Great review. I agree that these are polarizing but for me, the HD820 are still the best closed backs I've tried overall. Focal Stellia have a more "agreeable" response but the staging and imaging are nowhere near the HD820.

@kmmbd I have not had the chance to listen to the Stellia, the Radiance being my other choice when pondering which one to get but in the end, as i wrote in the review, i chose to go with slightly less lower end presence but (much) better sound stage. It's a trade-off i'd take any day but this doesn't mean i wouldn't like to audition the Focals as well!

Symbiotic ? Is that contagious ?

Thanks for the review on the phones and the music ...after an unexpected audition back in April...the HD820 were immediately put on my must have bucket list and shortly after acquired a pair ........they are currently my daily go to.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sennheiser-hd820.846244/page-256#post-17510442

thank you for the review. i tried some of the songs on my meze 109 pro. and feelt like i was somewhere else. what an experience

Another satisfied long term owner here alongwith my HD800.

The HD820 needs a bit of tweaking to get right and thats it.

@BobG55 oh, no! That would be saprophytic, i think.

@Rob80b you were lucky enough to get to audition them; i was not! And i don't regret it one second, they are simply perfect for my needs. Enjoy them!

@csch92 only now i realized that i could have linked each of the song but i guess this escaped my attention, sorry for that. Which songs did you enjoy the most?

@gikigill while i agree that tweaking can make them sound better, i usually try to enjoy them as Sennheiser intended - full stock on whatever i have for an audio chain.

Thank you all for reading!