The Sennheiser HD 800: The First Listen, The First Review - Page 33

High-definition, diffuse-field, = QK-800DF...

I think the DAC1 is fine, but not great. And the HP out is lousy. Overall the DAC is a bit brittle and splashy up top, but it does have some nice detail. ANd you can also run Senns balanced out of the XLR outs, which is nice. But due to some thinness, the DAC1 is not my favorite for headphone listening. It did sound good in my speaker setup. And I did like the Swiss Army-like versatility.

In terms of SQ, I prefer the Pico.

I think we woke up all of the "Headphoneus Supremi" all at once. That's gotta be another record here. That and most posts in a 24hr period I feel like i'm in that room with Obama and all of the living Presidents for one last photo

(rubs eyes)

Wha happen?

Well it's 1120 pm PST so most everybody has to go night night soon and I personally have no "Drool" left

Oh! Jumpin' Je hozy phat! Get a life. It's just the best headphone yet.

Two or five years from now you'll see the industry's answer.

Sorry... just a bit giddy here...

I'm surprised they demo'ed them out of a Benchmark DAC1, which I second has a less than great HP amp in it. However, if they sound great with that...

Ok, I've broken all my personal rules (buying based on the hype from the person I'm buying from and without waiting for more independent evaluation or a chance to listen myself) and ordered a pair.

R10s? Forget those, the HD800s will be going up against the current Stax lineup, up to the Omega IIs (actually MK1s) so they had better be insanely good.

To me, this is reminiscent of the Qualia 010's and before that, the R-10's.

I feel that those two headphones are in the upper echelon of headphone rankings.
Sony came out with a design that was cutting edge, and my Qualias, since they fit well, gave me exactly what I was looking for in a headphone listening session.

But alas, it is easier to make a $5 earbud that sells for $70-90, which can be sold by the hundreds of thousands, then to research, design, and market HE-90/HEV-90 it at $15000. They lost money on everyone of those, or else the profit margin was tiny.

The whole Qualia line was exceptional, but it didn't sell. There are only so many people on this earth that don't mind listening the their iPod buds for the rest of eternity. Once the capable buyers were exhausted, the Qualia line went belly up.

Sony's whole Microbiocellulose design was a ground breaking action. Along with their use of wood from the Zelkovia Rainforest.

It takes a lot of balls to start with a clean white sheet and attempt to design something, the best that it can be (an assumption on my part, of course). Especially on a planet that has 80% of people who listen to the same top 40 songs, everyday, everywhere.
We are the other 20% and Sennheiser took a big chance creating these.

If they are as good as they should be, then I'll take a plane, train, automobile, donkey, Itidarod sled, 2 ex-wives on their hands and knees, carrying me to buy these.

Heck, if someone can pay $1800 for an HP-2, or $2400 for a PS-1, or $7000 for a used pair of HE-90's or R-10's, then $1400 shouldn't be a problem to fill a void that we headphone enthusiats are trapped in.

I'm in...sight unseen.

That to me is an important comparison. Senn decided to eschew 'stats for its new statement phone. From Tyll's description, it sounds like Senn might have found a way to make a dynamic sing like a 'stat. That would be pretty good. Of course, it would also force me to rethink my entire strategy...

yea, immtbiker is right, only ppl in this forum really would buy it or really rich people. and within this forum, only some of us would buy it. i really wonder how many of these sennheiser will sell tho.

Enough, I bet. Ultrasone found enough buyers for their $1000+ "limited edition" statement headphone that they just kept making them.

Sony had trouble selling the Qualia line, but it was twice as much as the HD 800. Clearly, while $1400 is indeed expensive, it's a price point that is tenable enough. We're not talking about only Sheiks, telecom barons and absolute lunatics, we're talking about garden-variety crazy people like all of us. There are enough of those kind of people to make this thing worthwhile.

My order went in 45 minutes ago...

I snipped a bit, but I totally agree with what you've said, especially this next part...

That's obviously where real progress comes from. That's what gave us the R10, Qualia 010, HE90, K1000, and nearly all of the "best" ever headphones.

More like 2%, or perhaps 2/10th of 1%. The audience for $1,400 headphones is extremely small if you start from the population of all music lovers. I'm sure that even among the hard core speaker audiophiles, a $1,400 pair of headphones will be a hard sell unless and until Sennheiser scores a well placed review from one of the audiophile rags. (Although I'm sure they could twist Wes Phillips' arm!).

I think they call us nut cases, but again, I agree with your point and I'm in too! (As if that needed to be said.)

So HD800 will be shipped in March ?

They are supposed to be in distributors hands in mid to late February, I think (don't quote me).