I am curious about the new HD800S phone, but my issue with the older HD800 (I had it for years) was not a frequency response or brightness lack-of-detail or even a bass issue. (I actually really liked the controlled detailed transparent bass.)
It was that somehow a sense that the images were sort of distant, with a lack of bloom or inner light that I enjoy on other flagship-level phones (like Grados, Audezes, Staxes, and even on Senn's own HD650 which is a favorite of mine and still gets lots of headtime).
Has anyone else had this impression with the original HD800? Do you know what I mean?
Is the new 800S is better in this area of bloom, image size, intimacy, non-distant sound? That is something I like to have in a headphone to make it engaging and compelling.
The best way to describe the HD800 was that after listening for a while, it was like an arm's length feeling, if that makes any sense.
No.
And perhaps you have hit upon the reason for my preference - I like the HD800S, but with a tube. Give me a DNA Sonnet or a MicroZOTL2, and I'm happy to listen to it for hours. Give me a Meridian Prime or a Schiit Ragnarok, and I'm bored out of my mind in minutes - instead reaching for another headphone, such as the HE-1000.
No, the HD800S is still very much an HD800.