My First Look at the Sennheiser HD800

[Torero]

Tyll,

In the Soundstage, Are the HD800 better than Grado GS1000?

Thank you.

[orkney]

Great impressions, thanks! Quick question to add to the hundreds already piling up in this thread -- did you have an impression of this new model's ease of drive? I know it as being demo'd with a DAC 1 and that it shares some specs with the HDxxx series but wondering whether it seemed to be a diva or a chorus member, easy to get on with or super-demanding?

thanks again and best,

o

[Tyll Hertsens]

Again, just had a shprt listening session, but the imaging did seem very good.

And they did seem a little hard to drive. After talking with Al and JP my feeling is that the DAC1 used was a little wimpy in the lows, so I think we'll get some impressions from the show calling the cans a little weak in the bass. But I used my Desktop Portable that drove them pretty easily and the bass sounded just right to me.

[Edwood]

Originally Posted by Tyll Hertsens

Again, just had a shprt listening session, but the imaging did seem very good.

And they did seem a little hard to drive. After talking with Al and JP my feeling is that the DAC1 used was a little wimpy in the lows, so I think we'll get some impressions from the show calling the cans a little weak in the bass. But I used my Desktop Portable that drove them pretty easily and the bass sounded just right to me.

Yeah, I had another listen to them today. I used my Pico this time, and tried more bass heavy songs, along with movies as well. Sounded great to me. Plenty of low bass extension, and "oomph" to the dynamics. Explosions and sound effects were nice and visceral. The Benchmark DAC1 was a poor choice to demo the HD800's with, IMO.

Also the listening conditions were very poor, with the blaring music and amplified voices in the booth next to Sennheisers.

-Ed

[dallan]

Question for Tyll,
When is your expectation of a delivery date, i have read Feb and March as other guesses. Curious what your impression is due to the fact that you are probably near the top on the US ordering list.

[The Monkey]

Originally Posted by Edwood

Yeah, I had another listen to them today. I used my Pico this time, and tried more bass heavy songs, along with movies as well. Sounded great to me. Plenty of low bass extension, and "oomph" to the dynamics. Explosions and sound effects were nice and visceral. The Benchmark DAC1 was a poor choice to demo the HD800's with, IMO.

Also the listening conditions were very poor, with the blaring music and amplified voices in the booth next to Sennheisers.

-Ed

That's one of the best pieces of news I've seen so far. That these sound that good with the Pico is very cool.

To me, the DAC1 just doesn't get it right for headphone listening. Even when used just as a DAC. It's just too thin sounding. I would like to hear them out of an HR Desktop w/ DAC, which I thought awesome with my 650s.

[Tyll Hertsens]

The word I got was 2nd or 3rd week in Feb, but with the first of it's kind product it's a bit of a crap shoot. I did place the first order, and am guarenteed first in line ... so they tell me.

[robm321]

Originally Posted by TheSloth

Actually there is and they call it the HD650.

No it is more broken - the HD800 seems to address the issues with the HD650 which is good.

[dallan]

Cool, i had one interaction with you guys about a month ago and got the wrong cable due to a misunderstanding and had to send it back hopefully it got refunded to my card, i have yet to check. The reps over there seemed cool about it, i liked that. Thought i would eventually go back to you to get those Harbeth speakers but now i will probably just order these instead.

I keep reading how people don't like the look but i think they look good. I actually don't see what the problem is, when i got my DX1000s my wife threatened to take a picture of me wearing them for blackmail. They are really big and goofy looking when wearing them even though they are nice wood.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Originally Posted by TheSloth

Actually there is and they call it the HD650.

Been there done that, bass improved while everything else got worse. Took me a month to realize the HD650 weren't gonna change with burn-in and sold them. The HD600 are an all-around better balanced headphone, especially when run from a balanced amp. My RS-1 don't do the deep bass either, it seems only my closed cans can push out 16-25Hz strongly. With some electronica those notes are important and I just can't find an open can yet that can do those well, not even my previous pair of AD2000.

[The Monkey]

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict

The HD600 are an all-around better balanced headphone, especially when run from a balanced amp.

