[K_19]

Quote:

 
 
No Bass Boost for me.  Ying told me with it being balanced I shouldn't need the Bass Boost.  He was correct.  I get plenty of good tight bass, just right for the HD800.  Also this amp has a sort of tubbish sound to it - (but not).

 
Yup, people say that MOSFET amps have certain tubelike quality to their sound and I feel that it's true (well, at least from my experience with the M3... haven't tried others...). It has the most intimate tube-like midrange out of any solid-state amps that I've heard. It has other technical downfall, to be sure, but IMO the midrange quality more than makes up for them.

 

[R Giskard]

I think our Maestral series of tube amplifiers sounds great with the HD800s:
 
http://www.had-audiolab.com/product.asp?id=62
 
Also, here:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/622167/introducing-had-audiolab-amplifiers-looking-for-reviewers
 
By the way, why is it that the Sennheiser introduction video to HD800 says japanese alcantara was used for the ear pads when their website states the earpads are made from microfiber. It does look like microfiber to me in any case. Can someone elaborate?

 

[K_19]

Quote:

I think our Maestral series of tube amplifiers sounds great with the HD800s:
 
http://www.had-audiolab.com/product.asp?id=62
 
Also, here:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/622167/introducing-had-audiolab-amplifiers-looking-for-reviewers
 
By the way, why is it that the Sennheiser introduction video to HD800 says japanese alcantara was used for the ear pads when their website states the earpads are made from microfiber. It does look like microfiber to me in any case. Can someone elaborate?

 
I think the story was that they were indeed alcantara pads during beta testing, but changed to microfibre shortly before release due to supply problems or something like that.

 

[Wingstrike]

Quote:

 
My M3 ain't balanced like yours, but I still definitely enjoy it with the HD800 (coincidently, mine was also built by Ying over at YBM). Mine also has a Bass Boost installed which helps on certain tracks. Perhaps not the most technically proficient pairing, but IMO makes HD800 a better all-rounder headphone.
 
With that said, I like my HD800 slightly better with my WA6SE, but M3 ain't too far behind IMO. 

I also have an unbalanced M3 for HD800 and I enjoy it immensely, along with my EE Minimax DAC.

 

[preproman]

Quote:

I also have an unbalanced M3 for HD800 and I enjoy it immensely, along with my EE Minimax DAC.

 
Sounds like a good DAC and Amp combo for the HD800s.  Does it treble the highs at all?  I like the way Cory does his face plates.

 

[rawrster]

I know what I'm about to ask is probably going to insult the purists but here it comes anyway...
 
I know this isn't HD800 related persay but I was wondering how it would be to connect a single ended dac with a balanced amp and have the HD800 run a 4 pin xlr cable and connect it to the amp. I've always thought about balanced dac to balanced amp but looking at balanced amps all of them offer rca inputs so I was wondering if that would be fine to do. Also if not then what are the reasons for it. It's just something I've wondered.

 

[MorbidToaster]

It's fine. The only difference you'll really hear is lower gain. 
 
If the amp is designed properly there really shouldn't be an audible difference between balanced and se inputs besides gain.
 
Quote:

I know what I'm about to ask is probably going to insult the purists but here it comes anyway...
 
I know this isn't HD800 related persay but I was wondering how it would be to connect a single ended dac with a balanced amp and have the HD800 run a 4 pin xlr cable and connect it to the amp. I've always thought about balanced dac to balanced amp but looking at balanced amps all of them offer rca inputs so I was wondering if that would be fine to do. Also if not then what are the reasons for it. It's just something I've wondered.

 

[rgs9200m]

I found a cable I really like for the HD800: the Enigma Audio Apex (mine are balanced with Furutech Rhodium connectors).
It has a tube like warmth that transforms the 800s into an un-analytical creature completely.
It may take away some of the detail and precision and staging, but to my ears, the result is way more musical, harmonically rich,
with no piercing highs or sharp-edged images. And the images are nice and life-sized.
There is still lots of detail remaining, a kind of tube like gently steamy atmosphere is created.
 
I don't think it is rolled off much (if any), it's just that the images are a little more rounded and felt-like around the edges, more silky.
It does change the sound of the headphone, maybe colors it, but it colors it just right for me. If you find the 800s too hi-fi, this may be your ticket.
 
I especially liked the way the Beatles sounded with it, kind of the best I have heard some of the early Beatles recordings without a trace of piercing highs but still with great insight
in vocals, instruments, and recording artifacts. (I was using the "Mono Masters" 2-disk album that is part of the Beatles In Mono box set from 2009.
I also listened to some Grass Roots and Maria Muldaur.
 
I had been using the Black Dragon cable, my previous favorite cable, which does add warmth and and is less colored, but wanted an even less analytical sound.


 

 

[Tassie Devil]

Quote:

Many drop the load so to speak on the HD800s and then go and spend a very limited amount on sub-par gear (amp/dac/source) and then wonder why the HD800s aren't earth shattering. But for really transparent headphones like the HD800s, they will only reveal to you what "issues" you have upstream.

Wise words, but ones that seem to be being ignored by many.  It is a waste of dollars & only leads to frustration if money is not spent wisely on the source.  GARBAGE IN -> GARBAGE OUT is just so true if using the HD800s.  If anyone finds the treble "lean" or the bass "light" then they should look more critically at what components are being used to feed analog into the phones.
 
