Must say that ZMF Beyer+ Sub Pads are easy swap too.
Onkyo A800 – "MASTER CLASS"
- Thread starter protoss
- Start date
Thanks. And also… WOWHD580 jubilee is a great headphone. Very nice.
Hope you try many amps with the A800 and find a nice hidden gem.
. That is an insane looking Onkyo A800! I see made a lot mods to your Onkyo A800 and pads.
Haidar
100+ Head-Fier
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- Apr 1, 2004
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@GaryP How do those perforated Lambskin ZMF Beyer+ Sub Pads sound on the A800?
I had no complain about OG Pads but ZMF's were lying around so tried them just today. They move the ear a bit away from the driver so that's a plus. I just fall in music listening to Onkyo, don't really analyze the differences as I find them really good sounding Headphones.
Can't tell much today. But applying the pads was easy peasy.
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My 3 japanese samurai. I'm so lucky.
Glorious Nippon Headphone, Folded Over 1000 TimesMy 3 japanese samurai. I'm so lucky.
Just finish CanJam Chicago. Wanted to write this while I still have my memories. Tried out a lot of different sources and honestly I still like mine the most. They say shows isn’t the best place to judge and that’s true, but I could easily tell some characteristics that was missing from these vendor chains.
It made me truly appreciate my chain even more. I still think my chain is amazing because none of those chain can push the Onkyo A800 like I did. My chain did everything in its power to push the Onkyo A800 to its limit in terms of fully bringing the Onkyo A800 talent in bringing that good midrange and that good guitar crunch into the sounds.
Again, it’s the audio show so I am not hearing the headphones full potential, but I at least got an idea.
I tried a lot of headphones in the $200 - $10K plus range and they sounded good for classical music, but nothing really satisfied me when it comes to the guitar sound. I ended playing mostly classical orchestras and jazz trio since it felt more right with those headphones. When it comes to my favorite genres and the sound of the electric guitar, drums, bass guitar, and female vocals, the Onkyo A800 is staying number 1 in my heart unfortunately. I said unfortunately because this headphone is discontinue, but it’s ok. I always got a backup if this one breaks.
Here is a list of pics I feel like the Onkyo A800 does well for an amp. I still think the Allnic HPA-5000XL is the best amp for the Onkyo A800. The 2nd best amp was the blue custom 45 tube amp from the ZMF room show. That 45 tube really sweetened the midrange for the Onkyo A800. Close 3rd was the Viva Amp. The Viva amp expanded the soundstage and gave a good buff in the bass quality and quantity.
Those are my top 3 amps recommendation if money is no object and it’s available.
Pics of Amps I tried at the show:
^pretty good
^wasnt too impressed
^ this was pretty good, but get some hum unfortunately. There was a sign that said no under 50 ohms, but it was still a good experience
^ this was sweet, especially in that midrange
^had like 10 second with this, so no opinion. But it was pretty decent on those first 10 seconds.
^this gave the best bass boost out of all the amps I tried, but I still prefer having a little sweeter midrange from other amps
^This is still my favorite combination LOL. And of course I own it. Of course I will be extremely bias toward gears I own. I mean there is a reason on why I still own them
It made me truly appreciate my chain even more. I still think my chain is amazing because none of those chain can push the Onkyo A800 like I did. My chain did everything in its power to push the Onkyo A800 to its limit in terms of fully bringing the Onkyo A800 talent in bringing that good midrange and that good guitar crunch into the sounds.
Again, it’s the audio show so I am not hearing the headphones full potential, but I at least got an idea.
I tried a lot of headphones in the $200 - $10K plus range and they sounded good for classical music, but nothing really satisfied me when it comes to the guitar sound. I ended playing mostly classical orchestras and jazz trio since it felt more right with those headphones. When it comes to my favorite genres and the sound of the electric guitar, drums, bass guitar, and female vocals, the Onkyo A800 is staying number 1 in my heart unfortunately. I said unfortunately because this headphone is discontinue, but it’s ok. I always got a backup if this one breaks.
Here is a list of pics I feel like the Onkyo A800 does well for an amp. I still think the Allnic HPA-5000XL is the best amp for the Onkyo A800. The 2nd best amp was the blue custom 45 tube amp from the ZMF room show. That 45 tube really sweetened the midrange for the Onkyo A800. Close 3rd was the Viva Amp. The Viva amp expanded the soundstage and gave a good buff in the bass quality and quantity.