Disagree.

[aimlink]

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict

Been there done that, bass improved while everything else got worse. Took me a month to realize the HD650 weren't gonna change with burn-in and sold them. The HD600 are an all-around better balanced headphone, especially when run from a balanced amp. My RS-1 don't do the deep bass either, it seems only my closed cans can push out 16-25Hz strongly. With some electronica those notes are important and I just can't find an open can yet that can do those well, not even my previous pair of AD2000.

Did you use your HD 650 with the Cardas upgrade?

I'm finding that the HD 650 does VERY well with good recordings. However, it's merciless with poor recordings. The troubling thing is that there are so many poor recordings around to the point where you're wondering if something is wrong. I then switch to a decent recording and then things are lush.

There are recordings that flood the music with base to the expense of almost all else. There are recordings that sound veiled overall, Iron Maiden recordings being very good examples.

It really depends on the music you listen to.

I may need to get another pair of phones that give a better mid and high frequency output. I'm thinking of a Denon, since the AKG's are sounding like they have too much of what I'm looking for. I don't wish to go from one extreme to the next.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Originally Posted by aimlink

Did you use your HD 650 with the Cardas upgrade?

I'm finding that the HD 650 does VERY well with good recordings. However, it's merciless with poor recordings. The troubling thing is that there are so many poor recordings around to the point where you're wondering if something is wrong. I then switch to a decent recording and then things are lush.

There are recordings that flood the music with base to the expense of almost all else. There are recordings that sound veiled overall, Iron Maiden recordings being very good examples.

It really depends on the music you listen to.

I may need to get another pair of phones that give a better mid and high frequency output. I'm thinking of a Denon, since the AKG's are sounding like they have too much of what I'm looking for. I don't wish to go from one extreme to the next.

I had an APS V3 cable for each headphone (HD600 and HD650) so I didn't have to swap cables to A/B the headphones. The HD650 seemed flatter in dynamics, and more rolled off than the HD600. If I could have merged the two together and gotten a hyrbid of the two, with the detail sparkle and speed of the HD600 plus the bass of the HD650 I would have been happy I think.

Now, I will say the HD650 were harder to drive well, and via Blutarsky's Zana Deux at his house the HD650 sounded better than they did at my house. At the time I didn't have the Pseudo Dual Power supply or Sophia Princess rectifier on my WA6 (only just got it the same week as the HD650 with 40 hours on it). Certainly with my 1000 hour DarkVoice 336i amp at the time (with hi-end tubes like Sylvania VT231 and TS5998) the HD600 walked all over the HD650 as they had very good synergy. Same goes for the iBasso D1 with AD743 opamps and LMH6655 buffers. And even running them via the back of the Apogee mini-DAC with a balanced APS V3 XLR cable (made with female plugs) the HD600 responded better than the HD650 did. Blutarsky and I know my WA6 moved up to the level of the Zana Deux after a couple more mods and tubes, but by then the HD650 were sold so I never got to hear the HD650 on the Single Power balanced amp or the WA6.

i was all prepared to give HD650 a second chance recently when I bought some AD2000 instead, and then I sold those after I bought some ESW10JPN. Now that I have the HD800 ordered I'm not likely to revisit the HD650 soon. So, you and Monkey may be right, but with the equipment I had at the time the HD600 were better than HD650. And at times the HD600 could knock your socks off from synergy with the DV336i, while I just felt the HD650 were good but not as special with it.

[donunus]

Now the question here larry is whether the hd800 will also be fussy with synergy or just needs good clean power for the 300 ohm impedance... If it is supposedly more neutral now, I have a feeling it wont need very specific amps for it to sound great like the dark hd600s and 650s

[Edwood]

Well, my birthday is in February, so happy birthday to me. I placed a preorder, Tyll.

Well, it helps that I spent some extra time with them at CES today, and the 30 day no questions asked return policy makes preordering with Headroom a No-Brainer.

Hmmmm. I do believe I've bought all of my high end cans (except for one) from Headroom.

-Ed