[thinker]

 

 

 
Quote:

I was intrigued by this statement: "If one owns a pair with the large 6.3k peak (not all people's HD-800s measured with such a strong peak) which makes the sibilance on tracks more noticeable".  Has it been shown that some HD800s are *not* bright?   Is it random, or have Senn "fixed" it? 

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/463456/sennheiser-hd-800-getting-better
 
i started this thread on 29.12.2009
 

 

[sonq]

Just tried my new HD800 for the 1st time after bringing back a used WA6 upgraded with Princess Sophia tube. The amp has over 1k hrs, so fully seasoned.
 
Overall it has quite a pleasant sound; tonally quite well-balanced and spacious. After 3 hours, the negatives are:
- treble over emphasis on female vocals that sounded a little weird
- lack of impact on piano's lower register
- sounds a little confuse and indistinct on complex music
- some string instruments sound a little synthesized
- some grain in the lower treble
 
Maybe some flaws are attributed to the amp but I'm not familiar with the WA6 to comment.
 
I don't know which of these areas will improve after clocking more hours and length of time it takes.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[K_19]

Quote:

Just tried my new HD800 for the 1st time after bringing back a used WA6 upgraded with Princess Sophia tube. The amp has over 1k hrs, so fully seasoned.
 
Overall it has quite a pleasant sound; tonally quite well-balanced and spacious. After 3 hours, the negatives are:
- treble over emphasis on female vocals that sounded a little weird
- lack of impact on piano's lower register
- sounds a little confuse and indistinct on complex music
- some string instruments sound a little synthesized
- some grain in the lower treble
 
Maybe some flaws are attributed to the amp but I'm not familiar with the WA6 to comment.
 
I don't know which of these areas will improve after clocking more hours and length of time it takes.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

It must be down to the individual's sensitivity to certain frequency regions... but I've found that after giving it adequate amplification (WA6SE) and well matching tubes, the 6-8k peak is no longer an issue for me (though it was with my former WA6+Sophia; albeit not with PDPS)... it's rather the 10k-12k peak that I'm having issue with at the moment and I've been dropping those by about 3db with Electri-Q.  I suppose this is why I usually tend to stay away from Beyers (they usually have a peak in this region).  IMO this is probably the main reason for your first and fourth points.
 
I've found that graininess has more or less disappeared for me after I moved onto the WA6SE.  I did notice it with WA6 but it's now ultra smooth in the midrange with my 6SE while still giving plenty of detail and separation.  Burn in helps a bit too in those areas, but I'd say try looking into getting a more powerful amp if you are able to; I feel that it does make a difference.

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

Just tried my new HD800 for the 1st time after bringing back a used WA6 upgraded with Princess Sophia tube. The amp has over 1k hrs, so fully seasoned.
 
Overall it has quite a pleasant sound; tonally quite well-balanced and spacious. After 3 hours, the negatives are:
- treble over emphasis on female vocals that sounded a little weird
- lack of impact on piano's lower register
- sounds a little confuse and indistinct on complex music
- some string instruments sound a little synthesized
- some grain in the lower treble
 
Maybe some flaws are attributed to the amp but I'm not familiar with the WA6 to comment.
 
I don't know which of these areas will improve after clocking more hours and length of time it takes.

I noticed some of these things when I tried the WA6 + Sophia with the HD800s. You'll be surprised at how much the 800s change from setup to setup.

 
Quote:

It must be down to the individual's sensitivity to certain frequency regions... but I've found that after giving it adequate amplification (WA6SE) and well matching tubes, the 6-8k peak is no longer an issue for me (though it was with my former WA6+Sophia; albeit not with PDPS)... it's rather the 10k-12k peak that I'm having issue with at the moment and I've been dropping those by about 3db with Electri-Q.  I suppose this is why I usually tend to stay away from Beyers (they usually have a peak in this region).  IMO this is probably the main reason for your first and fourth points.
 
I've found that graininess has more or less disappeared for me after I moved onto the WA6SE.  I did notice it with WA6 but it's now ultra smooth in the midrange with my 6SE while still giving plenty of detail and separation.  Burn in helps a bit too in those areas, but I'd say try looking into getting a more powerful amp if you are able to; I feel that it does make a difference.

Hey Min. That's the treble region to which I'm sensitive as well. The 6-8KHz region is not so problematic. Since you've addressed your transport, DAC, amp and still hear it, I would suggest a cable upgrade (which aside from squashing the peaks, improved several areas of the sound for me).

