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REVIEW: Sennheiser HD 800 - Page 6

post #76 of 629
7/1/09 at 6:57am
I reaffirm my membership in the Skylab fan club!

A couple of questions, if you have the time:

* Are the 800s mean head clampers (like the 650s)?
* How do the 800 compare to the Markl modded Denon 500s?
* Most of us have more than one pair of headphones, to cover as wide a range of music as possible. Which do you think are the complements of the 800? That is, if you had the 800s, which 1 or 2 other headphones would you have in your line-up to cover the widest range? And which music would you then reserve for the 800s and which not?
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post #77 of 629
7/1/09 at 7:58am
GuyDebord,

You will either like them or not like them! Either way, you'll have fun trying them.

Also, I love the "real" Guy Debord - I wonder how many Head-Fiers have a clue who he was? (In a very real way, Head-Fi is one of his "spectacles.")
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post #78 of 629
7/1/09 at 8:34am
Another great review, as to be expected really
Just one question, what do you think of the synergy with the Solo SRG?
Thanks
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post #79 of 629
7/1/09 at 9:17am
I thought it's just another review. But no ! It is the exactly the right kind of review that we need !
I shall settle down with a pair of HD 800 in 2 weeks. Can't wait anymore...
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post #80 of 629
7/1/09 at 9:17am
Thread Starter 
First of all, thank you ALL for your very kind comments! I truly, truly, appreciate it. I've just woken up and looked over a couple pages of posts, and I hope I did not miss any actual questions - these are the ones I caught.


Quote:
Originally Posted by takezo View Post
skylab, thanks for sharing the insightful observations. i do have one question...
well, maybe two. first, are the "hot treble" consistent in using all of your various
sources or are they more salient with specific type of recording? two, how does
it compare to the infamous treble spike of the grado gs1000? thanks in advance.
The treble performance was consistent across sources, although it was less noticeable on my vinyl rig, which is not surprising, as it does have a softer treble than my digital sources do. As for recordings, this is the trickier but to catch. Some recordings that have a soft treble to begin with sound BETTER with the HD800's tipped-up treble. But this is STILL an "editorialization" by the HD800. There were some recordings that I know are neutral that sounded a little edgy with the HD800, and of course recordings that already had an over-emphasized treble sounded worse.

As for the GS1000, I bought and sold mine long ago, but the HD800's treble is different from the GS1000's. The GS1000 was a less neutral headphone in general, and the Grado treble is more annoying than the HD800.


Quote:
Originally Posted by shamu144 View Post
I have two questions I would like to formulate based on what I have read so far:

- Could you quantify more accurately the bass extension of the HD800... Do the bass goes as low as 20Hz effortlessly. You can always have different opinions regarding bass quality (some prefer the weight or slam that most closed headphone offer or even HD650, other will like it fast and tight like K501/K701/Electrostatic), but objective measure of the bass extension would be nice to know how much quantity they offer.

- My second concern is regarding the imaging capability of the HD800. There has been already many impressions shared of a "diffuse" sound, with voices more spread than what would be natural... Bottom line: do the size of the soundstage is achieved sacrifying pinpoint imaging of the different emisive sources.

Thanks
I did not actually measure them in this regard - I will do that and report back. But reproducing very low bass in music was no problem for the HD800.

I did not find the HD800 to have a problem with image specificity at all. The soundstage is big, but I found it to be quite accurate.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Solan View Post
A couple of questions, if you have the time:

* Are the 800s mean head clampers (like the 650s)?
* How do the 800 compare to the Markl modded Denon 500s?
* Most of us have more than one pair of headphones, to cover as wide a range of music as possible. Which do you think are the complements of the 800? That is, if you had the 800s, which 1 or 2 other headphones would you have in your line-up to cover the widest range? And which music would you then reserve for the 800s and which not?
I found the HD800's more comfortable than I found the HD650's, which despite being light and circumaural I never thought were as comfortable as they should be. The 800's are better.

I wish I had a pair of Markl D5000 to compare, but I would certainly say the two are quite different. From memory, they are closer to the DX1000 in sound than the HD800, but the DX1000 were better, IMO.

