[MooBin]

Many many thanks for this really exeptional work in many aspects from you, Skylab ! Credible and sensitive ! As a conclusion this makes me hope for a Mark 2 Version with more bass and less exposed treble - this would be it then, or not ? Why not dreaming about this one - SENNHEISER to the rescue ! And then we have it: the almost perfect Headphone - or not ?

 

[Skylab]

Thanks! For me, for sure, if we had just a wee bit less treble, and a wee bit more bass, my credit card would have already been charged

 

[bergman2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canman /img/forum/go_quote.gif How philosophical for a gear forum. We are not evaluating headphones but rather evaluating ourselves!

quite existential, if not nietzschean, I believe --- when one looks into the abyss the abyss looks into him/her ?!?!?!

 

[sling5s]

I really do foresee a HD850 coming next year with more bass and more smoothed out and refined treble.
And so many will prefer the HD800 and while others the HD850, much like the HD600 and HD650.

 

[Bones13]

I have tubed my Raptor to help the over bright W5000 already. The combination of that, and my age related high frequency loss make these headphones right for me. I moved the HD650s to the headphone out of my CA amp at home, and it works really nicely there.

Very nice review btw, I know its gotta be hard trying to be objective with the frenzy around these headphones, since January no less.

Keep up the good work, I always look forward to your reviews, they keep getting better and better. (betterer?)

 

[Uncle Erik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canman /img/forum/go_quote.gif How philosophical for a gear forum. We are not evaluating headphones but rather evaluating ourselves!

Post-modernism can be useful in many aspects of life.

I'd also like to point out that many of these "flaws" come down to personal taste. Sennheiser has worked on the HD-800 for probably seven or eight years. It's not some guy in a garage. The HD-800 passed over many, many professional ears during that time and plenty of test rigs.

There are compromises in every design, however, if sibilance or bass were genuine problems they would have been addressed. Further, the same "flaws" are found in many other pieces of gear.

Instead of putting things into a right/wrong context, it's better to match gear to the preferences of the listener. Otherwise, people can assume that an excellent piece of gear isn't to their liking.

 

[MooBin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks! For me, for sure, if we had just a wee bit less treble, and a wee bit more bass, my credit card would have already been charged

Some options: All HD800 users return their phones with a little card saying: "Please add a bit more bass and substract a bit more treble. Thank you."

Or we march united towards the SENN premises with transparents saying "More Bass, less treble" while singing this mantra in unison.

Or we email them until they get enough and cannot help starting developping again. Or all three.

This should make them move

- what was this guys name again - Willet ? - are you listening ?

 

[takezo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif ...Otherwise, people can assume that an excellent piece of gear isn't to their liking.

i believe that's the "concern" feifan voiced... but really, i think he doth
overstate the state of "...a forum that lives and dies by the written review."
certainly i hope we're able to discern skylab's reviews as an opinion...
not an axiom...

 

[feifan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Feifan, I think your large post had merit and made some very good points but it did come across as if you were in attack mode.

My apologies if it did. That wasn't my intent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Also, I gathered from your large response that you are using the HD800 with the Headroom BUDA, is this correct?

No, I wish. The BUDA is on my wish list, but I'm saving up for a DAC1 USB, PRE, or HDR. (They keep upgrading the line so it may be a good thing that I can't afford it for a long while.) The amp I'm using with the HD800 is the HeadRoom Desktop maxed (Oct 2006), which is the equivalent of the HRD-Ultra. I should add that I'm also using it with the DPS and my source is WAV files via USB.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif If so, I felt it had one of the worst synergies with the HD800 but some really like it.

Thanks for the tip. Any word on how the BUDA sounds with the balanced HD650?

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif So we all have different preferences and what sounds good to you will not always sound good to someone else.

x2

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Skylab is very aware of this, as I think most of us are.

x2

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif Instead of putting things into a right/wrong context, it's better to match gear to the preferences of the listener. Otherwise, people can assume that an excellent piece of gear isn't to their liking.

I agree it is not a question of right/wrong. In writing a review, it's a question of identifying sonic traits, so that people can get an idea of what they might experience.

Based on the feedback here, many people experience the HD800 the way that I do. Many experience them the way that you do. This is due to their own experience, background, and preferences. Given the difference between your general preference for headphones with a lighter sound, and my preference for ones with a weightier sound, it's not surprising that we come to different conclusions about whether we want to own them.

But I have made it very clear, for anyone who actually READS the review, that what I have described is a flavoring, nothing more, nothing less, and that the HD800 is a terrific headphone. I cannot imagine anyone reading my review and concluding anything else. But they SHOULD conclude that people who are sensitive to a slightly forward mid-treble, or to a slightly over-damped bass, should be careful before jumping in.


Quote:

Originally Posted by takezo /img/forum/go_quote.gif i believe that's the "concern" feifan voiced... but really, i think he doth overstate the state of "...a forum that lives and dies by the written review." certainly i hope we're able to discern skylab's reviews as an opinion... not an axiom...

I certainly do as well, given the very large number of times I've tried to emphasize that fact

 

[feifan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by takezo /img/forum/go_quote.gif but really, i think he doth overstate the state of "...a forum that lives and dies by the written review."

Point well taken. "Thou tendeth toward hyperbole," my mum doth say.

 

[crucial]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks! For me, for sure, if we had just a wee bit less treble, and a wee bit more bass, my credit card would have already been charged

Skylab - Superb review and not only because I agree with your opinion. I also like your 25 word or less review quoted above, but I think I will keep mine because the HD800 do a lot of things very well. I do disagree with the statement made elsewhere that the HD800 are for everyone aside from bassheads. Bass is part of most music and the HD800 do not have the impact that live music imparts (obviously IMHO). On the other hand the PS1000 has that impact but they are more strident in the midrange and treble. Actually, I think both the HD800 and PS1000 have too much emphasis in the treble (~6K). However, both headphones are an improvement over my Ultrasone Edition 9 (and I wish I could compare them to a L3000), but I thought that they would be even better.

 

[feifan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kees /img/forum/go_quote.gif I actually think that is exactly what needs to be done: find the right combination. The headphones are completely worthless on their own, it is all about the right combination. That is why I have so many (completely different) amps. I also would never rank headphones, I could only rank particular combinations.

x2. Well said.

 

[Acix]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif Post-modernism can be useful in many aspects of life. Sennheiser has worked on the HD-800 for probably seven or eight years. It's not some guy in a garage. The HD-800 passed over many, many professional ears during that time and plenty of test rigs.

Fascinating...how you know that Sennheiser has worked on the HD-800 for seven or eight years?

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acix /img/forum/go_quote.gif Fascinating...how you know that Sennheiser has worked on the HD-800 for seven or eight years?

Because Sennheiser said so. 7 years.