[SP Wild]

Quote:

*scratches head* that's supposed to be the other way around, HD800 is extremeley revealing and undeniably clinical in it's rendering, and does NOT make bad recordings sound better.

Everyone hears differently and in my setup, the LCD2 posses razor sharp transients, whilst excellent for excellent recordings - to me, especially when trying to relax with low level listening, I find it uncomfortable - and am always finding ways to blunt the transients.  The HD800 - whilst it does have a treble tilt to my ears, do have a smoother, less aggressive transient that I find very soothing.  I control the treble fatigue by making sure the volume stays low - I cannot crank the HD800 too loudly.  But for my purposes of low level listening - I find them phenomenal.

 

[K_19]

 
Quote:

Everyone hears differently and in my setup, the LCD2 posses razor sharp transients, whilst excellent for excellent recordings - to me, especially when trying to relax with low level listening, I find it uncomfortable - and am always finding ways to blunt the transients.  The HD800 - whilst it does have a treble tilt to my ears, do have a smoother, less aggressive transient that I find very soothing.  I control the treble fatigue by making sure the volume stays low - I cannot crank the HD800 too loudly.  But for my purposes of low level listening - I find them phenomenal.

 
+1.  As long as the treble stays at the comfortable level, HD800 is phenomenal.  It's just that at such levels most people will find the bass portion to be very lacking... I'd guess that 9/10 people finding the HD800 fatiguing are raising the volume more than they should be to compensate the bass (and to lesser degree low mids).  I think this is why a powerful amp is very important; it gives more power to raise the bass to satisfactory levels even when the treble volume stays reasonable... this much was very noticeable as I went from my old WA6 to the more powerful 6SE.
 
I think Bilavideo said this once but it's just so tempting to raise the volume on the HD800... to get more of that soundstage, bass and loudness that seems almost limitless.  But one really needs discipline to not to turn the volume knob clockwise in order to enjoy the HD800 sound to the fullest IMO.
 

 

[Paganini Alfredo]

Man I agree^^^
 
I would've been happy with the HD800s as well, more than happy, if the treble didn't bother me. Still waiting on that HD850 Sennheiser!
 
But thankfully I've found a substitute with the LCD-2s.

 

[Roger Strummer]

Quote:

Man I agree^^^
 
I would've been happy with the HD800s as well, more than happy, if the treble didn't bother me. Still waiting on that HD850 Sennheiser!
 
But thankfully I've found a substitute with the LCD-2s.

That may be a long wait, there were 7 years I think between HD600 and HD650. And given the higher price of the 800 it might be longer, I don't see them replacing their dynamic flagship soon.
 
It may be because I'm mostly a low volume listener, but I don't find the treble bothering at all. But I agree with what K_9 says, given the cleanness of the sound it is tempting to turn the volume up. 
 
But I have found that I enjoy the 800 at quite a bit lower volumes than darker cans like the 650, which more often than not I heard them at higher volumes than what I'm used to and then I got fatigue due to that. Although a parametric equalizer to lower slightly the 5-6 khz treble might alleviate the issue for people that like higher volume listening, I've tried it and it works wonders and even the bass seems more present.

 

[.Sup]

Quote:

 
I think Bilavideo said this once but it's just so tempting to raise the volume on the HD800... to get more of that soundstage, bass and loudness that seems almost limitless.  But one really needs discipline to not to turn the volume knob clockwise in order to enjoy the HD800 sound to the fullest IMO.
 

wow I couldn't agree more and the word "loudness" is the one I have in mind when listening to HD800
 

 

[SP Wild]

I feel I need to emphasis this point, as I've been HD800 bashing for as long as I was a Head-Fi member.  With certain female recordings, on the right amp, with the correct volume level...the HD800s do something that quite literally makes my heart skip a beat and leaving me breathless - a connection so deep, for which I have never felt in those particular female voices.  Neutral or not... all I know is that I love the effect.
 
Could it not be that there have been different batches of HD800s with a smoother response and a more coherent soundstage.  When I first auditioned these - 3 separate occassions I auditioned them - the soundstage seemed much larger and more frontal with frontal layering, I remembered these cans would have much harder transients with much more treble brightness...I cannot detect these with this particular can I am using.  If it is burn-in, I would never have thought it would make such a drastic difference.  Or my source really is much better - or all the factors combined maybe?

 

[Roger Strummer]

Quote:

I feel I need to emphasis this point, as I've been HD800 bashing for as long as I was a Head-Fi member.  With certain female recordings, on the right amp, with the correct volume level...the HD800s do something that quite literally makes my heart skip a beat and leaving me breathless - a connection so deep, for which I have never felt in those particular female voices.  Neutral or not... all I know is that I love the effect.
 
Could it not be that there have been different batches of HD800s with a smoother response and a more coherent soundstage.  When I first auditioned these - 3 separate occassions I auditioned them - the soundstage seemed much larger and more frontal with frontal layering, I remembered these cans would have much harder transients with much more treble brightness...I cannot detect these with this particular can I am using.  If it is burn-in, I would never have thought it would make such a drastic difference.  Or my source really is much better - or all the factors combined maybe?

