The Sennheiser HD 800: The First Listen, The First Review - Page 26

By the virtue of printed drool all over my monitor...Do these qualify for Flavor of the month...even though they have not been released yet?

It's really, really ugly.

The teardrop/D-shaped cups look very comfortable; I never liked the football-shaped Senn cups, they always pressed on my ears unpleasantly.

Exciting to see the next big thing from Sennheiser; not to mention no more troll threads about the new Senn cans!

I used to use the identical analogy to explain--often to a transitory wife or girlfriend--the need for ever more amplifier power.

LOL

apparently its going to be £1000 so around 1300-1400 us will possibly be the figure.

When I was twelve I bought some $50 headphones from Radio Shack with a claimed frequency response of something like 8-25k and they sounded like cheap nasty tinny trash. So I wouldn't read too much into frequency response claims...I'm sure they sound great but how much better than the HD650 or other top-of-the-line cans, only time will tell..I think it would be wise to wait until after the hype dies down to draw a conclusion.

Now if this thing really sounds awesome, Sennheiser will surely know how to trickle down the technology to less expensive and maybe better looking versions

I'm the type of person that wants to get the hd800 but also want a cheaper new model for throwaraound use that has sound similar to them to use everywhere and should be simple to power... sort of like what senn did with the 555/595 models but much better this time... maybe a 300 dollar model. Now that would be some juicy market competitive shyte that will kill the other manufacturers top end cans for good.

Usually, frequency response numbers for headphones and for speakers don't come with any other supporting variables.

So all they're saying is that the driver moves more than not at all between two extremes of frequency. Which basically means that the FR number is at best meaningless and at worst a lie.

In this case, sennheiser has given us FR numbers with db ranges - this means, if they're telling us the truth, that the response varies less than 3db within a specified range.

Which may actually mean something.

The questions we have to ask, though, are what curve they compared the measured response to, and how they measured it.

For example, with many electrostatics, you can glue a microphone into a little hole in a sheet of cardboard, hold it tightly against the earpads, and measure a frequency response that is essentially almost completely flat.

But if you used a measuring apparatus made of meat and skin that was shaped like a head with ears on it, you would get a measurement that is substantially less flat.

Sennheiser says they are DF equalized - but they haven't provided the DF curve they equalized to. It may be reasonable to speculate that the stated +/-3db frequency response is when compared to the idealized DF curve rather than to a flat line.

So, you know, lets see some graphs.

Just as good as, and different to, the planars I have. It's a very nice headphone.

HD800 price is easily over the going K1000 rate. It'll have to be very good indeed to compete with the K1000. Nevermind the O2 and H2.

Regarding the upstream components powering the HD 800's at the CES...Meitner and Benchmark...pretty hard to beat for a flawless source. Might make the Apple earbuds sound glorious too.

It will be interesting to see what Headroom's new charting techniques do to the frequency response curves of these headphones.

Do you mean this graph?

Yes, we are! And if one of the critics makes unfounded speculations, he may be subject of criticism himself. But don't take my teasing too seriously -- it's not meant that way! (Peace!)

Myself I'm quite enthusiastic about this new headphone and especially its technical features -- which look extremely promising. Of course Jude's first impressions have their impact, too.


That's definitely the case. A sound transducer reaching down to 10 Hz and up to 40 kHz will have less problems in terms of frequency extension with even 20 and 20,000 Hz than one with earlier drop-offs. Not to forget the better transient and phase response that comes with this. It is my experience that even with the CD as source the bandwidth of the other components in the chain still matters -- also in view of the ultrasonic range. Although it's hard to find the reason for that.

Of course electrostatics can reproduce even higher frequencies -- their actual domain. But a dynamic, non-planar driver with a bandwidth up to 44 kHz (at -3 dB) is nevertheless extraordinary. Because some of us headphone enthusiasts consider dynamic headphones in some important aspects better than electrostatics, and so far the high-frequency extension (and resolution) didn't belong to these relative strengths. The HD 800 now may absolutely respresent a breakthrough in this respect -- as has been the Qualia 010, BTW, just with a not so balanced or universally accepted sound signature. Sennheiser may make it better.
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the best analogy you are trying to make would be...


think of me with a cup of coffee thats 12oz and another cup that has a gallon worth of coffee. i can drink 12oz of both but i would be much happier with the gallon.

Yes, but can you drink entire gallon? If not, what's the point?