Those are my top 3 amps recommendation if money is no object and it’s available.
Pics of Amps I tried at the show:
^pretty good
^wasnt too impressed
^ this was pretty good, but get some hum unfortunately. There was a sign that said no under 50 ohms, but it was still a good experience
^ this was sweet, especially in that midrange
^had like 10 second with this, so no opinion. But it was pretty decent on those first 10 seconds.
^this gave the best bass boost out of all the amps I tried, but I still prefer having a little sweeter midrange from other amps
^This is still my favorite combination LOL. And of course I own it. Of course I will be extremely bias toward gears I own. I mean there is a reason on why I still own them
I just wanted to note this down for my future reference on purchasing the Viva 845 Tube Amp, but it turn into something else… Enjoy reading if you want or just skip near the end for my favorite amp for the Onkyo A800!
After some time of digesting of what just happen this weekend and going back to my ole reliable, the Allnic HPA-5000XL. I will try to put the bias aside and tell how I feel after experiencing multiple different amps. Spoiler alert: it didn’t happen, I’m sorry, I don’t know how I ended up writing all this. This was suppose to post appreciation for the Viva Amp and Allnic HPA-5000XL lol.
I also got some people to try the Onkyo A800 to get a 2nd opinion. They all agree that the bass is nice, not the best they heard, but they appreciate what the Onkyo A800 does in the bass range. I look back at all my reviews of the Onkyo A800 and I do talk about how much I appreciate the Onkyo A800 bass a lot. So after Saturday of trying other low/mid level equipments and getting people feedback from the Onkyo A800, I got a game plan on what I want to look for with the Onkyo A800 and other amps. Sunday I experienced a lot of the TOTL headphones to get a good idea of the sound. Experience some legends like the Sony MDR-R10 and the Shang Sr. So over the weekend, I got a good grasp of experience. It’s audio show experience, but it’s experience.
With all the 2nd opinions, the Onkyo A800 is what I would considered a mixture of consumer bass and audiophile bass, but lean more toward the consumer bass of things. When I think of audiophile bass, I think about my ATH-L3000 where the bass fast and clean. The consumer bass is more of a boomy exaggerated bass. It make sense the Onkyo A800 will be more on the consumer since it is a Harman Target Tube Headphone. But, I think the Onkyo A800 is a consumer bass done tastefully. I feedback I did like from the Onkyo A800 is that someone said the Onkyo A800 had a tasteful bloomy bass. That was probably the best feedback I gotten besides, “oh I like it”. The Onkyo A800 bass is very rich and warm and in my opinion it’s exaggerated. The reason why I keep saying it’s exaggerated is because the bassline in my opinion is the foundation of the music. It’s not something that should be the main focus of the music and should be the in the background. There are some exceptions like bass solos in rock songs, but that is the exception, not the rule. With the Onkyo A800, the bassline of the music is exaggerated, making the bass more noticeable than it should. The Onkyo A800 bass also decay slowly making the music more wet as well with more reverb. Because of that, the bass will overpower the other frequencies, muddying it. But honestly, I like that trade off. With the exaggerated bassline with the Onkyo A800, music sounds a little more exciting to me. It may not be right, but it’s fun and that’s all I really care about. That’s why even my ex D8000 Pro LE and ex Caldera are my ex is because those headphones are also really fun. But it doesn’t have that exaggerate wet bass like the Onkyo A800, so that is why I sold them for a smoker, interconnect cables, and a DHT Preamp. I do regret buying the smoker though, don’t use it as much as I wanted to. But 4th of July is coming so that’s going to be cool. Back on topic, I won’t say the Onkyo A800 have the best bass or anything, but the way Onkyo A800 does bass is really tasteful to me.
