That's good to know. My dealer re-terminated the T1 cable and adapter for me when I bought it but I've terminated some of my own with Cardas wire which was Litz (I made an extension cable for my T1 so now I can move up to 30 feet away from the amp if I need to. If the solder flowed for you as...

Just a couple of thoughts on this:   1) When you remove the 1/4"SE from the existing cable, don't cut it at the plug. Cut it so it has about 12 inches of cable left attached to it. Then attach a 4pin female XLR to the other end to form an adapter. Then attach a 4pin male XLR to the main cable...

  The cardboard liner that runs around the outside edge of the HDVD800 as it sits inside the box is hollow. The power cord is shipped INSIDE of that liner. Many people have missed this.   Also, if you are using asynchronous USB, any half ways decent USB will work. I have compared a $500 USB...

In general the only real difference in HEADPHONE cables between balanced and unbalanced is just the plug on the end and how it is wired. The sad thing about this is that the default SE cable that Sennheiser distributes with its HD800 phones is IDENTICAL to the XLR cable that they sell. With...

There is no two ways about it, The XLR capabilities of the amp are superior to the SE capabilities. Once you hear the XLR output you will likely never go back.   The full balanced capabilities tends to provide better dynamics and cleaner separation of sounds. Instruments tend to sound more...

Hi Alan!   Haven't been here for a while but thought I would comment.   The XLR output draws from both the "top" and "bottom" halves of the amplifier's left and right channels. The SE output just pulls from the "top" of each channel (the "bottom" halves are just wasted)   The XLR "top" and...

I'm seeing talk here again about the difference in sound between using balanced or unbalanced cables with the HDVD800. The differences that you hear have nothing to do with the cables.   For example. The stock cables on new pair of HD800 cans, and the special order "balanced" cables that...

You aren't using any kind of digital volume control in your audio path are you? All digital controls should be at max and the volume itself controlled in the analog domain if possible.

Ok, here's the blurb I posted on this: http://www.head-fi.org/t/605444/sennheiser-hdvd800-headphone-amplifier/1290#post_9639003   -Jeff

The HD300 have a very slight brilliance in the upper range that I believe the designed output impedance of the HDVD800 and HDVA600 was intentionally intended to tame a bit. If you look at the impedance curve of the HD800, it is bowed upward in the midrange reaching a high value of 600 ohms...

Well I had been unemployed since November 2012. In the Dallas, TX Area where we live most of the job positions that I am associated with were in the government contracting industry and you KNOW just how fast military spending has been expanding every since sequestration kicked in :-)   Anyway...

I am using a HDVD800 with my T1 and more than once I've sat down to listen in the evening and the next thing I know it's 3:30 AM! Difficult to turn off at times.   I have one or two recordings that have some sibilance in them that is a bit of a nuisance but the HDVD800 seems to keep it at a...

Sorry, I haven't been able to get on the forum often these days (managed to get a new job. Yay!)   If I understand your question(s) the answer(s) are yes :-)   The HDVD800 is a fully balanced system from the DACs all the way through to the headphone jacks and XLR outputs (there are no RCA...

Yea, that's why it's a far better deal to buy a pair of Neutrix connectors for around $20 and solder them on yourself. Electrically it is identical to the $369 version. You just don't end up with an extra unbalance version laying around and never being used again :-)   Remember, it's not the...

You owe it to yourself to try and have a listen to the HDV800 or HDA600 Sennheiser headphone amps with your HD800. The amp sections in both of these are the same. They have been tuned to work specifically with the HD800. They do have an output impedance of around 47 ohms so they would not work...