Ahh certainly, for music, they blow my X2HRs and K712s out of the water. Well-mastered tracks with a high dynamic range, I can't listen to if not with the HD800S.
Though testing them with Modern Warfare, I was very surprised at how well the HD598s stack up. The difference was more subtle.
I will likely get the HDV820 at some point. I just really hope Sony update the PS5 to support UAC2, so I could at least use it directly.
Currently using the 800s with SXFI dongle, the volume output of which seems to really bug out.
UAC2 support would require a pretty big software update and policy change, but AFAIK it’s not a hardware change in the PS5. That said, an HDMI extractor with optical out, or a TV with optical out can get your PS5 indirectly connected to an HDV 820. You could also do something funny (like I’ve done in the past) and connect the SX-Fi to the HDV820’s amp section
The HDV 820 does add a bit of meat and solidity to the proceedings. I use my HD 800 and HDV 820 together, truly it is a good pairing.
To balance between what Mad was saying and
@BIG POPPA, each change upstream of a headphone makes a little bit of difference in the sound. It really makes sense to first get a headphone with the tone you like. “Endgame” is a state of mind, where you accept the gear you have as-is, and just focus on the media (music/games/etc). However, when you add up all the little changes in a truly dialed-in system, the final effect is quite impressive (but so too is your credit debt, so it’s best to be sure and to add these pieces a bit at a time).
It’s kind of like the first time you fight a boss in a Soulsborne game: you hit them once, and it only chips away a tiny bit of health, while one hit from a boss takes away most or all of your health. You think, wow, how could I ever take all that health bar. But you can keep chipping away at it and being patient, you can achieve a new level. And risk having your soul trapped in the “game” of upgrades forever (muah haha)
would be really interesting if Drop would send the 8xx out for reviews and at the same time send out a normal set of HD800 to actually compare the 8xx to.... Drop could have easily just changed the color of the ear cup ring to blue and said they tuned it and the reviewers would not notice a difference... kinda like looking a a LG TV vs a Sony TV without having them side by side.... they both look great, its just that you have to get them side by side to actually tell the difference... same with ALL HD800 variants...
Drop is sending out the HD 8xx to me soon, should arrive by the Thursday after Easter. I’ll have a whole slew of Sennheisers to compare it to.
We should do this exercise where we identify the little brother of the HD800S in terms of competitive gaming in lower price brackets.
Who is the HD800S's little brother between:
A. $150-$300 ?
B. $300-$500 ?
C. $500-$1000 ?
D. $1000-$1500 ?
A. HD 560S
B. HD 700 (Discontinued)
C. Mmmmmmeh, I’ve heard some suggestions, but none in this price carry the impact and soundstage DNA of the HD 800S
D. HD 8xx / HD 800S