[Shetzu]

  That's great. Hope you have an amp powerful enough to do justice to the HD800. BTW, I might sell my headphone amp during the month of April this year. Do let me know, if you are interested. It pairs very well with the HD800. 

 
I intend to but the amp at a little later stage because of budget restraint. However, you can provide me more details & images and specs on the amp you want to sell. I can surely look at the details. I used my brand new iFi iCan Micro amp to demo the Hd-800 and m boy it could drive the 300 ohms Hd 800 like  a effortless  game. It sounded really fantastic rather I should say super fantastic with each and every detail. I was very much impressed.

The HD800 or 800S? If budget isn't a concern the S is pretty amazing.

I asked the price for Hd-800s and will be launched by march end or April @ Rs 1.25lacs. Its a way too high for my budget at the moment to straight away go for the s Model.

 

[Shetzu]

  This is my office/tour/travel companion at the moment.It's not much but it saves a lot of space and delivers an enjoyable experience 

That looks neat and concise.

 

[Shetzu]

  I second that. Haven't heard the S version (Have heard the 800 on several occasions for hours) but HD 800 needs a lot of attention in order to get optimum levels of sound out of it, especially due to the inefficiency and sibilance in higher frequencies. It is a technical achievement when it comes to dynamic driver headphones but in the end people will stick to headphones, which are more enjoyable rather than technically perfect one. From what I've read in the 800S forums, issues with the 800 which made it a bit annoying over long periods of listening have been addressed in 800S 

I too heard that the s version has eradicated all little issues on hd 800. They say that the technology used in IE800 has been used in the s version and therefore the cost is high. 

 

[vaibhavp]

I also went with ****zu for HD800 demo and took my HD700 for comparison. Got an hour in quiet room. Some aspects that stuck me:

Amping: with ifi mico ican it was optimum but even fiio e12a was enjoyable. Not that 800 was at its potential, but was highly enjoyable. Dunno what its being picky is all about.

Compared to hd700, detail retrival was more, sound was more effortless. Even on fast paced tabla 800 had no problem in keeping up and brought out almost all detail. 700 had more bass impact and thus had slightly more problem in keeping up. Also timber in hd800 had lot more detail, minute ones. Also it was more open sounding and spacious but does not sound distant at all. Musicality of hd800 was very good. Am a big fan of akg bass, 800 was closer to that.

700 had some points in its favour. Even against 800, 700 has more finely graded microdynamics. Ebb and flow of music is more apparent on 700. Also it has more bass impact and more focussed sound. Fast paced rock and metal bands, 700 though will eke out less detail but will retain energy of music well. Musicalty of 700 is excellent and will be more of matter of preference.

Vs beyerdynamic t1 2nd gen: this is based on memory so wont say much. Also i heard t1 on tube amp vs ifi ican this time. T1 also has effortless detail retrival like 800 and are easily on par. If you want thick, smooth, lush mids and treble, beyer is way to go. If you want spacious sound and well separated instruments, more natural instrument portrayal that mimic real life instruments imho, senn duo is way to go.

 

[Shetzu]

I also went with ****zu for HD800 demo and took my HD700 for comparison. Got an hour in quiet room. Some aspects that stuck me:

Amping: with ifi mico ican it was optimum but even fiio e12a was enjoyable. Not that 800 was at its potential, but was highly enjoyable. Dunno what its being picky is all about.

Compared to hd700, detail retrival was more, sound was more effortless. Even on fast paced tabla 800 had no problem in keeping up and brought out almost all detail. 700 had more bass impact and thus had slightly more problem in keeping up. Also timber in hd800 had lot more detail, minute ones. Also it was more open sounding and spacious but does not sound distant at all. Musicality of hd800 was very good. Am a big fan of akg bass, 800 was closer to that.

700 had some points in its favour. Even against 800, 700 has more finely graded microdynamics. Ebb and flow of music is more apparent on 700. Also it has more bass impact and more focussed sound. Fast paced rock and metal bands, 700 though will eke out less detail but will retain energy of music well. Musicalty of 700 is excellent and will be more of matter of preference.

Vs beyerdynamic t1 2nd gen: this is based on memory so wont say much. Also i heard t1 on tube amp vs ifi ican this time. T1 also has effortless detail retrival like 800 and are easily on par. If you want thick, smooth, lush mids and treble, beyer is way to go. If you want spacious sound and well separated instruments, more natural instrument portrayal that mimic real life instruments imho, senn duo is way to go.

Thanks Vaibhav for coming along. It was indeed a great experience and listening fun at the Sennhieser office in Gurgoan with the Hd-800 along with the Hd-700 and the iCan Micro with my rig.

 

[jared basshead]

D-14 that you sold to Shreyas , we shall have a taste of it all haha.

