[kion]

A

Are they going to cancel orders from other countries?

Doubt it - looks like new orders only but that's a strange U-turn

 

[kion]

I won't. Maybe that is the reason though.. too many cancelations etc.

It is only targeting people out side US/Canada so probably not related to the cancellation. Maybe they think they have sold enough units (initial batch is ~1000 or so?) so don't need people outside US/Canada to "help".

I think there has been a fair number of cancellations along the way, but IMO it's something to be expected for an in-development product with lots of uncertainty (look at all the tuning revisions that happened since it was first made available to pre-order). If it has anything to do with cancellation abuse, they should have made it clear either as a warning before purchase or before cancellation.

In my case I simply cancelled mine because the initial feedback was that it's only an upgrade to the HD800 but does not do enough to improve on the HD800S, so only a sidegrade.

 

[jasswolf]

When I enquired, I was told it was at the request of Sennheiser, but they wouldn't give me a contact point to discuss it further.

 

[Evshrug]

Looks like Drop has now restricted the sale to US and Canada only, this has been confirmed by Drop support.

I don't know what to make of their decision...

If I was outside of North America, I wouldn’t cancel a preorder yet. I haven’t seen Will or anyone at Drop make an official statement like this yet, nor does the product listing say NA Only. It’s possible they may do a rolling launch and ship to their largest markets first, but it’s also possible there was a misunderstanding from the person who contacted support, along the lines of “all of the HD 8xx ship originating from the US warehouse.” Let’s just wait till an employee makes a public statement to clarify.

If I do see an official statement or get contacted directly by Drop, I’ll link or share it here.

 

[jasswolf]

If I was outside of North America, I wouldn’t cancel a preorder yet. I haven’t seen Will or anyone at Drop make an official statement like this yet, nor does the product listing say NA Only. It’s possible they may do a rolling launch and ship to their largest markets first, but it’s also possible there was a misunderstanding from the person who contacted support, along the lines of “all of the HD 8xx ship originating from the US warehouse.” Let’s just wait till an employee makes a public statement to clarify.

If I do see an official statement or get contacted directly by Drop, I’ll link or share it here.

While that's all well and good, if you try and order now as an interntional customer, you're locked out.

That likely means you're locked out of the pre-order deal as well.

 

[askeladden]

I don't think they'll cancel international pre-orders. Going back on that would be legalese trouble I'm sure.
My pre-order is still active.

 

[kion]

If I was outside of North America, I wouldn’t cancel a preorder yet. I haven’t seen Will or anyone at Drop make an official statement like this yet, nor does the product listing say NA Only. It’s possible they may do a rolling launch and ship to their largest markets first, but it’s also possible there was a misunderstanding from the person who contacted support, along the lines of “all of the HD 8xx ship originating from the US warehouse.” Let’s just wait till an employee makes a public statement to clarify.

If I do see an official statement or get contacted directly by Drop, I’ll link or share it here.

Thank you - just FYI the below is from Drop support on 29 Jul:

"This particular run only ships to the United States and Canada at this time. We do everything we can to ship to as many countries as possible, but we're not always able to include every country for every run.

Factors that go into determining shipping eligibility include vendor limitations and import restrictions for items such as knives or batteries."

I am still hoping that this is just a generic reply from Drop for any product that is region-locked. I did try to explain the situation and ask if there is a change of policy in a follow-up email but I am still waiting to hear back.

 

[Evshrug]

I think Drop will add more clarity here. As said, there is often a roll out process where products hit different regions in different runs.

I did manage to talk to a Drop employee, and he indicated that there was interest just before Covid happened in opening operations in Europe again. Of course, a lot has happened since the pandemic, so we’ll see.

It also sounds like Drop is setting up an HD 8xx review tour. Hopefully a broader sampling of impressions and reviewer methodologies helps to form an “average” feel for the sound character and cover the details from many angles. For my part, Drop agreed to let me join the tour (I already left Prototype HD 8xx vs HD 800 impressions here) and I will do my best to describe the sonics of what will be the production version.

 

[Evshrug]

I got to hear the retail HD 8XX that will be shipping. The adjustments are bigger than before, objectively a v-shaped headphone, and I feel subjectively that it is a more emotional headphone instead of “just” a reference headphone:

It’s cool that there is now an option between the “Reference” HD 800S and the warmer, easier listening HD 8XX.

 

[trellus]

I got to hear the retail HD 8XX that will be shipping. The adjustments are bigger than before, and I feel subjectively that it is a better all-rounder headphone instead of “just” a reference headphone:

It’s cool that there is now an option between the “Reference” HD 800S and the warmer, easier listening HD 8XX.

You have a new subscriber after I watched that yesterday, thanks for the video.

