[Audioholic123]

Hi
I've had my eye on the HD800's for a little while now and my intention was to purchase a pair soon. But ( as always) i've been reading a ton of reviews and doing some research on them before i part with my cash. The Beyerdynamic T1 is a good bit cheaper than the HD800's and now i'm thinking they may be a better option because of the price reduction.
 
How close are the T1's to the HD800's? are they pretty similar but the T1 has a little more bass?
 
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[elvergun]

  Hi
I've had my eye on the HD800's for a little while now and my intention was to purchase a pair soon. But ( as always) i've been reading a ton of reviews and doing some research on them before i part with my cash. The Beyerdynamic T1 is a good bit cheaper than the HD800's and now i'm thinking they may be a better option because of the price reduction.
 
How close are the T1's to the HD800's? are they pretty similar but the T1 has a little more bass?
 
Thanks in advance for any help.

 
They are close, but the HD800 is better. 
 
If money is tight, then the T1s are more than good enough.   
 
 
I used to own a T1, which I sold when I bought an HD800. 

 

[Kmikko91]

Consider the music you listen to, your source & amp before buying anything. HD800 seems to be regarded as the better headphone from these two, but some people like the T1 more. Also with a lesser source you are not going to get anything from HD800 that you wouldn't get from T1. If anything HD800 CAN sound harsh from a bad source. I can't recommend buying either of these "blindly". You should try them out first with your own setup.

 

[Audioholic123]

  Consider the music you listen to, your source & amp before buying anything. HD800 seems to be regarded as the better headphone from these two, but some people like the T1 more. Also with a lesser source you are not going to get anything from HD800 that you wouldn't get from T1. If anything HD800 CAN sound harsh from a bad source. I can't recommend buying either of these "blindly". You should try them out first with your own setup.

Thanks for your advice. It's frustrating because where i live there are no hifi store's where i can hear them before buying, but i think i will go for the T1 instead. I think in hindsight i would probably regret buying the HD800 because they seem even more source dependent compared to the T1, and my wallet has been drained enough over the years trying to buy matching amps lol.
 
Thanks again.

 

[Kmikko91]

T1 is porbably "more save" choise when buying blindly. You might also want to consider something like T90 + matching amp & dac if you think that your gear is not up to T1. Ofcourse you could also go T1 and matching gear if your budget allows that. However T90 is supposed to be close to T1 sound quality. Also I would recommend to keep an eye on the used sales, sometimes you can find pretty good deals there!
 
Which amp & dac you own atm?

 

[JungleApe]

In my opinion you should rely on your own taste. 
The main and most important question is, if you would be satisfied with the signature of either the HD 800 or the T1. 
Have you ever listened to a "high-end" headphone? If so: Which was it and what did you like about it?
 
Since the opinion and taste tends to vary from person to person, my council for you would be to try them out and maybe add a few other brands to your list. There are plenty of other fish in the sea. 
 
That being said my personal experience is that the HD 800 is, based on a technological point of view, the better headphone though i like the signature of the T1 (2nd Gen.) better. If i had to decide i would take the beyer since it is in my ears more pleasant sounding.
 
Note: Everything i said is based on my personal opinion. The final result lies in your hands. 
 
Kind regards,
Ape 
 
PS: Sorry for my bad english. As you could clearly see, it is not my native tongue.

 

[Jussei]

I've owned both and, opposite of elvergun, I sold my HD800 for the T1. 
They are both excellent, but as some have mentioned, I think the Senn's need excellent amplification/source to really shine, the T1 sound was very good with whatever I used it with (within reason, no iPods, iPhones, etc). My guess is that, overall, the HD800 would be a 'better' headphone that would scale up better than the T1 with nicer amps/sources, but if you have decent amplification/sources now I'd recommend the T1. 

 

[elvergun]

  I've owned both and, opposite of elvergun, I sold my HD800 for the T1. 
They are both excellent, but as some have mentioned, I think the Senn's need excellent amplification/source to really shine, the T1 sound was very good with whatever I used it with (within reason, no iPods, iPhones, etc). My guess is that, overall, the HD800 would be a 'better' headphone that would scale up better than the T1 with nicer amps/sources, but if you have decent amplification/sources now I'd recommend the T1. 

 
 
The T1 is easier to drive, yes.  I can understand why you chose the T1 over the HD800...it was not an easy decision for me to sell the T1. 
 

  T1 is porbably "more save" choise when buying blindly. You might also want to consider something like T90 + matching amp & dac if you think that your gear is not up to T1. Ofcourse you could also go T1 and matching gear if your budget allows that. However T90 is supposed to be close to T1 sound quality. Also I would recommend to keep an eye on the used sales, sometimes you can find pretty good deals there!
 

 
I have owned both...and they are nothing alike.  The T90 is one of the brightest headphones I have ever used -- they sound they produced seemed unnatural to me.  