So you all are going to taste her then?
Yeah ride her and let her know who's her new sugar daddy. But take turns okay she can't handle more than one as she only has one port.
I'm not gonna forget her anytime soon, boy those nights she used to lay by my pillow so beautiful and enticing. I promised her she's only mine and nobody's gonna lay hand on her like I did with Rxmk3 & 3 fiios before her eventually she caught me cheating on her and since then things were never as they were before. Now I'm single and I think I have my eyes on someone but I suspect it's not gonna be easy, man she's way out of my league.

 

[Shetzu]

So you all are going to taste her then?
Yeah ride her and let her know who's her new sugar daddy. But take turns okay she can't handle more than one as she only has one port.
I'm not gonna forget her anytime soon, boy those nights she used to lay by my pillow so beautiful and enticing. I promised her she's only mine and nobody's gonna lay hand on her like I did with Rxmk3 & 3 fiios before her eventually she caught me cheating on her and since then things were never as they were before. Now I'm single and I think I have my eyes on someone but I suspect it's not gonna be easy, man she's way out of my league.

Haha that was very poetic 

 

[vaibhavp]

Thanks Vaibhav for coming along. It was indeed a great experience and listening fun at the Sennhieser office in Gurgoan with the Hd-800 along with the Hd-700 and the iCan Micro with my rig.

Thanks for arranging meet sir. Looking forward to your purchase. I think it was convincing.

 

[Shetzu]

Thanks for arranging meet sir. Looking forward to your purchase. I think it was convincing.

Yes indeed it was convincing. I liked the spacious feeling and the large sound stage with excellent clarity and enjoyable experience the Hd-800 gave. I shall decide shortly.

 

[Ritvik]

Did they let you try it out with the HDVD800? When well amped it so far ahead of the 700 and most cans out there. I'm eyeing the AURALiC Taurus MKII and the 800S! Probably not this year, maybe the second half of 2017. 

 

[vaibhavp]

Did they let you try it out with the HDVD800? When well amped it so far ahead of the 700 and most cans out there. I'm eyeing the AURALiC Taurus MKII and the 800S! Probably not this year, maybe the second half of 2017. 

They had worst setup you can imagine for hd800. It was this big onkyo speaker amp hp out.
If we hadnt taken x5 for source, he would in a pinch use headphone out of his cellphone for source.

If by properly amping it you mean i have to spend 2 lacs, well its not a priority for me. Looking for burson soloist sl for amping 700.

 

[Ritvik]

It's disappointing to see them show off their premium gear with a sub pair equipment chain. 
 
I just like the Auralic amp, heard it only with the HE-1000 so far, but I have feeling it will play well with 800. I've heard the 800 and 700 with a Audio-GD DAC/AMP as well, can't remember the model but it was sub 500 USD, and to me it felt very well driven. Not everyone agreed with me, but people here like getting the best of the best. Then there's me waiting on the local forums for them to get bored with the toys and sell them for a lot less! If you guys are thinking about DAC as well the Audio GD products are pretty solid. 

 

[vaibhavp]

It's disappointing to see them show off their premium gear with a sub pair equipment chain. 

I just like the Auralic amp, heard it only with the HE-1000 so far, but I have feeling it will play well with 800. I've heard the 800 and 700 with a Audio-GD DAC/AMP as well, can't remember the model but it was sub 500 USD, and to me it felt very well driven. Not everyone agreed with me, but people here like getting the best of the best. Then there's me waiting on the local forums for them to get bored with the toys and sell them for a lot less! If you guys are thinking about DAC as well the Audio GD products are pretty solid. 

Amping requirement for hd800 at this point is pretty much hyperbole to me. Heard audigd stuff is good
I intend to keep x5 in chain as it control brightness very all. Its performance is also good as i heard today.

 

[Shetzu]

They had worst setup you can imagine for hd800. It was this big onkyo speaker amp hp out.
If we hadnt taken x5 for source, he would in a pinch use headphone out of his cellphone for source.

If by properly amping it you mean i have to spend 2 lacs, well its not a priority for me. Looking for burson soloist sl for amping 700.

 
 

  Did they let you try it out with the HDVD800? When well amped it so far ahead of the 700 and most cans out there. I'm eyeing the AURALiC Taurus MKII and the 800S! Probably not this year, maybe the second half of 2017. 

I was really shocked when the guy was tying to listen to the 800 via his cell phone. Then I saw a huge black thingy on the table and it was the Denon speaker amp he connected the hd800 to and then called us in for the demo. I was lucky to have carried the ifi ican micro amp which gave us a pretty good driven demo of the hd 800.
They should have had the Hdvd 800  Sennheiser amp/dac but no way they would have had that. 
Like Vaibhav said on the long run shall buy the Burson Audio  (500$). Other good amps like Auralic(2000$)  or the ifi iCan Pro(1500$) of course  is a bit too high for my budget.

 

[Shetzu]

Amping requirement for hd800 at this point is pretty much hyperbole to me. Heard audigd stuff is good
I intend to keep x5 in chain as it control brightness very all. Its performance is also good as i heard today.

Yeah even I was surprised how my rig X5II + E12A combo provided a fantastic sound on the Hd-800. It was well driven and did not have any issues. Really surprised haha.