Wow, I just noticed that the COLORWAREHD 800 and the regular HD 800 are currently both priced at $1500. So it's a good occasion to get the Colorwares if you plan on buying the HD 800 now.
Whoa, the fact that they are the same price as standard is pretty impressive. I'm thinking carbon black arms and grilles, with abyss frames, rings, and headband. now all I need is 1.5K...
How about the Zana Deux with the HD800? Or would it be better to go with a 3-Channel B22? I try to only buy products with a high performance/value ratio such as the Bottlehead Crack which I used prior to my current amp the Lehmann BCL. I do really like the tube sound paired with the HD800 but I don't think the Crack is quite refined enough to really show off all the HD800 is capable of.
An upgraded crack doesn't match amps on the level of the WA5 and BA - but very few amps do, even setting cost aside. Have you had a chance to try yours with a pair of HD800's yet? If not, I suspect you will be pleasantly surprised, especially if you are running a 5998 in the rear and something along the lines of an amperex bugle boy 12au7 up front (see the table near the top of tubeworld's 12au7 page for summary descriptions of the sonics of various nos brands).
Note also that there are at least a couple of posters early on in the crack thread who indicate that their prefer their HD800 + crack combo to their ZD/B22's. You might not ultimately agree with them, but I thought it might be worth considering before you conclude your crack doesn't have what it takes to show off the flagship senn's.
I can do that using my PC card as source and amp. I've had the 800 and SA5000 in hand for the past month or two. These people only reveal that they haven't actually heard what the 800 can do. Not their fault really since they haven't heard better. What is their fault is claiming it as gospel especially when every measurement known to man proves otherwise objectively.
Hey if were talking about purely "low level detail retreival", the HD 800 isn't among the best, it's good. I have heard claims that beyerdynamic's DT48 is even better than the SA-5000 and HD 800. A friend of mine told me a ER-4S picks up more detail than the HD 800. I'd probably believe him.
Hey if were talking about purely "low level detail retreival", the HD 800 isn't among the best, it's good. I have heard claims that beyerdynamic's DT48 is even better than the SA-5000 and HD 800. A friend of mine told me a ER-4S picks up more detail than the HD 800. I'd probably believe him.
Hey if were talking about purely "low level detail retreival", the HD 800 isn't among the best, it's good. I have heard claims that beyerdynamic's DT48 is even better than the SA-5000 and HD 800. A friend of mine told me a ER-4S picks up more detail than the HD 800. I'd probably believe him.
The only way to know is to compare yourself on a good setup. I owned the SA5000 for quite a long time and then got them recabled later as well. The HD800 is just in a different class altogether, it's almost foolish to compare once you hear them at their full potential. The only area where I would say the SA5000 comes close is speed.
Spend some time with both in your own system...experiment, listen, give it time. I have a strong feeling that your opinion will change.
You're welcome to come over to my place for a listen. Try both out of a "good" computer soundcard. Then try both out of a top notch DAC and amp. You are not incorrect though with your assessment with the gear that you are using.
Once set up optimally, the SA5000 is able match HD800s speed, but the HD800 is better in all other ways.
The SA5000 sounded tight and fast out of pretty much every setup I used them with. I felt this had to do 1) with their rolloff in the extreme lower-end and 2) their relative lack of transparency. The HD800s, on the other hand, are only as good (and fast) as the associated gear they're used with.
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