[Cartma]

 
what kind of music do you listen?

I listen to everything but country. I mostly listen to electronic music like Venetian snares, Noisia, and black sun empire. One album that sounds great is Trentemoller The Last Resort.

 

[62ohm]

  I've owned the HD800s, and the K812's blow it away in every aspect. I honestly can't think of one thing the HD800's do better than the k812s, and I can't think of one thing negative to say about the K812's. Want to talk about being a microscope into the sound of your system... look no further than the k812's.

 
Do you still have the HD800, when trying the K812? Do you have both at the same time when trying?
 
I'm asking this because I do have both and, I actually tried both in late 2013 (note that Tyll reviewed the K812 in early 2014) and I actually liked the HD800 more because of its soundstage & imaging and its lack of treble tizzy-ness. Note that I tried it before reading Tyll's review as Tyll have yet to review it in that time, thus eliminating any possible bias.
 
IMO the HD800 has clearer, more defined treble and, while the K812 wins in bass quantity segment, the HD800 wins in bass tightness segment. The K812 still wins in mids segment to me due to its holographic vocal presentation, and the fact that it is sort of possible to be carried around as a transportable full-sized cans.
 
 
 
If you think the K812 is better than the HD800 in every aspect, that might be a buyer's euphoria talking. Just wait for it - buyer's remorse will soon come.

 

[trappedintime]

I've been a little under the weather the past week, so apologies I didn't post anything sooner. The balanced K812 is indeed a beast. I feel balancing the 812's addresses the weaknesses that many point to with this headphone. After having BTG Audio do the balanced mod the soundstage opens up further, imaging improves considerably and the tizzy-ness of the mid-treble is almost completely eliminated. With more headroom these are just dead silent, very precise and even bass-responsive. I've done DSD listening over the balanced cable on the HA-1 and much of my listening has come at work on my Sony UDA-1 with the 4-pin LEMO single-ended cable. Even with the SE cable, there's a noticeable improvement in both the mid-treble and the overall soundstage and imaging. The airiness of the K812 is expanded upon in a noticeable way, which was shocking given that they already sounded airy to begin with.

Some would surely prefer the HD800, but the pairing with the HA-1 is nearly ideal and I personally will take the balanced K812 over just about any headphone just for how accurately they render any recording you throw at them.

I can't recommend Brian and BTG enough. He's now balancing my K7XX and created a mini-XLR to LEMO adapter so that I can use these same cables (which are excellent quality) with both headphones.

 

[Blackmore]

trappedintime@
 
Wonder how your K812 become  balanced, while they have one side connected cable? Doesnt balanced mean when you connect cables directly to both drivers with balanced  end?
 
Dont get me wrong, not trying to bashing anything hre, but to me,   it may be the cable thing only, better cable make a difference for sure, but balanced? I just not sure, can you  or anyone else explain how it was done please?
 
THX 
 
 
add. I found this http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/balancedheadphones/one.html
 
The only wires you can use on K812, are the wires from the driver with connector, but does it make truely balanced, I dont know.

 

[62ohm]

I was wondering the same thing, but then I noticed the socket for the connector on his pair consist of 4 pins. Maybe it means each pair of pins are for R & L cabling for each channel?

 

[Tiddlesworth]

  trappedintime@
 
Wonder how your K812 become  balanced, while they have one side connected cable? Doesnt balanced mean when you connect cables directly to both drivers with balanced  end?
 
Dont get me wrong, not trying to bashing anything hre, but to me,   it may be the cable thing only, better cable make a difference for sure, but balanced? I just not sure, can you  or anyone else explain how it was done please?
 
THX 

He probably just routed the hot and cold wires from the other driver through the head band, a really nice compromise actually.

I've been a little under the weather the past week, so apologies I didn't post anything sooner. The balanced K812 is indeed a beast. I feel balancing the 812's addresses the weaknesses that many point to with this headphone. After having BTG Audio do the balanced mod the soundstage opens up further, imaging improves considerably and the tizzy-ness of the mid-treble is almost completely eliminated. With more headroom these are just dead silent, very precise and even bass-responsive. I've done DSD listening over the balanced cable on the HA-1 and much of my listening has come at work on my Sony UDA-1 with the 4-pin LEMO single-ended cable. Even with the SE cable, there's a noticeable improvement in both the mid-treble and the overall soundstage and imaging. The airiness of the K812 is expanded upon in a noticeable way, which was shocking given that they already sounded airy to begin with.

Some would surely prefer the HD800, but the pairing with the HA-1 is nearly ideal and I personally will take the balanced K812 over just about any headphone just for how accurately they render any recording you throw at them.

I can't recommend Brian and BTG enough. He's now balancing my K7XX and created a mini-XLR to LEMO adapter so that I can use these same cables (which are excellent quality) with both headphones.

The craftsmanship is really good, you can only see the marks if you look into the connector, too bad you can only run it in balanced mode now as most other balanced headphones can still be run single ended.

 

[Blackmore]

Pity you cant see any pics from it, would be great.
 
Think that he can build an XLR > RCA adapter, isnt?
 
 
Quote:

  He probably just routed the hot and cold wires from the other driver through the head band, a really nice compromise actually.
The craftsmanship is really good, you can only see the marks if you look into the connector, too bad you can only run it in balanced mode now as most other balanced headphones can still be run single ended.

