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T1 and HD800 both brighter than neutral?

post #1 of 31
11/6/11 at 4:39am
Thread Starter 

I've heard that the T1 is darker than neutral and the HD800 is bright...

 

But I've also heard that the T1 is dark only in comparison to the extremely analytical/bright HD800 and, in fact, both are brighter than neutral when compared to actually dark headphones such as the HD650?

 

Which one is correct?

 

Thanks in advance...

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post #2 of 31
11/6/11 at 4:42am

HD800 is brighter than the T1, both are brighter than neutral IMO.

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post #3 of 31
11/6/11 at 4:45am

Yep, a thousand different ways to argue that point but in summing up

 

Take a really nasty recording, it will be bright on the T1 and your

eardrums will take a battering on the HD800.

 

Thing is, it's a non issue with mint quality reference recordings

in my opinion.

 

You can't just feed them any old pop mod Mp3.

 

But that's the story with all the flagships bar the forgiving

LCD-2....erm now superseded by the LCD-3.

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post #4 of 31
11/6/11 at 4:50am

I'm not so convinced with the good/recording bad recording thing. Makes a difference for sure but the main issue is whether or not the track hits each phone's peaks or not. I'm sure some tracks sound smooth and sweet on the HD800, so long as they never hit the peaks they would do. I auditioned Melody Gardot's Baby I'm A Fool which is a heart breakingly amazingly recorded track and it was close to un-listenable on the HD800 because of the brushes on snares and cymbals coming across so sandpaper harsh and sibilant.

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post #5 of 31
11/6/11 at 5:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by EddieE View Post

I'm not so convinced with the good/recording bad recording thing. Makes a difference for sure but the main issue is whether or not the track hits each phone's peaks or not. I'm sure some tracks sound smooth and sweet on the HD800, so long as they never hit the peaks they would do. I auditioned Melody Gardot's Baby I'm A Fool which is a heart breakingly amazingly recorded track and it was close to un-listenable on the HD800 because of the brushes on snares and cymbals coming across so sandpaper harsh and sibilant.


I agree. This is why I find the LCD-2 to be useful in telling you about the recording. If there is harshness or brightness, it will gently let you know that a particular recording is not up to the standards of another one. The HD800 and T1 always seemed to put their top end stamp on anything that leaned more toward the dull side.

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post #6 of 31
11/6/11 at 5:15am

 

Last time I auditioned the HD800 ~ I almost got through the entirety 

of the 'Tron Legacy' soundtrack and survived!

 

I must be going deaf because there are some seriously demanding

peaks on that album, namely 'Derezzed' which is nothing more

than a series of orchestrated elevated electronic squawks.

 

Need to hear more I guess,

 

Infact the only flagship I've heard that sounded too peaky

regardless of the material for me was the Edition 10.


Edited by Gwarmi - 11/6/11 at 5:16am
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post #7 of 31
11/6/11 at 5:15am

The T1 definitely does sound a tad bright on certain tracks but in my experience its not that common.

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post #8 of 31
11/6/11 at 5:18pm
I might be the only one who thinks this, but I find the HD-800 to be mostly neutral with slightly boosted bass.

I haven't spent much time with the T1, but my limited impression was that it's slightly bass-heavy and a shade darker than neutral.
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post #9 of 31
11/6/11 at 5:35pm

Shade darker than neutral I agree, but not quite as laid back as the LCD-2 IMHO.

 

HD800 can certainly lay down the bass when driving out of a V200 or Sugden Masterclass HA-4.

 

People who say it's bass light need to change their music material or jack into something with serious

juice on offer.

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post #10 of 31
11/6/11 at 6:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Erik View Post

I might be the only one who thinks this, but I find the HD-800 to be mostly neutral with slightly boosted bass.
I haven't spent much time with the T1, but my limited impression was that it's slightly bass-heavy and a shade darker than neutral.


Good call Erik...I've owned both for more than a year and a half and completely agree with you.

 

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post #11 of 31
11/6/11 at 6:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Erik View Post

I might be the only one who thinks this, but I find the HD-800 to be mostly neutral with slightly boosted bass.

 

Boosted bass on tubes, on the SPL Auditor the 800's are boosted in the treble area. So, definitely not a neutral hps.

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post #12 of 31
11/6/11 at 6:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acix View Post

 

Boosted bass on tubes, on the SPL Auditor the 800's are boosted in the treble area. So, definitely not a neutral hps.



Actually your statement says that they are revealing of your upstream system...which they are.

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post #13 of 31
11/7/11 at 1:07am

From MixOnline:

 

Quote:
While lows don’t have the thump of a sub moving air in a room (Prince’s 3121 helped with this bit of evaluation), the HD 800s are true and not hyped. The midrange is very smooth if slightly understated in the vocal range around 1 to 4k Hz. The highs are not hyped but “open.” I get the same feeling when I’m listening to beryllium tweeters: There is more definition at the top without being over-the-top or phony-sounding.
... openness at the top may deter some buyers.

http://mixonline.com/gear/reviews/sennheiser_hd800_headphones_review/

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post #14 of 31
11/7/11 at 1:50am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacedonianHero View Post



Actually your statement says that they are revealing of your upstream system...which they are.



Lol, yeh that's what I would have thought.

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post #15 of 31
11/7/11 at 1:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Erik View Post

I might be the only one who thinks this, but I find the HD-800 to be mostly neutral with slightly boosted bass.
I haven't spent much time with the T1, but my limited impression was that it's slightly bass-heavy and a shade darker than neutral.


I agree - I find the HD 800 neutral and not bright.

 

This is comparing it as to how the original instrument sounded in real life.

 

But I was recording using microphones that were set to be flat at the high frequencies - some microphones have a boosted high end - in this case the HD 800 would show up the characteristics of the microphones.

 

I find that the HD 800 is a clean and neutral transducer (I use mine with a Grace m902b), which is why they are my No.1 go-to headphones when mastering CDs.

 

 

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