[OPrwtos]

i hope its legit but im not sure. Its the first time ive seen them.

 

[John Willett]

Quote:

erm ive seen the hd800 for £807, £830 and £860 on 3 different websites

These would not be legitimate dealers; or if they are, they are breaking their agreement with Sennheiser.
 
So it would be iffy and Sennheiser would not supply them any more stock if they are advertising on-line at these prices.
 

 

[vrln]

A long time ago I started this hobby with an Icon HDP + HD 800 combo. Then I tried and sold various other stuff, only to sell all headphone gear and move completely to the speaker world late last year. I still missed my former headphone gear, so after a while I decided to get a compact "back to the roots" setup
 
Just got my new HD 800 yesturday, serial number >15k. Looks like they are selling pretty well for such an expensive product. This time I´m driving them with an Asus Essence One, so far so good. First impressions: I had forgotten HD 800 is this comfortable. Stax, HD 650 etc are not even remotely close. The soundstage is wonderful as well, still the only headphones I´ve tried that in many ways resembles what speakers sound like (in a damped room). Maybe it´s just my source, but are these new HD 800´s less treble happy? The HDP was nowhere near as good as the E1 is with these, but I have a strong feeling the treble peak is not as sharp this time anyway.
 
John Willett: I noticed you have a Grace m903... How does it pair with the HD 800? Sennheiser has been using it a lot lately to demo their high end stuff (700 and 800).

 

[Hennyo]

Quote:

A long time ago I started this hobby with an Icon HDP + HD 800 combo. Then I tried and sold various other stuff, only to sell all headphone gear and move completely to the speaker world late last year. I still missed my former headphone gear, so after a while I decided to get a compact "back to the roots" setup
 
Just got my new HD 800 yesturday, serial number >15k. Looks like they are selling pretty well for such an expensive product. This time I´m driving them with an Asus Essence One, so far so good. First impressions: I had forgotten HD 800 is this comfortable. Stax, HD 650 etc are not even remotely close. The soundstage is wonderful as well, still the only headphones I´ve tried that in many ways resembles what speakers sound like (in a damped room). Maybe it´s just my source, but are these new HD 800´s less treble happy? The HDP was nowhere near as good as the E1 is with these, but I have a strong feeling the treble peak is not as sharp this time anyway.
 
John Willett: I noticed you have a Grace m903... How does it pair with the HD 800? Sennheiser has been using it a lot lately to demo their high end stuff (700 and 800).

 
 
Yes they are. Mine is S/n 14761.(!) Received a few weeks ago. The new HD 800's are far improved over the first IMHO. I've been very pleasantly surprised the whole time with mine! There have been 2-3 subtle fr changes Sennheiser has made over time. 5-6k s/n (imho look very bad) everything north of 8.5-9k have the current 'sound,' and likely everything north of 12.5k has a refinement of that sound. I've heard four HD 800's with lots of time to spare. s/n high 270's, 5k's, 7.1k's, and my own beloved HD 800. I was delighted when it sounded less peaky and more right out of the box. I don't want to send early adopters under the bus, but I'm quite convinced that this doesn't sound like the 800/s heard before.
 
I've been waiting for my fr for a couple weeks. I'll post when I get it within the week or so.
 

 

[purrin]

Wow, they are up to 15k now. Would be interesting for me to grab a new one and see how it sounds.

 

[the fool]

I dont know where you guys from, but in my place here, if you pay in cash, you can get HD800 aound $1350 after conversion, the price has been like forever, even after the recent increase by sennheiser, the price never changed. Looks like they are not very strict at all.

 

[vrln]

I got mine for around 1000 dollars, traded in an old power cable I don´t need. The Sennheiser price hike never affected the EU, it´s been the same 999 euros since launch here.
 
Hennyo: Looks like I´m not crazy after all. I had read stories like yours before, but always thought it had to be placebo. This isn´t a small difference though, the entire painful spike is tamed on my >15k HD 800. You can hear a spike, but it has to be at least a few dB tamer. I ended up selling the original HD 800 as the spike annoyed me from day 1, but either my hearing has changed or the spike is indeed not as bad anymore.
 
I used to do sibilance tests with some test tracks I´m extremely familiar with (like Leonard Cohens "In my SSsSSSssSSssSSsSShhssSHshshSHshsssecret Life"). They are easily listenable now. Good stuff, I´m happy I came back to Sennheiser in the end
 
EDIT: Also my first HD 800 had a grill mesh that was pretty hard, this one´s metal is softer, like aluminum or something. You can push it down and it jumps back. The paint job is also much better, no more cracks and uneven sections.

 

[Saintly]

Quote:

 
 
Yes they are. Mine is S/n 14761.(!) Received a few weeks ago. The new HD 800's are far improved over the first IMHO. I've been very pleasantly surprised the whole time with mine! There have been 2-3 subtle fr changes Sennheiser has made over time. 5-6k s/n (imho look very bad) everything north of 8.5-9k have the current 'sound,' and likely everything north of 12.5k has a refinement of that sound. I've heard four HD 800's with lots of time to spare. s/n high 270's, 5k's, 7.1k's, and my own beloved HD 800. I was delighted when it sounded less peaky and more right out of the box. I don't want to send early adopters under the bus, but I'm quite convinced that this doesn't sound like the 800/s heard before.
 
