[cskippy]

This is a good comparison:
D8000

Utopia

My big hangup is the dip at 3kHz, which Utopia already has a bit, and the peak at 8kHz. But bass looks pretty good to me.

 

[ostewart]

It looks like these have a somewhat disappointing bass response, if the measurements are accurate. I was hoping for a flat-to-20Hz response that certain Audeze planars are able to achieve.

But as always, I'll reserve final judgement until I hear them for myself.

Final designed them to have better bass response than other planars, hence why thth developed the air film damping system. This does mean it's not ruler flat, but at the end of the day it is the sound and not the measurements that matter

Try and listen to them if you get a chance

 

[m8o]

Anyone have experience with both this and the HiFiMan HE-6? Hoping you can compare and contrast the two.

 

[angpsi]

Hi guys, it's been over four weeks since I became the proud owner of the Final D8000 and following your posts I couldn't agree more on how wonderful they are. Unfortunately only piece of kit I currently own to play them with is... my Chord Mojo (I know..). Someone mentioned here that the D8000 were intended once to be displayed with Questyle's CMA line of amps and I was wondering whether anyone actually got to listen to the combo. Do you think they will fare well with these headphones?

Before you answer, I feel it's only fair disclose my odd circumstances: I won the D8000 on the HiFI+ competition, if you can believe it! Then again, at the time I got them I was actually on my way of getting out of the headphones game altogether. This means that all my hp gear was sold and gone, keeping only my Senn HD600 with my Onso cable (look it up, it's amazing) to listen casually out of the Mojo. Unlucky in my incredible luck, winning the D8000 actually meant that I'd have to start spending allover again to gear up to do them fair by their very high standards. My initial response was to put them on sale. However my ad hasn't been met with any real interest, therefore it looks like I'll probably be keeping them (good because they are absolutely fantastic and they bring tears to my eyes).

Which brings me to my original question: what I'm really looking for is an affordable amp that will serve them well. For one thing, I've listened extensively to the Questyle CMA600i in the past and I found it to be a remarkable piece of gear in the moderately priced gear tier. The 400i would be an even more approachable option if it managed to cope with the D8000. Any other options out there? What do you think?

Btw, Milo is out of my reach at the moment. Do you think it's worth start saving for?

Thanks in advance.

 

[hop ham]

Hi guys, it's been over four weeks since I became the proud owner of the Final D8000 and following your posts I couldn't agree more on how wonderful they are. Unfortunately only piece of kit I currently own to play them with is... my Chord Mojo (I know..). Someone mentioned here that the D8000 were intended once to be displayed with Questyle's CMA line of amps and I was wondering whether anyone actually got to listen to the combo. Do you think they will fare well with these headphones?

Before you answer, I feel it's only fair disclose my odd circumstances: I won the D8000 on the HiFI+ competition, if you can believe it! Then again, at the time I got them I was actually on my way of getting out of the headphones game altogether. This means that all my hp gear was sold and gone, keeping only my Senn HD600 with my Onso cable (look it up, it's amazing) to listen casually out of the Mojo. Unlucky in my incredible luck, winning the D8000 actually meant that I'd have to start spending allover again to gear up to do them fair by their very high standards. My initial response was to put them on sale. However my ad hasn't been met with any real interest, therefore it looks like I'll probably be keeping them (good because they are absolutely fantastic and they bring tears to my eyes).

Which brings me to my original question: what I'm really looking for is an affordable amp that will serve them well. For one thing, I've listened extensively to the Questyle CMA600i in the past and I found it to be a remarkable piece of gear in the moderately priced gear tier. The 400i would be an even more approachable option if it managed to cope with the D8000. Any other options out there? What do you think?

Btw, Milo is out of my reach at the moment. Do you think it's worth start saving for?

Thanks in advance.

What don't you like about the Mojo combo? The D8000 doesn't need much of an amp to sound really good.

 

[musicman59]

Hi guys, it's been over four weeks since I became the proud owner of the Final D8000 and following your posts I couldn't agree more on how wonderful they are. Unfortunately only piece of kit I currently own to play them with is... my Chord Mojo (I know..). Someone mentioned here that the D8000 were intended once to be displayed with Questyle's CMA line of amps and I was wondering whether anyone actually got to listen to the combo. Do you think they will fare well with these headphones?

Before you answer, I feel it's only fair disclose my odd circumstances: I won the D8000 on the HiFI+ competition, if you can believe it! Then again, at the time I got them I was actually on my way of getting out of the headphones game altogether. This means that all my hp gear was sold and gone, keeping only my Senn HD600 with my Onso cable (look it up, it's amazing) to listen casually out of the Mojo. Unlucky in my incredible luck, winning the D8000 actually meant that I'd have to start spending allover again to gear up to do them fair by their very high standards. My initial response was to put them on sale. However my ad hasn't been met with any real interest, therefore it looks like I'll probably be keeping them (good because they are absolutely fantastic and they bring tears to my eyes).

Which brings me to my original question: what I'm really looking for is an affordable amp that will serve them well. For one thing, I've listened extensively to the Questyle CMA600i in the past and I found it to be a remarkable piece of gear in the moderately priced gear tier. The 400i would be an even more approachable option if it managed to cope with the D8000. Any other options out there? What do you think?

Btw, Milo is out of my reach at the moment. Do you think it's worth start saving for?

Thanks in advance.

