Is the HD800 overpriced?
Jul 12, 2013 at 4:08 PM Post #631 of 685
Would not*, thanks for the correction. The simple fact of the matter some headphones take effort to get them close to perfection. Which is to say they strong qualities from the outset and high potential to fulfil, which reward you immensely when you've made the journey. While others can be immediately satisfying but have a lower potential (The HD800 vs the TH900 is a perfect example of this). The HD800s are rarely recommended by the more experienced members of this site unless purchaser is willing to make the necessary effort with them. You can criticise them for this quality but you cannot judge the HD800's overall ability because you've never really heard what kind of "music" they can actually make, and don't pretend that you have.
 
Second of all, I don't give a damn about hearing every last detail in a piece of music/gear. I care far more about dynamics, engagement and the emotional intensity of music as communicated by the medium. If I felt the HD800 couldn't give me these qualities, I wouldn't waste my time on them. The problem is that some people are  looking for instant gratification, thinking if they spend a wad of money after reading some marketing blurbs they will get it, then feel bitter when they don't and then proceed to spend far more time and effort decrying the item in question. You don't need to spend huge amounts of money on "higher-end gear", but you do need to spend time, trial-and-error and pay attention to your upstream gear. Understandably,a newbie who jumps in without first gradually moving up the tiers, as it were, may not appreciate the improvements in refinement and expressiveness that culminate in top end gear like the HD800s (I moved from cheap Panasonic portables > Wireless headphones (Sennheiser RS110) etc > HD 515 >  HD595 > HD25 >Denon D2000> HD650 - K701- DT880> HE-500 > HD800. There are far many headphones to list in between these journey posts, but these have made the most impression & I have then sold most of my headphones). The journey and time spent is the reward, as the cliche goes, the things I've learned about music and its production and the evolution of my tastes are the reasons why I've gravitated towards the HD800 as my end point.
 
But this isn't for everyone and is expensive in both time and money; its a niche hobby after all. But at almost every stage of it,I can say the improvements in my enjoyment of music were real, not simply a product of Audiophool snake-oil delusions and obsessions with irrelevant minutiae in music playback. To simply dismiss the opinions of people who have likewise made the journey to their preferred end-point, the HD800, because of your invaluable 3-hour session with them, is evidently insulting. Though I will say that if you're going to listen primarily to bass-heavy electronic music and badly-mastered modern genres, you're wasting your time with most of high-end. This kind of music is inherently limited and the same kind of enjoyment can be derived on much cheaper gear or better yet, speakers. It was not designed for intimate, high-resolution playback.
 
Jul 12, 2013 at 4:13 PM Post #632 of 685
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What I  find annoying, is how each time  some guy express his distaste with the hd800, most of the time he is redirected to a "higher end" rig,
putting  "all the blame" on the source, and off course  just like you have done, suggesting "the lack of experience" of others.
I  imagine , that some user would actually notice improvements by switching to other rig, but it's also obvious to me that some commercial interests , are behind this state of mind.

 
I think you've got some very good ideas in this otherwise messy place. I'm surprised how much focus gets put on the amplifier for the HD800. What I always find quite humorous is that very commonly the recommended amplifier has some sort of tube action. Seems like people don't really understand tubes. 
 
Jul 12, 2013 at 4:32 PM Post #633 of 685
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Seems like people don't really understand tubes.
 

Are you talking about yourself? Referring to yourself in plural, as in the royal We perhaps?
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Jul 12, 2013 at 5:16 PM Post #634 of 685
lol, u guys really make both sides of the argument well worth reading/considering.  As someone who is looking into getting the HD800, both sides and their points have given me quite a bit of background info regarding what I should expect from the HD800 when it comes to sound signature, potential issues with components ... But my ears will be the final judge and deciding factor.  That's why I am going to the Cali audio meet in August to test out the HD800 and hopefully a few other gears.  Thx to all.
 
Jul 12, 2013 at 8:20 PM Post #636 of 685
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lol, u guys really make both sides of the argument well worth reading/considering.  As someone who is looking into getting the HD800, both sides and their points have given me quite a bit of background info regarding what I should expect from the HD800 when it comes to sound signature, potential issues with components ... But my ears will be the final judge and deciding factor.  That's why I am going to the Cali audio meet in August to test out the HD800 and hopefully a few other gears.  Thx to all.

Well, if you let your ears decide a headphone around 1500-2000$, there is a 33% chance that you're going to hesitate between the HD800/LCD3/HE6 
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. Ultimately, the 34% vote is your purchase 
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Jul 12, 2013 at 10:12 PM Post #637 of 685
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Why are you on head-fi then?  Just curious, especially with your number of post count. 
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My post count has nothing to do with anything. Why am I here? To help others when I can and converse with some people who have the same certain interests as me. You don't see me going into a new Hifiman, Audeze or JH audio thread about being interested in new products. I'm frankly done with my setup maybe few more amplification additions I will add in the future so I just come in and chill in this place. I've been observing for a long time and I can safely that a lot of "audiophiles" here waste more time/money on new headgear, hype, bias, FOTM than care about there source, i.e. enjoying music itself. 
 
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No ****. Audiophiles are not music lovers. They are detail freaks who'd much rather listen to their gear/their money than listen to their music. I'm not an audiophile. I'm a music lover that has been spoiled by extremely good sounding audio equipment. Enjoying the music is all that is important to me. Many others on this forum are the same.

If a headphone fails to render my music in a way that is enjoyable to listen to, it's not a good headphone. The HD800 isn't a music machine. It's a tool for picking out recording imperfections. It lacks any sort of musical characteristics. That's why it's overpriced, and that's why I would not call it a good headphone.