So, what makes the Onkyo A800 my personal favorite? Because I like the way it presents music for me. Makes my song a little more wet and fun to me. It’s exaggerated, but that’s how I like my headphones to be. It’s also my recent experience with the Sennheiser HE-1. Nothing will ever sound like live music. It could be the acoustic reverb property. It could be the live energy from the person next to you. It could be the atmosphere of actually being in the concert hall. My main reason for disappointment of the HE-1 is that it couldn’t capture live music for me. So I was a little harsh on that headphone for the last couple of days. But honestly, I think the Sennheiser HE-1 is the “perfect” headphone. No exaggeration in soundstage, no exaggeration in instrumental separation, good enough bass, and is a very natural sounding headphone. It also has really good PRaT, making the music flow smoothly into my ears. But, because it’s so perfect, you have to rely on how well the song is produced. A lot of songs back in the olden days wasn’t produced well and it sucks because I really like those song. So the HE-1 is pretty much the opposite (or close depending on how you see it) of the Onkyo A800 where the HE-1 right by the book perfection and the Onkyo A800 bending 10% of the rules with its own exaggerated fun bass. Onkyo A800 is 90% of the Harman Curve if you didn’t get that joke…. Maybe the HE-1 is the Onkyo A800 with no exaggerated bass LOL. Sorry, I don’t want to upset, just my ego boost. It’s because the soundstage is also similar where the sound stage and instrumental separation isn’t exaggerated, but pretty much based on how the studio produce it. Don’t worry about it, I already know I am a crazy person. I think 99% will agree that it’s nothing alike, so let me enjoy this insanity.
I am just in love with Misa Bass play in Band-Maid. I just really enjoy those bass sounds I get in my pop anisong like in that song Idol from Yoasobi. I I love the distorted rhythm you get from those dark crunch of the electric guitar, especially in the classic rock genre. Heck, I just how the entire song Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) from Jimi Hendrix, amazing display of the electric guitar. I love how the bass drums hits deep into my core in Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique Movement 4: Marche au supplice.
The Onkyo A800 it allow me to enjoy more of what I love in the music in my above choice of music. Instead of taking the “normal” amount, I will take the Extra Large.
I am just a guy that loves exaggerated bass. The Onkyo A800 gives more of a special effect to my music, making them more exciting and enjoyable for me.
***My future reference if I want to buy the Viva 845 Amp starts here***
My Supratek DHT Cabernet preamp had a intermittent right channel distortion issue pretty much a week after I had it. I finally going to get it fix and maybe get it Frankenstein it into a 45 tube only preamp with some minor upgrades. That’s a mix feeling news, but it gave me the opportunity to listen to my Allnic HPA-5000XL directly to my DAC since that freed up a spare connector I can connect it to now.
The number 1 amp that have been on my mind recently since CanJam Chicago 2023 is the Viva Egoista 845 Tube Amp. I think it’s the best amp for the Onkyo A800. The Viva 845 tube amp puts a lot of WOW factors that is easy to appreciate right off the gate in your listening session. It has huge boost in overall bass. Huge boost in soundstage. Clarity and timbre is great. Easily the best amp for the Onkyo A800 where I spent this entire post praising its bass. Instead of ignoring bass, we should embrace the fun bass and magnify it 10 fold with the Viva Amp. We also spent a lot of the thread trying to increase soundstage with other tube amps. The Viva Amps soundstage is in a level of grand in my short listening sessions. If I could say one thing on the Viva Amp with the Onkyo A800, I would say it “Wow, that was intense”. I think the Viva 845 Amp pair with the Onkyo A800 was peak fun to me. The one down side is that it’s too much fun and high energy. The Viva 845 Amp with the Onkyo A800 was one of the first time I experienced fatigue from listening in a headphone setup while sitting down. Because of that (and the price) I would t own a Viva 845 Amp just for the Onkyo A800 since my sessions will realistically be probably 1-2 hours. I typically like to have 3-5 hours a session for a listening session.
My personal favorite amp is still the Allnic HPA-5000XL. It has great clarity as well, clean sounding output on this amp. The soundstage would be small - median, but the audio is more 3D that the music will play around me. It has its own unique in characteristics that is hard to describe besides just calling it the “Allnic house sounding”. The Allnic HPA-5000XL is also a fast sounding amp that will help my cans get good speed. I prefer this over the Viva because the Viva is too explosive while the Allnic is better for more laid back for casual listening. The wow factors will be more subtle in the details where critical listening will be needed vs the Viva Amp where the wow factors is more obvious and more in your face. The Viva Amp will force you to focus on the music while the Allnic let me casual listen to music. So my favorite amp with the Onkyo A800 is the Viva 845 Tube Amp, but I rather own the Allnic HPA-5000XL for a more everyday listening use.
