Question Beyerdynamic dt770 80 ohm sound so different plugged to different sources... Is it normal?

[Perplexed Ear]

Has anybody had else a similar experience? Any ideas to explain this? When I use my beyerdynamic dt770 pro 80 ohm with Fiio K5 amp dac connected to my pc they sound so harsh, I just can't bear the treble. But when I connect them to my Samsung tablet and a Ifi go link they sound alright to me. What's going on here? On both cases I'm using Amazon Music.

 

[Kurtevich]

Has anybody had else a similar experience? Any ideas to explain this? When I use my beyerdynamic dt770 pro 80 ohm with Fiio K5 amp dac connected to my pc they sound so harsh, I just can't bear the treble. But when I connect them to my Samsung tablet and a Ifi go link they sound alright to me. What's going on here? On both cases I'm using Amazon Music.

You are using different sources (DACs), if I understood correctly, then the sound will be different off course. It depends a lot on your source, but not the PC/tablet, which transmit only digital data in this case. Try plugging it using the same DAC (PC with Ifi or tablet with Fiio) and then you should hear no difference from the other device.

 

[Vincent Kars]

Any kind of DSP going on?
Try both PC and tablet with the same DAC/Amp.
If you still have these differences, there is some DSP going on (Windows Enhancement?).

Another option is using both DAC/Amp with the same source. Still these differences? Than there is something going on with the DAC's.

 

[Perplexed Ear]

Thank you very much for your replies. I'll try all of your suggestions. Let's see if we can clarify this a bit.

 

[Perplexed Ear]

Hello again Kurtevich and Vincent Kars.
As I'm new to this world, I suppose it's normal I'm quite baffled by all the possibilities and the nuances. As Becky Roberts wrote some days ago: "Until you get to crazy system money, the best headphones and amp/DAC pairing you can afford will sound better than the best hi-fi system costing the same amount of money – more immediate and more detailed, even if you’re sacrificing the more tangible soundstage and bass rumble speakers present." So while I don't have the money (or the room for that matter) to build a really, really good speaker system, I can still buy some nice audio gear to get a hifi experience. The first headphones I bought were the Beyerdynamic DT 770 pro 80 Ohm, and I had never had anything that good. My first DAC was a tiny IFI GO LINK. Then I bought the Fiio K5 Pro ESS. Then I bought the Sennheisser HD 600. And just with such a small collection, I see things are beginning to get tricky. Do I find my beyers too bright because now I'm spoilt by the mellower, much subtler sound of the HD 600? There is a certain difference of sound when using different DACs on my PC, but the HD 600 sound nice enough with the Fiio K5. And maybe the beyers don't sound so terrible. but... They certainly get a bit tamed by the duller sound of the IFI GO. The most amazing thing is that this last DAC sounds much better when connected to my Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite than when plugged into my Windows PC (by the way, IFI GO has it own drivers you have to install, while Fiio K5 is plug and play). Now I'm waiting for Amazon to deliver a usb a to usb c converter so I can try the Fiio K5 on my tablet (if it works, you never know).
I'll keep this updated for you who stepped in to give some ideas and for any perplexed ear who happens to land on this thread.
Thank you, everybody.

 

[Vincent Kars]

Do I find my beyers too bright because now I'm spoilt by the mellower, much subtler sound of the HD 600?

They do sound different. If you really want to know, have a look at their frequency response. The Beyer is probably a bit V-shaped emphasizing bass and treble. Sennheiser has a warm sound probably due to emphasizing the mid-renge.
You might try equalizer software to tune them a little.

 

[Perplexed Ear]

Thanks, Vincent, I'm happy to learn, and I have a lot to learn, a long way before me.
Have a nice day!

 

[Perplexed Ear]

Here's some news. When I use my Galaxy tab to feed data into the Fiio K5, the light around the volume and on-off wheel turns green. When the Fiio K5 is connected to my Windows PC, the light is always blue. On both cases, the streaming service is Amazon Music HD.
This is from Fiio.com:

7. What does the front indicator light mean under different input states?​

A:
1.USB DAC:
Sampling rate ≤ 48kHz: Blue light;
Sampling rate ＞48kHz: Yellow light;
DSD: Green light.

When I use the tablet, I can turn the wheel all the way round, and it never gets too loud, even when I switch gain to maximum.
Funny, isn't it?

 

[Vincent Kars]

When the Fiio K5 is connected to my Windows PC, the light is always blue.

Probably a matter of configuring the Amazon app.
You have to enable the Exclusive mode, otherwise all audio is re-sampled to the Win audio default.

 

[Perplexed Ear]

I do have enabled exclusive mode, but I've read somewhere that Amazon's exclusive mode isn't like Tidal's.