Now don't get me wrong, I like detail, and if the headphones in question aren't at least somewhat capable they too will get in the way of my enjoyment. But seriously, the HD800 has to be the most analytical, boring, uninvolving, nit picky son of a bitch I've ever had on my head. I don't want to stare at my music from behind an electron microscope. I don't want to notice that my recording's waveform cuts out for 10 ms when the song changes to the chorus. I want to hear the beautiful guitar melody layered with the percussion and vocals all working together to create a masterpiece of aural excitement.

The HD800's can sound musical for only two genres - classical and jazz. All other stuff will sound meh. If you think the HD800's is a microsope with music, you should hear an SR-Omega one day. 
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This is the smartest post I have heard in a very long time. Everything you said is spot-on. +1M. 

+2
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Second of all, I don't give a damn about hearing every last detail in a piece of music/gear. I care far more about dynamics, engagement and the emotional intensity of music as communicated by the medium. If I felt the HD800 couldn't give me these qualities, I wouldn't waste my time on them. 

+1
 
Jul 12, 2013 at 11:30 PM Post #638 of 685
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My post count has nothing to do with anything. Why am I here? To help others when I can and converse with some people who have the same certain interests as me. You don't see me going into a new Hifiman, Audeze or JH audio thread about being interested in new products. I'm frankly done with my setup maybe few more amplification additions I will add in the future so I just come in and chill in this place. I've been observing for a long time and I can safely that a lot of "audiophiles" here waste more time/money on new headgear, hype, bias, FOTM than care about there source, i.e. enjoying music itself. 

Good to know.  Thx.
 
Jul 13, 2013 at 4:33 AM Post #639 of 685
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This is the smartest post I have heard in a very long time. Everything you said is spot-on. +1M. 

When I first heard HD800 I was coming from HD650 and I was impressed by the technical advancement but didn't convince me to buy it...so I didn't . That was on Burson HA-160ds. After I bought Conductor I heard HD800 again, then DarKu gave it to me for a week and then it really convinced me. 
 
From what I have seen from the measurements ( Impedance & Phase ) of HD800, it needs ~630 ohms for lower freq, so a capable amp will change it... (or maybe i haven't interpreted the graph correctly in which case please correct me)
 
Jul 13, 2013 at 8:56 AM Post #640 of 685
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From what I have seen from the measurements ( Impedance & Phase ) of HD800, it needs ~630 ohms for lower freq, so a capable amp will change it... (or maybe i haven't interpreted the graph correctly in which case please correct me)

I think it's actually the minimal impedance that matters on the graph.
You must have for the source , an output impedance 8 times smaller, than the one for headphone,
so you take in account the smallest impedance on graph to avoid problems.
This match the spec  provided by sennheiser : 300 ohms.
 
Jul 13, 2013 at 9:59 AM Post #641 of 685
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 Though I will say that if you're going to listen primarily to bass-heavy electronic music and badly-mastered modern genres, you're wasting your time with most of high-end. This kind of music is inherently limited and the same kind of enjoyment can be derived on much cheaper gear or better yet, speakers.

It's a pity that "bass-heavy" electronic music is looked with some disdain.
I  don't think the example with igorrr provided before in this thread, lacks creativity, talents, richness, nor is badly mastered.
I  could also cite some psytance groups like "infected mushrooms" , that doesn't sound like  quickly made commercial music for the mass.
It's my understanding that the hd800,  shine better with sounds from true instruments, and that some appreciate the "naturalness/accuracy" you get with the hd800.
But sounds produced  from more artificial/synthetic means,  shouldn't be disregarded as well. And it's usually more with "synthesized"  music that the hd800 fail to convince.
 
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It was not designed for intimate, high-resolution playback.

Only audiophools , believe in the virtues of "high-resolution playback".
 
Jul 13, 2013 at 12:45 PM Post #642 of 685
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Only audiophools , believe in the virtues of "high-resolution playback".

 
And you're the biggest fool of all, spending so much time on a Hi-Fi site without realising what it stands for. A post count of 2,457 and you can still make statements like that. What did you buy the HD800 for, to be expensive ear warmers? High Fidelity is characterized by minimal distortion in sound reproduction, the big reason why the HD800 sounds as clean and resolving as it does, if your electronic music sounds crap on them then its because it is crap to begin with. That's assuming you can even tell what its really supposed to sound like, the only person who'd know that would be producer who arranged those synthesized  samples on the gear that he uses to play them back. With acoustic music, you have a real-life reference to the instruments and performers.
 
[size=14.44444465637207px]I'm done with this thread.[/size]
 
Jul 13, 2013 at 12:56 PM Post #643 of 685
I didn't  realize post count was the barometer of expertise around here....
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Sheesh, I must be approaching guru status then....
 
 
 
Jul 13, 2013 at 1:55 PM Post #645 of 685
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And you're the biggest fool of all, spending so much time on a Hi-Fi site without realising what it stands for. A post count of 2,457 and you can still make statements like that. What did you buy the HD800 for, to be expensive ear warmers? High Fidelity is characterized by minimal distortion in sound reproduction, the big reason why the HD800 sounds as clean and resolving as it does, if your electronic music sounds crap on them then its because it is crap to begin with. That's assuming you can even tell what its really supposed to sound like, the only person who'd know that would be producer who arranged those synthesized  samples on the gear that he uses to play them back. With acoustic music, you have a real-life reference to the instruments and performers.
 
[size=14.44444465637207px]I'm done with this thread.[/size]

 
Go and read about audio bitrates and sampling rates etc. Then read over your post again and you will see that what you have said is incorrect.
 

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