Concerns HD800 - Page 7

Just got my BUDA (DT880 600-ohm Silver-Dragon v.2 balanced, HD650 Silver Dragon v.2 balanced) and it sounds amazing. It's making me think I need to start saving my pennies for a pair of balanced HD800's. I think I'm going to wait long enough for the connectors to become more widely available with a larger choice of aftermarket cables. I'd like to keep the stock SE cable in one piece.

Didn't want to interrupt this thread, just add a tiny musing from someone that feels like they're on the edge of the HD800 plunge...

To offset the expense you could sell all your other headphones since it's highly doubtful you'd be listening to them anyway once you have a pair of balanced HD800. This is certainly my experience.

Well, I certainly plan to thin out "the herd" once I go for the HD800. It's good to hear of your experience because there are certain 'phones for certain music (GS1000i with large-scale classical, for instance) that I can't imagine getting rid of. However, it sounds like that's exactly the experience you had!

Well I'm not a Grado guy at all. I never understood people's appreciation of them. Same with all the high-end AT phones I've heard. The only Grado I could stand to listen to was the HF-2. But since you are a Grado man I don't know if you'll end up keeping them or not. The HD800 sounds like a much higher-end HD600. The HD650 is just weird and doesn't really belong anywhere in that line-up.

I spent probably 40-50 mins on Friday night, pre-CanJam rush, listening to the HD800s, single-ended and balanced, in HeadRoom's unpopulated, fairly quiet room. Once I settled in with my own cds (hated the HeadRoom selection), I feel as I got as good as shot at any at hearing the differences between balanced and single-ended, at least with HeadRoom gear. I'm not sure where the "it sucked" comments are coming from re the Balanced Ultra set up. My impressions differ greatly, and I thought it the strongest of all the CanJam rigs that I heard (I didn't hear 909's rig with 800s), but like so much gear I end up loving, the impressive qualities don't leap out at you immediately, and you have take some time to, well, listen into it, for lack of knowing a better way to say it. Hope that makes some sense to someone. I obviously haven't heard other rigs that people are discussing now, so have no way to know what they're hearing that's different or if it's better, but based on the little I know about gear and music in general, I can't see how anyone couldn't respect this combo, even if not his or her cup of tea at the end of the day.

Well, that's a bit of bad advice, though well-intended. Granted, mine were only single-ended, and perhaps my amp/source experiments were too limited to get a handle on what they could really do, but after spending nearly a month with them, I prefer three of my headphones to them. I think the HD800s are excellent headphones, but not everyone is going to share the view that they're the best thing ever. Best to hang on to the headphones you have if you love them, and sell after you try out the 800s.

Yes, I do have concerns about the HD800.

As we speak, they have made me play through a whole Diana Krall album, all at once.

...Never though that would happen, and if I should be worried

^ You should be ok. If you start playing John Tesh all the way through, then I think you will need intervention. :P

One person who thought the BU sucked later said he might've been listening to the older balanced home setup. My recent experience with the SE HRDU's maxed amp section (hooked up to a different DAC) made me realize the HRD maxed amp is amazingly good.

x2. I'd also add that if you like a 'phone for certain qualities that you can't get in other cans, then keep it. No one 'phone will meet all your needs -- even if you pretty much limit your listening to a single genre. There's tremendous variation in music, and no single 'phone will accommodate them all. This is the kind of thing we learn only after we dump a pair. We end up with a dark hole in our sound space, and even our best cans won't be able to fill it. The more I listen to head-fi, the more I realize that there's no such thing as a holy grail of cans. All we have are a bunch of cans that suit different needs. The HD800 is no exception. It doesn't and can't do it all. But what it does, it does better than any competitor around. And second ain't even close. That's my opinion, anyway. For now.

This is very, very wise advice, relating to ANY audio purchase.

You guys all misunderstood (and my apologies if I wasn't clear). What you said is what I was implying. I would never suggest you sell your headphones BEFORE you buy the HD800. That would just be foolish. Of course it's possible he won't like them. I was just saying that once you get them and if you do like them, you could sell your other headphones to offset the expense since it's doubtful at that point he would listen to the other ones.

There are only two other phones I would add to my collection at this point and they would be the R-10 (which will never happen unless I somehow win the lottery) and a good electrostat system like an O2/Blue Hawaii. I feel the HD800 trumps every other dynamic headphone currently in production and I'm sure anyone who heard it on a well-matched balanced rig would agree, if they want to hear a neutral reference. But I do understand how some don't feel it is the best if they haven't heard it through a well-matched rig or if neutral is not their cup of tea.

We are in complete agreement

And I haven't even heard the O2 with the Blue Hawaii, only on several other amps. I've just been told it is the best with the O2 so why set my sights shorter than that, if one day my wallet permits?

I do definitely want a 6-channel balanced B22 one day though. Speaking of which you never answered my question. What is the difference between a 4-channel and 6-channel balanced B22? Does 6-channel allow you to also have a SE output or does it have nothing to do with that, rather something to do with active ground?

Iirc, the 6-channel B22 I heard had 2 1/4" jacks, and one 4-pin XLR jack.

Ah. Well if that's the only difference than a 4-channel should suffice.

But then some people say they have a 5-channel. What's the point of that?