Orcin
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2007
- Posts
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I have spent the past two evenings sipping wine with my new HD800's on my head. It has been two wonderful evenings! These headphones are like a dream come true for me so far. The summary is "I really like them". However, please continue reading if you want more detailed impressions.
For my initial listening sessions, I chose the following music:
Radiohead - The Best Of
U2 - No Line On The Horizon
Nine Inch Nails - Downward Spiral Deluxe Edition Disc 2
David Gilmour - On An Island
Nine Inch Nails -Year Zero
King Crimson - Court Of The Crimson King (30th anniversary edition)
I purposely stayed away from albums that I knew would sound good on the HD800's, in other words albums that I always preferred on my HD600's over my Denon D2000's (music such as Joni Mitchell or Dave Brubeck). Instead I wanted to immediately address my primary questions about the HD800, which were driven by a lot of recent comments on Head-Fi. Specifically, my concerns were a lack of bass and a "lifeless" sound which I interpreted to mean a lack of impact and "slam". I did not want to spend this kind of money on a specialty "soundstage" phone that offered little advantage over my HD600's and left me wanting more bass or impact with rock music. My concerns were laid to rest and I am left to wonder if my ears are so much different from others or if my amp and the synergy of my mostly copper cables and carefully-selected tubes has given me an advantage.
If there is any doubt about impact and bass, it can be judged quite easily with Nine Inch Nails. I was thrilled to discover that the HD800s provide the same impact and quantity of bass as the Denons, but with a LOT more resolution and clarity in the midrange and upper bass and with more depth to the lower bass. The HD800's delivered that "subwoofer-in-my-head" sound that I love about tracks 4-6 of Year Zero. If the sound doesn't almost pound your ears on these tracks, it's just not right. The HD800 did that just as well as the Denons, which is plenty of bass for me. The thrilling thing about this conclusion is that the HD800 could indeed be my only headphone and I would not be reaching for the D2000's everytime I wanted more "ooomph".
I knew the HD800 soundstage would be spectacular, and it was confirmed with David Gilmour's "On An Island". This album moves all over the place with the soaring guitar riffs, vocals, and supporting instruments all taking turns as the focal point. The HD800 presented this music in a way that I had not previously experienced. Very exciting! The revelation with this album was that the sound was warm and rich, not sterile and flat as with my HD600. This selection, and and my collection of Pink Floyd, always drove me to reach for the D2000's in order to get more depth in the sound, and then I was left wanting to hear more detail. There is no more compromise needed because the HD800 delivers both.
One thing that I had not counted on was the ability of these phones to resolve complex passages. I should have understood that this was a quality of such expensive and well-designed phones, but I had no idea of the leap they make in this regard over my other phones. U2's "No Line" and Nine Inch Nails' "Year Zero" are both excellent albums to reveal this strength of the HD800. There is a lot going on in many parts of both of these selections, and it is very easy for detail to become lost in a wave of sound. The HD800 handled these complexities with ease, and I heard detail in both selections that I hadn't experienced with my other phones. I never felt that the HD800 was overwhelmed by the complex passages, instead it felt effortless like the music was just there instead of struggling to come out.
I chose the King Crimson selection because of its rather odd recording style. It's well-recorded in the sense that it is full of rich detail but it is somewhat under-recorded to provide a dramatic dynamic range. This has the effect of making it sound "lifeless" on my HD600's and I wanted to see how the HD800 handled it. I was very pleasantly surprised. Fortunately, the album starts with a lively selection (21st Century Schizoid Man) that allowed me to adjust the volume to a comfortable level, otherwise I might have turned the amp up too far and lost the dramatic dynamics in the softer passages that came later. The HD800 gave a very full sound to the quiet passages and the detail was astonishing. This album, more than any other, gave me the impression that I had many, many CD's in my collection that I have never really heard.
I chose Radiohead as my first selection because I had been using it recently to A/B my HD600 with my D2000. Therefore, it was very familiar and I knew well the limitations of both my phones on this music. Frankly, I wasn't completely happy with either of them on Radiohead, although the HD600 seemed to be winning. The contest was settled quickly, with both incumbents easily defeated. There was no doubt in my mind by the end of these 16 tracks that I had made the right choice with the HD800. Again, I was very surprised by the rich, full sound of the HD800 on tracks such as Paranoid Andriod and Idioteque. There was no hint of "lifeless" sound and I am left to wonder about the cause of the difference in my experience from that of the many detractors on Head-Fi.
For reference, here are the details of my system:
Sennheiser HD800 headphones with Moon Audio Blue Dragon cable
Woo Audio WA6SE amplifier with Sophia Princess rectifier tube
MHDT Paradisea+ DAC with 1953 WE396A tube
Grover SC RCA interconnects between DAC & amp
Zu Birth power cables on both DAC and amp
PC Audio Duet power conditioner
Source:
FLAC files ripped with EAC played via Foobar2000 using Vista WASAPI
output to DAC via optical cable from motherboard
I will continue to evaluate the phones over the next couple of weeks. I am burning in the phones and Blue Dragon cable on my backup rig during the day and overnight. Maybe the sound will change after a couple of hundred hours. It will be interesting to see the effect but I can't imagine that it will be much better!
