[MattTCG]

Or better yet a Bottlehead Crack.Seen a few in the classifieds & they are priced around the Jotunheim price.

A tube amp will definitely help with adding more wet & lush sound.

 
+1 on the Crack suggestion!

  They are starting to sound a bit less dry to me now... probably brain burn in, but I am just loving them more and more all the time.  So much layered goodness and holographic euphony.  Raidohead never sounded better.  Everything I play just sounds 10 times better than it ever has.  This is how music should sound.  Now just need a Gumby or Yggy and I am THERE.

 
The new Radiohead album on the hd800 is stunning. 

 

[JaZZ]

In fact all Radiohead songs sound stunning on the HD 800. (Big Radiohead fan here.)

 

[ColtMrFire]

So far I have only listened to Amnesiac.  I never liked the way it sounded in terms of mastering, kind of muffled and closed in.  It now sounds spacious and layered, airy.  Just amazing.  Anything vocals/acoustic sounds divine... listening to Harry Connick Jr., damn!  With vocals you can hear more weight, throatiness and saliva... almost hear them spitting on the microphone.  Mimby helps bring out all these stunning details.  

 

[fjrabon]

So far I have only listened to Amnesiac.  I never liked the way it sounded in terms of mastering, kind of muffled and closed in.  It now sounds spacious and layered, airy.  Just amazing.  Anything vocals/acoustic sounds divine... listening to Harry Connick Jr., damn!  With vocals you can hear more weight, throatiness and saliva... almost hear them spitting on the microphone.  Mimby helps bring out all these stunning details.  

Made it all the way through OK Computer and Kid A on the HD800 today/this evening. Those albums sound like they were made for this headphone

 

[johnjen]

My 2¢
Quote:

  So far I have only listened to Amnesiac.  I never liked the way it sounded in terms of mastering, kind of muffled and closed in.  It now sounds spacious and layered, airy.  Just amazing.  Anything vocals/acoustic sounds divine... listening to Harry Connick Jr., damn!  With vocals you can hear more weight, throatiness and saliva... almost hear them spitting on the microphone.  Mimby helps bring out all these stunning details.  

Give you and your system more time together, let things settle down and the SQ should reach a peak after a while.
 
Then, you'll have a much better idea of what, (if anything) to do next.
 
JJ

 

[ColtMrFire]

Made it all the way through OK Computer and Kid A on the HD800 today/this evening. Those albums sound like they were made for this headphone

 
I will probably listen to those today.
 
I did not like A Moon Shaped Pool for some reason... I listened a couple times when it came out but it never grabbed me like their previous albums immediately did,  I will give it another shot with the 800... it does sound like an album made for this headphone.

 

[ColtMrFire]

  Give you and your system more time together, let things settle down and the SQ should reach a peak after a while.
 
Then, you'll have a much better idea of what, (if anything) to do next.
 
JJ

 
I did not mention this before, but something happened after I did the A/B usb/coax comparison...
 
I switched the Mimby back and forth between usb and coax with the button the front.  After being disappointed with USB, I unhooked the cable, and switched it back to coax for more enjoyment/listening.
 
For some reason, the sound seemed a bit more airy.  Especially on classical, it seemed I could hear deeper into the soundstage... everything sounded SLIGHTLY less claustrophobic, not that I would have described it as claustrophobic at all, but everything seemed to open up a bit more.
 
At first I thought I was completely crazy.  How could it sound different?  I thought maybe the Mimby cycling through the inputs and resetting into coax might have unclogged a bit of stagnation, since I've not turned it off or switched in a long time, but that's just wild conjecture not based on any knowledge of DACs.
 
I figured maybe even turning it off and on might do some good, so I did.  After that is when it started to sound slightly dry/brittle (hence my comment about that a couple pages back)... and now that seems to have gone away and everything is completely smooth, airy and the soundstage is very wide and very deep.
 
Again, just wild conjecture on my part, and it could be some weird placebo thing, or maybe something happened with Mimby in terms of resetting.  The point is, I am definitely settling into the sound more and enjoying it more and more... I think the Mimby/Jot combo works very very well with this headphone barring some occasional steeliness in the treble that I hope sorrodje's SDR mod will fix.
 
I am continually amazed at what Sennheiser has achieved with this headphone.  It is worth the hype and then some.  People who call it anemic, sterile, un-musical, bass light are just nuts... or have crappy systems.  I can't imagine why anyone would sell such an amazing headphone, that obviously scales with every minute change to your system (as evidenced by the DAC resetting issue, if I'm not crazy).  There isn't a single genre so far that it hasn't excelled at... pop music no longer sounds garbage, electronic is fast and controlled and bassy, acoustic/classical/jazz is revelatory. The imagining is so precise it sometimes sounds like instruments and voices are right near you.  I can only imagine what a better DAC like Gumby or Yggy would bring to this headphone since it already sounds drop dead amazing with Mimby.
 
Any sane person would call it a day and claim end game for the system I have, but we're all crazy and want that last 10% of performance, which does make a substantial difference.

 

[mysticstryk]

I never complained about a lack of bass in the 800, always felt it was pretty good with a decent amount of slam.  Just started using the Sonarworks trial.  These things really have some slam now, and that sub bass.  Listening to some downtempo electronic and it's almost too much bass!  What setting is everyone using themselves?  I just have it set to flat, been adjusting the dry/wet setting around trying to find a good sweet spot.  I do have the SDR mod installed so I'm trying to compensate a bit for that.  At this rate, I may move on from the 650 as my reference headphone.

 

[MattTCG]

Mystic... The problem is likely the sdr mod. It's not used when they take measurements. Just move over to the next tab with tilt and adjust the bass down a bit. Minus 2 or 3 should be pretty close.

 

[mysticstryk]

Mystic... The problem is likely the sdr mod. It's not used when they take measurements. Just move over to the next tab with tilt and adjust the bass down a bit. Minus 2 or 3 should be pretty close.

 
Thanks Matt, that helped.  Still doing little adjustments trying to find the right spot.  -2 on the tilt seems to be the best so far.  You still using the plugin with your 800?  Have any advice on dry/wet level?

 

[MattTCG]

I'm at 100% wet. Be sure that under advanced you have it set to linear. Going from memory here. But pretty sure thats it.

 

[mysticstryk]

I'm at 100% wet. Be sure that under advanced you have it set to linear. Going from memory here. But pretty sure thats it.

 
Set it all the way over to linear, not sure what it did though, changes are not immediately noticeable.  Looks like it smoothed out the FR.

 

[ColtMrFire]

Since the 800 picks up any flaws in your system, I decided to clean all my interconnects (rca cables and coax cable), just simple isopropyl alcohol and q-tips (stripping most of the fabric from the tip so it will fit inside the interconnects).  I cleaned each interconnect twice, swirling the q-tip around a few times inside.  I also cleaned the inside and pins of the XLR cable (which was very dirty).
 
It made a noticeable improvement.  Not night/day, just a slight clarity increase.  Just sounds cleaner overall, like a dirty window into the music needed cleaning.  

 

[Sorrodje]

Nice case of autosuggestion 

 

[fjrabon]

I'm sort of thinking about sending my HD800 in for individual calibration, just to see the difference having it done with my own HD800 would make (s opposed to the average of 10 HD800s).  If I do that, another consideration is having the calibration done with the SDR mod in.  This would allow me to have the natural balance of the SDR mod when I'm not able to use sonarworks (source other than my laptop) but still get the benefit of sonarworks.  Anybody done this?