Aerocraft67
100+ Head-Fier
I'm getting re-acquainted with my stock 8XX during the winter listening season. I use Lokius EQ, boost 2 kHz knob to 2:30, and fade adjacent 400 Hz & 6 kHz knobs to 11:00.
The resolution is there, but the timbre is questionable. Sounds like a recording. Maybe even a retro rockabilly recording. Although that’s overstating the flaw, and I’ll continue to do that.
The timbre isn’t objectionable, but an unequalized 6XX often sounds more natural. Only the percussion sounds conspicuously artificial with 8XX before comparing. The attack is there, but tom-toms sound like one-note pops. You don’t hear the chamber of the drum and the texture of the skin. Snare decay isn’t convincing. Like a drum machine.
I don’t hear vocals recessed so much as the instrumentation equally pronounced. Vocals often sound better through 6XX, but not bad through 8XX. Just a tinge of that rockabilly mic effect.
On the positive side, 8XX resolution really shines with bass. It renders 6XX a vague allusion to bass in comparison. That puts 8XX back in contention for a superior comprehensive presentation.
Soundstage isn’t a revelation, but maybe I’d miss it in a trade-off. I hear more separation than imaging. Handles classical better than 6XX, which gets overwhelmed with congestion in dense passages.
I suspect 8XX's high resolution lends the impression of hearing everything separately in equal measure, instead of more naturally blended and balanced proportions. Surely the recording mix can emphasize or mitigate this.
Not sure I fault 8XX for any of that. Maybe I’m hearing a laid-bare presentation in 8XX juxtaposed with a more natural-sounding interpretation in 6XX. It sounds like a recording, because it is.
Otherwise, much of the conventional wisdom about 8XX and 6XX applies. The 8XX compels analytical listening with clinical transparency. The 6XX seduces laid back enjoyment with a natural interpretation.
The range of material with which 8XX doesn't sound good is pretty limited, and not always predictable. Lots of hard-edged material sounds fine, for instance.
Maybe 8XX is underrated as an all-rounder. And disappointing as an improvement on the 8-series. Just another set of trade-offs. The original 800 and 800S have both superiorities and flaws.
Thing is, where else do you go for the price? LCD-X, Clear, Aeon 2, Aeolus. Anything universally superior to 8XX for the price, or more compelling trade-offs? Next step up is easily 50% higher price.
I’d consider a small upgrade if I could reliably improve timbre with reasonable trade-offs. But 8XX’s isn’t bad, I have 6XX for “natural interpretation,” and I’m leery of churning through other flaws.
I did succumb to a gear itch and sprung for a Pietus Maximus. We’ll see if that changes anything. I’ll probably set up a bedside station with the CTH and 6XX. Otherwise I think I’ve arrived at a pretty solid value chain.
The resolution is there, but the timbre is questionable. Sounds like a recording. Maybe even a retro rockabilly recording. Although that’s overstating the flaw, and I’ll continue to do that.
The timbre isn’t objectionable, but an unequalized 6XX often sounds more natural. Only the percussion sounds conspicuously artificial with 8XX before comparing. The attack is there, but tom-toms sound like one-note pops. You don’t hear the chamber of the drum and the texture of the skin. Snare decay isn’t convincing. Like a drum machine.
I don’t hear vocals recessed so much as the instrumentation equally pronounced. Vocals often sound better through 6XX, but not bad through 8XX. Just a tinge of that rockabilly mic effect.
On the positive side, 8XX resolution really shines with bass. It renders 6XX a vague allusion to bass in comparison. That puts 8XX back in contention for a superior comprehensive presentation.
Soundstage isn’t a revelation, but maybe I’d miss it in a trade-off. I hear more separation than imaging. Handles classical better than 6XX, which gets overwhelmed with congestion in dense passages.
I suspect 8XX's high resolution lends the impression of hearing everything separately in equal measure, instead of more naturally blended and balanced proportions. Surely the recording mix can emphasize or mitigate this.
Not sure I fault 8XX for any of that. Maybe I’m hearing a laid-bare presentation in 8XX juxtaposed with a more natural-sounding interpretation in 6XX. It sounds like a recording, because it is.
Otherwise, much of the conventional wisdom about 8XX and 6XX applies. The 8XX compels analytical listening with clinical transparency. The 6XX seduces laid back enjoyment with a natural interpretation.
The range of material with which 8XX doesn't sound good is pretty limited, and not always predictable. Lots of hard-edged material sounds fine, for instance.
Maybe 8XX is underrated as an all-rounder. And disappointing as an improvement on the 8-series. Just another set of trade-offs. The original 800 and 800S have both superiorities and flaws.
Thing is, where else do you go for the price? LCD-X, Clear, Aeon 2, Aeolus. Anything universally superior to 8XX for the price, or more compelling trade-offs? Next step up is easily 50% higher price.
I’d consider a small upgrade if I could reliably improve timbre with reasonable trade-offs. But 8XX’s isn’t bad, I have 6XX for “natural interpretation,” and I’m leery of churning through other flaws.
I did succumb to a gear itch and sprung for a Pietus Maximus. We’ll see if that changes anything. I’ll probably set up a bedside station with the CTH and 6XX. Otherwise I think I’ve arrived at a pretty solid value chain.
