[Kyle 491]

Stock HD800 bass is tighter, more articulate and explosive. It takes EQ better as Tyll rightly concluded, so has a greater range of adjustment for taste.

 

[Mediahound]

  Stock HD800 bass is tighter, more articulate and explosive. It takes EQ better as Tyll rightly concluded, so has a greater range of adjustment for taste.

Or putting it another way, the HD800 requires EQ (and the mod), whereas the S does not. 

 

[grizzlybeast]

Stock HD800 bass is tighter, more articulate and explosive. It takes EQ better as Tyll rightly concluded, so has a greater range of adjustment for taste.

I might actually prefer this on some occasions. If I ever sell my HD800S, like I do everything, Ill prob try the OG later on.

 

[dharma]

Tyll is EQ-ing anyway, also 'S':
 
[...]My last note on HD 800 S sound quality is something that has persisted in both the new and original model. The upper-treble is a bit withdrawn causing voices to loose some of their natural overtones making them seem a bit more distant. Though I need less bass and treble adjustments when I EQ the HD 800 S, I find I still need a bit of boost centered around 1kHz.
 
 
but he would'nt put more bass, even if needed, with 'S' for 'mentioned reasons'

 

[Olias of Sunhillow]

   
Ha! No, you just wouldn't want to read my crap before I've edited it a half dozen times. And I don't like not having a weekend, but hey, that's the way it goes sometimes.
 
Video is uploading now. Text is done, one last read through and links to the vids. Like Dharma says, about an hour.

So in a nutshell, they measure worse but sound better. I'll take that tradeoff every time.
 
Thank you Tyll for the obvious effort that went into this review.

 

[Liu Junyuan]

 
So in a nutshell, they measure worse but sound better. I'll take that tradeoff every time.
 
Thank you Tyll for the obvious effort that went into this review.

Nutshells are only useful if they retain the wheat entirely and discard the chaff of the review. The phrase "they measure worse but sound better" has failed to retain the important disclaimer "worse than what?" 
 
His review made clear that he prefers the HD800 S to the stock HD800 only if the latter is not EQ'd and/or modded with the Super Depont Resonator. If you don't want to mod or EQ, go for the HD800 S, according to his preferences; otherwise, the latter measures better (to his ears) and sounds more pure because it still tames most of the 6 khz spike  (within 3 dB) while retaining an undistorted bass response. 

 

[Olias of Sunhillow]

  Nutshells are only useful if they retain the wheat entirely and discard the chaff of the review. The phrase "they measure worse but sound better" has failed to retain the important disclaimer "worse than what?" 
 
His review made clear that he prefers the HD800 S to the stock HD800 only if the latter is not EQ'd and/or modded with the Super Depont Resonator. If you don't want to mod or EQ, go for the HD800 S, according to his preferences; otherwise, the latter measures better (to his ears) and sounds more pure because it still tames most of the 6 khz spike  (within 3 dB) while retaining an undistorted bass response. 

You and I clearly took very different things away from this review. Which is great. 
 
Happy listening.

 

[Liu Junyuan]

 
You and I clearly took very different things away from this review. Which is great. 
 
Happy listening.

I just read what he wrote carefully. He prefers the HD800 S to the stock HD800 but even more prefers the resonator-modded (not the Anax modded) HD800 to the HD800 S. If you don't want to bother with modding, go with the HD800S, "in a nutshell." I think you must have a fantastic amp, by the way, for the HD800, assuming you still own the EC Super 7. 

 

[up late]

just returned from an audition of the hd800s and comparison with the hd800. the differences were more than subtle to my ears and i prefer the shift in tonal balance that the hd800s offers. however, like any compromise it comes at a cost and while i appreciated the absence of the infamous 6 khz treble peak, which can be fatiguing and the increase in bass presence, i also noticed a loss of extension and air in the treble region. ymmv, etc.

 

[Dadracer]

 
 
@Tyll Hertsens Grand Merci Monsieur Hertsens. 

Allez les bleus
 
Congratulations Sorrodje it seems as if the pupil has become the master!!!

 

[Dadracer]

Oh yes, and Tylls blog and videos were very interesting and informative as usual and probably even more so.
 
I like that we have some feedback on many of these felt/rug liner modifications. The modification which Sennheiser/Sorrodje have performed seem much more elegant (French influence?) in dealing with the 6kHz "issue" and yet not causing issues elsewhere.
 
Meantime the increased 2nd order harmonic distortion is not something I have been able to hear in any of the music I have tried, maybe its masked by my valve amp? In any case I am not a big fan of EQ as I think it is time wasted that I could be listening to actual music, it is messing around with the balance which the manufacturer has spent so much time providing and mostly I am listening to analogue music so it isn't relevant.
 
I don't think that the HD800 should be taken down off Tyll's Wall of Fame for the reason that it was the headphone which really began the SOTA marketplace despite what HD600/650 lovers feel and so should remain with a lifetime place on the wall despite what people think are it's shortcomings.
 
Finally just to say that overall I am preferring HD800s in SE mode and HD800S in balanced mode............just one man's alternative opinion. 

 

[WraithApe]

  I just read what he wrote carefully. He prefers the HD800 S to the stock HD800 but even more prefers the resonator-modded (not the Anax modded) HD800 to the HD800 S. If you don't want to bother with modding, go with the HD800S, "in a nutshell." I think you must have a fantastic amp, by the way, for the HD800, assuming you still own the EC Super 7. 

 
It also says that the damping mod is less precise and comes at the cost of attenuating other frequencies, unlike the narrow-band resonator of the S.

 

[dharma]

   
It also says that the damping mod is less precise and comes at the cost of attenuating other frequencies, unlike the narrow-band resonator of the S.

 
Everybody and everything got their 'pluses' and 'minuses' from Tyll here, even manufacturer and 'modder'...
...Choose your way, that's the message from review

 

[dharma]

Commentaries are informative too (on the website)
interesting is the Tyll's first comment, after the post 'Distortion is musicality?

 

[Mike F]

   
It also says that the damping mod is less precise and comes at the cost of attenuating other frequencies, unlike the narrow-band resonator of the S.

Yes, in reference to the general damping mods, but not the  SuperDupont Resonator (SDR mod).
 
I think the review is very clear. Tyll states that un-modded and EQ'd, he prefers the HD800S, but an SDR modded and eq'd HD800 is better. What's most interesting is that he still wants to EQ the HD800S, and he prefers even the un-modded but EQ'd HD800 to the EQ'd HD800S.
 
For me, the most telling part of the review is that he wanted to double check the bass response of the HD800S against some more samples, even given the fact that he knows that Sennheisers are so consistent one to another. He clearly didn't like what he saw in the measurements and wanted to check that it wasn't, against all odds, just a rogue example.