[luczamic]

 
Hi all,
 
I’m an owner of Sennheiser’s HD 598 for about 6 months now and at first I was completely astonished by their quality. (Up till then, only headphones I’ve ever listened to were HD 202, so the leap in performance was huge)
But now, I don’t really know why I’m starting to hear their “weak sides” as well.
So, for some time now I was thinking about an upgrade and my obvious first choice was HD650.
And as I was getting ready to buy them I though “If I’m going to spend another few hundred dollars on headphones, why not get the top ones for life?”
My question is; are the HD800 really worth the price?
If I decided to spend that amount of money on them should I take any other model into consideration or the HD800 are the class of its own?
 
Regards
Mike

 

[mwilson]

Hi Mike,
 
Welcome aboard, and my condolences to your wallet. 
 
The HD 800 are great phones, but their performance is highly dependent on the amp with which they are paired. Get a good match, and you're in heaven. Get a poor match and your eardrums will suffer. 
 
What is your current setup?

 

[luczamic]

 
Hi mwilson,
 
Thanks for the welcome and such a fast replay to my question.
Well, when I was buying the 598, I was reading trough forums as well to get really good match so:
Fiio E9/E7
I have to say that they work pretty well J
 
 

 

[luczamic]

Ooo and thanks for condolences

 

[mwilson]

Well, I can't comment on the Fiio, as I've never owned one. More so, I don't know what you've got as a source and what are you playing through it. However, I would dare say that your spending on upgrading to HD 800 might be better allocated towards a better amp AND the HD 650. That in itself should give you a better sound over upgrading to just the HD 800.
 
I also don't know if this is all your planned upgrade for now, or only the beginning of a path. If it's all there is for the while being, then use my suggestion above. If, on the other hand, you're just starting to upgrade your whole system, I would suggest you start with the source, or at the very least the amp.
 
You could get a really good amp and the HD 650 for the price of the HD 800. If you don't mind used, look at the for sale forum; some really good values can be had for less than retail.

 

[luczamic]

 
Again, thanks for fast replay,
 
As for my source, it’s simple Dell Laptop and music files are in FLAC format.
 
The music I’m listening to…. to be completely honest, it’s almost everything but mostly live rock (metallica with symphony), dire straits, red hot’s that sort of thing. From time to time I go for Sigur Ros.
 
If I would go towards your suggestion and got myself and amp and HD650, can  u please give me any recommendations?
Mike

 

[Gwarmi]

 
 Yes, definitely look into the HD650 instead.
 
 The HD800 is a finicky masterpiece of a headphone when properly sourced and amped it is leaps
 and bounds ahead of the HD650 ~ ummm, after you've spent a minimum of $2000 on the DAC and
 amp.
 
 It's a big boys toy that one, a very, very good one at that. Give it less than it deserves and it
 sounds like a $150 headphone.

 

[luczamic]

 
[size=10pt]Well I see that HD 800 are getting well over my [/size]budget ( including DAC and amp ) [size=10pt]J[/size]
 
[size=10pt]So my first choice, was right apparently…[/size]
 
[size=10pt]Can u please give me any recommendations for dac and amp for HD 650?[/size]
 
[size=10pt]Also, I can see that in seals forum there are HD 650 to buy with note:[/size]
[size=10pt]“The reason I am selling these headphones is that I prefer the forward sound of my recently acquired HD598's. Nonetheless, these are still great headphones which perform flawlessly when properly amped”[/size]
[size=10pt]Hmm…. ? I’m lost, which are better than? I know that it all depends on the “ear” of the listener but nevertheless is there point to upgrade?[/size]
 
[size=10pt]Mike[/size]

 

[mwilson]

For a great DAC look no farther than Cambridge Audio's DACmagic Plus. It's one exceptionally good sounding DAC for the price, and has a plethora of inputs. Amp wise, look at Elekit TU 882 or Shiit Lyr for a great sound on a budget.

 

[Gwarmi]

 
 
 I would not recommend the DacMagic Plus unless you can get it for very cheap, it features the following caveats
 
 1) Volume dial just spins through and is not marked, making it dangerous for knowing where the volume is.
 