I guess I'm particularly lucky to have a Meridian Sooloos system with digital out from a MS600 - that is an impeccable source and the resulting music into the ears from the Sennies (via the NuForce DAC 90 which no-one else appears to have trialled) is superb.  Brilliant soundstage etc as others comment on and extremely "musical" top to bottom. And BTW I do use balanced out to the phones via Warren cabling and the audio quality is a tad better than unbalanced using Senni cabling.  But I will not argue that is entirely due to balanced or the cable - it could be due to one less amplifying stage. And it is here I feel many are falling over by introducing more components in the chain of hardware.  The fewer parts in the obstacle race -> analog to the phones the better IMHO.  And this is why the audio can sound so much better via phones than via amps & speakers as that chain has many more obstacles to alter the signal; + of course the horrors of room resonances.
 
I'm curious re those expensive Stax phones as I love electrostatic speakers - have 7 of them in the main 7.1 system, but the price does look a bit too steep for me for only a slight step forward. But then again, ....
 
John

 

[MorbidToaster]

By all means find a way to audition them (properly) first but to my ears it was not a slight step. It was very obvious when I switched back to my HD800s. Even my girlfriend noticed a massive change, and she's never been interested before. 
 
Diminishing returns of course, but I'd say a 15-20% increase in overall quality. This was with the Cavalli Liquid Lightning, of course.
 
Quote:

I'm curious re those expensive Stax phones as I love electrostatic speakers - have 7 of them in the main 7.1 system, but the price does look a bit too steep for me for only a slight step forward. But then again, ....
 
John

 

[Maxvla]

YMMV, the SR009 are certainly more detailed, but give up way too much in terms of realism. Not interested.

 

[MorbidToaster]

You and I will always disagree on this one. I was really hoping you'd be right when you told me they weren't worth it, but man were you wrong (TMW, YMMV, IMO, IME, etc.).
 
I don't think the HD800s were as 'real' as my previous LCD 2.2s. As far as flat out natural tone goes. I feel the 009s bridge the gap between the 2 soundstage wise though. That's one thing I liked. The HD800s just felt too distant on certain things after I listened to that stuff on the 009s.
 
Quote:

YMMV, the SR009 are certainly more detailed, but give up way too much in terms of realism. Not interested.

 

[Maxvla]

Will you have your stat setup next month? I'll give it another shot. I haven't heard it with the LL, but when I heard it from the WES and BHSE I thought it was excellent, but there was something off about it. The large soundstage of the HD800 is ideal, IMO. I don't know why anyone would want a planar type sound stage for critical listening. The detail and clarity they provide is really something but the presentation is off.

 

[sphinxvc]

Quote:

I know what I'm about to ask is probably going to insult the purists but here it comes anyway...
 
I know this isn't HD800 related persay but I was wondering how it would be to connect a single ended dac with a balanced amp and have the HD800 run a 4 pin xlr cable and connect it to the amp. I've always thought about balanced dac to balanced amp but looking at balanced amps all of them offer rca inputs so I was wondering if that would be fine to do. Also if not then what are the reasons for it. It's just something I've wondered.

 
What MT said.  What amp is this by the way?  
 
If I had your DAC, I might be hesitant to ditch it too...if it's just to go balanced.  It's not every day you hear a Sabre-based DAC with that kind of natural tone.  Good buy.
 
Quote:

I feel the 009s bridge the gap between the 2 soundstage wise though. 

 
The thing is...there's resolution, and then there's everything else.  I always feel R trumps everything else.  One might like the HD650 for it's tone, or it's forgiving nature, or whatever, but next to the HD800, it's hard not to pick the HD800 b/c it's revealing so much more off the recording.  It's a flat out better phone.  I personally feel it's the same with the HD800/SR009 comparison.  
 
15-20% probably wouldn't be significant for any other aspect of sound...tonality for example...but when it comes to resolution, it's both significant and worth the expense.  I think the HD800 does a fine job of placing everything out on the stage revealing the air & space between each performer, but the SR009 shows off it's imaging capabilities with one step further...it reveals the space around and behind each performer.  
 
The HD800 really does not, and probably cannot, since it's probably slower.  This happened categorically for me, even with the average recordings.  Truly impressive.
 
Maxvla is right about the realistic 3D image on the HD800 though, it's something special, but the revealing of space and air goes back to the R thing for me.
 
I just checked the price on the LL, and 

.  Stay far away from meets w/ KGSSHV's, BHSE's, and T2s, lol.  Kidding.  I only heard a prototype version of the LL, so what do I know.  By now it might be amazing.
 
Btw, I think you would love this album.  http://yosihorikawa.bandcamp.com/album/wandering-ep

 

[Tassie Devil]

Wow, what to believe, particularly as we all have different brains, different attached ears and different experiences which have embedded our subjective preferences (dare I say prejudices)?  My present take is that Sooloos -> Nuforce DAC 9 -> Seenies HD800 is giving me the absolute best, superb audio on classical recordings I've ever heard in over 50 years of this audio obsession. .  Would the Stax be better?  Not sure I want to know!!
 
John