[Me x3]

  Im finding a headphone that can handle 320kbps and above. Mainly searching vocal emphasis songs like celine dion, adele, sia and also any new hit songs that have good vocals.

I wouldn't pick HD800 for Celine Dion, Adele or Sia... HD800 is not a great pick for pop music.
I would prefer the HD800 for Elina Garanča, Carmen Gomes Inc, Amber Rubarth, few albums by Loreena McKennit.
 
You can check the HD800S which is a little bit more forgiving.
AKG K712, Beyerdynamic DT-1990, Audioquest Nighthawk, LCD-3, Edition X, Focal Elear

 

[Youth]

 
I wouldn't pick HD800 for Celine Dion, Adele or Sia... HD800 is not a great pick for pop music.
I would prefer the HD800 for Elina Garanča, Carmen Gomes Inc, Amber Rubarth, few albums by Loreena McKennit.
 
You can check the HD800S which is a little bit more forgiving.
AKG K712, Beyerdynamic DT-1990, Audioquest Nighthawk, LCD-3, Edition X, Focal Elear

 
Pop music is fine, just not the modern compressed stuff 

 

[BobG55]

 

  Im finding a headphone that can handle 320kbps and above. Mainly searching vocal emphasis songs like celine dion, adele, sia and also any new hit songs that have good vocals.

I wouldn't pick HD800 for Celine Dion, Adele or Sia... HD800 is not a great pick for pop music.
I would prefer the HD800 for Elina Garanča, Carmen Gomes Inc, Amber Rubarth, few albums by Loreena McKennit.
 
You can check the HD800S which is a little bit more forgiving.
AKG K712, Beyerdynamic DT-1990, Audioquest Nighthawk, LCD-3, Edition X, Focal Elear
 

& HD650.

 

[Me x3]

   
Pop music is fine, just not the modern compressed stuff 

Well, it really depends.
I was using my HD800 few days ago and my brother was listening to 'Slave to Love' by Bryan Ferry on his HD650, so I've tried it on my HD800 and it was far from good, it was more pleasing on HD650. Then tried 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' by Bonnie Tyler, and it was the same. And we are talking about early 80's pop music.
 
I agree with you with respect to modern mastering techniques (used for pop and other genres as well) being worse than in the old days, but still HD800 is very unforgiving with unnatural recordings. Unless you mod it and pair it with certain tube amp, R2R DAC and so on...

 

[Me x3]

  & HD650.

+1 (Thanks)
 
My HD650 won't forgive me for that!

 

[citraian]

& HD650.

Adele and Sia actually sound great on the HD800

Edit: wrong quote, writing from phone, sorry

 

[Me x3]

Adele and Sia actually sound great on the HD800

Edit: wrong quote, writing from phone, sorry

I guess, we have a very different understanding of what great means.
 
Listenable? Yes.
Can be enjoyed? Maybe...
Great? Not in my book.
 
(I don't think Adele is any good anyway, even if properly recorded.)
 
Have you compared (Adele or Sia) on HD800 next to a similar quality open back headphone with warmer and less bright sound signature?

 

[twiceboss]

 
I guess, we have a very different understanding of what great means.
 
Listenable? Yes.
Can be enjoyed? Maybe...
Great? Not in my book.
 
(I don't think Adele is any good anyway, even if properly recorded.)
 
Have you compared (Adele or Sia) on HD800 next to a similar quality open back headphone with warmer and less bright sound signature?

Actually I mainly listen to this korean singer. "IU", she has the best voice I've ever heard. The song more likely focusing on her vocals. Just some of them are pop dance.
 
How about I paired it with Mojo? I asked someone who have both TH600 and HD800, he said TH600 has more sibilant highs than HD800. Do you ever heard TH600?

 

[kelly200269]

What type of music are you typically listen to?
The HD800 is telling it like it is, plain and simple. When the recording is great and wasn't messed up in all the production steps to sound great on low end consumer speakers and $10 ead buds, then it will sound great on the HD800. This is a great headphone for jazz and classic as these are usually good quality recordings. If you use a source that boosts treble to suggest "high rez" then the HD800 will let you hear that and this is what people claim is piercing highs. If you listen to a lot of rock and pop, better stay away from the HD800. Just my $0.02

I find the HD800 sounds fantastic when fed with high-res classical music, but I can hardly listen to it when playing rock & pop. I don't think it's frequency response suits that type of music.

 

[Fegefeuer]

do the SD mod and your music library instantly rises in compatibility with this headphone

 

[Me x3]

  Actually I mainly listen to this korean singer. "IU", she has the best voice I've ever heard. The song more likely focusing on her vocals. Just some of them are pop dance.
 
How about I paired it with Mojo? I asked someone who have both TH600 and HD800, he said TH600 has more sibilant highs than HD800. Do you ever heard TH600?

No.
Based on measurements, HD800 might appear as slightly brighter while TH-600 slightly sharper but both are similarly bright. The thing is TH-600 has much more bass than HD800, so that can mask the treble. If you raise the volume using HD800 to match TH-600's bass then HD800 will appear much brighter (and louder overall)
 
Share a song of your preference (maybe a youtube link) then some of us can try it with our HD800 and comment about the sound.

 

[Sorrodje]

HD800 is not suited for pop music. period. it can be OK but I can think of a lot of more suited headphones. IMO, YMMV.  Modded HD800 , EQed HD800 or HD800S are for sure more suited but wouldn't be my first choice if I was primarily listening to pop music. 

 

[Arniesb]

HD800 is not suited for pop music. period. it can be OK but I can think of a lot of more suited headphones. IMO, YMMV.  Modded HD800 , EQed HD800 or HD800S are for sure more suited but wouldn't be my first choice if I was primarily listening to pop music. 

+1 Even thou my T1 is definitely brighter than my HD800S, but on pop and other badly mastered music HD800S appears Brighter. Its just it is more transparent window into music and if recording is bad it shows very clearly.

 

[Rozenberg]

You can enjoy everything with the HD800 if you like the sound signature though. At least that's what I do 

But I agree there are other headphones that make Pop more enjoyable, in my experience the HD650 and SR-007MK2.
The HD800 can sound a bit thicker if you mod it and find a good amp for it. (I thought people back then were exaggerating about amp pairing but boy was I wrong)

 

[Youth]

I'm probably the weird one but I really don't think HD650 is that forgiving as many make it out to be.