I'm very fond of the DT880, but oddly enough, not when it comes to music. I find music with them dry & a bit sterile.. The DT880 demands tubes for musicality, Although, they are hard to fault in terms of technical merit. They offer excellent resolve, detail, & separation of the instruments.. The resolve is a bit superficial & docile compared to the DT48, but is still stellar in their own right, & what you would expect from a hi quality headphone worthy of it's 489.00 MSRP. For sub bass, these are probably the most sub-bassy analytical heaphones I have owned. There are more bassy analytical cans, however. The problem I had with the DT880s were the earpads. It's not that they aren't soft, because they are. They are just not large enough, so the drivers ended up touching my ears. Anything touching my ears is a HUGE pet peeve of mine, as it makes my ears itchy and red from irritation. But the biggest problem I found about the DT880s was the treble. It has some of the worst treble of any headphone I have listened to. It's sharp, unrefined, and metallic. It has the finesse of someone banging on a dumpster with a hammer, giving me an earache, and strangely, a taste of metal in my mouth. I like treble, but not like this. The bottom and top sound heaviness to the DT880 gives it a rather bland and uninvolving mid and vocal section with not enough mid bass to my ears. If you are looking for great sounding headphones that are a pleasure to listen to, and want to get the level of detail and clarity of the HD25's but in an open, over-ear model: On the iTouch (output impedance 32 ohm) however, the differences between the 32 ohm and 250 ohm version were pretty stark. In this case, the damping factor of the 32 ohm headphone and the 32 ohm output impedance of the iTouch is 1 --- not good because the headphones and output of the iTouch will strongly interact. To my ears, the 32 ohm DT 880 version was significantly more confused sounding. When I switched to the 250 ohm I was surprised how much clearer it sounded than the 32 ohm DT 880. The 32 ohm did reach markedly higher volumes than the 250 ohm version; I generally had the volume set on ¾ for a solid listening level on the 32 ohm version, and the 250 ohm needed the volume almost at max for the same level, but it was certainly loud enough for me. The 600 ohm headphone sounded fine, but really didn’t get loud enough on the iTouch.

The Promodel has a coiled cable and a 250 ohm impedance. It uses the same strong-clamping headband and padding from the 770 and 990 Pro, and has a basic silk-screened logo on the side of the cups.

How does the Beyerdynamic DT 880 PRO compare to the Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO and Beyerdynamic DT 900 PRO X?

The build quality on this headphone is very well built. Its mostly built out of steel, the only plastic parts on this headphone would be the housing around the earcups, and the hinges above the arms connected to the ear cups. But build quality wise i have no complaint in this department. Detail - The DT880 has decent clarity, but does not approach the detail level of cans like the SRH940. Everything is very clear to me though. It has a very slight U shaped frequency with a slightly more prominent mid-bass and treble. The housing shell is made up of high quality forged aluminium & fibre. It isn’t painted, but is anodized, which is again a step forward in engineering. These are light in weight. Headband is made up of steel, covered by a pleather cushion. Earpads are ventilated velours.

I will try to explain the differences between the dt770/80 and the dt880/250(there is no 80 ohm version). Here goes! Anyway, below is how I ranked the headphones from best to worst (left to right) in each category. "+" indicates a tie. Thanks to the incredible design of the DT880 Pro's, the entire sound spectrum is reproduced in detail from a well defined sub bass to the highest highs. Extreme Comfort While I found this headphone to be driven to satisfactory levels from portable devices, I felt the sound quality was degraded (likely by the poor damping factor) to the point that the price/performance ratio was poor. Essentially, you are not going to get DT 880-like performance from this pairing. I suggest that if you are looking for a portable headphone, the DT 880 32 ohm is a poor choice from a sound quality perspective. Additionally, you should be looking for a sealed design for portable use so that you will get some isolation from outside noise. I do not recommend this headphone. For my tastes, the 880 is the better overall headphone. The 58X has a more natural, pleasing sound and a removable cable, but I like everything else about the 880 just a touch more.Conclusion: The DT880’s can be considered as a good headphone. I liked way DT880’s presented the details, and one can easily figure out the flaws in a recording. This type of presentation will be useful for mastering or critical listening, and utility for musical pleasure is quite not the same. Lows were accurate, But the presentation of mids & treble in DT880 did not quite appeal my tastes. And of course, the compromises made in pro model disappointed me further. The most glaring flaw is the DT880 Mid range.. I find it a bit recessed, brittle, lean, & dry... Tube amps help, but still is not the headphones strong suit. It's far too late to do this now, but if I were working at Beyerdyamic I'd change the numbering to put the 880 at the top, just to more accurately express its overall neutrality and place in the lineup. It's the "Best-sounding" of the family, but I think the other two models have a bit more fun in their audio that most listeners will find pleasing. BUT HOW DO THEY COMPARE TO THE 58X? Fiio x3 1st gen at 90% of volume, high gain and 0 setting on bass. I really have to try x3 with e11k and e12 and choose one of those. It definetly needs more juice.

Both the 770 and the 990 have slightly v-shaped signatures, with aggression present in both the bass and highs.The Beyers were most comfortable to me, in fact, they were some of the most comfortable headphones i've ever tried on. DT 880's have an outstanding soundstage, the 3D imaging surpasses the others in my test, width and depth and even height is revealed in a very pleasing mannor. I heard details i didn't know were there. The dt880 is much more clear souding, with a larger, airier soundstage, and is more accurate in sound reproduction. Because the dt880's more accurately reproduce the sounds of your application than the dt770's, what you hear sounds more natural in comparison. Also, compared to the dt770's, the dt880's sound "mature,""correct," and in a subtle way, "serious."

The build on the DT880 Pro is extremely solid. These look and feel like they were built to last. There is a lot of metal in the cups and headband - but everything is excellently padded.If your coming from a low-fi setup, don't want an amp, and play video games, I would recommend the dt770's. If your looking for a step into the hi-fi world, have a decent amp, and is more serious about your music, I'd recommend the dt880's(but if you're willing to sacrifice some fun factor for bass-heavy games like bf2, for greater imaging(for that competitive edge), the dt880's can be used for gaming too). Comfort: DT880’s are very comfortable to wear in general, but I feel these may not be very comfortable to wear for larger heads, owing to its round earcups. The earpads of DT880 may feel somewhat itchy to sensitive skinned enthusiasts. The 32 ohm model is meant to be driven by phones, iPods, etc, does not need a dedicated amp, but many who have compared it to the others say that it does not sound as good as the 250 and 600 ohm models