Me and my non-head-fi friend spent an evening listening to the HD800.   We've both spent a lot of time with the HD650, but I had the SR-007 and HD800 available that we took turns listening to. The HD800 was powered by a Headamp GS-1 and Assemblage 3.1.   Here are some notes: The HD650 has a 2-blob soundstage, which the HD800 don't have, and that makes the soundstage larger, and can be a little bewildering to listen to if you're trying to pick out detail and passages.   Stax 007 provides details with greater ease. But it's really apples and...

This is my reference for what a portable closed headphone should be. It's neutral and sounds good on all genres. It's not a giant killer like the DT531, but keep in mind it is closed and portable and has the most durable build quality of anything I've seen. Also, it has the cheapest, most cost effective upgrade available for it, the upgrade to an HD650 cable. In my opinion it is the second best deal to be had in headphones for a beginner to this hobby, second only to the Beyerdynamic DT531, if you can find it. The Beyerdynamic DT531 has better...

I'm an Audio Technica fanboy, and I love their sound. Compared to the AD2000 headphone with a Gilmore Lite and Bel Canto DAC3, I actually didn't miss it when I only had my ES7. Just a nice headphone to have for fun listening. I used the 'phat pad' mod for both. The ES7 and the AD2000 share a more similar sound signature than the other ATH cans.   The two extremes that the various Audio-Technica headphones seem to try to balance, 1) coloured mids and 2) balanced frequency response and PRaT. The happy medium would be considered a 'fun'...

The HD650's don't do anything really wrong. They have a natural sound signature and slightly elevated midbass that is easy on the ear (non-fatiguing). Most people will find that they appreciate their sound. They are not the final word in transparency and speed, but they are advanced enough technically to allow them to be true to the source material, offering an excellent sonic window into the music. This neutrality allows them to be used for reference purposes; as a studio headphone mixes done on them translate well to monitors. Similarly...

The first thing I noticed with these headphones is clarity. -These are the only headphones that I have heard that can execute perfect imaging while generating a fully independent bass sound right in the middle of the soundstage. This is the first time I have heard sound so holistically reproduced, and as an audio engineer I find this to be especially inspiring. With other headphones, (particularly dynamics) the bass distorts the coherency of the sonic image and two sounds often compete for the same area of soundstage. Comparatively, the 007...

I have experienced a nicely sized 'comfort zone' with these speakers. There is a slightly larger horizontal comfort zone than with my Mackie HR824's. I was using these speakers in the studio but I wouldn't recommend them for reference monitors because the low mids sounded too attenuated to my ears. An application where the MediaDesk will shine however is in a a den or a small room. These speakers are great for smaller spaces and low-level listening because at lower volumes the lower mid attenuation is much less noticeable. (re Fletcher-Munson...