 2) It is setup for USB 1.0 out of the box, this must be known and changed by the owner otherwise it sounds awful.
 
 3) Cambridge Audio USB 2.0 driver, ASIO and USB 2.0 mode must be enabled manually.
 
 4) It is a fixed upsampler, it will upsample everything which can make it sound pretty 'digital' sounding and unnatural.
 
 5) Head amp section is really nothing special either, it did not sound great with the HD650.
 

They sell for $699AUD over here in Australia, comparison with the Nuforce HDP showed that Cambridge Audio's efforts
were simply below par ~ but hey it will sell on brand name alone.

 

[mwilson]

Interesting take on it. I happen to believe that it offers great sound for the price, and at least the one I listened to had no digital harshness due to upsampling at all. I can't comment on its headphone out, as I never tried that part. Obviously, to each his or her own, so if the OP is in the USA, he can get it from a no-hassle returns place such as Amazon or Crutchfield and see what gives.

 
Quote:

 
 
 I would not recommend the DacMagic Plus unless you can get it for very cheap, it features the following caveats
 
 1) Volume dial just spins through and is not marked, making it dangerous for knowing where the volume is.
 
 2) It is setup for USB 1.0 out of the box, this must be known and changed by the owner otherwise it sounds awful.
 
 3) Cambridge Audio USB 2.0 driver, ASIO and USB 2.0 mode must be enabled manually.
 
 4) It is a fixed upsampler, it will upsample everything which can make it sound pretty 'digital' sounding and unnatural.
 
 5) Head amp section is really nothing special either, it did not sound great with the HD650.
 

They sell for $699AUD over here in Australia, comparison with the Nuforce HDP showed that Cambridge Audio's efforts
were simply below par ~ but hey it will sell on brand name alone.

 

 

[Gwarmi]

 
I would consider the HD600 over the HD650 unless you want a darker style of presentation
 
As in less sparkly high treble and generally a more forgiving headphone for crappy recordings.
 
I prefer the HD600 myself, it's a nice step up from the HD598 assuming you have a good
quality source, music material and amplifier.
 
A good one for the money is the Audio GD NFB-5 ~ Dual Wolfson WM9741 DAC's inside
and the amp section will drive the HD600 or HD650 very nicely. $330USD.
 
The catch is that you may have to order it from China directly
 

 

[nikp]

The HD800 is probably the opposite of HD650. When I listened to the HD600, HD650 and HD800 side by side, I hate to say this but the HD650 sounds the worst of the three (and probably one of the worst phones I've ever heard). It's completely veiled, muddy and lacks resolution (people call it dark and laid back). I have no problem with their price tags and I picked the HD600 over the HD650 by a thousand miles. It's a no brainer. Imo, the HD800 is definitely worth the price that it's usually sold on the sale forums (~800-900). 

 

[sridhar3]

You'd need to give us an idea of what kind of budget you're willing to work with for source and amplification equipment.
 
That said, I'd look into the Audio-gd NFB10SE, a one-box solution with great horsepower for $500, or the Schiit Lyr tube amp ($449) + Schiit Bifrost DAC ($349 w/o USB, $449 w/ USB).  The HD 650 has the benefit of scaling extremely well with equipment uprades, so that's also an element to which you can give some thought.

 

[Saintly]

I may be going against the grain here but I'd say invest your money in a top-of-the-line headphone first and then upgrade your amp/DAC later.  You can either do that or go ahead and get mid-tier headphones and amp/dac right now, but when you want to upgrade in the future, you'll have to dish out extra on all 3 components.
 
I went for the Beyerdynamic T1 while I still had the E7/E9 combo.  Honestly, I think it did a pretty good job with it although the dynamics were noticeably compressed (intense passages seem strained).  I've since upgraded to a Meier Concerto and MS II and am very happy with my set-up.  The improvement in resolution and overall realism of sound is quite noticeable. If I had initially split my money between a mid-tier headphone and mid-tier amp/dac, I don't think I'd be at my current level of contentment.
 
Btw, what's your preference in sound?  Do you favor a lusher and richer tone or a more dispersed and open/airy one?