For my initial listening sessions, I chose the following music:
Radiohead - The Best Of
U2 - No Line On The Horizon
Nine Inch Nails - Downward Spiral Deluxe Edition Disc 2
David Gilmour - On An Island
Nine Inch Nails -Year Zero
King Crimson - Court Of The Crimson King (30th anniversary edition)
I purposely stayed away from albums that I knew would sound good on the HD800's, in other words albums that I always preferred on my HD600's over my Denon D2000's (music such as Joni Mitchell or Dave Brubeck). Instead I wanted to immediately address my primary questions about the HD800, which were driven by a lot of recent comments on Head-Fi. Specifically, my concerns were a lack of bass and a "lifeless" sound which I interpreted to mean a lack of impact and "slam". I did not want to spend this kind of money on a specialty "soundstage" phone that offered little advantage over my HD600's and left me wanting more bass or impact with rock music. My concerns were laid to rest and I am left to wonder if my ears are so much different from others or if my amp and the synergy of my mostly copper cables and carefully-selected tubes has given me an advantage.
If there is any doubt about impact and bass, it can be judged quite easily with Nine Inch Nails. I was thrilled to discover that the HD800s provide the same impact and quantity of bass as the Denons, but with a LOT more resolution and clarity in the midrange and upper bass and with more depth to the lower bass. The HD800's delivered that "subwoofer-in-my-head" sound that I love about tracks 4-6 of Year Zero. If the sound doesn't almost pound your ears on these tracks, it's just not right. The HD800 did that just as well as the Denons, which is plenty of bass for me. The thrilling thing about this conclusion is that the HD800 could indeed be my only headphone and I would not be reaching for the D2000's everytime I wanted more "ooomph".
I knew the HD800 soundstage would be spectacular, and it was confirmed with David Gilmour's "On An Island". This album moves all over the place with the soaring guitar riffs, vocals, and supporting instruments all taking turns as the focal point. The HD800 presented this music in a way that I had not previously experienced. Very exciting! The revelation with this album was that the sound was warm and rich, not sterile and flat as with my HD600. This selection, and and my collection of Pink Floyd, always drove me to reach for the D2000's in order to get more depth in the sound, and then I was left wanting to hear more detail. There is no more compromise needed because the HD800 delivers both.
One thing that I had not counted on was the ability of these phones to resolve complex passages. I should have understood that this was a quality of such expensive and well-designed phones, but I had no idea of the leap they make in this regard over my other phones. U2's "No Line" and Nine Inch Nails' "Year Zero" are both excellent albums to reveal this strength of the HD800. There is a lot going on in many parts of both of these selections, and it is very easy for detail to become lost in a wave of sound. The HD800 handled these complexities with ease, and I heard detail in both selections that I hadn't experienced with my other phones. I never felt that the HD800 was overwhelmed by the complex passages, instead it felt effortless like the music was just there instead of struggling to come out.
I chose the King Crimson selection because of its rather odd recording style. It's well-recorded in the sense that it is full of rich detail but it is somewhat under-recorded to provide a dramatic dynamic range. This has the effect of making it sound "lifeless" on my HD600's and I wanted to see how the HD800 handled it. I was very pleasantly surprised. Fortunately, the album starts with a lively selection (21st Century Schizoid Man) that allowed me to adjust the volume to a comfortable level, otherwise I might have turned the amp up too far and lost the dramatic dynamics in the softer passages that came later. The HD800 gave a very full sound to the quiet passages and the detail was astonishing. This album, more than any other, gave me the impression that I had many, many CD's in my collection that I have never really heard.
I chose Radiohead as my first selection because I had been using it recently to A/B my HD600 with my D2000. Therefore, it was very familiar and I knew well the limitations of both my phones on this music. Frankly, I wasn't completely happy with either of them on Radiohead, although the HD600 seemed to be winning. The contest was settled quickly, with both incumbents easily defeated. There was no doubt in my mind by the end of these 16 tracks that I had made the right choice with the HD800. Again, I was very surprised by the rich, full sound of the HD800 on tracks such as Paranoid Andriod and Idioteque. There was no hint of "lifeless" sound and I am left to wonder about the cause of the difference in my experience from that of the many detractors on Head-Fi.
For reference, here are the details of my system:
Sennheiser HD800 headphones with Moon Audio Blue Dragon cable
Woo Audio WA6SE amplifier with Sophia Princess rectifier tube
MHDT Paradisea+ DAC with 1953 WE396A tube
Grover SC RCA interconnects between DAC & amp
Zu Birth power cables on both DAC and amp
PC Audio Duet power conditioner
Source:
FLAC files ripped with EAC played via Foobar2000 using Vista WASAPI
output to DAC via optical cable from motherboard
I will continue to evaluate the phones over the next couple of weeks. I am burning in the phones and Blue Dragon cable on my backup rig during the day and overnight. Maybe the sound will change after a couple of hundred hours. It will be interesting to see the effect but I can't imagine that it will be much better!