 

[Tiddlesworth]

 

Oh yeah that works forgot about that, yeah the only cosmetic modification you can see are the 4 pins.

 

[Cartma]

   
Do you still have the HD800, when trying the K812? Do you have both at the same time when trying?
 
I'm asking this because I do have both and, I actually tried both in late 2013 (note that Tyll reviewed the K812 in early 2014) and I actually liked the HD800 more because of its soundstage & imaging and its lack of treble tizzy-ness. Note that I tried it before reading Tyll's review as Tyll have yet to review it in that time, thus eliminating any possible bias.
 
IMO the HD800 has clearer, more defined treble and, while the K812 wins in bass quantity segment, the HD800 wins in bass tightness segment. The K812 still wins in mids segment to me due to its holographic vocal presentation, and the fact that it is sort of possible to be carried around as a transportable full-sized cans.
 
 
 
If you think the K812 is better than the HD800 in every aspect, that might be a buyer's euphoria talking. Just wait for it - buyer's remorse will soon come.

 
I do not have both the HD800's AND K812's because after a week I had to return the HD800's. The HD800's were too soft, dark, and veiled. I like a fast, clear, transparent airy sound.
These whole K812/HD800 arguments reminds me of the old HD600/K701 arguments from years ago. The arguments remain near consistent due to the fact that they both carry over near identical sonic differences. If you are a HD600/650's fan then you should probably give the HD800's a try, if you like the k701/702/712's you should give the K812's a go. that being said... I think the advances from the K701's to  K812's are greater, which (IMO) put the K812's above the HD800's.
This whole treble tizzy-ness business confuses me. I have a rough idea where everyone is  getting this observation, but I have not experienced this what so ever. I don't even know what to think about it.
I've owned the K812's for about a month now and they just keep getting better. There will be no buyer's remorse here.

 

[62ohm]

Good for you.
 
Interestingly for me, I started off with the Q701, hated the HD650 and then moved on the HD800. Only got the HD650 later on as I liked the way it sounds with the HDVA 600.
 
 
BTW, no one ever described the HD800 as 'too soft, dark, and veiled'. If anything, people complain about its brightness and sometimes harshness. Did you really try the HD800?
 
 
and PS: If you really want to know more about the treble tizzy-ness business regarding the K812, take a look at its distortion graph. Might explain something.

 

[drews]

   
The HD800's were too soft, dark, and veiled. I like a fast, clear, transparent airy sound.

 
I've now heard every possibly conflicting opinion on every existing headphone.

 

[mikey1964]

I do have a HD800 and K812 right now, no way would I describe the HD800 as 'dark, and veiled' though.....

 

[GodsInHisHeaven]

Hey mikey1964 any words about the soundstage?
Which one is larger / deeper / precise ...

 

[FortisFlyer75]

I have heard these twice now once at the Cambridge meet in 2015 then CanJam 2015 on the AKG stand and first time was taken a back how much I instantly liked them within listening to the first track I played. For me the 812's have moved on quite a bit since the days of my old K702's I used to own.

To me the 812's are now even more detailed sound on the 702's (which is to be expected) yet at the same time sounding a bit more refined to the 702's ever did with how it conveys all that detail you hear.

My feeling is compared to my old 702 is it has gone from been quite an analytical headphone to one that has struck the balance between sounding still revealing at stripping away all the layers with detail galore yet the 812's in addition are a very musical headphone at the same time which considering these are still been aimed at been a studio reference phone by AKG is a very welcome contradiction indeed.

I've got to say I greatly regret not jumping on these recently with a pair of these been up for sale for quite a while at a very fair price from a head-fier from London (can't remember his username) and if it was not for already blowing a few gaskets on my wallet so soon after Christmas would of had these of him.

It was annoying seeing no one take them week on week and knowing I could not go for them at the time but someone is now the lucky owner of these well designed and engineered headphones.

Only two other headphones that really have floated my boat from all those I have heard out there is the Mr. Speakers Ethers (just magical) and Grado GS1000e's which I recently acquired towards end of last year (I would include PS1Ke's but they are just not logistically comfortable long term due to their weight despite sounding nothing short of stella).

For me there is something that makes Ethers almost end game for me (thats including hearing some cans costing twice as much) and the Grado's which I now own once burnt in properly (these are really stubborn headphones) really become something special yet unique in their presentation from other headphones (think Marmite), then there is the AKG 812's are the only other headphone I would really like to own even if I had both the Ethers and GS1K's.

Although I'm reading the new HD800s sound has changed quite a bit to the HD800 SQ but have to say I never got on with the Senn HD800 presentation despite my efforts many times to listen to this with different equipment over time.

So yes, without owning them I very much appreciate the direction after a long pause with AKG finally making a higher flagship set of cans have done a good on making them sound really musical without having to shout to get attention and look and feel awesome to boot. Plus I think these 812's might not be so fussy about what amp they get paired with compared to my old 702's which is always welcome.

I'm also glad in a sense they seemed to be a bit underatted from what I observe about these 812's. Whether that is at all due to the distribution approach to these headphones I don't know?

So here's still hoping to been a 812 owner one day and can join in these threads as an owner instead of an admirer.

 

[drews]

I agree (on more than just that apparently)...
 

 
 
Quote:

  I do have a HD800 and K812 right now, no way would I describe the HD800 as 'dark, and veiled' though.....