First of all, These headphones sound just amazing.
A refined sound with a signature of an HD800.
That being said, and as high a lev they are, probably above most,
On comparison to an HD800 they come across a bit more polite in the mids to treble, while the bass is excellent if not superior.
There is another quality in terms if TOTL cans that I look for, and easiest way to describe it is liveliness.
The HD800 still does female vocal superior with an airy liveliness.
This can does so many thing way above and top notch , but bottom line I get more life out of my HD800 which is admittedly hard to beat in that respect.
But the signature is soo similar it is shocking and I could well live with these..
I have had the fortune to critically listen to them at a friends house and for their purpose they are a success.
But for greatest solution I still pick the HD800..
And recently made my descision on the Ethers after listening to every other planar.
So if anyone came to me for a suggestion I could not in good conscience recommend these unless they had money to burn, because they are an acceptable solution for a closed can if you want an HD800 signature and almost similar stage..that is a great achievement.
So my comments are an up and down recommendation,
And not an easy choice.