After some time of digesting of what just happen this weekend and going back to my ole reliable, the Allnic HPA-5000XL. I will try to put the bias aside and tell how I feel after experiencing multiple different amps. Spoiler alert: it didn’t happen, I’m sorry, I don’t know how I ended up writing all this. This was suppose to post appreciation for the Viva Amp and Allnic HPA-5000XL lol.
I also got some people to try the Onkyo A800 to get a 2nd opinion. They all agree that the bass is nice, not the best they heard, but they appreciate what the Onkyo A800 does in the bass range. I look back at all my reviews of the Onkyo A800 and I do talk about how much I appreciate the Onkyo A800 bass a lot. So after Saturday of trying other low/mid level equipments and getting people feedback from the Onkyo A800, I got a game plan on what I want to look for with the Onkyo A800 and other amps. Sunday I experienced a lot of the TOTL headphones to get a good idea of the sound. Experience some legends like the Sony MDR-R10 and the Shang Sr. So over the weekend, I got a good grasp of experience. It’s audio show experience, but it’s experience.
With all the 2nd opinions, the Onkyo A800 is what I would considered a mixture of consumer bass and audiophile bass, but lean more toward the consumer bass of things. When I think of audiophile bass, I think about my ATH-L3000 where the bass fast and clean. The consumer bass is more of a boomy exaggerated bass. It make sense the Onkyo A800 will be more on the consumer since it is a Harman Target Tube Headphone. But, I think the Onkyo A800 is a consumer bass done tastefully. I feedback I did like from the Onkyo A800 is that someone said the Onkyo A800 had a tasteful bloomy bass. That was probably the best feedback I gotten besides, “oh I like it”. The Onkyo A800 bass is very rich and warm and in my opinion it’s exaggerated. The reason why I keep saying it’s exaggerated is because the bassline in my opinion is the foundation of the music. It’s not something that should be the main focus of the music and should be the in the background. There are some exceptions like bass solos in rock songs, but that is the exception, not the rule. With the Onkyo A800, the bassline of the music is exaggerated, making the bass more noticeable than it should. The Onkyo A800 bass also decay slowly making the music more wet as well with more reverb. Because of that, the bass will overpower the other frequencies, muddying it. But honestly, I like that trade off. With the exaggerated bassline with the Onkyo A800, music sounds a little more exciting to me. It may not be right, but it’s fun and that’s all I really care about. That’s why even my ex D8000 Pro LE and ex Caldera are my ex is because those headphones are also really fun. But it doesn’t have that exaggerate wet bass like the Onkyo A800, so that is why I sold them for a smoker, interconnect cables, and a DHT Preamp. I do regret buying the smoker though, don’t use it as much as I wanted to. But 4th of July is coming so that’s going to be cool. Back on topic, I won’t say the Onkyo A800 have the best bass or anything, but the way Onkyo A800 does bass is really tasteful to me.
So, what makes the Onkyo A800 my personal favorite? Because I like the way it presents music for me. Makes my song a little more wet and fun to me. It’s exaggerated, but that’s how I like my headphones to be. It’s also my recent experience with the Sennheiser HE-1. Nothing will ever sound like live music. It could be the acoustic reverb property. It could be the live energy from the person next to you. It could be the atmosphere of actually being in the concert hall. My main reason for disappointment of the HE-1 is that it couldn’t capture live music for me. So I was a little harsh on that headphone for the last couple of days. But honestly, I think the Sennheiser HE-1 is the “perfect” headphone. No exaggeration in soundstage, no exaggeration in instrumental separation, good enough bass, and is a very natural sounding headphone. It also has really good PRaT, making the music flow smoothly into my ears. But, because it’s so perfect, you have to rely on how well the song is produced. A lot of songs back in the olden days wasn’t produced well and it sucks because I really like those song. So the HE-1 is pretty much the opposite (or close depending on how you see it) of the Onkyo A800 where the HE-1 right by the book perfection and the Onkyo A800 bending 10% of the rules with its own exaggerated fun bass. Onkyo A800 is 90% of the Harman Curve if you didn’t get that joke…. Maybe the HE-1 is the Onkyo A800 with no exaggerated bass LOL. Sorry, I don’t want to upset, just my ego boost. It’s because the soundstage is also similar where the sound stage and instrumental separation isn’t exaggerated, but pretty much based on how the studio produce it. Don’t worry about it, I already know I am a crazy person. I think 99% will agree that it’s nothing alike, so let me enjoy this insanity.