My only experience with the D8000 is with the Cayin HA-1A Mk2 and the Milo.
It was a significant difference in the sound. It was easy to tell the Cayin was struggling to power the D8000 properly. The bass was terrible. As soon we moved them to the Milo it sounded as a totally different headphone. Probably one of the best I have heard. Everything just got right in its place.
In my opinion, yes, the D8000 needs good power to really show when it is capable. Maybe it does not have to be the Milo but something with good amount of power but for your with the Milo they sound wonderful.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Planars at this level really do sound better with lots of power & a balanced amp. I would think either of these 2 would be more than sufficient power-wise, also in sonics:

• Schitt Jotunheim ($399 new)
• Matrix M Stage HPA-3B ($419)

 

[angpsi]

What don't you like about the Mojo combo? The D8000 doesn't need much of an amp to sound really good.

Hey @hop ham, indeed they do; but as I put them on a friend's Trafomatic Primavera it was immediately evident that they needed lots of breaking in, and it would take lots of watts do do it efficiently! On the good side, they can still sound marvellous off the Mojo - on any DAP for that matter. But they're also still planars, and I think that feeding them a study and sufficient amount of power is still required to have them perform to the best of their potential. Take this with a grain of salt though, it's my first time on this side of the game and I'm still learning as I go.

I have a friend with a Lehmann Black Cube, it's possible that it could be an interesting low budget fit.

 

[angpsi]

My only experience with the D8000 is with the Cayin HA-1A Mk2 and the Milo.
It was a significant difference in the sound. It was easy to tell the Cayin was struggling to power the D8000 properly. The bass was terrible. As soon we moved them to the Milo it sounded as a totally different headphone. Probably one of the best I have heard. Everything just got right in its place.
In my opinion, yes, the D8000 needs good power to really show when it is capable. Maybe it does not have to be the Milo but something with good amount of power but for your with the Milo they sound wonderful.

Right said. Also agreed on the tonal balance. These cans are beautifully voiced. When I put them against a friend's LCD X I wouldn't touch the latter with a stick. On the opposite side, when I listened them against another friend's Abyss and the Susvara on his Trafomatic Primavera they kind of reminded me of the latter, but the Susvara were more open and effortless (as they should be at 2x the price).

Just fyi, this friend had a very interesting experience with the Susvara because they felt very closed and tight at first - to the point that it didn't make sense to pay good money on them. As he managed eventually to break them in, using LOTS of watts as stated in so many reviews by now, he was rewarded with a world-class sound. In fact that's what made him buy the Trafo, to get an end-game set to power his two end-game cans. When he heard the D8000 he told me that they felt kind of the same: closed at first listen with recessed mids and rolled-off bass, but opening up wonderfully as they break in. We both agreed that the D8000 are tonally right from the start. And that's a lot of praise coming from his (reviewer's) ears.

 

[angpsi]

Planars at this level really do sound better with lots of power & a balanced amp. I would think either of these 2 would be more than sufficient power-wise, also in sonics:

• Schitt Jotunheim ($399 new)
• Matrix M Stage HPA-3B ($419)

Thanks @Pharmaboy, interesting options! Balanced would be nice but would need to buy an extra balanced cable. But then you're saving me money, aren't you?

 

[Oscar-HiFi]

Thanks @Pharmaboy, interesting options! Balanced would be nice but would need to buy an extra balanced cable. But then you're saving me money, aren't you?

Might be worth looking into the new Burson Fun and a separate DAC (Topping D50 / JDS Labs EL DAC).

 

[hop ham]

Hey @hop ham, indeed they do; but as I put them on a friend's Trafomatic Primavera it was immediately evident that they needed lots of breaking in, and it would take lots of watts do do it efficiently! On the good side, they can still sound marvellous off the Mojo - on any DAP for that matter. But they're also still planars, and I think that feeding them a study and sufficient amount of power is still required to have them perform to the best of their potential. Take this with a grain of salt though, it's my first time on this side of the game and I'm still learning as I go.

I have a friend with a Lehmann Black Cube, it's possible that it could be an interesting low budget fit.

I've only had my D8000s for a few months so haven't hooked it up to all my amps but I have tried it with GSXmk2 among a few others. I preferred D8000 straight out of my Dave and Pro iDSD rather than hooking it up to an external amp. There are tradeoffs but that's just my preference. Hooking up to a good amp made me first think it brought the D8000 to life but after I lived with that sound for a while I went back to the integrated amps in my Dac/Amp combos. The same does not apply to some of my other headphones.

Anyway, good luck. You don't really need an expensive amp to fully enjoy the D8000.

 

[angpsi]

This is a good comparison:
D8000

Utopia

My big hangup is the dip at 3kHz, which Utopia already has a bit, and the peak at 8kHz. But bass looks pretty good to me.

Just now I was watching Paul McGowan's show on YouTube about the "BBC dip", namely an intentional dip at 2-3KHz that made their monitors sound more 'natural'. Could the BBC dip account for the measurements of the D8000? Btw @cskippy, just out of curiosity are you the same guy who did this?

 

[Pharmaboy]

Thanks @Pharmaboy, interesting options! Balanced would be nice but would need to buy an extra balanced cable. But then you're saving me money, aren't you?

No, not saving you money! But sorry about the balanced cable thing...I just assumed one would come w/these headphones.

 

[cskippy]

Just now I was watching Paul McGowan's show on YouTube about the "BBC dip", namely an intentional dip at 2-3KHz that made their monitors sound more 'natural'. Could the BBC dip account for the measurements of the D8000? Btw @cskippy, just out of curiosity are you the same guy who did this?

Hahaha I've seen that too....good stuff! I am not the owner of DIY-Audio-Heaven. I have posted my own measurements and have done pad rolling linked in my signature, where you can see my other galleries with various measurements.