[SleepyOne]

30 mins is a bit too early to tell for any headphones....not enough time to loosen the drivers yet.

 

[greggf]

dallan and IPodPJ are two of the guys I respect and read most carefully on this forum.

Of course, that now makes me the most confused guy on earth!

 

[powertoold]

Hay guys, the prototypes were different than the production models.

 

[rangen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif I apologize for that post, but honestly, they just sound lifeless to me. .

No need to apologize, in my book. Your impressions are your impressions, and all such data is welcome to those of us who can't put them on our ears. I'd be very interested to know if your impression persists, or changes, though.

 

[IPodPJ]

LOL. Thanks for the compliment though, greggf.

Now I have 3 cans that all sound different and none of them true to real life, but my heavily modded D5K sound closest. I do like treble, but I can't stand sibilance. We all have very different thresholds to different parts of the frequency range that we can tolerate.

But if you guys are saying that the HD800 sound natural to you, boy, either my sense of reality must be really screwed up or you all are off your rockers.

But my ears are very adept to hearing minute changes in equipment. Could it be perhaps that my Corda Opera just doesn't work properly with 300 ohm headphones? They get plenty loud enough, and I can't imagine that being the issue since Meier designed the Opera with the 650s.

 

[IPodPJ]

Ok, update: This is extremely weird. Could the drivers have really been that stiff??? Is that possible?? I just went back and listened again. They've been burning in for about 90 minutes now and they sound quite a bit better! Still, they aren't full of life yet but they are progressing. I have never heard burn-in have so much of an impact in my life, especially in that short time frame.

 

[SleepyOne]

Yes, all my headphones are non listenable for at least 2 weeks....so hopefully things improve. Keep going re: burn in. As for the life thing, not sure, only time will tell.

 

[rangen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ok, update: This is extremely weird. Could the drivers have really been that stiff??? Is that possible?? I just went back and listened again. They've been burning in for about 90 minutes now and they sound quite a bit better! Still, they aren't full of life yet but they are progressing. I have never heard burn-in have so much of an impact in my life, especially in that short time frame.

The men in black got to you, didn't they? Are they standing over you now, as you listen and post, "Team Sennheiser" written in tiny gold letters on their black sunglasses?

 

[The Monkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ok, maybe that post sounded harsh. I know I need to give them more time to get used to them. They are very different than anything I've ever listened to, and that's why I'm glad I'm going to CanJam, so I can listen to all different flavors.

Have you spent any time with 'stats? And if so, how does the HD800 compare?

 

[IPodPJ]

Ok, more news!!! I think the issue is with my amp. Normally, all headphones go into the "low Z" jack which is a 0 ohm jack. When I plug it into the "high Z" jack, which is 120 ohm, the headphones sound much better. With the regular 0 ohm jack, the bass is horribly muddy with practically no detail. With the 120 ohm jack, I definitely hear a lot more detail and the mids are more lush.

This headphone is going to be EXTREMELY hard to match with amps. It is going to require an amp that puts out very clean power and has tons of headroom. Your source isn't an issue... the better your source is, the better your music will sound, obviously.

I plan on spending my time with many amps at CanJam now.

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Monkey /img/forum/go_quote.gif Have you spent any time with 'stats? And if so, how does the HD800 compare?

Monkey,
Sorry, I have not. The last time and only time I listened to a stat was in '94 or '95 when I was much younger. I knew at the time that I preferred the Sony CD1000 to whatever stat headphone I heard.

Are you coming to CanJam? If so you are welcome to use my pair to compare to some stats.

After 5:00 I will be turning off my computer and packing up so I won't get to reply until I get into the hotel room, and that's assuming they have internet access for me in the room.

 

[shellylh]

Wow... so many conflicting "impressions." Keep em coming though... makes for an interesting read.

 

[IPodPJ]

By the way, Mark Lawton seems to agree with my opinions of the HD800:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f38/in...ml#post5721164

Scenario 1) And what this tells me is that the variance between drivers in each pair of HD800 must be pretty severe for all of us to have such vastly different impressions. Our ears are not that different, and we don't hear things as different as little green men from outer space might.

Scenario 2) As mentioned previously, they are extremely particular about what amp you pair them with. Unless HD800 owners are pairing them with a perfectly matched amp, there will be as many HD800 haters as their are lovers. This can is definitely not for everyone.

I have a request: From now on I'd request if every owner of the HD800, in their next post, to mention what amp they are using. For every future owner who hasn't yet posted impressions, please mention what amp you are using in the same post as your impression. Thank you.

 

[johnwmclean]

More impressions please... loving the conflicting opinions. Really like to know how they sound though a Beta 22 anyone?

 

[dallan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by greggf /img/forum/go_quote.gif dallan and IPodPJ are two of the guys I respect and read most carefully on this forum. Of course, that now makes me the most confused guy on earth!

Just got back online and read this and i was laughing out loud!

One other thing i didn't mention earlier is they are a bit harder to drive than the hd650s as far as the knob setting on both of my amps go. I have yet to try them with my Lisa lll but i read earlier that Lisa was not quite enough to drive well, but close. Kinda find that hard to believe but i will test later and i will be bringing Lisa lll to Canjam probably paired with the 800s(we'll see). Don't really want to have to leave them and worry about them, i'd rather plug them into everything in sight, esp the Luxman amps if any are there.