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

 I would suggest a cable upgrade (which aside from squash the peaks, improved several areas of the sound for me).

Which ones would you recommend? Just interested.
Thanks!

 

[K_19]

Thanks for the recommendation Sharose.  I do think that I'll end up experimenting with HD800 cables sooner or later (I personally believe in interconnect SQ differences, so logically headphone cables should bring about similar differences for me)... I just wish that it wasn't so damn expensive.  I know there's more involved in making these than HD600 series cables (which hover around $200 mark usually) but it's tough for me to tread into $300 right away without some hesitation... but one day I'll likely bite the bullet.
 

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

Which ones would you recommend? Just interested.
Thanks!

 
Hey Peter. 7N silver (either DHC or Moon Audio's new V3 cable). The APS V3 (SPC) is also good. If you want a significant departure from the stock cable and make the sound smoother, warmer, thicker (and a bit slower), go for copper cables. I switched from UPOCC copper to 7N silver and never looked back, but some tube fans may prefer the copper sound. BTW, all the aftermarket cables make the sound smoother than the stock to varying degrees.

Quote:

Thanks for the recommendation Sharose.  I do think that I'll end up experimenting with HD800 cables sooner or later (I personally believe in interconnect SQ differences, so logically headphone cables should bring about similar differences for me)... I just wish that it wasn't so damn expensive.  I know there's more involved in making these than HD600 series cables (which hover around $200 mark usually) but it's tough for me to tread into $300 right away without some hesitation... but one day I'll likely bite the bullet.
 

Check in the FS section for used cables. The Copper Baby Complement just went for 300 ($500+ originally). Other cables have gone for much cheaper ($200s).

 

[dallan]

I switched to a copper recable and lost a little transparency but gained warmth, smoothness and an overall fuller sound....DHC complement. 

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

I switched to a copper recable and lost a little transparency but gained warmth, smoothness and an overall fuller sound....DHC complement. 

You hit the nail on the head.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

 
Hey Peter. 7N silver (either DHC or Moon Audio's new V3 cable). The APS V3 (SPC) is also good. If you want a significant departure from the stock cable and make the sound smoother, warmer, thicker (and a bit slower), go for copper cables. I switched from UPOCC copper to 7N silver and never looked back, but some tube fans may prefer the copper sound. BTW, all the aftermarket cables make the sound smoother than the stock to varying degrees.
 

Cool thanks. I think with my tube amp, silver is actually very complimentary (as my new Kimber Silver Streak interconnects attest to). So maybe the Silver Dragons would be a good match.
 
Thanks again!

 

[sonq]

Hi K-9 & Shahrose,
 
Thanks for sharing.
 
There's a measure of stability in imaging and key strike impact around the midrange that gave me a touch of reassurance that it's not under powered, or at least not way off. Maybe this PDPS version I'm using have a touch more juice over original WA6.
 
Everything was plugged into a power conditioner with good quality powercords, and I'm using quite a smooth but detailed DAC with class A discrete output stage, so the grain should be coming from the amp as you've suggested. I didn't expect this from a tube amp with a supposingly lush tube though.
 
I'll let it run for another 50 to 100 hours to see if there are any improvements to point 1 & 4 before deciding on cable upgrade.
 
 
 

 

[audiophilefreak]

great review, have a plan to change my grado rs2i to Senn Hd800

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

Interesting "objective' review of headphones with surprising results:
 
Sennheiser HD800 ranked  #3
Beyerdynamic DT990Pro ranked #1
Sennheiser HD650  ranked #13
 
http://www.headphoneinfo.com/ratings.php
 

I think by "objective" you meant to say "terrible".

 

[Currawong]

That rating is relative to the price, don't forget.

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

  I am certainly not qualified to judge that article ... I am only a music lover ... but I did find their attempt to
rate the headphones by using objective parameters interesting to say the least. Especially when
certain phones were rated much lower then where conventional wisdom places them.
   Can you please tell me why u think it was a terrible effort? Is there some sort of scientific or perceptual
basis for your statement? As I said I really have not idea at all if they were making basic mistakes ... or
if people get upset just because its not what they want to read?

 
Based on my experience of SQ. I owned all 3 cans and many others on their list. The rankings are just all over the place and I'm aware that they take price into consideration.
 
You can't just group open, closed, full-sized, IEMs, earbuds together like they have. All of them are judged by different criteria because each has a specific purpose. Instead of their ratings, I advise you to follow your own ears or of those who you know to have similar preferences.