[Shahrose]

Quote:

Does anyone find HD800 to have a bit of claming effect? It's not exactly tight or anything, but I think because the earpads are too big, the part where they come in contact with my jaws can get somehwat uncomfortable over time.
 
I've had them over the stock box whenever I'm not listening in attempt to loosen them a bit, but they're still a bit tight.

Just bend the headband lightly, don't worry it won't snap like the HD650.

 

[Suntory_Times]

Quote:

Just bend the headband lightly, don't worry it won't snap like the HD650.

Trust me. 

 

[kwang411]

thanks shahrose, i bent them slightly and now they're much better!

 

[aimlink]

I joined this ownership crew sooner than I thought I would, but then my birthday came and I got mischievous thoughts.

 I'll not say too much about construction, looks etc.  After-all, it's more about comfort and sound.  Despite their weight, I find them to be quite comfortable and can be worn for long sessions.
 
I'm very impressed with them.  Very impressed indeed.  I've come full circle and found my way back to a more balanced sound.  There's a lot of that to be found in these HD800's.  When I listen, the words refined, tidy and disciplined come to mind.  A nice level of intimacy is achieved without the sound ever getting too close to my ears.  This makes for a very engaging listening experience with the added bonus of no fatigue.  Excessive intimacy and colouration are the main sources of fatigue for me (Grado's anyone?), even though such presentations can be ear-catching on the first take.
 
I haven't been experiencing excessive brightness from them and this has been the case since I first put them on.  I've thrown some of my harsher test recordings at them, and in Sennheiser fashion, I don't have to grimace and reach for the volume control.  Very well done indeed.
 
I don't find the sound stage to be too open.  I actually find the sense of head space and ambience to be quite natural.  The level of detail comes out a LOT with the full worth of the HD800's coming into being, when listening to very good recordings.  However, with a lot of contemporary recordings, the HD800's do not particularly stand out when compared to the mid-tier wonders like the HD600's and K702's, and seem to be just another nice can.   I can easily imagine someone listening to these latter recordings and judging the HD800's based on this.
 
So far, no boredom whatsoever, but just the music which may make me tap my toes, bob my head or lean back and close my eyes.  I already found this experience in the HD600's and 650, but the HD800's achieve it in a technically superior fashion.   I personally think the price tag is reasonable given the sonic performance I'm hearing.  I have no regrets with this purchase and am now quite content.  I currently have no desire for more detail. This is enough for me.  So definitely, no electrostats and likely no balanced.  The HD800's are great with my current amp.  

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

I joined this ownership crew sooner than I thought I would, but then my birthday came and I got mischievous thoughts.

 I'll not say too much about construction, looks etc.  After-all, it's more about comfort and sound.  Despite their weight, I find them to be quite comfortable and can be worn for long sessions.
 
I'm very impressed with them.  Very impressed indeed.  I've come full circle and found my way back to a more balanced sound.  There's a lot of that to be found in these HD800's.  When I listen, the words refined, tidy and disciplined come to mind.  A nice level of intimacy is achieved without the sound ever getting too close to my ears.  This makes for a very engaging listening experience with the added bonus of no fatigue.  Excessive intimacy and colouration are the main sources of fatigue for me (Grado's anyone?), even though such presentations can be ear-catching on the first take.
 
I haven't been experiencing excessive brightness from them and this has been the case since I first put them on.  I've thrown some of my harsher test recordings at them, and in Sennheiser fashion, I don't have to grimace and reach for the volume control.  Very well done indeed.
 
I don't find the sound stage to be too open.  I actually find the sense of head space and ambience to be quite natural.  The level of detail comes out a LOT with the full worth of the HD800's coming into being, when listening to very good recordings.  However, with a lot of contemporary recordings, the HD800's do not particularly stand out when compared to the mid-tier wonders like the HD600's and K702's, and seem to be just another nice can.   I can easily imagine someone listening to these latter recordings and judging the HD800's based on this.
 
So far, no boredom whatsoever, but just the music which may make me tap my toes, bob my head or lean back and close my eyes.  I already found this experience in the HD600's and 650, but the HD800's achieve it in a technically superior fashion.   I personally think the price tag is reasonable given the sonic performance I'm hearing.  I have no regrets with this purchase and am now quite content.  I currently have no desire for more detail. This is enough for me.  So definitely, no electrostats and likely no balanced.  The HD800's are great with my current amp.  

 
Aimlink welcome to the club! I knew you'd be joining us sooner or later...LOL.

 

 

[TheManko]

I will probably be getting mine on friday (they have been paid for and ordered, so now it's up to the postal service). A couple of weeks ago I auditioned them in a store and I was pretty impressed by how effortlessly they played back everything. No matter how congested or messy the live recordings I had brought sounded like with my AKG 701s at home the HD 800s didn't seem to have to work very hard to throw back all the instruments in the recording back at me with great clarity. I loved the comfort and massive feel of them, so even though I only listened for about 20-30 minutes I was pretty convinced that I'm going to be happy with them.

 

[K_19]

I played around with the positioning of the HD800 on my head for a while last night, and I can't believe how much of a difference it makes... it's even more evident than the K701.  Interestingly, if I position my ears near the bottom back corner, then the highs/upper mids become nearly unbearable and bass disappears (but with better 3D soundstaging), which is pretty much the opposite of what happened with the K701... and when I position my ears more towards the middle or more up in the cups (basically, wearing the headband more extended than you think you need to), then it gains quite a bit of bass and highs become controlled in exchange of some loss in soundstaging.  This enables me to customize the sound to a degree depending on what type of music I am listening to at the time.  For orchestral/classical/progressive rock pieces I use the former method while for all others I use the latter.
 