I am just in love with Misa Bass play in Band-Maid. I just really enjoy those bass sounds I get in my pop anisong like in that song Idol from Yoasobi. I I love the distorted rhythm you get from those dark crunch of the electric guitar, especially in the classic rock genre. Heck, I just how the entire song Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) from Jimi Hendrix, amazing display of the electric guitar. I love how the bass drums hits deep into my core in Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique Movement 4: Marche au supplice.
The Onkyo A800 it allow me to enjoy more of what I love in the music in my above choice of music. Instead of taking the “normal” amount, I will take the Extra Large.
I am just a guy that loves exaggerated bass. The Onkyo A800 gives more of a special effect to my music, making them more exciting and enjoyable for me.
***My future reference if I want to buy the Viva 845 Amp starts here***
My Supratek DHT Cabernet preamp had a intermittent right channel distortion issue pretty much a week after I had it. I finally going to get it fix and maybe get it Frankenstein it into a 45 tube only preamp with some minor upgrades. That’s a mix feeling news, but it gave me the opportunity to listen to my Allnic HPA-5000XL directly to my DAC since that freed up a spare connector I can connect it to now.
The number 1 amp that have been on my mind recently since CanJam Chicago 2023 is the Viva Egoista 845 Tube Amp. I think it’s the best amp for the Onkyo A800. The Viva 845 tube amp puts a lot of WOW factors that is easy to appreciate right off the gate in your listening session. It has huge boost in overall bass. Huge boost in soundstage. Clarity and timbre is great. Easily the best amp for the Onkyo A800 where I spent this entire post praising its bass. Instead of ignoring bass, we should embrace the fun bass and magnify it 10 fold with the Viva Amp. We also spent a lot of the thread trying to increase soundstage with other tube amps. The Viva Amps soundstage is in a level of grand in my short listening sessions. If I could say one thing on the Viva Amp with the Onkyo A800, I would say it “Wow, that was intense”. I think the Viva 845 Amp pair with the Onkyo A800 was peak fun to me. The one down side is that it’s too much fun and high energy. The Viva 845 Amp with the Onkyo A800 was one of the first time I experienced fatigue from listening in a headphone setup while sitting down. Because of that (and the price) I would t own a Viva 845 Amp just for the Onkyo A800 since my sessions will realistically be probably 1-2 hours. I typically like to have 3-5 hours a session for a listening session.
My personal favorite amp is still the Allnic HPA-5000XL. It has great clarity as well, clean sounding output on this amp. The soundstage would be small - median, but the audio is more 3D that the music will play around me. It has its own unique in characteristics that is hard to describe besides just calling it the “Allnic house sounding”. The Allnic HPA-5000XL is also a fast sounding amp that will help my cans get good speed. I prefer this over the Viva because the Viva is too explosive while the Allnic is better for more laid back for casual listening. The wow factors will be more subtle in the details where critical listening will be needed vs the Viva Amp where the wow factors is more obvious and more in your face. The Viva Amp will force you to focus on the music while the Allnic let me casual listen to music. So my favorite amp with the Onkyo A800 is the Viva 845 Tube Amp, but I rather own the Allnic HPA-5000XL for a more everyday listening use.
protoss
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2017
- Posts
- 2,500
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- 3,981
@Saberpunch
I love this passion you have for this headphone. Its impressive.
I love this passion you have for this headphone. Its impressive.
It’s more like just insanity. I just don’t really know why I like this headphone to this extent. It’s just a really fun headphone with a really cool experience. It’s not the visceral bass since I remove that with the new Vesper pads. The bass hits deep with a slow decay. I haven’t heard a headphone that does bass like that and I really like it.
I actually want to like other headphones to this extent, but I just can’t feel the same way. That’s one of the reason why I just want to move on to speakers to try to recapture what I love with the Onkyo A800 and see if I can get that with more equipments in speakers. My speaker adventure is on hold for now since my DHT Preamp is in repairs and getting a makeover. Also getting one last thing for my other headphone in October. After that I will probably resume my speaker adventures and forget about headphones.
