[kiwikaki]

Today I tried an old Luxman LV-112 with the HD800 and the mdac AudioLab: very detailed, powerful sound and impact, nice air between the instruments. Great for an old amp. (output impedance 80 ohms).

 

[Sorrodje]

  IME the HD800 aren't really picky with amps at all. What they are is transparent. This means that if you have a bad sounding amp then the Senn's will sound bad. But how many bad sounding amps are there these days? Not many. Source is more important ime once you have a decent enough amp. Your Audio GD amp will be fine and I guarantee it will wipe the floor (never understood that saying..) compared to your LCD2. 
 
Having said that, the better the amp the better the HD800 will sound. They scale through the roof - into the sky and all the way to outer space! Yes outer space! But just be wary of black holes, coz if you get snagged in one of em buggars you could end up spending and spending without any real improvement.. 

 
 
I can't agree more. 

 
From my (little) experience, a source can sound completely wrong with the HD800 although I never met unlistenable amps.  With inappropriate source, we always turn volume down and need to choose carefully tracks in order to avoid pain. In this case HD800 sounds sterile or lifeless at best ( it's what I had with my HEGEL HD10)  and mostly dry and harsh.  With a "wrong" amp,  HD800 sounds dull and bland with a serious lack of PRAT. It tends to loose bass too.  Not very enjoyable but not painful. That's how I try to analyse symptoms . 
 
When there's no symptomes I can quietly enjoy my Music and forget the gear . Then I know the gear+HD800 suits well my tastes 

 

[Hun7er]

  IME the HD800 aren't really picky with amps at all. What they are is transparent. This means that if you have a bad sounding amp then the Senn's will sound bad. But how many bad sounding amps are there these days? Not many. Source is more important ime once you have a decent enough amp. Your Audio GD amp will be fine and I guarantee it will wipe the floor (never understood that saying..) compared to your LCD2. 
 
Having said that, the better the amp the better the HD800 will sound. They scale through the roof - into the sky and all the way to outer space! Yes outer space! But just be wary of black holes, coz if you get snagged in one of em buggars you could end up spending and spending without any real improvement.. 

Thanks you. It becomes painful to read all the time that the HD800 is picky from amp. You give him s**t it makes you s**t.

 

[BournePerfect]

It is picky with amps-there's a lot of bad amps out there. So I think Lug is right-the HD800 is so transparent it can easily reveal crappy amp/sources. Henceicky.
 
-Daniel

 

[Thracian]

Thanks for the reply guys!
 
Guess i'll stick to my current amp and get the HD800 in due time. Now to find a warm-ish source + amp!
Demoed the HD800 + ALO Studio 6 coming from a marantz CD transport(forgot the model), didn't want to leave the shop

 

[froger]

I heard that at JEM too. Glorious sound, but not natural /organic enough to my liking. I thought the Marantz could be limiting factor here. Anyway, the asking price of $7000+ sgd in that shop is just way too high, given the recent reduction in price for the Studio 6.

 

[holeout]

ALO Studio Six > HD800 is one of the most natural and organic pairing I heard. This combination is most revealing and I do concur that the front end seems to be a limiting factor. With an appropriate front end, cables and power tweaks, its magic. I am using the Lumin network player and with good software the music sounded so "analog" with the setup. 

 

[Takeanidea]

Hey guys!

Recently sold my LCD2 to move away from the warm sound which I sadly have grew tired from.



So, I'm thinking of picking a HD800 up in the neat future. Do y'all think it'll be picky with my Audio-GD 10.32? Seems like the HD800 is such a picky headphone. I only want to have one headphone so if i hope the HD800 will stay with me for a good while.



Also, what's the thoughts on the HD700 these days??

 


Can you demo it with your amp?
I moved from the LCD2 to the HD800 for exactly what you've said. I've never looked back

 

[MickeyVee]

Just posted some comments on the Schiit Vali and and Rega DAC for those that might be interested.  The Vali, with the right DAC, may be a great entry into really enjoying the HD800 without spending too much money.
The HD800 really does show what your source and amp can do.  A crazy combo but or me but it works.  Let me know what you think.
 
post #2051

 

[Sorrodje]

   Let me know what you think.
 
post #2051

 
Great read. I'm not so surprised by your review.   

