Review on beyerdynamic DT 880 Premium Edition 250 Ohm Over-Ear Headphones - Wired Semi-Open Design for High-End Stereo Systems by Andrew Mclemore

Beyerdynamic DT880 Premium Ed. 600 Ohm dynamic driver, semi-open (mostly open) in-ear headphones for professional use with professional equipment. It has been promoted quite heavily lately, although it has been around for a long time. Do they live up to the hype? TL; DR - These are great headphones. More neutral than the 770 and not as bright or hissing as the 990. More soundstage than the HD 600 series and better picture quality. Requires absolutely NO "FULL POWER" to ride, but requires more than wearable gear can provide. Packaging, assembly and accessories - Supplied in a box with a picture. Inside is a zippered faux leather pouch with a foam cutout for headphones and cables. Pretty normal price. Supplied with carrying case and 1/4" thread adapter. Mainly plastic construction with metal rods, clips and a metal strap that runs through the faux leather padding. As it is a single cable from the left earcup, an exposed cable exits the top of each earcup black rubber sleeve. The pads are actually silver pads from the DT 990, not "880 specific". t as it should be in any headphone designed for professional use. Sound - Pretty neutral actually. Sounds good, like it's been tuned by research and time More treble energy than the HD 600 but never as painful as the HE-350 , mixed with tracks too hot There seems to be more bass than the HD 600 It does seem to have its sound though to change depending on the output impedance of what it's plugged in. 600 ohm headphones should ideally sound the same with almost any device, but the really low OI engi ne seemed to have a change in the bass range, sounding a little bloated and a little melted into the mids. Using it with higher Z-out sources gave my ears better sound. The Topping DX7 Pro has a Z-out of around 10 ohms and according to reports the Emotiva A100 BasX has around 200 ohms and the Darkvoice 336se is also >100 ohms. Those are the amps that sounded the best. Small differences but that was my preference. Conclusions. As someone who listens to music more as a hobby than a profession, I feel they are well worth the asking price. I've tried them with different amps and have always found that I prefer higher output impedances for the best sound. This makes sense since many professional devices have a higher Z-out. The 880 600 ohms isn't bad and can't be heard with sources with an output impedance of less than 1 ohm or whatever. The maximum power of the DT 880 600 Ohm is 100 mW per channel. That means if your amp can put out about 100mW or more into 600 ohms, it's more than capable of destroying it. For reference, the BasX A100 can reportedly deliver 600mW into 600 ohms in direct drive mode and 200mW into 600 ohms in normal mode! More than enough power for such a tight autofocus. Hell, the Topping DX7 Pro makes them loud enough to sound good for most music, around -20dB at high gain. I had to make the best of it as I watched some series with titles that were quiet but still mixed. I want to remind people not to believe everything you hear or read online. My performance numbers come straight from the Beyerdynamic and Emotiva websites. Do your own research to determine what is needed. You definitely don't need a BasX A100 in direct drive mode with a DAC running above 2 volts to get them to satisfactory volumes, but you'll likely need more than an Apple dongle, DAP, or USB bus amp. These are great mid-range headphones that are definitely worth adding to most people's stable. All thoughts and opinions are my own. My ears are not a universal measurement setup. Sound perception is subjective and not a lot of reviews replace the time spent with the product.