[oktapod]

Loving the HD800s, I am. Absolutely loving them.

 

[musicman59]

Just as genral information for everybody. The HD800 stock cable can be purchased through Sennheiser at $169.33. The part number is 532758.

 

[dharma]

I edited official graph sent by Sennheiser. Now it's more comparable with other more 'typical' frequency graphs (0 dBspl at 1 KHz). For more clear details I changed proportions too.

It seems that this 'slight softness', what I heared already at the very beginning, after 0.5 hours of listening, is lying in 3KHz valley area and maybe, just maybe, it is the reason why I feel some very slight similarities with HD 650...

About wearing, at least with my 'half-locator' style ears, HD 800 is more comfortable than HD 650, but only with right position - just little higher position and then it's very hard to find comfortable position setup and with higher position sound is not comfortable too. For me, middle or little lower and little forward (toward forehead) position works best...
If someone is troubling with sound and position, then maybe it helps, if to listen pink-noise during position setup (just try to find combination, where noise sounds most balanced in low-mid-high).

Most troublesome is to find this golden-spot, where this famous wide and expansive sound is giving out most headphoneless result (it depends from used music/source too). Just minuscule changing in position can give satisfying result, and then just relax in music.

 

[musicman59]

I agree with you. Lower and a bit forward postition works the best for me too.

 

[St3ve]

Hi everyone, I have updated my blog with my early impressions. Suffice to say that I am extremely impressed with these headphones - Good job Sennheiser.

 

[dannie01]

Hi guys, received my HD800 with Apuresound V3 cable 2 weeks ago and now driving with the B22 balanced during my normal listening and the rest time by the Sony X77ES phone output non stop 7/24 burn-in. It really an awesome phones that I can only say, let see what it will sounds after 500hrs of burn-in. I hate Head-fi, this is the place always make my wallet bleeding.

 

[jc9394]

Agree, Head-Fi is evil. I got my HD800 couple weeks and loving it every minutes, I'm dieing to get my hands on a balanced b22. Did you get the b22 from US or in HK?

 

[dannie01]

I bought in HK from F. Lo, the rich gentlemen and fellow in Head-fi.

BTW, the B22 really make the HD800 sings awesome.

 

[jc9394]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannie01 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I bought in HK from F. Lo, the rich gentlemen and fellow in Head-fi. BTW, the B22 really make the HD800 sings awesome.

Head-Fi is evil but I think fellow Head-Fier is even worst. You are killing me here, I try to laid low for a while before the Mrs. find out and kill me.

 

[woof37]

I am dying to get one of these B22 amps. Who makes them besides Rockhopper? I've seen (like Krmathis's) some that are just beautiful and apparently sound as such.

 

[jc9394]

There are few DIYer will build them...

 

[dannie01]

Quote:

Originally Posted by woof37 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am dying to get one of these B22 amps. Who makes them besides Rockhopper? I've seen (like Krmathis's) some that are just beautiful and apparently sound as such.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jc9394 /img/forum/go_quote.gif There are few DIYer will build them...

The one I bought is built by naamanf and the below I copy and paste from Amb site:

Balanced β22 by naamanf
Showcased here is naamanf's tour de force rendition of the 4-channel β22 amplifier. It is a combination headphone amplifier, pre-amplifier and speaker power amplifier. The twin σ22 PSUs are located in a separate chassis. As of this writing, naamanf had built four of these, three of them with twin 3-pin XLR headphone output jacks, and one with a four-pin XLR.

Par-Metal 20-series anodized aluminum cases are used, with front and rear panels custom fabricated and engraved by Front Panel Express.

Inside, the build features Elna Silmic IIs and Nichicon Muse KZ, as well as Wima film and silver mica capacitors. The gain resistors and compensation capacitors are socketed and could be changed as needed. The volume control is a Twisted Pear Audio "Joshua Tree" relay-based stepped attenuator. The Joshua Tree boards are mounted on a special I/O board that naamanf designed, which also contains relays to select between the balanced and unbalanced inputs, as well as switch between headphone and preamp/speaker outputs. Bulgin vandal-resistant pushbuttons on the front panel activate these switching functions.


And this is what exactly it looks with HD800 in my house.

 

[JohnFerrier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaycalgary /img/forum/go_quote.gif HD800 sure do look a lot like a rip off of the Sony SA-5000 design.

 

[Covenant]

dannie01, you have both a balanced Beta22 and a WA6SE now? Any comparisons between the two, driving your HD800? I'm hoping you bought a balanced to SE converter for them

 

[woof37]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannie01 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The one I bought is built by naamanf and the below I copy and paste from Amb site: Balanced β22 by naamanf Showcased here is naamanf's tour de force rendition of the 4-channel β22 amplifier. It is a combination headphone amplifier, pre-amplifier and speaker power amplifier. The twin σ22 PSUs are located in a separate chassis. As of this writing, naamanf had built four of these, three of them with twin 3-pin XLR headphone output jacks, and one with a four-pin XLR. Par-Metal 20-series anodized aluminum cases are used, with front and rear panels custom fabricated and engraved by Front Panel Express. Inside, the build features Elna Silmic IIs and Nichicon Muse KZ, as well as Wima film and silver mica capacitors. The gain resistors and compensation capacitors are socketed and could be changed as needed. The volume control is a Twisted Pear Audio "Joshua Tree" relay-based stepped attenuator. The Joshua Tree boards are mounted on a special I/O board that naamanf designed, which also contains relays to select between the balanced and unbalanced inputs, as well as switch between headphone and preamp/speaker outputs. Bulgin vandal-resistant pushbuttons on the front panel activate these switching functions.

That is an awesome look. I am going to find one of those puppies.