 

[Audioholic123]

  T1 is porbably "more save" choise when buying blindly. You might also want to consider something like T90 + matching amp & dac if you think that your gear is not up to T1. Ofcourse you could also go T1 and matching gear if your budget allows that. However T90 is supposed to be close to T1 sound quality. Also I would recommend to keep an eye on the used sales, sometimes you can find pretty good deals there!
 
Which amp & dac you own atm?

I have an Oehlbach XXL dac Ultra ( German) that i use to listen to Spotify/foobar through my computer. It is a very bright sounding amp so i figure it would be decent for the T1. Especially due to the amp having matching impedance:
http://www.oehlbach.com/media/articles/pdf/Technisches_Datenblatt_DAC-EN.pdf
 
 

  I've owned both and, opposite of elvergun, I sold my HD800 for the T1. 
They are both excellent, but as some have mentioned, I think the Senn's need excellent amplification/source to really shine, the T1 sound was very good with whatever I used it with (within reason, no iPods, iPhones, etc). My guess is that, overall, the HD800 would be a 'better' headphone that would scale up better than the T1 with nicer amps/sources, but if you have decent amplification/sources now I'd recommend the T1. 

Given that in the last few years i've spent upwards of $3k on 4 different amplifiers (combined price) i'm not sure i have it in me to buy another along with a pair of HD800's...my wallet

 

[uncopy87]

After trying both, I got the hd800. I personally thought the soundstage was slightly better and the detail came better through. And it was more comfortable and looks better

 

[Jussei]

After trying both, I got the hd800. I personally thought the soundstage was slightly better and the detail came better through. And it was more comfortable and looks better

Yeah, comfort-wise, it's hard to beat the HD800 or HD700 (not that the T1 is uncomfortable) 

 

[Audioholic123]

Ok thank's everyone for your help & advice, i am going to go for the Beyerdynamic T1 due to it costing less and also a better match to my amp than the HD800's would be.

 
Thank's everyone!

 

[MacedonianHero]

I wouldn't even consider the T1...I think your choice is between the T1 2nd generation and the HD800s. The differences between the 2nd generation T1 and the first is quite noticeable. 
 
Then I'd ask what your front end is and how much $ you're planning on investing. If you're more on a budget as you just noted above, go with the T1 v2 would be my recommendation.

 

[Audioholic123]

  I wouldn't even consider the T1...I think your choice is between the T1 2nd generation and the HD800s. The differences between the 2nd generation T1 and the first is quite noticeable. 
 
Then I'd ask what your front end is and how much $ you're planning on investing. If you're more on a budget as you just noted above, go with the T1 v2 would be my recommendation.

In my country the ( first gen) T1 can be had for less than half the price of an HD800. And my buget is around $1200 but i can't throw my money around like i used to before. I have other commitments now.  My worry is that if i went for the HD800, my system might not provide the oomph needed to drive them to their full potential, and as a result it might not give me anything more than what the T1 would give me ( as Kmikko91 pointed out). So in my view i'd have wasted an extra $550 by getting the HD800...
 
My main system is the amp shown above which has an output of 80mw into 600 ohms and a dynamic range of 120db. I was thinking that the T1 would be a better match for it...
 
As a sidenote; I read somewhere that the T1 2nd gen was slightly warmer sounding compared to the orginal T1. Is that true? if not then i would consider the T1 2nd gen over the first.
 
Ohh btw - I'm a little taken aback that someone of your stature within the business has taken the time to give me advice....THANK YOU

 

[Audioholic123]

  In my opinion you should rely on your own taste. 
The main and most important question is, if you would be satisfied with the signature of either the HD 800 or the T1. 
Have you ever listened to a "high-end" headphone? If so: Which was it and what did you like about it?
 
Since the opinion and taste tends to vary from person to person, my council for you would be to try them out and maybe add a few other brands to your list. There are plenty of other fish in the sea. 
 
That being said my personal experience is that the HD 800 is, based on a technological point of view, the better headphone though i like the signature of the T1 (2nd Gen.) better. If i had to decide i would take the beyer since it is in my ears more pleasant sounding.
 
Note: Everything i said is based on my personal opinion. The final result lies in your hands. 
 
Kind regards,
Ape 
 
PS: Sorry for my bad english. As you could clearly see, it is not my native tongue.

Sorry...your post hadn't appeared on this thread until now for some reason. Thanks for the advice, the most expensive headphone i ever bought was the classic Denon ah-d7000 in 2009. What did i like about it? the drivers and the wood effect! I think paper cone drivers produce a very natural sound, and i loved how the sound interacted with the wood, it was all totally natural imo. I Bought them for $950. Some people don't consider them truly "high-end" but i would say they are. I used to favour warmer sound signatures over brighter one's but i now prefer the opposite.
 
Your english is great!