I actually want to like other headphones to this extent, but I just can’t feel the same way. That’s one of the reason why I just want to move on to speakers to try to recapture what I love with the Onkyo A800 and see if I can get that with more equipments in speakers. My speaker adventure is on hold for now since my DHT Preamp is in repairs and getting a makeover. Also getting one last thing for my other headphone in October. After that I will probably resume my speaker adventures and forget about headphones.
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protoss
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2017
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@Saberpunch
I was thinking about it while driving. You surely are on a different nirvana level. Beating and surpassing most to all, even if another person has HE1 or Shangr-la SR, or has 50 years of experience, your progression, upgrades, and passion are beyond them all. The intricate detail and critiquing your own gear that is of modern flagship against a humble $400 headphone shows an experience level that no veteran could express.
Kudos to you.
I made this thread as a gun-blazing attack against snake oilers, liars, and company price gouging, but you took it to another level.
Most to all have mistaken the core idea of the thread and the philosophy behind it.
On another view, some say I am a hoarder and own everything, but I can see that your path is more astonishing and unique than mine and others.
Your camjam experience and sharing your A800 with others and their experiences haven’t even deterred you too. I wish I had been there. I would have called them out and laughed, LOL. Most posters and commenters do not even show one inch of the passion you got and totally missing the whole point.
I was thinking about it while driving. You surely are on a different nirvana level. Beating and surpassing most to all, even if another person has HE1 or Shangr-la SR, or has 50 years of experience, your progression, upgrades, and passion are beyond them all. The intricate detail and critiquing your own gear that is of modern flagship against a humble $400 headphone shows an experience level that no veteran could express.
Kudos to you.
I made this thread as a gun-blazing attack against snake oilers, liars, and company price gouging, but you took it to another level.
Most to all have mistaken the core idea of the thread and the philosophy behind it.
On another view, some say I am a hoarder and own everything, but I can see that your path is more astonishing and unique than mine and others.
Your camjam experience and sharing your A800 with others and their experiences haven’t even deterred you too. I wish I had been there. I would have called them out and laughed, LOL. Most posters and commenters do not even show one inch of the passion you got and totally missing the whole point.
Thanks @protoss , but I think my passion is on the smaller side. Especially compared to 80% of the people in pretty much every audio forum. I just like music and I don't really care about gears. The only difference is I am vocal about my opinion which is probably a bad idea lol. I really just got to learn to step away from the keyboard instead of typing whatever pops in my head. The only reason I push my upgrades to this level is because music keeps getting sweeter and sweeter and it's just so addicting. When I tried to do the same with headphones, the music isn't getting sweeter. It's just something entirely different and for some reason, I just keep going back to the Onkyo A800.
It just so happens that the Onkyo A800 collaborated with Gibson instruments and the way they tuned the A800 just so happen to fit my taste in music. It also just so happen that they were just selling it for $400. I tried not to judge headphones by their price, so the price is always at the back of my mind. But there are times when I do think about the price and it prevents me from enjoying the headphone since I felt like I got legally robbed. But that is pretty rare nowadays since everyone gotta put food on the table, so it's understandable. I am also a really easy person to impress. I like pretty much every headphone I tried my entire life. There are a few exceptions on headphones I do not like, for example, the ATH-W5000, Hifiman Audivina, and Spirit Torino Pulsar. When I went to CanJam Chicago, I liked 95% of the headphones I tried ranging from $100 - $10,000. 99% didn't blow my mind as I said in the other thread. There wasn't anything groundbreaking, they were just solid good headphones. I also tried to make sure not to trash other headphones unless I feel they truly deserve it. Just trying to share my honest opinion on how I feel when listening to other headphones compare to the Onkyo A800. I tried my best to reword it to make sure not to offend anyone, but I guess I still come off a little strong.
Sorry to disappoint, but my collection won't be grand or unique in the future. As I informed you a couple of months back. I am just going to get this 20+-year-old DAC/Amp for my ATH headphones and I will probably quit this hobby. The DAC/AMP purchase was going to be in July, but I delayed it since I got to fix a couple of my gears like my DHT preamp and other things. My passion for this hobby is honestly burnt out. I only care about the Onkyo A800 and source/amps. That is why I said my passion is on the smaller side since I don't really care about most headphones anymore. I still enjoy listening to them, but overall don't care about owning them. Especially since I got to listen to a lot of them already even if it's in show condition. I have no desire of owning many of them nor want a 2nd listen. I also recently found out earlier in the year that I am more of a speaker kind of guy. I just really enjoy filling the entire room with music, it's a feels-good experience. But, there are some headphones that I still find really interesting and quite delicious in sound quality to me.
