Hey, Aeolus, can you do me a favour and compare your T1s and HD800s with the Mainline? I'm still on the fence about buying HD800s (leaning towards a yes) and am curious about the specific pairing with Mainline (compared to the T1 pairing)
Hi Loquah,
I did spend nearly an hour writing a pretty long comparison for you, but for some nonsense reasons with my Google Chrome, I've lost it! So I'll try to recall and make it straight to the point this time, hopefully you'll find it useful.
Please do keep in mind that my T1 is not a 'normal' one, it's a 'Loquah's cube modded' T1, so the thoughts I post below are based on my modded T1 and my stock HD800.
The first thing I noticed was that the HD800 was slightly more transparent and had a larger sound stage whereas the T1 was warmer and fuller. Mainline is a very neutral and transparent headamp, so basically all the sonic sound signature of the headphones will be remained the same when played with it.
Bass: the HD800 was tighter but I've sometimes wanted a bit more impact; the T1 was somehow looser but fuller.
Mids: this is where the T1 shines. The HD800 was a tad lifeless, cooler and thinner compared to the warmer, smoother mids of the T1
Treble: interestingly, the treble was supposed to be a bit 'harsh' and 'fatiguing' on the T1 (due to the 9-10Khz peaky treble), but thanks to your mod, the treble of the T1 was now nearly as good as the HD800, though I feel the HD800's treble was still more 'complete' for me. I guess the differences will be more significant between a stock T1 and a HD800.
So I think it really depends on what your expect in your next purchase. I personally tend to use the HD800 whenever I need some critical listening (classical, new age... ) and the T1 when I just want to sit back, relax and enjoy my favorite music - which is mostly vocals, jazz and acoustic. I strongly recommend you get a HD800 if you can afford it, the HD800 will be a wonderful implementation of the T1 and it will complete your headphone rig, at least for dynamic driver headphones. Get one and you will be good to go for a very long long time. I'm just more than happy owning both of them and they make me no longer seek for ANY other headphones.
Again, I'm sorry for this much shorter comparison, I already put all my 'ideas' into my first one, unfortunately, I've lost it! Arggggh
Hope this helps!