What have you guys experienced as far as ear positioning goes?

 

[aimlink]

I haven't heard them create miracles, i.e., make a bad recording sound good.  In fact, I do find that their performance approaches that of the more well established and less expensive cans when it comes to a lot of contemporary recordings.  However, if you play a great recording, their abilities really come forward into full bloom.
 
I was wondering what to play with it first.  I decided on some Black Eyed Peas that I had been playing just the day before.  When I listened, I thought to myself, "That's all??!!".  

  But later, I played some audiophile recordings from HDTracks, some Mike Oldfield and other ambient stuff.  It was then that I realized what was creating all the positive fuss. 

  It's a relief when I'm not disappointed after a big spend... first with the Ed8's and now, with these.  

 

[monsieurguzel]

[size=x-small]Hello all, I think its about time for me to post my impressions of the HD800 after having owned them for a few months and getting accustomed to them.  I can easily see why these headphones are quite polarizing on Head-Fi!  At first one will easily be impressed with soundstage, detail level, and rendtition of instruments / vocals which are very convincing.  Despite all this though, they are very picky and finicky when it comes to source, amp, and cable!  In that sense I don't recommend them to anyone who isn't willing to spend quite a bit more money finding the right sound for them.  [/size]
 
[size=x-small]In my case, I ended up upgrading from a Woo 6 SE + Apogee Duet, to a Woo 5 + Perfectwave DAC.  Even then, I was still having a hard time liking these headphones and was about to get rid of them.  The sound was a little to shrill to me and I would have to crank the volume to uncomfortable levels to make them sound right.  However, I decided to stick it out and upgraded my cable to a DHC complement clone and swapped a whole lot of tubes on the Woo 5 to the point where I am extremely satisfied with their sound.  [/size]
 
[size=x-small]The HD800 already have amazing clarity and soundstage, but I recommend a cable / amp that can bring out the body and bass in these headphones to round them out and trully make them exceptional headphones.  As or right now, my amp and tubes are still in the process of burning in but I tell you that the sound gets sweeter and more melodic by the day, to the point where they are on the level of my Stax O2 and beat them in quite a few areas such as soundstage and punch.  Even low level listening has vastly improved and is very enjoyable and musical now.[/size]
 
[size=x-small]Moral of the story is that these are trully wonderful headphones, but take a whole lot to get the best from (for some reason all Sennheiser flagship headphones have always been this way).  I think that there was an initial influx of people who bought them and didn't truly give them the right equipment / source to make them sing and so sold them off.  I can see this headphone also improving over time as amp designer know how to properly drive them to their max.  They sound mightly loud out of a regular laptop headphone jack (unlike the HD600s), but that doesn't mean that they are properly driven.[/size]

 

[Shahrose]

 
Quote:

I played around with the positioning of the HD800 on my head for a while last night, and I can't believe how much of a difference it makes... it's even more evident than the K701.  Interestingly, if I position my ears near the bottom back corner, then the highs/upper mids become nearly unbearable and bass disappears (but with better 3D soundstaging), which is pretty much the opposite of what happened with the K701... and when I position my ears more towards the middle or more up in the cups (basically, wearing the headband more extended than you think you need to), then it gains quite a bit of bass and highs become controlled in exchange of some loss in soundstaging.  This enables me to customize the sound to a degree depending on what type of music I am listening to at the time.  For orchestral/classical/progressive rock pieces I use the former method while for all others I use the latter.
 
What have you guys experienced as far as ear positioning goes?

I tinkered with positioning when I got mine and found exactly the same as you did. I prefer my ears to be directly in the center of the earcup.


Quote:

[size=x-small]Moral of the story is that these are trully wonderful headphones, but take a whole lot to get the best from (for some reason all Sennheiser flagship headphones have always been this way).  I think that there was an initial influx of people who bought them and didn't truly give them the right equipment / source to make them sing and so sold them off.  I can see this headphone also improving over time as amp designer know how to properly drive them to their max.  They sound mightly loud out of a regular laptop headphone jack (unlike the HD600s), but that doesn't mean that they are properly driven.[/size]

No kidding! I've gone through 4 transports, 2 sources, 2 amps, 3 headphone cables and upgraded all my ICs/coax just in the past couple months...all because of the HD800's ability to provide a microscopic view into these changes.

 

[MagnumOrpheus]

 
Quote:

One complaint though, is that the paint job isn't that great. There's some blemishes, and i can see small bubbles in some areas. Other HD800 owners have the same problem?

For example, I have bubbles like this on both sides at the exact same location

 

 
That's odd. My HD800's have completely smooth surfaces. The bubbles look like some sort of production fault.
 

 

[WindyCityCy]

I've been listening to my HD800's more and more since getting the DHC Clone cable.  It's now almost 2am and I've been telling myself for the past 2 hours just 1 more song.  Damn these headphones.  I'm only half way through Metallica's S&M Disk1.  Could be a long day tomorrow

 

[monsieurguzel]

Here is my recent review of the Sennheiser HD800 for those who are interested:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/sennheiser-hd-800-headphones/reviews#3814

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

Here is my recent review of the Sennheiser HD800 for those who are interested:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/sennheiser-hd-800-headphones/reviews#3814

I enjoyed reading the review and concur with your findings.

 

[Roger Strummer]

Very good review monsieurguzel, I agree with pretty much all that you said.