I've been waiting for my fr for a couple weeks. I'll post when I get it within the week or so.
 

Actually I just got my FR for SN 05823 and the bass is at +5 and treble region starting a bit under 6k is extremely smooth without any peaks.  I'll try to scan it and upload it but from what I've seen in the FR thread, the treble on my pair is actually one of the smoother ones.
 

 

[Saintly]

Quote:

 
EDIT: Also my first HD 800 had a grill mesh that was pretty hard, this one´s metal is softer, like aluminum or something. You can push it down and it jumps back. The paint job is also much better, no more cracks and uneven sections.

 
Do you mean the silvery colored mesh?  Mine is also fairly soft and gives under pressure.
 
 

 

[peanuthead]

My experience mirrors this.  There are certain recordings that I simply could not tolerate on my original HD800 (SN 300's) due to excessive treble energy.  On my current HD800 (SN 15000's), these same recordings are completely listenable, which took me totally by surprise.
 
Quote:

Hennyo: Looks like I´m not crazy after all. I had read stories like yours before, but always thought it had to be placebo. This isn´t a small difference though, the entire painful spike is tamed on my >15k HD 800. You can hear a spike, but it has to be at least a few dB tamer. I ended up selling the original HD 800 as the spike annoyed me from day 1, but either my hearing has changed or the spike is indeed not as bad anymore.
 
I used to do sibilance tests with some test tracks I´m extremely familiar with (like Leonard Cohens "In my SSsSSSssSSssSSsSShhssSHshshSHshsssecret Life"). They are easily listenable now. Good stuff, I´m happy I came back to Sennheiser in the end

 

 

[Saintly]

Quote:

My experience mirrors this.  There are certain recordings that I simply could not tolerate on my original HD800 (SN 300's) due to excessive treble energy.  On my current HD800 (SN 15000's), these same recordings are completely listenable, which took me totally by surprise.
 

 
Do you have the FR for both pairs to compare?
 
Here is mine: I took it with a camera and the quality is horrible.  I'll try to get it scanned later.
 

 
The bass starts at 5 dB and the entire treble region lies underneath 5 dB in case it is not visible from the awful picture.

 

[Mr.Sneis]

Quote:

I got mine for around 1000 dollars, traded in an old power cable I don´t need. The Sennheiser price hike never affected the EU, it´s been the same 999 euros since launch here.
 
Hennyo: Looks like I´m not crazy after all. I had read stories like yours before, but always thought it had to be placebo. This isn´t a small difference though, the entire painful spike is tamed on my >15k HD 800. You can hear a spike, but it has to be at least a few dB tamer. I ended up selling the original HD 800 as the spike annoyed me from day 1, but either my hearing has changed or the spike is indeed not as bad anymore.
 
I used to do sibilance tests with some test tracks I´m extremely familiar with (like Leonard Cohens "In my SSsSSSssSSssSSsSShhssSHshshSHshsssecret Life"). They are easily listenable now. Good stuff, I´m happy I came back to Sennheiser in the end
 
EDIT: Also my first HD 800 had a grill mesh that was pretty hard, this one´s metal is softer, like aluminum or something. You can push it down and it jumps back. The paint job is also much better, no more cracks and uneven sections.

Wow, so are you saying you hear the spike still but to a lesser degree?  Any change in bass from your memory?  By grill mesh are you talking about the black painted one or the really thin silver material around the black grill?
 
Thanks for the impressions!
 
 

 

[John Willett]

Quote:

 
John Willett: I noticed you have a Grace m903... How does it pair with the HD 800? Sennheiser has been using it a lot lately to demo their high end stuff (700 and 800).

I love the Grace - it's superb quality, neutral and revealing.
 
I bought my m902 several years ago for my HD 650 and HD 580 Jubillee - I later had the upgrade done to make it an m902b (balanced line outs to power my active monitors). 
 
I bought the HD 800 three years ago (mine was the first one sold in the UK) and then used that with the m902b.
 
Last month I upgraded to the m903 and now use that - the 903 is an improvement in every respect over the 902 - and the 902 was superb.
 
Sennheiser UK have been using a Grace m902 for demoing the HD 800 since day-1 and used the m903 to demo the HD 700 and HD 800 at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show last month.
 
 

 

[Hennyo]

Purrin, can I send you my 14761's for fun? If you could forward them to Tyll after that, that would also be fun. Ygpm for a special surprise to boot it all off.
 
Yes, Mr. Sneis. Far more bass with the new sets. Or at least, I certainly don't dislike the HD 800 anymore. What's funny is that I used to be a major  proponent of the Sennheiser and the HD 800's in general.. I bought them for fun and because every few months whenever I put them on, I love the way they feel. I can't believe I have them. I was very surprised when I took this out of the box?! Like wth is this stuff?>!! Looks the Sennheiser heard their peoples plee.
 
That said, I paid 1,200 new for mine shipped. I would NOT pay more than for them though. I think they're a ripoff at $1,500. Or maybe I just dislike Sennheiser as a whole for their brand. And marketing strategy. Their tactics are despicable. 1,300 is more to think about and more than that - I don't like them.

 

[grokit]

I've stated many times that my 10xxx HD 800 is much more enjoyable to listen to than my 14xx first set. The paint was starting to rub off some of the edges of that first set as well, but I never noticed that until I was packing them up after they sold.