HD800 - am I missing something?

Some people love them. Others don't. I didn't. Such is life with audio!

Sennheiser used the RWA Isabellina at CanJam with the HD 800.  There was no sibilance with this setup that I detected.  I had my own music at CanJam on an iPad, with a USB connection to the Isabellina.  For disclosure, I own an Isabellina, and so you may want to get others' views if they listened to this setup at CanJam.

I'm using MBP>PWD>Balanced Sonett>HD800 and I did not notice sibilance at all.  At first before when I received it, I do not like it as my AD2000 but after few hours on it burn in, it is the only headphone I listen to now.

I also auditioned the HD800 and prefer my ER4P (apuresound re-cabled).  In fact my balanced rig with a re-cabled HD650 is being listened to less and less as I enjoy my ER4Ps, Minibox E+ and iPhone playing lossless files.  Yes, the balanced rig is better overall, yet I find my portable rig totally addictive.

There is no question that the HD-800s are for real, but it all depends on the rest of your rig and what your source material is.

 

Remember two things.

1. Your rig is only as good as it's weakest link.

2. The HD-800 is a purest delight, and that means if you use  poorly mastered, ripped audio or your rig is not compatible for best performance with the HD-800's the HD-800's will play what is being imputed and will suffer.

 

imo this will apply to any high end headphones or rig.

 

I also use a Cardas SE cord for the HD-800's

Edited by sillysally - 6/26/10 at 4:47am

 

try the CDS3 with a 555PS and be prepared to be blown away.  seriously, off the top of my head, you have about $20K of Naim in front of the Senns.  my only concern is that the capacitor-coupled output of the Headline2 is a bottleneck.  all the magic of a Supercap won't change that.

After doing some extensive auditioning and having recently purchased the HD800's I would only recommend someone to buy them after being able to compare them with other headphones.  They aren't perfect, but at the very highend what you end up with are slight differences between the cans (hotter treble, wider soundstage, boomier bass) with each one being a compromise of sorts.  I pick up the sibilance as well but I do not think it is being added or too overly exaggerated.  When I compared to the D7000, I could easily hear the same sibilance (though it was just a a bit less pronounced).  When I went back to the HD-650's I could hear it as well but it just did not stand out like on the HD800's.  I do notice though, that the amount of sibilance can vary from song to song even on the same album.  I have also listened to audio without any sibilance.  For example, I just used them last night to do a run through of the latest episode of the Sam and Max computer game.  The game lasted around 3 hours and is largely dialogue driven but I did not hear any sibilance whatsoever.

 

Give some other cans a try and see if you can pick out the same deficiencies.  Definitely though, when I switch back to the HD650's, I can really tell a difference in the quality.  Kinda sneaks up on you.

 

EDIT:  I am very surprised though that you find the bass overblown.  I feel that the bass is just a tad less than what it should be.  But it is absolutely anemic in comparison to say the D7000's.  I put in a Clash album and the Denon's were booming constantly throughout the entire song.  What made me decide against them.

Edited by Born2bwire - 6/26/10 at 9:30am

You should really try the HD-800 with vacuum tubes - or I guess I should say valves. :)

Preferably directly heated triodes on well-made output transformers. The top gets slightly rolled off, the bottom end blooms a bit and the mids turn magical. I've never quite enjoyed the HD-800 on solid state.

I doubt you like the HD800 if you love your Ety as your ER4 or 4 are very uniqued sounding.  To say that the HD800 is excessive in bass notes is only true when compared to your Ety.  I found the bass on the HD800 to be on the lean side and very accurate.

Edited by purk - 6/29/10 at 10:24am

X 2 well said!

I had the hd800 on a isabellina hpa and had no problems with sibilance. I think they match best with a warmer dac/amp than a analytical one. You really have to tune the rest of your setup to get the most out of the hd800

 isabellina hpa + HD 800 x2. I am using this combination and I really love it.

My 2cents: I tried my HD800s with a tube amp & it didn't compare to my SS setup. The tube was a (single ended)

Little Dot MkIV SE vs Audio-gd balanced (Roc+Ref5). 

So I guess if you do go tubes with the HD800, go balanced & beefy

(e.g. DNA, Eddie Current Zana Deux, Woo Audio etc).

 

PS- I love my LD MKIV w my Ath-W1000 / W5000s though.

Balanced isn't necessary with tube amps, provided you have a solid bit of power and a high-end power supply inside. If you're getting some AC ripple off the supply or some filament noise, the HD-800 will pick up on that.