Now, for the important question: why on earth is your beautiful HD 820 marred by a ... dreadful.... red sticker?

 

[Evshrug]

You have a new subscriber after I watched that yesterday, thanks for the video.

Now, for the important question: why on earth is your beautiful HD 820 marred by a ... dreadful.... red sticker?

Oh thank you! I hope to follow up with a more organized write-up, here on Head-Fi in my blog, soon. I really do appreciate the subscribing and encouragement; sometimes you have to psych yourself up to go record yourself alone in a room for awhile, giving your observations and opinions which you know will be scrutinized later I think it’s the kind of activity that is good for me though, as I am an introvert (as many of us audiophiles are) who is trying to be more extroverted and involved


Re: the HD 820
It comes with two films (with a red stripe) stuck onto the glass, to prevent fingerprints. I did succumb to the temptation to take one off, but I put it back on in the hopes I can make another video featuring the HD 820, so we can all experience the full unwrapping together because that is always a satisfying moment (and I think people could benefit from more sound impressions).

 

[trellus]

Oh thank you! I hope to follow up with a more organized write-up, here on Head-Fi in my blog, soon. I really do appreciate the subscribing and encouragement; sometimes you have to psych yourself up to go record yourself alone in a room for awhile, giving your observations and opinions which you know will be scrutinized later I think it’s the kind of activity that is good for me though, as I am an introvert (as many of us audiophiles are) who is trying to be more extroverted and involved


Re: the HD 820
It comes with two films (with a red stripe) stuck onto the glass, to prevent fingerprints. I did succumb to the temptation to take one off, but I put it back on in the hopes I can make another video featuring the HD 820, so we can all experience the full unwrapping together because that is always a satisfying moment (and I think people could benefit from more sound impressions).

Well, that makes sense! I look forward to it later... I know the HD 820 is a controversial headphone, but it's still one I am very interested in hearing more about.

Re: the HD 8XX, the HD 800 long ago (even more so than the 800S for some reason) was a dream headphone for me, and I'm confident one of the 8-series Sennheisers will be in my possession ... someday, lol.... still on the fence on the HD 8XX. I just got the Clear, and I can't say I'm unhappy in the least with them.... but always have been curious about the famed soundstage on the 8-series, particularly the OG 800, but 800S as well. The 8XX is a temptation still!

 

[Evshrug]

Well, that makes sense! I look forward to it later... I know the HD 820 is a controversial headphone, but it's still one I am very interested in hearing more about.

Re: the HD 8XX, the HD 800 long ago (even more so than the 800S for some reason) was a dream headphone for me, and I'm confident one of the 8-series Sennheisers will be in my possession ... someday, lol.... still on the fence on the HD 8XX. I just got the Clear, and I can't say I'm unhappy in the least with them.... but always have been curious about the famed soundstage on the 8-series, particularly the OG 800, but 800S as well. The 8XX is a temptation still!

HD 800 + HDV 820 + Smyth Realiser A16 = hard to imagine better
In fact, I didn’t, but the smoother upper mids on the HD 8xx were very easy on the ears.

Oh! And here’s the playlist of some of the songs I listened to on the HD 8XX… they’re synergetic because they all impressed me (but honestly, they’re also just great songs that sound good on my other headphones too):

I always felt that The Resistance - Muse should have been the opening track of the album by the same name. There’s an awesome swell off bass that feels like a sci-fi spaceship repulsor-lifting off into space, and I wanted to see if the HD 8XX could carry that bass swell with some weight. Mission accomplished! Also noticed some beeps and bwoops in the beginning that are masked by headphones with too much warmth and rumble, so it was a nice balance.
I'll make a whole separate post in my Head-Fi blog about the playlist, but for now, enjoy! Theres a mix of modern and classic tunes, male and female vocals, different genres, a few Spatial Audio and Binaural tracks, and then a few more stripped down songs to wind down and chill out with at the end.

I also made playlists with the earlier prototype HD 8XX, and I’m still in the process of making them all match across services (because I have been listening to Apple Music Lossless the most lately, and so far I think the Apple playlist is arranged in the best order of songs).

TIDAL:
https://tidal.com/playlist/53372ca1-2047-4d94-a839-6a9a97a56cff

Spotify:

 

[tafens]

I got to hear the retail HD 8XX that will be shipping. The adjustments are bigger than before, and I feel subjectively that it is a better all-rounder headphone instead of “just” a reference headphone:

It’s cool that there is now an option between the “Reference” HD 800S and the warmer, easier listening HD 8XX.

Great review! If I understand correctly it sounds like it’s a somewhat of a cross between the HD650/6XX and HD800/S which to me is great news.

You have a new subscriber after I watched that yesterday, thanks for the video.

And another one here

 

[FullBright1]