[TMRaven]

   
 
It's a headphone, not a  400 meter long cruise ship.

 
I hate to break it to you, but researching and developing the right material and shape to tame the right frequencies in a delicate world-class hi-fi sound is way more involved than designing the schematic for a floating city.

 

[Dobrescu George]

 
 
I hate to break it to you, but researching and developing the right material and shape to tame the right frequencies in a delicate world-class hi-fi sound is way more involved than designing the schematic for a floating city.

Actually, designing a headphone really takes a load of time, because it is more based upon fine adjustments. 
 
I am all fired up to start saving moneyh for hd800s. Seems i might want one. soon. 

 

[webstaa]

With todays technology and their superior resources at their disposal, it shouldnt take them more than 6months to come up with a new redesigned HF800 & implement it into reality in less than a year..

 
Not necessarily disagreeing - but the 800 has been the stick that pretty much everything else has been measure by for how many years now?  And that's with it's glaring flaw. (badum tish)
 
Could they have pulled it from the market?  Sure.
Could they have replaced it with an improved version?  Sure.
Would the audiophile market have born the weight of that product?  Maybe - leaning towards probably not.
Did the competition in/around the same price bracket heat up a lot this past year?  Oh yeah.  Instead of one or two 1k-2k headphones, there's around a dozen.
 
I wouldn't be surprised to see a completely different/new flagship in the next 12-24 months.  Maybe with the discontinuance of 800 in favor of the 800s when Senn's in-house stock runs low enough.

 

[Peti]

I don't want to get my hopes high but if they could indeed tame those piercing highs I will make a purchase. Also, I'm curious how it will effect the price of the second hand HD800 models'?
 
Maybe I'm wrong here, but with this step, Sennheiser just admitted that all the complaints regarding their flagship's piercing highs were in fact valid and something needed to be done. At least they heeded the call and tackled the problem. I hope...

 

[derbigpr]

  Actually, designing a headphone really takes a load of time, because it is more based upon fine adjustments. 
 
I am all fired up to start saving moneyh for hd800s. Seems i might want one. soon. 

 
 
Doesn't make sense to me why you think designing a headphone is any different than designing any other product, but then again, what do I know, I'm just a mechanical engineer.
 
Let me clarify, the best headphone ever made is a joke in terms of engineering compared to something like a base model smartphone you can buy for 100-150 dollars. And I'm not exaggerating at all. The only reason headphones sell for more than 500 dollars is because people are willing to pay that much, that enables manufacturers to have high profit margins and sell fewer products, instead of having smaller profit margins and having to manufacture and sell more units for the same amount of profit.   (seriously, no sarcasm)

 

[433115]

I'll just say that I'm not even relatively able to afford what the HD800 is priced at right now. If the HD800S is a thing, I think it'd be best for me to go looking for a pre-modded HD800. I actually like the white color scheme of the original HD800 anyway. Problem is, finding someone that has a reputation for doing it right and has them for a reasonable price, I don't really know this stuff personally. Sorry but shelling out over a thousand dollars on headphones isn't something I can get into yet. If they're both staying over a thousand I think I'll be staying out of it for a while, as badly as I really want one.

 

[Maxx134]

 


It's a headphone, not a  400 meter long cruise ship.

 
I hate to break it to you, but researching and developing the right material and shape to tame the right frequencies in a delicate world-class hi-fi sound is way more involved than designing the schematic for a floating city.

Maybe, but this is not some unknown science,
And not a "one man" operation..

Sennheiser, with multitudes of engineers and computer simulations and algorithms and material maytrix designs and knowledge of chemical types with specifications/parameters for all their needs at their disposal...

I doubt any of their headphones took long to design.
For them, there is no obstacle that would take them years.

How many years did it take smaller companies like Audeze or hifiman or Mr Speakers?
Not no 6 dam years(!) of exhaustive research..

Just to make an "acoustic absorber"...
Maybe a space shuttle..
Edit:
I am still very glad they finnaly did it tho..

 

[Mark Up]

What would be interesting would be an HD850. Not improved versions of the HD800 or HD800s. More akin to the HD600 to HD650. Revoiced with mellower highs / high mids, and fuller low mids and better bass. I still think an HD675 (or HD680) that fixes the most popular dislikes about the HD650 would be good. As in 1-2 db more air on top, 1-2 db more mid bass and 2-4 db more sub bass (and 6 db more at 20 hz). I EQ my HD650 in my media player that way and it's perfect. I'm just brainstorming here, don't take it too serious.

 

[madwolfa]

  As in 1-2 db more air on top, 1-2 db more mid bass and 2-4 db more sub bass (even 6 db more at 20 hz). 

 
+6 dB at 20 hz in an open dynamic can? good luck with that.

 

[Mark Up]

 +6 dB at 20 hz in an open dynamic can? good luck with that.

I hear that on Philips Fidelio L1. Granted it's semi-open. Highs / high mids are nicer on a HD650 of course. Maybe the HD675/HD680 could be their first semi-open over ear?

 

[TMRaven]

Maybe, but this is not some unknown science,
And not a "one man" operation..

Sennheiser, with multitudes of engineers and computer simulations and algorithms and material maytrix designs and knowledge of chemical types with specifications/parameters for all their needs at their disposal...

I doubt any of their headphones took long to design.
For them, there is no obstacle that would take them years.

How many years did it take smaller companies like Audeze or hifiman or Mr Speakers?
Not no 6 dam years(!) of exhaustive research..

Just to make an "acoustic absorber"...
Maybe a space shuttle..
Edit:
I am still very glad they finnaly did it tho..

 
 
Actually, it took Sennheiser a year to travel to Mars and dig out the rare Mars material known as glarebegoneonite to use in their HD800s, then another year travel back to Earth.  The final 4 years they spent in heated contention with each other about determining a price point.  They couldn't decide between 1,599 or 1,799, so ended up taking the best of both worlds and settling on 4,995.

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

  I'll just say that I'm not even relatively able to afford what the HD800 is priced at right now. If the HD800S is a thing, I think it'd be best for me to go looking for a pre-modded HD800. I actually like the white color scheme of the original HD800 anyway. Problem is, finding someone that has a reputation for doing it right and has them for a reasonable price, I don't really know this stuff personally. Sorry but shelling out over a thousand dollars on headphones isn't something I can get into yet. If they're both staying over a thousand I think I'll be staying out of it for a while, as badly as I really want one.

 
The kind of mods done to the HD800 are very DIY.  And the upside is that they are very easy to reverse...

 

[Maxx134]

Actually using rare material from an asteroid like the one that will fly by with "companion" rocks on Oct31, would do nicely...
In meantime, I have suggested in past that you can achieve the elusive extra decibels of sub bass by doing a cable hard wire mod...

 

[Mr Rick]

   
The kind of mods done to the HD800 are very DIY.  And the upside is that they are very easy to reverse...

 
...and for the most part is unnecessary with judicious EQing.

 

[derbigpr]

  What would be interesting would be an HD850. Not improved versions of the HD800 or HD800s. More akin to the HD600 to HD650. Revoiced with mellower highs / high mids, and fuller low mids and better bass. I still think an HD675 (or HD680) that fixes the most popular dislikes about the HD650 would be good. As in 1-2 db more air on top, 1-2 db more mid bass and 2-4 db more sub bass (and 6 db more at 20 hz). I EQ my HD650 in my media player that way and it's perfect. I'm just brainstorming here, don't take it too serious.

 
Well judging by the first impressions, HD800S is to HD800 exactly what HD650 was to HD600.  Technically the same headphone with a different paintjob and slightly warmer, smoother and more refined sounding.