Beyerdynamic DT 880 EQ settings

Evened the bright, detailed semi-open tuning. These parametric EQ settings correct the Beyerdynamic DT 880's measured frequency response toward a neutral target. The open-back wired headphone keeps its strengths; the EQ fixes the rest.

How the DT 880 sounds before EQ

Measured against a neutral target, the DT 880 comes out bass-light. The low end sits behind neutral, so the sound is lean.

The sub-bass region, rumble and the weight under kick drums, sits about 5.3 dB behind neutral, so kick drums lose their weight. The presence region, vocal clarity and attack, sits about 1.3 dB behind neutral, so detail and clarity soften.

The largest single move in the correction is 5.9 dB around 20 Hz, on top of a broad tilt of up to 5.3 dB. That is not subtle. This model benefits clearly from correction.

These figures are read from the correction itself: whatever the EQ lifts, the headphone lacked, and whatever it cuts, the headphone had too much of. The target is the community's neutral reference, and how far above 10 kHz you can trust any measurement varies by rig. More bass-light models.

The correction curve

The solid line is the full measured correction (all 10 filters). The dashed line is what Atrium applies: the same shape at 65 percent strength, capped at 6 dB per band, so the headphone keeps its own character instead of being forced flat.

What the EQ fixes

Summed across every filter, these are the changes the correction actually makes, largest first:

• At the bottom of the range the correction lifts everything below roughly 75 Hz by up to 5.9 dB.
• Around 4.3 kHz the correction lifts the sibilance range by 5.3 dB, over a narrow band about 0.4 octaves wide.
• Around 6.2 kHz the correction cuts the sibilance range by 2.9 dB, over a narrow band about 0.2 octaves wide.

The preamp of -5.9 dB offsets the boosts so nothing clips at full volume.

Parametric EQ settings

This is the published correction for the DT 880, unaltered, in AutoEq format. It pastes straight into Equalizer APO or Peace on Windows, and into most parametric EQ apps. Enter every row, including the ones that cut. These are the values to use: the numbers are not rounded off or simplified for the page, because changing them would change the result.

How to use these settings

Manually: enter the preamp and each filter into any parametric EQ. On Windows that is usually Equalizer APO with the Peace interface. On a Mac, eqMac or SoundSource. Set the type, frequency, gain and Q exactly as listed.

With Atrium: pick your DT 880 in the app and it applies a tuned version of this correction: 65 percent strength with a 6 dB per-band cap, which fixes the rough spots without erasing what the headphone does well. Atrium also measures how you hear with a short listening test and layers your personal hearing profile on top. Two people with the same headphones do not hear the same sound. Headphone corrections are part of Signature Edition; the app itself is free.

DT 880 vs other Beyerdynamic models

Bass and treble are each model's average distance from the neutral target in that range. Positive means more than neutral, negative means less.

Headphones that sound similar

Closest matches across all 4,332 measured models, by distance between their deviation curves. Useful if you like how the DT 880 is tuned and want alternatives.

More Beyerdynamic EQ settings