[Taisser Roots]

HD800 hardwired mids are world class when driven by the DNA Stellaris.

Of course they sound different, it would be silly if they sounded the same, but all of them are at the very top end of mid range performance and it comes down to personal preference which one is the best. In my case it's AKG K1000 or MySphere 3.2

World class in resolution for sure, but the tone isn't really linear.

 

[DecentLevi]

In Krefeld, Germany there will be a headphone trade show (Audiovista) in the middle of September.
Since it's literally around the corner from where I live and HEDD will be attending, I will have ample of time to really audition these headphones.
Since the Niimbus US4+ is also a German product and the company will attend, I am quite positive that I will find a way to pair the Heddphones with the phantastic amplifier and report back here.
https://www.niimbus-audio.com/product-page/niimbus-us-4

Interesting conversation recently about FR perception. My two cents is that it doesn't have to measure flat, it just has to sound good to you.
I'm quite keen on seeing any more impressions of the 'HEDDphone killer' and more developments. Who is will be in / around Germany mid next month for their next appearance?

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

That very much depends on the compensation, even without the raw measurements The hd800 lower mids are bumped and the upper mids are dipped.

Concha gain is at 6khz, outside the midrange and in lower treble.

Harman curve is a preference curve from a bunch of people selected by harman, it's not a compensation curve.
Something like diffuse field or olive wellti or whatever his name is are compensation curves which compensate for HRTF.

I never said the Harman Curve was a compensation curve. I said it exists because most people prefer a decrease in energy in the upper mids where things can sound harsh and shouty.

And since everybody has a different ear shape, you can’t simplify the concha-gain area at just one frequency band. It isn’t that simple. That’s why MOST headphones are tuned with a downslope that usually begins after 1K and doesn’t usually rise back up until around 6K. There’s a reason manufacturers tune their headphones that way. It’s because they want people to buy them and that’s what sounds the most natural to most people.

 

[Taisser Roots]

I never said the Harman Curve was a compensation curve. I said it exists because most people prefer a decrease in energy in the upper mids where things can sound harsh and shouty.

And since everybody has a different ear shape, you can’t simplify the concha-gain area at just one frequency band. It isn’t that simple. That’s why MOST headphones are tuned with a downslope that usually begins after 1K and doesn’t usually rise back up until around 6K. There’s a reason manufacturers tune their headphones that way. It’s because they want people to buy them and that’s what sounds the most natural to most people.

Compared to a diffuse field curve, Harman's based bumped, treble and upper mids isn't actually too different, if anything there is greater preference to treble.

I don't think it's possible to make statements about most audiophiles based on Harman's sample since it is small.

It's very possible to narrow concha gain to a specific area based on the research out there.
Sure the degree to which it would happen or specific locations vary, but never enough to go down to 1khz. You are usually looking at 5-7khz, the difference between 1-6 is massive and there is very little affect of HRTF the lower the frequency.

Except most aren't tuned that way, sure a specific few do, but if you look at stats, ribbons and a number of planars, that's not the case.
In the cases where it's few it's quite hard to determine if that's a tuning decision, a limitation of the driver, the enclosure etc.

 

[Articnoise]

Sound gets weaker with distance. The higher the frequency the faster it will get weaker (lower SPL). With speakers flat FR can be measured because the manufacturer have made the speakers to sound flat at a distance of around 3-4 meter, there we normally sit. If you would sit much further away (say 10 meter) the treble will be missing because of that. You can test this. Ask a friend to sing or play a guitar 2 meter from you and then to do the same further and further away. The same is true when recording. A close mic recording has more treble energy than the mic is placed further away.

It’s very much like with color under water. With different depth different colors fade.
https://www.uwphotographyguide.com/underwater-photography-lighting-fundamentals

With headphones the driver is always very close to our ears and we have to compensate for that somehow (eg that the higher frequencies aren’t rolling of quickly like with speakers). Since the record is the same for both HP and speakers and so is the DAC and amp we need to make headphones that are NOT measuring flat in the highs. The measuring FR plots that you see that are flat doesn’t look like that IRL.

 

[DecentLevi]

Headphone.Guru has some coverage on the HEDDphone
https://headphone.guru/canjam-london-2019-coverage-sponsored-by-underwood-hifi-part-5/

 

[DecentLevi]

Here is an extremely insightful article showing the gold colored transducer, graphical explanation and even an interview with the founder of HEDD Audio:
https://audioprimate.blog/2019/08/1...peakers-warwick-acoustics-dcs-hifiman-audeze/

Here is another exceptional article with some good background:
https://www.audioxpress.com/news/hedd-confirms-air-motion-transformer-heddphone-launch-in-2019

both with brief impressions too

 

[Khronos]

Welp, time to find a way not to be broke.

