of driving high impedance cans with ease, HD650 gets my vote. Otherwise, DT880 offers greater value for money.

[Rameish 0]

Hey mackie, can you post more impressions of the Grace 901 (I assume it's the 901 you are talking about).

 

Thanks

[Hamsterer 0]

Yes the CD-7 is a personal treasure of mine. I've got it for years now and totally fallen in love with it. In fact, my old system of odyssey stratos monoblocks and preamp and PMC speakers seemed to do more justice to the CD-7 than the sudgen+HD600 combo, sad to say. Yes, it is balanced but it does have unbalanced outputs.

 

Ouch, the RS1 is too expensive for me. Its much more ex than the DT880 and the HD650. I will still give the Grados a listen, maybe one of these days, but I doubt I can justify the price....

 

The Grace should have the power. It is reputed to be able to drive the AKG K1000 without breaking into a sweat. Thus the HD650 should be of no problem. Yes it has balanced inputs. But is it a true balanced design? I'm going to pop gracedesign an email about this.

 

I'm currently leaning more towards the HD650. But I will audition the beyers first. By the way Mackie, you mentioned you got the 650 for a steal? Hmm.... Where did you buy it?

 

Thanks for your helpful replies!

[master 0]

Thinking of getting HD650 for my EMU 1820m, but looking into this thread and saw the price at S$838, man....

[Absolute0 0]

It's $690 at Hung Brothers according to the local prices thread.

[viconte 0]

hey master, i bought my HD650 from overseas, ard USD $300 (exclude shipping), I just got them today!!!! i cant wait to hear how they truely sound (read it needs at least 200hours of burning-in), just keep a lookout on ebay.com , i got mine from idealsounds, an ebay seller with a company, 100% feedback, everything packaged nicely... somemore USD keeps falling... gd time to buy

[Mackie 0]

Hey mackie, can you post more impressions of the Grace 901 (I assume it's the 901 you are talking about).

 

Thanks

Hey Rameish, U might have misunderstood my post for I don't have any experience with Grace 901 headamp. But I read in some forum this amp is capable of an output of 7 watts; enought to drive K1000. Hearsay nevertheless.

[Mackie 0]

Hamsterer, do not put too much emphasis on balanced designs as even high-end gears may not be fully balanced at all, merely using inverters to reduce RFI interference and adding more components to signal path. As yet, debate on unquestionable audio superiority of balanced over single-end (unbalanced) designs is still very much alive.

 

The last power buy on HD650 was a fluke and done in Indonesia, once in a life time super deal I reckon.

[master 0]

hey master, i bought my HD650 from overseas, ard USD $300 (exclude shipping), I just got them today!!!! i cant wait to hear how they truely sound (read it needs at least 200hours of burning-in), just keep a lookout on ebay.com , i got mine from idealsounds, an ebay seller with a company, 100% feedback, everything packaged nicely... somemore USD keeps falling... gd time to buy

Do you have any link of it? Is it brand new or used? Thanks in advance.

[Mackie 0]

viconte got it from ebay. From the seller's description, seems like they are new units. Another good deal that happens flash-in-the-pan I reckon.

[Hamsterer 0]

Hello fellas!

 

After a couple of auditions, I felt that the DT880s are suitable for me. I actually disliked the HD650. While they sounded better on pop and jazz, I just can't accept that type of sound for classical music. The balance of the sound is tilted towards the lower end. This is disastrous for serious classical music listening.

 

While it impresses sonically with its muscular authoritative weight and detail on orchestral tracks, for hour long symphonies it gets boring. Sounds monotonous. After 45mins, you get sick of "feeling" the music.

 

The beyers with their higher treble balance seems more suited for classical orchestral. A long symphony is like watching a movie. With the beyers, I'm still with the storyline late in the movie. With the 650s, I'm lost in monotonous sounds.

 

Of course, not saying that the HD650 are lousy phones. Like I said, they are sonically impressive. Just that they aren't my cup of tea. In actual fact, I suspect it could be because of the way the 1980s classical cds that I generally listen to are mastered.

 

The DT931s. I preferred them to the HD650 as well. However found them to be somewhat lacking in the bass. DT880 offers up a good compromise.

 

BTW, I understand that Headroom is offering a DT880 along with cardas cable upgrade! Yum yum! But I wonder are headroom reputable dealers? Check out this complaint by an overseas customer from netherlands:

 

http://audioholics.audioreview.com/Headpho...39_2751crx.aspx

 

True. He got what he wanted in the end. But that's only after complaining on audioreview!

 

So do you have any experience with Headroom? I'm quite fearful of receiving a faulty DT880+cardas or an old second hand DT880!!!

Edited December 12, 2004 by Hamsterer

[N@Z 0]

I have ordered the etymotics ER4S + Total Airhead (3xAAA) & AKG K1000 (with some misc accessories for my etys) from Headroom. All shipped using FedEx International.

[Hamsterer 0]

I have ordered the etymotics ER4S + Total Airhead (3xAAA) & AKG K1000 (with some misc accessories for my etys) from Headroom. All shipped using FedEx International.

 

So how? Any problems? Did the ER4S smell of earwax when you got them?? Sorry I just had to ask.