 

[DarknightDK]

  The Vali, with the right DAC, may be a great entry into really enjoying the HD800 without spending too much money.
 
The HD800 really does show what your source and amp can do.  A crazy combo but or me but it works.

 
Agreed.
 
The new Schiit Vali pairs extremely well especially with the HD800 and a good source. I spent the last couple of days listening to the HD800 with the Master 7 and Vali and was surprised how good the sound was. So good that I did not miss my WA22 (which also pairs very well with the HD800 for that matter).
 
For those with the HD800 and on a budget, I say get the Vali and with the $$$ saved, invest that into a top-class DAC. You will not be disappointed.

 

[Dopaminer]

 
 
For those with the HD800 and on a budget, I say get the Vali and with the $$$ saved, invest that into a top-class DAC. You will not be disappointed.

 
Or, a good DAC and some top-class source files.  The HD800 forced me to (happily) discard about 10 years of mp3 music files.  Sign up with Highresaudio.com, Hdtracks, Bluecoast, Linnrecords, e-onkyo, etc. Download their free samples, use their discount codes, download free so-called `needle drop` 24-bit rips from quality vinyl for music you already own, share music with your friends.  I`ve built a new library of high-resolution music and it`s made the HD800s, my IEMs and my speakers huge sources of pleasure.  
 
To appreciate the HD800, you have to move on from over-compressed, lossy files.  The most expensive amps and dacs in the world won`t overcome the issue.  

 

[AgentXXL]

 

 
 
For those with the HD800 and on a budget, I say get the Vali and with the $$$ saved, invest that into a top-class DAC. You will not be disappointed.

 
Or, a good DAC and some top-class source files.  The HD800 forced me to (happily) discard about 10 years of mp3 music files.  Sign up with Highresaudio.com, Hdtracks, Bluecoast, Linnrecords, e-onkyo, etc. Download their free samples, use their discount codes, download free so-called `needle drop` 24-bit rips from quality vinyl for music you already own, share music with your friends.  I`ve built a new library of high-resolution music and it`s made the HD800s, my IEMs and my speakers huge sources of pleasure.  
 
To appreciate the HD800, you have to move on from over-compressed, lossy files.  The most expensive amps and dacs in the world won`t overcome the issue.  

 
Another +1 - I've done similar. I've been slowly but surely replacing/rebuilding my music library with hi-res counterparts. I don't have what most would consider a stellar DAC and amp, but with my HD800s, the Cypher Labs Algorhythm Solo -dB and the RSA Intruder (all connected balanced), my new library of hi-res music is thoroughly enjoyable. Alas it's only a USB DAC, but that's OK - I use my MacBook Pro as my primary playback device, so USB is fine, especially since the CLAS -dB supports 192KHz/24bit  playback.
 
I've had a few minor letdowns from some of the hi-res audio dealers, with rips that are less than stellar. They might be encoded with FLAC or ALAC, but if the original source was crap and the tech doing the rip wasn't well versed in good methodology, it's pretty evident. Heck, I have some MP3 rips (320K) that sound better than some of my so-called hi-res audio.
 
That said, I won't go back to ripping with a MP3 encoder. FLAC/ALAC/DSD are definitely my choice for the future.
 
Dale

 

[catspaw]

Well I got the asgard already so i guess ill skip the Vali, but Im wondering on a tube amp (budget one) and DAC for them .
Just 16 days more wait .

 

[MIKELAP]

  Well I got the asgard already so i guess ill skip the Vali, but Im wondering on a tube amp (budget one) and DAC for them .
Just 16 days more wait .

I use a Littledot mk3 and for about $250.00 and less if you buy it with no tubes because you can buy tubes for this amp for $5.00 each sometimes less if you want and if you like tube rolling  theres tons of 7 pin tubes that are plug and play and adaptors that can be made to use octals ,and 9 pin tubes i use the Littledot with my Senns hd800 and it sounds very good to me and i use my Burson Conductor's Dac .Check out the LITTLEDOT DOT TUBE ROLLING GUIDE thread.