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Does it get much better than the HD800?
May 7, 2012 at 1:54 PM Post #61 of 357
Quote:
davidgotsa said:
Alright, thanks. I'll see if I can find something on the subject since I don't have enough knowledge about either tubes or cables to know for a fact if they can make a difference or not. 
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Only way you will ever know is to listen yourself, if you ever get the opportunity. Everyone has different hearing and listening tastes. Always make your own decisions based on what you can hear, not what someone else tells you to believe.
 
Its an expensive hobby, so I understand forums like this are important to get advise, especially when you don't have access to a friendly local hi-fi store/dealer. If you have a local dealer and HD800s im sure he can swap out a cable or two in store thanks to the clever design of the phones.
 
May 7, 2012 at 2:23 PM Post #62 of 357
zardon said:
Always make your own decisions based on what you can hear, not what someone else tells you to believe.
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The irony here is that what you've been told will inevitably influence what you do hear. The corollary irony is that ad copy and anecdotes that tell you what to believe, whereas science is simply a tool for skeptical analysis of evidence in order to understand cause. For instance, cognitive science explains the role of suggestion in perception and the encoding of perception to memory.
 
May 7, 2012 at 4:40 PM Post #63 of 357
If your HD800 is bass light it's your chain.  Period, the end.  Don't blame the phone.
 
I thought the same thing of the 009, bass light, thin, ethereal.  Check your amp.  009 is fine.
 
May 7, 2012 at 4:49 PM Post #64 of 357
Quote:
zardon said:
Well until they can wire my ears and brain and tell me what im hearing is actually wrong, I take those scientific claims (or denials) with a pinch of salt.
 
The Sony R10 for instance, technically has been surpassed by many new headphone designs and driver technology. Its still the best sounding headphone to me. If someone wants to tell me I can't prove that, its pretty pointless. It what I hear, not what can be 'proved' on a graph, or chart.
 
But as you say. derailing the thread is pointless. We can both have different views on it all, many people do :)
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There´s no scientific "claim" that cables make no difference, there´s a lack of evidence to support that idea. 
 
About the Sony R10, no measurement can tell you that you should "prefer" a particular headphone over other because its a mater of personal preference, it has nothing to do with the cable "debate" which is about sonic differences. 
 
May 7, 2012 at 5:30 PM Post #66 of 357
Hey David, my favourites are also HE-500 and HD800 both very different but both excel in something. So far I haven't listened to two headphones that would compliment each other nicely than these two.
 
May 7, 2012 at 7:52 PM Post #67 of 357
I'm lucky enough to have a colleague who's graciously lent me his HD800s to compare with the HD650s I have. On some electronic music, the clarity of the HD800s opens up the music quite a bit. It's as if a veil was lifted off the HD650s. I'm sure it's been written about numerous times but it's quite a revelation for me. 
 
The only gripe I have is that to gain this clarity, I would have to spend 3x what I paid for the HD650s on the used market. Is it worth it? I'm sure there are some who say YES, GO FOR IT! I think I'll have to say that the cost of this clarity comes with knowing that I can still spend this amount on music and enjoy what the HD650s have to offer. 
 
The bug will always be there now that I've heard "better", and by all means, the HD800 is better than the HD650. Going to have to test my will a bit...
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May 7, 2012 at 8:36 PM Post #68 of 357
Yea, the HD800 are clearly a step above the HD650 (some prefer the HD650 though). In my opinion, the HD800s were worth the money, even though I had to sell one of my computers to balance things out a little on my bank account. 
Quote:
twizzleraddict said:
Going to have to test my will a bit...
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Good luck with that.. :) 
 
May 7, 2012 at 8:48 PM Post #69 of 357
after owning both the HD650 and HD800 for a long period of time, i have decided that i prefer the HD650. the HD800, regardless of setup, just sounds bright on the top end. the HD800 has that stax-like clarity and huge (although artificial) sound stage but HD650 has plenty of detail, good imaging and a better mid-range.
 
time to head over to the FS forum.
 
May 8, 2012 at 5:55 AM Post #70 of 357
Quote:
anaxilus said:
If your HD800 is bass light it's your chain.  Period, the end.  Don't blame the phone.
 
I thought the same thing of the 009, bass light, thin, ethereal.  Check your amp.  009 is fine.
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i'm not so sure about that. i've heard the hd800 on some pretty nice rigs and think that it has excellent quality bass, but i can understand how it might sound bass lite in the overall mix. now that might change after you've employed the "anaxilus mod." .
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May 8, 2012 at 5:59 AM Post #71 of 357
using the WA2, the HD 800 has plenty bass
 
May 8, 2012 at 6:53 AM Post #73 of 357
In my opinion the special thing about the HD 800s is it's coherent and natural soundstage in opposite to the AKG K 701 for example.
HD 650 and my HD 590 which I choosed over the HD 650 several years ago just don't deliver this kind of huge and realistic sound stage. Sound stage wise the my experience with HD 590 was even better than HD 650's. Separation, width and depth of HD 800's soundstage are imho far superior to all Sennheiser's former dynamics.
Quote:
vcoheda said:
after owning both the HD650 and HD800 for a long period of time, i have decided that i prefer the HD650. the HD800, regardless of setup, just sounds bright on the top end. the HD800 has that stax-like clarity and huge (although artificial) sound stage but HD650 has plenty of detail, good imaging and a better mid-range.
 
time to head over to the FS forum.
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May 8, 2012 at 9:00 AM Post #74 of 357
I never understand why some people insist the soundstage on the HD800 is "unnatural". I suppose it is compared to headphones. But compared to speakers, it isn't... It is natural in the sense that the sense of space between instruments is closer to the way you would hear the music presented on a speaker system or through a live PA. Or sitting in the orchestra section of a concert hall.
Quote:
mr blonde said:
In my opinion the special thing about the HD 800s is it's coherent and natural soundstage in opposite to the AKG K 701 for example.
HD 650 and my HD 590 which I choosed over the HD 650 several years ago just don't deliver this kind of huge and realistic sound stage. Sound stage wise the my experience with HD 590 was even better than HD 650's. Separation, width and depth of HD 800's soundstage are imho far superior to all Sennheiser's former dynamics.
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May 8, 2012 at 2:42 PM Post #75 of 357
Quote:
shabta said:
I never understand why some people insist the soundstage on the HD800 is "unnatural". I suppose it is compared to headphones. But compared to speakers, it isn't... It is natural in the sense that the sense of space between instruments is closer to the way you would hear the music presented on a speaker system or through a live PA. Or sitting in the orchestra section of a concert hall.
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I agree. It's not "unnatural". It's just the way it was designed based on driver position and angle to your ears. It definitely sounds more "expansive" than the HD650s but I attribute that to the pad design and the angle/position/distance relative to your ears. The HD650s are positioned very close in and doesn't provide this effect. 
 
The other thing I can only describe is the "dark" nature of the HD650s compared to the HD800s. This is probably written about ad naseum elsewhere but it's definitely an audible difference, driven by my Burson amp. 
 
One can appreciate the differences and improvements (at least to my ears) the HD800s have over their brethren. 
 
I'm going to start listening to the T1s next week and do some comparisons. (They same friend who lent me the HD800s also threw in his T1s as well. 
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