I don't think there are different versions, at least the 4 or 6 hundread serial (can't remember exactly), the 2 thousand and my 3 thousand serial all sounded pretty much indistinguishable to me, but they are sensitive to the components and synergy, so my bets are with the components you are associating them with. And the differences between frequency response charts are small generally, taking into account that Senn has changed the scale more than once.
 
 
Also for someone like you that would appreciate a smoother presentation but keeping the strengths of the 800, I have seen some members really recommend the DNA Sonett, and particularly the Zana Deux, which I'm gonna try whenever I get the chance.

 

[rgs9200m]

I know a lot of people disagree, but the HD800 has extremely good bass, a just-right deep and realistic very satisfying bass to my ears. A lot of times, bass can be loose or disconnected from everything else, but the HD800 gets it just right. Tubes make the highs just about perfect, too. A B52 amp seems to be a perfect match.

 

[St3ve]

Quote:

 with the correct volume level...
 

 
I reckon this is critical with these 'phones, for some odd reason. My HD800 seems very volume dependant when it comes to tonality. When I first got them (and got carried away with head-banging volume) , I loved the presentation but found that sometimes they could get a bit sibilant and "toppy", but have repeatedly found that this seemed to have a lot to do with how loud I had them playing. Backed off to a more sensible listening level, the entire frequency response seems to become much more balanced. I tend to listen at around ~75 db.
 
That said, I would agree that components changes seem more obvious with the HD800 - I am currently struggling to decide whether I prefer my WA6 or my Phonitor. Before I got my HD800 I was a bit sceptical about how different two well designed headphone amps could actually sound...
 

 

[MrSpenkelink]

I have a feeling in my waters that the HD800 will be my next headphone purchase.

 

[subtle]

I don't buy that there have been any changes to the driver of the HD800 as the serial numbers have risen.
 
I've read plenty of rumors but have seen absolutely zero proof to backup those claims.

 

[aimlink]

Quote:

Everyone hears differently and in my setup, the LCD2 posses razor sharp transients, whilst excellent for excellent recordings - to me, especially when trying to relax with low level listening, I find it uncomfortable - and am always finding ways to blunt the transients.  The HD800 - whilst it does have a treble tilt to my ears, do have a smoother, less aggressive transient that I find very soothing.  I control the treble fatigue by making sure the volume stays low - I cannot crank the HD800 too loudly.  But for my purposes of low level listening - I find them phenomenal.

Maybe your low level listening is my normal listening since I simply find the HD800's phenomenol and unconditionally so within the scope of my use of them.  As to the bass, I've had to apply some EQ to enhance that a bit and golly gee... I'm really ecstatic now.  One of the best things I did was to get these HD800's.  One of the other great things I did was to purge myself of the 'EQ'ing is bad' fallacy. 

 

[Roger Strummer]

Quote:

Maybe your low level listening is my normal listening since I simply find the HD800's phenomenol and unconditionally so within the scope of my use of them.  As to the bass, I've had to apply some EQ to enhance that a bit and golly gee... I'm really ecstatic now.  One of the best things I did was to get these HD800's.  One of the other great things I did was to purge myself of the 'EQ'ing is bad' fallacy. 

Are you using the equalization that you posted somewhere in the sound science subforum? 

 

[grokit]

 
Quote:

I don't think there are different versions, at least the 4 or 6 hundread serial (can't remember exactly), the 2 thousand and my 3 thousand serial all sounded pretty much indistinguishable to me, but they are sensitive to the components and synergy, so my bets are with the components you are associating them with. And the differences between frequency response charts are small generally, taking into account that Senn has changed the scale more than once.

 
Quote:

I don't buy that there have been any changes to the driver of the HD800 as the serial numbers have risen.
 
I've read plenty of rumors but have seen absolutely zero proof to backup those claims.

 

I hope there are no differences between versions. I read one member asserting that they changed the FR by rolling off the high end a bit starting in the 5,000's, and then someone else chimed in and said that it was more like the 7,000s where they changed. I really like the sense of space and air, I don't find it fatiguing or unnatural at all. They may be a bit bright on first listen but as you guys are saying it's better better at low volumes.
 
Even though I am the third owner my no. 2520 pair has less than 100 hours in them so they could conceivably change. They are super comfortable and have a very clean sound, I am impressed. They're not the best for less than stellar vinyl though, I can hear every snap crackle and pop. They still sound great, I haven't even gotten to the ALAC library with these yet. I am just listening single-ended through my WA22, and I can't wait to hear them balanced; a cable is being made!

 

[aimlink]

Quote:

Are you using the equalization that you posted somewhere in the sound science subforum? 

I don't know, but it's just a subtle boost of the bass.  Someone did mention that lowering the highs would create a similar effect with less chance of distortion, but since I'm hearing no distortion at all, I'll leave it there.
 

 
I'm now using my HD650's and am fine without any EQ'ing, though mind you, I'm using the crossfeed and one of the filters on my UltraDesktop.
My purist side would irk at the use of the filters, but I've since rid myself of that mental bias as well.
 
I'll give it another month or so before I give the HD800's another tour of duty.