 

[Perplexed Ear]

Today's update:
Now I'm using a Wiim mini to feed Amazon music to my Fiio K5 PRO ESS. What I can see is that the light around the central wheel is blue when streaming HD tracks and it turns green when the tracks are Ultra HD. These changes never took place when I was using my PC as a music streamer. So, maybe with Tidal exclusive mode you can prevent Windows from meddling with the sound, but Amazon exclusive mode doesn't seem to work the same way.

 

[Perplexed Ear]

Finding differences in sound when using different sources? Having trouble with Windows Exclusive Mode? Me too. So to give some news to the kind people who answered my baffled questions, and also for the benefit of the occasional reader, here are some new observations.
Well, now I've got the green light on when streaming Amazon ultra HD tracks through my Windows PC. I've followed the instructions you can check if you open the attached file. The amazing thing is that Exclusive Mode already seemed to be enabled when I opened the "advances properties" menu. I don't know why I can't select anything inside the 24 bit range. It's just not there. It jumps from 16 bit to 32. I don't understand why the Sennheiser seem to have more strength and definition or something when I connect the Fiio DAC to the computer. As for the Beyerdynamic 770 pro 80 ohm, I love the bass, but the treble sometimes can be a little (or a lot) overbearing (there are objective and subjective conditions at work here, I guess). Another baffling thing: after going into the system's sound settings, the green light on the Fiio K5 Pro ESS remains green even when playing HD (not Ultra HD) tracks.

 

[Perplexed Ear]

Correction to previous posts: the other colour that lights up on my Fiio K5 PRO ESS isn't green, it's yellow, though it does have a greenish hue (that makes more sense I suppose). So, when I'm using Wiim mini as wifi transport, the light is blue for Amazon Music HD quality and yellow for Ultra HD. BUT when I connect the Fiio K5 PRO ESS to my Windows computer and use Amazon Windows app, the colour now is ALWAYS yellow. So yes, there's some DSP going on. I always check the exclusive mode toggle (you must have exclusive mode enabled from the settings menu, but also enable it for the music you are playing inside the devices menu every time you open the app). So this is what lots of people complain about on Amazon Forums: exclusive mode doesn't prevent Windows from meddling with the bit rate. Obviously, now it's resampling it to the rate that has been established on the audio advanced settings menu.

 

[Gray]

Correction to previous posts: the other colour that lights up on my Fiio K5 PRO ESS isn't green, it's yellow, though it does have a greenish hue (that makes more sense I suppose). So, when I'm using Wiim mini as wifi transport, the light is blue for Amazon Music HD quality and yellow for Ultra HD. BUT when I connect the Fiio K5 PRO ESS to my Windows computer and use Amazon Windows app, the colour now is ALWAYS yellow. So yes, there's some DSP going on. I always check the exclusive mode toggle (you must have exclusive mode enabled from the settings menu, but also enable it for the music you are playing inside the devices menu every time you open the app). So this is what lots of people complain about on Amazon Forums: exclusive mode doesn't prevent Windows from meddling with the bit rate. Obviously, now it's resampling it to the rate that has been established on the audio advanced settings menu.

No wonder some people prefer to stick to playing vinyl and CD

 

[Jasonovich]

Has anybody had else a similar experience? Any ideas to explain this? When I use my beyerdynamic dt770 pro 80 ohm with Fiio K5 amp dac connected to my pc they sound so harsh, I just can't bear the treble. But when I connect them to my Samsung tablet and a Ifi go link they sound alright to me. What's going on here? On both cases I'm using Amazon Music.

How is the DAC connected to your PC?

I may be off the mark here, but if you're using a generic USB cable, change it.

A good quality USB cable can make a difference, I was using Supra USB A-B (What HiFi 2012 favourite) on my PC before switching my music file management to JF MX-Pro digital transport, this is quality cable for suppressing noise interference, it has been proven that badly designed USB cable can adversely affect the quality of the sound.
I'm still using the PC when I'm online and I can also recommend USB C cable from Startech.Com (Officially USB certified cable). I noticed with this cable when I select the USB C option on my Eversolo DAC-Z8, it has a much higher gain than the Supra USB B. I'm not sure if it is anything to do with the discreet USB C 3.2 PCle card, which has better quality components and better isolation than the USB slots embedded on the motherboard.

I believe 5m is the limit USB can transmit a digital signal, and just a small titbit, and I can't recall who did the experiment; the Swedish Supra cable 5m's long was lined up against the much more costly alternatives, including Chord, AudioQuest etc. All failed to transmit a digital signal from a 5m cable, except the Supra, so there's something in this!