[exdmd]

There are several reviews in this thread that mention the Yggdrasil is not a good match with the 800S (which means it probably won’t be good with my HD 820 or MK2 either)

The Yggdrasil Analog 2 works quite well with the HD800S why would it not? It is the closest to vinyl I have ever heard digital. It would definitely not hold the HD800S back in any way. With the right tubes in my Kenzie amp I have a wide, deep sound stage with great imaging and layering. The best tube amps for the HD800S come from Eddie Current, Amps and Sound and ECP Audio. Not cheap but you get what you pay for and amps from those makers are well respected and hold their value.

Edit: Forgot to mention DNA (Donald North Audio). He has a wait list of about a year if you contact him. Amps and Sound can get a Kenzie to you in about a month for $1700.

 

[Jmask5]

My 2 cents I have listened to the HD800S on 2 amps/Dacs. The WA7 and Chord mojo. Didn't notice a difference. Not recommending anything just saying. Recommendations are all fine and dandy but until you try it out I wouldn't buy anything. My advice try to find the cleanest amp. There are some good ones for under 1K. If you don't like your HD800S with a clean amp then you probably should sell and buy something else.

 

[-HaVoC-Tzu-]

My 2 cents I have listened to the HD800S on 2 amps/Dacs. The WA7 and Chord mojo. Didn't notice a difference. Not recommending anything just saying. Recommendations are all fine and dandy but until you try it out I wouldn't buy anything. My advice try to find the cleanest amp. There are some good ones for under 1K. If you don't like your HD800S with a clean amp then you probably should sell and buy something else.

You should have noticed a slight difference, with the mojo sounding a little bit cleaner/tighter, and the WA7 sounding smoother. What was your source of music? (Guessing it might not have been high enough quality)

 

[Jmask5]

You should have noticed a slight difference, with the mojo sounding a little bit cleaner/tighter, and the WA7 sounding smoother. What was your source of music? (Guessing it might not have been high enough quality)

Different with both. With the Mojo its going to my PC via USB and listening to 96khz 24 bit. As for the WA7 i am not sure it was at a store. A small quiet store.

 

[Nik74]

This little guy arrived a couple of days ago and the synergy with the 800S is fantastic

 

[Amberlamps]

I use a Chord MScaler & TT2 with my HD800S and the sound is truly sublime.

I was using a Mojo and a Hugo 2 before my setup above and although mojo and Hugo 2 are very good, my HD800S sound so much better on the mscaler and tt2 setup.

Are they the best dac and amp for the hd800s, probably not but it’s bloody close to being so.

 

[Quinto]

I sold my Violectric V200 and Audio_GD DAC19dsp because I wanted a pre-amp for my monitors and am now using a RME ADI-2 DAC.
I had this idea it would be great to have all these eq, digital filter, crossfeed and all the other options to make my HD800S sound the way I liked best.

At first I was a bit worried about the timbre, it all sounded a little unnatural but after some hours these worries disappeared ..So after weeks of fiddling around I seem to like my HD800S best (in most cases) with default filter (SD Sharp) and without crossfeed, added bass, treble or EQ.
The one thing I really like is the width setting for some old stereo recordings to fill up the hole in the soundstage.

Never heard my HD800S so darn clean..I'm treble sensitive but on the ADI-2 it's never harsh or glassy sounding. Great little amp-dac, great synergy with the Sennheiser.

 

[bluenight]

Bought a different Rca cable (Chord Shawline) that cable with Thx 789 - HD 800S really took away the sharp treble harsness i experienced with my Chord Chrimson plus cable. So cable rolling is very effective to change the sound signature. Instead of tube rolling.

 

[CWillCalho]

I would assume that I would get good results pairing the 800s with either the Oppo HA2 or the the Marantz 7012 AVR? And how about the BlueSound Node 2?

 

[Zhanming057]

I would assume that I would get good results pairing the 800s with either the Oppo HA2 or the the Marantz 7012 AVR? And how about the BlueSound Node 2?

I wouldn't use any of those with the 800 or 800s, although the 7012 AVR might be okay, but I doubt that the front jack is actually connected to the taps. What's your budget on the amp?

 

[CWillCalho]

What would you suggest for someone on a pretty low budget since I just bought the 800s. Why would the Oppo HA2 not be sufficient? I'm open to suggestions...

 

[-HaVoC-Tzu-]

What would you suggest for someone on a pretty low budget since I just bought the 800s. Why would the Oppo HA2 not be sufficient? I'm open to suggestions...

The HD 800S sounds quite different depending on what DAC / Amp it is paired with.

Question #1 Do you need a portable solution?
Question #2 What budget?

This is highly subjective here, but I think most people would agree the Oppo HA 2 just doesn’t have enough power.
Desktop (non-portable amps) generally offer more power at a cheaper price.

Unfortunately it gets quite expensive to hear these headphones at their full potential.

Chord Mojo is a mid-range option. It has a ton of power but I don’t like the position of sounds on a mojo. This option wasn’t good enough for me so I ended up going much more high end.

It’s one of those things where I would recommend bringing your headphones to a high-end headphone audio shop and ask to try different DACs and Amps, because to each their own.

 

[CWillCalho]

How about the HA-1?

 

[-HaVoC-Tzu-]

How about the HA-1?

Never personally tried the HA-1 but it sounds like your budget is higher than I suspected, there should be a lot of decent options in that range. Still going to recommend going to a store and comparing side-by-side because everyone has different preferences.

 

[CWillCalho]

I only brought up the HA 1 because a friend who has one was maybe willing to part with it.