[odigg]

Does the HD800 sound like any other headphone? Did it remind any of you of any other headphone?

I've found that almost every headphone has some headphone from a different manufacturer that sounds similar. It's easier to get an idea of what it sounds like that way. For example, if somebody wanted to know what the Denon 2000 sounded like, I could say it's somewhat like a more forward HD600.

Any such comments about the HD800?

 

[Morph201]

Maybe I need to put on my flame resistant suit for this..

****Caveat.. THIS IS JUST MY OPINION, regarding SQ ONLY!

It sounded like what the K701 would sound like if it had some b@lls and better dynamics!! Keep in mind this is going from slightly fuzzy memory of the K701. I'm sure others have differing opinions, but that's my 2 cents worth.


BN: When I said b@lls.. I meant Bass-balls. lol, ok that was stupid...

 

[Murugesh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by odigg /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does the HD800 sound like any other headphone? Did it remind any of you of any other headphone? I've found that almost every headphone has some headphone from a different manufacturer that sounds similar. It's easier to get an idea of what it sounds like that way. For example, if somebody wanted to know what the Denon 2000 sounded like, I could say it's somewhat like a more forward HD600. Any such comments about the HD800?

I own both HD 650, HD 600 and K701. HD 800 doesn't remind me of any other headphone I've listened so far. It's totally new level above the prior HD series.

 

[Jon L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murugesh /img/forum/go_quote.gif But the HE 60 we had in the meet was modded by Ray Samuels. He actually put the driver side out and still it sounds nice.

What does "driver side out" mean, and do you mean the modded HE60 sounded better than unmodded HE60?

 

[robm321]

^ Driver turned backwards.

 

[spritzer]

I'm guessing he turned the driver around to run them out of phase. I really can't understand why he did that since they are dipoles so all you have to do is switch the + and - wires to run them out of phase. It's been a while since I last worked on a HE60 but I don't remeber there being slots for the rubber o-ring on the front dust covers (which are now in the back) so the phones could be suffering from a massive baffle leak which makes them sound horrible to say the least. It is my experience that a properly refurbished and well driven He60 will do quite a few things better then the He90 (less diffused, less bass overhang and rather faster over all) and even stand up the the Stax SR-Omega (also called Omega 1).

 

[Murugesh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon L /img/forum/go_quote.gif What does "driver side out" mean, and do you mean the modded HE60 sounded better than unmodded HE60?

Sorry I didn't explain that stuff clearly.

Actually Ray took the driver out of the cup and fitted back with the driver turned backwards. i.e. the side of the driver, which is supposed to face our ears is now facing the grill. Normally when we do such a mod it would spoil the sound. But in this case the phone still sounded nice. I cannot compare with unmodded HE 60 because I don't remember how it normally sounds. But all I wanted to say is it just sounds nice.

 

[odigg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morph201 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Maybe I need to put on my flame resistant suit for this.. ****Caveat.. THIS IS JUST MY OPINION, regarding SQ ONLY! It sounded like what the K701 would sound like if it had some b@lls and better dynamics!! Keep in mind this is going from slightly fuzzy memory of the K701. I'm sure others have differing opinions, but that's my 2 cents worth. BN: When I said b@lls.. I meant Bass-balls. lol, ok that was stupid...

Somebody else shares your evaluation. http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f45/fi...ml#post5587379

Hmm...Time to invest in a K701 with a bass boost circuit? HAHAHAHA

 

[thread]

Ray explained to me that the HE60 sounded harsh in the high end before the mod. He had ordered some replacement drivers and accidentally put them in backwards. According to him, this made the HE60 sound almost as good as the HE90!

He modded someone else's HE60 the same way, and they both agreed it was a great improvement.

Go figure.

 

[robm321]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thread /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ray explained to me that the HE60 sounded harsh in the high end before the mod. He had ordered some replacement drivers and accidentally put them in backwards. According to him, this made the HE60 sound almost as good as the HE90! He modded someone else's HE60 the same way, and they both agreed it was a great improvement. Go figure.

So in all the research and development at Sennheisser in designing the HE60 they never bothered to try it backwards

I guess I can't be too hard on them. Many discoveries happen by accident.

 

[Duggeh]

I'm very fond of the HE60 sound and I'm extremely wary of this mod if the technical aspects our Icelandic stalwart has articulated are correct. It would seem to follow from such procedural reasoning that if you mounted the HE90 drivers back to front they would also sound better.

 

[peanuthead]

Thanks elrod for the FET-A impression. Sounds like a great amp.

 

[robm321]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duggeh /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm very fond of the HE60 sound and I'm extremely wary of this mod if the technical aspects our Icelandic stalwart has articulated are correct. It would seem to follow from such procedural reasoning that if you mounted the HE90 drivers back to front they would also sound better.

Good point! So, who's gonna try it?

- may make the best headphone sound even better....

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by robm321 /img/forum/go_quote.gif So in all the research and development at Sennheisser in designing the HE60 they never bothered to try it backwards

99% of electrostatic drivers have no front or back since they are push pull dipoles. If they were different in any way then it would cause massive distortion (10% or even more) since the diaphragm has to be pushed and pulled due to it having no suspension mechanism. Here you can see Stax SR-404 drivers which I was refurbishing seen from front to back and back to front.



The pieces with red on them are the drivers (the other parts are protection grills and the baffles) and one is facing the right way up and the other is upside down. As you can see they are identical. The HE60 drivers are even simpler, just two pieces of plastic which make up the stators (made conductive with paint) and the diaphragm is glued to one of them). Then there are two plastic rings which hold the dust covers and the whole assembly is bolted together with plastic bolts. I don't doubt that they sound different as even a small leak to the outside changes the FR response of any electrostatic driver and that is the exact same reason why we do mods to the new Stax SR-007 Mk2/A's. This is also the reason why so many HE60's out there sound so bad.

Just for the record, I did run the He90 out of phase and it didn't make any difference at all. I didn't mess with the drivers though but simply reversed the signals with a little adapter.

 

[robm321]

Thanks Spritzer! Well there ya go - nothing more to see here.