High Impedance Vs Low Impedance. Balance vs Unbalanced

[ThisIsJimmy]

On Friday, I finally got my Beyerdynamic DT880 600 Ohms back from Custom Cans after being Balanced. For the last few days I have been sat listening with a growing state of shock and disbelief having experienced stock pads and the Dekoni Choice Suede Pads. My audio experience of headphones that i have experienced up to this point has been completely laid to waste. I have thrown all sorts of music at them, but i keep getting suprised by snippets of audio in tracks i've not heard before, or detecting the mastering changes made during recordings, or over recorded music, all whilst not getting any audible distortion from the headphones.

Before getting them balanced I was getting 0.5W @600 Ohms split over 2 channels (0.25W Per channel) through my Topping A90, just less than the 0.6W @600 Ohms that the Emotiva Bass 100 X delivers with the jumper Mod. After, I'm now getting 0.5W per Channel/Can @600 Ohms. The difference is staggering.

Before getting them balanced i've already said on this forum that they are the best of the DT880s. The audio compared to the unbalanced 250 ohms, is not distintly bringht, and don't suffer from sibilance. Their was traces of audio noise which almost sounded like distortion, but in reality was audio that couldn't be produced, because i lacked the power.

Comparing against what i have now, my 250 Ohm Amirons don't hold a candle to these, and distort like the 250ohm unbalanced DT880s at both ends of the spectrum. The difference between them being the Amirons are balanced. The Beyerdynamic MMX Gen II at 32 Ohms whilst stretch far lower cannot go anywhere near as loud before the phones distort, and don't pick up the nuances. The T50Ps are awesome low impedance headphones, but don't have the same insight and imaging.

Has anyone else got a similar experience with higher impedance headphones? Are they just that much better than low impedance headphones when driven properly? Or are these just a magical pair? What other pairs have people experienced such a change when balancing?

I paid £135 at the time I brought these on Amazon during the sales last year, and £76 to get them balanced. Absolute steal!

 

[Deleted member 188533]

It absolutely depends on the headphone and the driver design. Look at Focal's entire lineup. All relatively low impedance. The K712 Pro holds its own with the best of the mid-fi market and it's only 62ohm. My TH-X00 Ebony is one of my all time favorites and it's only 25ohm.

If you like the DT880 you should get a 1990 Pro. With the Analytical pads it becomes a 'super' DT880 and with the Balanced pads it becomes a 'super' DT990. Without the sibilance and painful treble. It still has the Beyer 'sharp' treble but it's not physically painful like the others can be. Mostly I've heard they don't respond well to being rewired to be balanced.

All the balanced is doing is letting you give them more power. Which is also amp dependent. Pad swap + more power = different sound. But the driver capability is still the same. To get 'better' you have to move to a more resolving driver. If the 880 was magically 'better' with a balanced mod then it would be fairly common knowledge in the headphone world since it's such a popular headphone and has been around as long as it has. But all that matters is you like them.

I just bought a Sundara after selling off my 4 least used pair. Should be here Friday ( shipping is slow due to Covid ). I almost went straight to the Ananda and I still might. Still waiting on the Focal Clear to go on sale at ~$800 again too.

 

[ThisIsJimmy]

I must admit i've wanted the Beyerdynamic 1990s for a while now, but I think i'm going to have to wait for the UK market to settle down at the moment and the situation with Brexit stabilise. I despair at how much prices are starting to go up on some of this kit now, and glad I purchased some last year. I dread to think how much it would cost to import the Topping A90 and D90 now as we have no trade deal with China.

I know you say, and I agree their shouldn't be a difference between drivers based on impedence but that doesn't hide the fact that on a side by side with stock pads that their is a noticable difference. This is why i'm suprised, and curious if this has also been experienced across other headphones that also have multiple impedance options.

On a power standpoint, even at 250 ohms unbalanced the power is pretty much the same or slightly higher as the 600 ohms balanced when looking at the A90 on Toppings website.