I can tell you the only headphones I am interested in now to add to the collection is:
*Sony MDR-R10
*Mysphere 3.2
That's it I guess...
I tried some Stax headphones in the show, but I rather own the Sony MDR-R10 and Mysphere 3.2 for classical orchestras. The list of Stax I heard was L700 II, 009, and X9000. The Stax headphones are still really good headphones, especially the L700 II, but can't justify owning them if I already have the Onkyo A800, ATH-L3000, and either the Sony MDR-R10 or Mysphere 3.2 in my future. Those 3 headphones pretty much cover a wide variety of genres for me. I remember a lot of respectable people including yourself said that the 007 MK1 is a GOAT headphone. Even though I can't really justify owning the 007 MK1 as well, I will try in respect to you and the other respectable people will try to at least own one in my collection.
It just so happens that the Onkyo A800 collaborated with Gibson instruments and the way they tuned the A800 just so happen to fit my taste in music. It also just so happen that they were just selling it for $400. I tried not to judge headphones by their price, so the price is always at the back of my mind. But there are times when I do think about the price and it prevents me from enjoying the headphone since I felt like I got legally robbed. But that is pretty rare nowadays since everyone gotta put food on the table, so it's understandable. I am also a really easy person to impress. I like pretty much every headphone I tried my entire life. There are a few exceptions on headphones I do not like, for example, the ATH-W5000, Hifiman Audivina, and Spirit Torino Pulsar. When I went to CanJam Chicago, I liked 95% of the headphones I tried ranging from $100 - $10,000. 99% didn't blow my mind as I said in the other thread. There wasn't anything groundbreaking, they were just solid good headphones. I also tried to make sure not to trash other headphones unless I feel they truly deserve it. Just trying to share my honest opinion on how I feel when listening to other headphones compare to the Onkyo A800. I tried my best to reword it to make sure not to offend anyone, but I guess I still come off a little strong.
Sorry to disappoint, but my collection won't be grand or unique in the future. As I informed you a couple of months back. I am just going to get this 20+-year-old DAC/Amp for my ATH headphones and I will probably quit this hobby. The DAC/AMP purchase was going to be in July, but I delayed it since I got to fix a couple of my gears like my DHT preamp and other things. My passion for this hobby is honestly burnt out. I only care about the Onkyo A800 and source/amps. That is why I said my passion is on the smaller side since I don't really care about most headphones anymore. I still enjoy listening to them, but overall don't care about owning them. Especially since I got to listen to a lot of them already even if it's in show condition. I have no desire of owning many of them nor want a 2nd listen. I also recently found out earlier in the year that I am more of a speaker kind of guy. I just really enjoy filling the entire room with music, it's a feels-good experience. But, there are some headphones that I still find really interesting and quite delicious in sound quality to me.
I can tell you the only headphones I am interested in now to add to the collection is:
*Sony MDR-R10
*Mysphere 3.2
That's it I guess...
I tried some Stax headphones in the show, but I rather own the Sony MDR-R10 and Mysphere 3.2 for classical orchestras. The list of Stax I heard was L700 II, 009, and X9000. The Stax headphones are still really good headphones, especially the L700 II, but can't justify owning them if I already have the Onkyo A800, ATH-L3000, and either the Sony MDR-R10 or Mysphere 3.2 in my future. Those 3 headphones pretty much cover a wide variety of genres for me. I remember a lot of respectable people including yourself said that the 007 MK1 is a GOAT headphone. Even though I can't really justify owning the 007 MK1 as well, I will try in respect to you and the other respectable people will try to at least own one in my collection.
If anyone is interested, I'm selling my Onkyo A800
They sound really (really) great, but they are not a comfortable fit for my head so I sadly reached the conclusion that I can't keep them. Hope someone else can enjoy them:
https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/onkyo-a800.50730/
They sound really (really) great, but they are not a comfortable fit for my head so I sadly reached the conclusion that I can't keep them. Hope someone else can enjoy them:
https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/onkyo-a800.50730/