[steel108]

 
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Hm...I'm just warming up to my T1, but I believe that my amp is the main problem. I wanted something affordable, so I bought the NuForce Icon HDP. It pairs well with the D7000 and the T1 goes well with it for gaming, but it feels to me that something is missing.
 
I thought I should have traded it for the HD800, but I think the first step is to upgrade my desktop amp.
 

The HDP is pretty awesome considering its price and size; paired perfectly with my D7000. Problem is that it blows with the HD800; I just bought a DacMagic and not happy with this DAC either. Will be ordering the Yulong D18 tomorrow hopefully. These things are picky; hopefully a warmer DAC will make the difference. 
 
I have never heard a T1, but the HD800 complements the D7000 pretty well
 

 

[olor1n]

2 days in and it's official; I love this headphone. I've been through the gamut of genres in my library and have found the HD800 to be excellent at the very least. For well recorded live music and orchestral soundtracks it is superb. Nirvana's Unplugged in New York pretty much sealed the deal. I've never heard such transparency, and this is just from the lowly, detail smothering Lyr. The speed, precision and imaging of the HD800 is so impressive. The dynamics and layering help to convey the involving and enveloping presentation I was afraid would be compromised by a treble tilted headphone.
 
I've rolled through my 3 favourite pairs of tubes (Amperex Orange Globes, Bugle Boys and Lorenz Stuttgart) and have found the HD800 to accentuate the differences between them more than the LCD-2. The mid range body of the Amperex tubes are a very good match for the HD800. The Orange Globes have the more involving sound to my ears (fatter low end), but it's less refined than the other pairs and there's a slight dryness in the upper registers. Ambience and imaging is very good through the Stuttgart tubes but there's a slight veil in the vocals. The Bugle Boys on the other hand are just right. Good balance, dynamics and imaging, with a more extended but smoother top end and very well defined vocals.
 
 
I honestly did not expect the HD800 to be this good. I can only imagine what it would sound like through better components.

 

[elton7033]

IS Still too bright and the soundstage is too fake, i try hd800 with p1u yesterday, it sounds awsome.

 

[ZenErik]

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Personally I don't like how my HD800 sound with most of the ARIA OST, be it vocals or instrumentals. Or the piano pieces for that matter. It's not really the HD800's fault but the fact that they were poorly recorded. A shame, really.

I agree. And funny that you mention Aria because it is actually my favorite anime and manga. Guess my avatar might give that away. I find Yui Makino's music to be recorded decently. Same goes for Round Table feat. Nino. Not great but certainly acceptable, With both artists, some of their songs can have rather sibilant vocals at times. For me, the T1 accentuates that sibilance while the HD800 merely shows what is there.

 

[ImperialX]

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I agree. And funny that you mention Aria because it is actually my favorite anime and manga. Guess my avatar might give that away.  

What a coincidence. ARIA is my favorite anime of all time.
 
And yeah, I only mentioned ARIA because of your avatar.

 

[zeroakuma]

What is the best integrated DAC/amp for hd800 under a grand?

 

[zeroakuma]

Or can i just use my hdp as the dac and use the lyr for the amp?

 

[rawrster]

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Or can i just use my hdp as the dac and use the lyr for the amp?

Yes you can do that. there should be rca outputs for the hdp and inputs for the amp.
 

 

[maverickronin]

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Well, not all flaws and detail reside at 6khz.  But certainly those that do will be accentuated giving false detail as Mav said.  I consider many other phones to be falsely detailed more so than the HD800 since detail flows in spades all over the spectrum.  If we want to play Eq games, try rolling off the bass response on most phones and hear the details flow.  Many phones come like this out of the box.  

 I'll take the 6khz peak over the absence of low end.

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Over-sharpened but with extremely good resolution > over-sharpened low resolution.

I'll agree with both of those.  The HD800 certainly isn't just "fake" detail like a lot of other 'phones are.  It just has some of that added on top of its already impressive real resolution.  I'm not trying to dis it or anything.  Its just that I think its voicing will punish poorer quality sources more than a hypothetical perfect transducer would.

 

[skeptic]

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Over-sharpened but with extremely good resolution > over-sharpened low resolution.

 
Amen to that, and welcome back to the 800 thread!  At the point that I stopped following the LCD3 thread, it seemed like your unveiled pair were quickly becoming your new go to phones.  What ultimately sparked your decision to unload them and return to the Sennheiser fold? 
 
 

 

[satanigatan]

Glad to see you love it!
 
By the way, was just listening to The National on these.
 
Quote:

2 days in and it's official; I love this headphone. I've been through the gamut of genres in my library and have found the HD800 to be excellent at the very least. For well recorded live music and orchestral soundtracks it is superb. Nirvana's Unplugged in New York pretty much sealed the deal. I've never heard such transparency, and this is just from the lowly, detail smothering Lyr. The speed, precision and imaging of the HD800 is so impressive. The dynamics and layering help to convey the involving and enveloping presentation I was afraid would be compromised by a treble tilted headphone.
 
I've rolled through my 3 favourite pairs of tubes (Amperex Orange Globes, Bugle Boys and Lorenz Stuttgart) and have found the HD800 to accentuate the differences between them more than the LCD-2. The mid range body of the Amperex tubes are a very good match for the HD800. The Orange Globes have the more involving sound to my ears (fatter low end), but it's less refined than the other pairs and there's a slight dryness in the upper registers. Ambience and imaging is very good through the Stuttgart tubes but there's a slight veil in the vocals. The Bugle Boys on the other hand are just right. Good balance, dynamics and imaging, with a more extended but smoother top end and very well defined vocals.
 
 
I honestly did not expect the HD800 to be this good. I can only imagine what it would sound like through better components.

 

 

[TheWuss]

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By the way, was just listening to The National on these.
 

next, try listening to the national on the national.
 
      
 
 

 

[olor1n]

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 I'm going to buy HD800 pretty soon. We'll see how it pairs with Bifrost/Lyr. And plan to build Bottlehead Crack too, that's gonna be a nice setup for classical music. 

A lot of people like the Asgard/HD800 combo more than the Lyyr/HD800.

Apologies if my post comes across as defensive, but do you have a link to support your assertion? The Lyr is far from the "be all" (even in it's price bracket), but I get the sense many of its detractors haven't really spent any time with it. The amp responds very well to tube rolling and its owners shouldn't be discouraged from looking into the HD800.

 

[poikkeus]

HD800, amped. I've been listening to it this way since the beginning. It sounds great with great recordings, and surprisingly good even when the recordings aren't that great. But I wanted to know how it sounded, unamped.
 
I plugged the HD800 into an iPod Touch, expecting the worst. Okay, it needs more volume - but the sound quality is unusually pleasing, and works well with everything from classical to punk. On an iPod. Sure, the HD800 is a major investment, but I've come to realize that it's also a very good investment. 

 

[Wingstrike]

I think I'll have to agree with this. Yes, when amped, the HD800s sound phenomenal. But straight from my iPhone, it's not as bad as some make it to seem. I am still able to enjoy them from my iPhone 4.
 
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HD800, amped. I've been listening to it this way since the beginning. It sounds great with great recordings, and surprisingly good even when the recordings aren't that great. But I wanted to know how it sounded, unamped.
 
I plugged the HD800 into an iPod Touch, expecting the worst. Okay, it needs more volume - but the sound quality is unusually pleasing, and works well with everything from classical to punk. On an iPod. Sure, the HD800 is a major investment, but I've come to realize that it's also a very good investment.