And actually, I think the DX1000 and the HD800 would make a great pairing if one were to have two high-end cans. The main reason I am not buying the HD800 is not that it did not outperform the DX1000 - it is that I did not feel it was enough better than the Beyer DT880 to justify the expense, as it would be the 880 that the HD800 would have "replaced" in my lineup, not the DX1000 (which I use in a setting where a close can is required).
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post #81 of 629
7/1/09 at 9:19am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nigeljames View Post
Another great review, as to be expected really
Just one question, what do you think of the synergy with the Solo SRG?
Thanks
Thanks! It was less that perfect synergy, actually, as I felt the SRG itself was a little light in the bass (as other reviewers have also commented).
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post #82 of 629
7/1/09 at 9:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by greggf View Post
GuyDebord,

Also, I love the "real" Guy Debord - I wonder how many Head-Fiers have a clue who he was? (In a very real way, Head-Fi is one of his "spectacles.")
If it wasnt for my addiction to music and books....

"This is the principle of commodity fetishism, the domination of society by "intangible as well as tangible things," which reaches its absolute fulfillment in the spectacle, where the tangible world is replaced by a selection of images which exist above it, and which simultaneously impose themselves as the tangible par excellence." GD
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post #83 of 629
7/1/09 at 9:28am
Thanks for putting this together. If anything, you might have saved me some money because I had the DT880 and I sold it because it wasn't for me.

I was going to order the HD800 sight unseen and I'm REALLY glad I didn't (based on the description of the sound signature like your review, and the build problems). I'd rather have a headphone err on the sound of bass heaviness than not. If my headphone is going to be colored, I want it to be colored with more bass than less (aka Denon)

It still seems like a great headphone, and I'll probably still buy one to give it a run through, but at least now I'm willing to wait it out a bit (until the lint/dust problems are resolved), and maybe the price drops a bit.
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post #84 of 629
7/1/09 at 9:37am
Nice "team grounded" review free from fanboyism. Thank you very much.
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post #85 of 629
7/1/09 at 9:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acix View Post
Don't you have the feeling that HD800 competes on the same market as the 701?
No, not in the least.
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post #86 of 629
7/1/09 at 10:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skylab View Post
Ahhh...what an excellent question! I wondered if someone would ask it

We all have our different financial pain points. The HD800, in addition to having some very special qualities, also for me have the advantage of the fact that the high-ish impedance means that they do not hum at all with any of the tube amps I own. If they were $700, I'd buy them in a heartbeat. If they were $900, I'd still seriously consider it.
Shows we all have different perspectives. To me, the only headphones that I would verify as being better overall than the HD-800 is the Sony R-10 and the Orpheus. I suspect that the hi-end Stax may well be and that the Qualia might be in the running. And perhaps there are a few I am just not aware of.

But the catagory of known to me better phones runs $3000 - $4000 and up, so, while I would prefer them to be, let's say, $900 just to save a buck, it really doesn't matter as they are still cheaper than their betters and they are better than the cheapers...
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post #87 of 629
7/1/09 at 10:06am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by k3oxkjo View Post
Shows we all have different perspectives. To me, the only headphones that I would verify as being better overall than the HD-800 is the Sony R-10 and the Orpheus. I suspect that the hi-end Stax may well be and that the Qualia might be in the running. And perhaps there are a few I am just not aware of.

But the catagory of known to me better phones runs $3000 - $4000 and up, so, while I would prefer them to be, let's say, $900 just to save a buck, it really doesn't matter as they are still cheaper than their betters and they are better than the cheapers...
Right - people have even different perspectives on the value of money than they do on sound
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post #88 of 629
7/1/09 at 10:12am
Personally I find this interesting because of two opposite construction, closed back and fully open, been compared, where JVC seems to keep their place quite strongly. Could that mean that HD800 aren't that fun to listen?
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post #89 of 629
7/1/09 at 10:18am
Hmmm. Good point: "Are they fun to listen to?"

I'm also very interested on how they "play music". Are they tonally accurate and are they capable of playing notes? (As a Linnie would ask )

I find my current AT AD-2000s with a proper setup to be very musically engaging when as hd6xx's are absolutely tone-deaf in comparison.
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post #90 of 629
7/1/09 at 10:21am
Thread Starter 
The HD800 lean toward the analytical, to be sure, but I did find them enjoyable to listen to. But I did not find them to be more enjoyable than the DX1000 (maybe less, for me), and not enough more than the DT880 for me personally to justify the price of admission.
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