HD800 vs. Koss Porta Pro - Page 2

^^Yep, and theoretically..a horse drawn wagon can be compared to a Ferarri.

Also: I laughed out loud at seeing the thread title.

I want to go to there.

Thread title made me laugh...

yep

Obvious troll is obvious.

Go ask this in a certain place known by a single letter that comes after f.

VS.

Round 1... Fight

HD-800

You know what I am hearing out of this reminds me of this guy I gave a set of Grado 60s and a Creek OBH11 amp to some years ago who only listened to speakers. I thought I would try to get him to listen to headphones. What was funny is that his CD transport and dack cost over ten thousand dollars and when I hooked up that cheap set of headphones and amp I was fairley impressed and so was he. All that i have been reading about the HD-800 is that a lot of people have been hooking them up to equipment that even a tin can and a string would sound good with. Stuff that cost big bucks and that is cool but does not really tell me a lot about HD-800 except that if the source and amp cost big bucks they sound good and so do porta pros and most other headphones. That is what I think is funny about this post in fact I think it is one of the most funny but true post I have ever read on this site.

Poppycock.

Here's what you REALLY should do. Test left portapro vs. right HD-800 and vice-versa. Break them at the headband and glue them together, if you have to.

Better yet, open up one of the HD cups and put a porta- pro driver in there.

This is the only way we'll definitively see if there is a real difference, or if its all placebo.

Poppycock.

Here's what you REALLY should do. Test left portapro vs. right HD-800 and vice-versa. Break them at the headband and glue them together, if you have to.

Better yet, open up one of the HD cups and put a porta- pro driver in there.

This is the only way we'll definitively see if there is a real difference, or if its all placebo.

I guess this was inevitable. When the HF-1 was released several years ago, there were more than 100 threads about them. I'm not kidding! Many of the old timers here may remember that I started a thread called HF-1 Index thread (which I can't seem to find now). In that thread, I linked to all other threads that contained HF-1 in the title. I then updated my initial post several times until there were over 100 HF-1 threads, and then I gave up.

So I'm grateful that the HD800 discussion during the long and agonizing pre-release phase was contained to a very limited number of threads. It's no big surprise that people are excited about them, and will ask questions based on their specific interests--like in comparison to whatever pair of headphones they are presently using or have on their wish list (besides the HD800).

Be patient with it. Try to enjoy it. We don't have product releases like the HD800 very often.

LOL.

Bringing a Q-Tip to a Nuke fight?

I think it might be useful to write a thoughtful review and comparison between the Porta Pro (or another inexpensive headphone) and the HD-800. One without sarcasm and takes it seriously.

A lot of people question whether or not it is worth it to move up the ladder. A clear eyed comparison would illustrate that point. Right now, if someone wanted to know the difference, they would just find jokes and jabs at the lesser equipment.

There's a very strong tendency here to group equipment into price categories and judge based on price. If people wrote more reviews comparing less expensive to more expensive gear, I think it would improve understanding and discussion.

You should do that with your DT48. They are cheap and good. Would be a nice read. You compared them to the HP1/2 and K1000, but not in great detail. I'm sure Lucky would like it too.)

It would be silly to put the 10 year-old bald tires off of your grandfather's Buick on your new Ferrari F430, wouldn't it? Why deprive the HD800 of their performance potential by mating them with an inferior source and amp? The comparisons and impressions that people have been providing (from CanJam and the like) have been totally appropriate, given the market niche the HD800 are tailored to.

And, no, the Porta Pros don't sound great--not on any system. Sure, they'll improve with a better front end and amplification, but they are what they are, and that will become immediately obvious if you ever try it (as I have with a lot of budget headphones including the KSC-75).

I've been listening to my HD800s on my mom's headphone system, which I gave to her several years ago. Just so happens to be where I'm at, so I thought I'd give it a try. The source is the once popular Phillips DVD 963SA (around $300 new as I recall) and the amp is the very capable Ray Samuels XP-7 (around $500 new). The interconnects are made by Outlaw Audio (around $50 new). In the used market today, all of this gear could be purchased for less than $500.

In my opinion, the HD800 sound great in this system. Great, as in great! These are fantastic headphones. They do so much "right" that you can forget about everything except for the music itself. Did they sound better at CanJam with the high end sources and amps? Absolutely! They scale as well as any headphones I've ever been familiar with. I really wish I would have taken the time to listen to them in the balanced rigs that Headroom had set up, because I know that they're up for the task and will offer a true headphone nut that last 1% or 2% that he's after.

As unpopular as that might be, it's the reality of the marketplace. The HD800s will sound great in any setup, but they'll clearly be held back by the limitations of the associated equipment. Since they are such capable headphones, it's natural for people who represent the crazy, over-the-top fringe of the high-end headphone hobby to want to hear them with equally capable sources and amps.

That's where the excitement is for people who have been in this hobby for years on end. Those of us who have been to all 4 national meets and countless regional meets all know each other, and get the chance to live and breathe headphones for a couple of days and then report back. So that's what you're getting in terms of impressions, at least initially, because that's what people were excited about at CanJam.

In time, we'll get full reports about the HD800's performance in all kinds of systems. But to be honest, as great as they sound in my mom's modest rig, it's a rig better suited to the Audio Technica W100, which are the headphones that I gave her way back when. It doesn't make sense, budget-wise, to put systems together that have components that are unequally matched.

No doubt, the W100 would sound a lot better in a high end system, and no doubt, the HD800 sound a lot better than the W100 in this mid-fi system I've been listening to. But the W100 are most at home in this system, and the HD800 are definitely a fish out of water without an uber source and uber amp. Just my opinion, for whatever it's worth.

Just close the thread. No good will come from it.