Got my HD800S today, and am now listening to them for the first time. My initial impression is that they're world class, A+. More to follow after I've spent more time with them and compared with other headphones.
I've now listened to the HD800S for a couple days, with a variety of genres and tracks, but no back to back comparisons with other headphones yet.
My impression at this point is that the HD800S is a supremely honest and truthful headphone, with reference-quality accuracy of tonal balance and a ton of detail and resolution due to the lack of distortion.
The downside of this is that, if a recording isn't good -- too much sizzle, too much bass, anemic bass, distortion in the recording process, etc. -- the HD800S will do it's job and reveal those flaws. On the other hand, when the recording quality is good -- which is the majority of what I listen to -- the HD800S is supremely good, and perhaps better than anything else I've heard.
So I'm seeing the HD800S as a top choice for audiophiles who listen to audiophile-quality recordings, rather than a general purpose headphone intended to mask or compensate for the flaws of flawed recordings, at the expense of making good recordings sound not as good as they potentially can. I don't think any headphone can both provide reference-level quality for good recordings and make bad recordings sound less bad, because those are contradictory goals and they require different designs.
With quality recordings, the HD800S allows the music to come through transparently and vividly, which makes for a highly musical and addictive listening experience.
More to follow after I listen more, but right now I'm absolutely loving this headphone.
I've now listened to the HD800S every day for the past two weeks, and during the past few days I've been rotating between the HD800S, Focal Clear, and LCD-3 to do back to back comparisons. Here are my
subjective impressions and findings:
- All three are excellent headphones, and not dramatically different from each other. That's what I'd expect from headphones which are designed to be hi-fi and not intentionally color the sound a lot. They all make great recordings sound great, and poor recordings sound like poor recordings, and none is a lot more forgiving of poor recordings than the others.
- While not dramatically different from each other, the differences are definitely noticeable, with each having it's own signature.
- The differences between them are most obvious when switching between them, and in fact each initially consistently sounds
worse than the one I was just listening to, because I first notice what's missing in the sound that I liked in the one I was just listening to. But over the course of seconds to minutes, my ears/brain adjust, the perception of deficiencies fades, and perception of virtues increases. So, for me, back to back comparison highlights the differences, but can give a misleading impression of how the headphone will sound with normal extended listening (either as background, or really paying attention to the music).
As far as the differences:
- The HD800S has the most neutral sound of the three, closest to what I think of as a studio reference sound. It also has the biggest/widest sense of stage, the most detail and clarity, and is the least shouty. Coming from the other two, especially the LCD-3, it initially sounds light on bass, but after giving my ears/brain time to adjust and learn to hear the bass, the bass is just fine, not lacking at all.
- The LCD-3 has the fattest and weightiest bass of the three (but it's not too much), and a silky sheen to the highs which I sometimes perceive to be slightly artificial or veiling. It has the least neutral sound of the three, but still a very pleasant sound and by no means too far from neutrality.
- The Clear is kind of in between the HD800S and LCD-3. The detail and clarity is just below the HD800S. The bass has more energy than the HD800S, in a way that's distinctive to the Elear/Clear/Utopia, but not as fat and weighty as the LCD-3. The sense of stage is much closer to the LCD-3 than the HD800S, though the LCD-3 stage is a bit more holographic and distant than the Clear.
Which one of the three I like most depends on the track and my mood. There's no consistent winner, each has its moments to shine. But there's no loser either, because if I love one on a given track, I'll love the other two also. Again, they're all excellent and truly hi-fi headphones.
If I could have only one of them, I'd be happy with any of the three, and wouldn't lament not having the other two. They're not so different or complementary that I have a 'need' to have all three. But the differences are at least noticeable enough that I can rationalize having all three to myself, and more importantly, my wife!
....$10 vs $110.00...although not the same workmanship happy to report the sound and feel are identical...: )