 

[MadDane]

Here is an extremely insightful article showing the gold colored transducer, graphical explanation and even an interview with the founder of HEDD Audio:
https://audioprimate.blog/2019/08/1...peakers-warwick-acoustics-dcs-hifiman-audeze/

Here is another exceptional article with some good background:
https://www.audioxpress.com/news/hedd-confirms-air-motion-transformer-heddphone-launch-in-2019

both with brief impressions too

Thanks for spreading the Audio Crack again Levi!!!

 

[xandermaus]

I'm curious whether their full-range AMT can scale up to loudspeaker power handling size. My new loudspeakers have AMTs built by Jack Smiley, who worked at ESS with Dr. Heil. They're flat down to 400 and crossed over at 500, and they just blow me away. I would certainly love to try out the HEDDphones, but I would worry that such an energetic driver, that close to the ears, could be fatiguing. Sound shoots out of AMTs like bullets; they're quite amazing.

 

[DarginMahkum]

I have been a HEDD speaker owner for 2 years and now getting the biggest brothers of them. I had a chance to demo the HEDDphone shortly after demoing the speaks, and for the first few seconds I couldn't figure out if the speakers are still on or not. They were that good (for my taste).

PS: That was about 4 weeks ago at the HEDD HQ in Berlin.

 

[DecentLevi]

I have been a HEDD speaker owner for 2 years and now getting the biggest brothers of them. I had a chance to demo the HEDDphone shortly after demoing the speaks, and for the first few seconds I couldn't figure out if the speakers are still on or not. They were that good (for my taste).

PS: That was about 4 weeks ago at the HEDD HQ in Berlin.

Nice. Any more impressions would be cool such as frequency response (lows, mids, treble), sounstage, etc.
And especially did you get any word on when these may hit the streets?

 

[DarginMahkum]

Nice. Any more impressions would be cool such as frequency response (lows, mids, treble), sounstage, etc.
And especially did you get any word on when these may hit the streets?

They mentioned October but I guess at least this year. I couldn't make a big impression of it as Klaus Heinz was there and I wanted to talk to him about the speakers, and I gave the HP t my wife (which she listened to for quite a long while and was also very impressed). The impression I got from the in this short period was like, they had this floor standing speaker effect like with the Fostex TH-900 but with better controlled highs and not exaggerated lows. The mids were very clear but not in your face like in Utopia. It was a very open sounding HP. The fit was something very special. When I put them on, I felt like my ears went into a vacuum, as if they were sucked in.

The good thing about their AMT on their speakers is its extreme clarity and yet being very listenable, which also the HP shares. Though they are monitor speakers, we bought them for our room and couldn't be happier.

 

[Tekunda]

Yesterday I visited the Audiovista headphone show in Krefeld, Germany.
My main interest were the Heddphones, which were on display there.
Since I have started to listen to Dubstep quite a lot recently, I was very eager to compare the bass of the Heddphone to Audeze's LCD4z bass.
Since most companies do not have Dubstep on file, I took my Samsung S9 along, which is connected through OTG to my Questyle CMA 12 DAC/AMP with the USB Audio Player Pro App, which I use to stream Qobuz.
One of my impressions of the listening session was, that the Heddphone do not need to shy away from the LCD4z when it comes to bass performance.
The Heddphone bass was a thunderous, yet articulated and fast experience, which reached subbass levels very well.
While the LCD is overall a bit darker sounding, the Heddphone is more on the brighter side of sound. In order not to concentrate on bass alone, I also played Sia's song Chandelier. Sia's voice was dead center, bright, extremely detailed, very energetic, but never shrill or sibbilant. Just perfect.
The Heddphones sound signature reminded me a bit of the Final D8000 sound signature. Deep satisfying and fast bass, with a very present midrange and crystal clear but not sibbilant treble.
I was told that they will be available around beginning of November and I can see myself becoming a Heddphone customer, especially for the advertised price of €1700 a pair.

 

[DarginMahkum]

My wife also visited a musicians event the weekend before and HEDD was also there with the midfield monitors and the HEDDphone. HEDD apparently didn't just focus on a HP that is dead neutral, but rather something that is also enjoyable. She was told by the HEDD representative there (who was son of Klaus Heinz, the main man behind the development of the speakers and headphone) that they tried to make something that sounds good especially with piano and guitars.

She told me that, she asked for music sample where she can check for the instrument locations on the recording (she does orchestration and quite picky about such details), and with HEDDphone she was able to identify the locations of the instruments very clearly and they were very very good.