[Brooko]

I use the iFi Micro iDSD. HD800S sounds sublime with it. Well under 1K, drives it beautifully, and in my case it's as good as the tube amps I've tried it with. I haven't found the HD800S to be picky with source at all - and the idea you need tubes to be very misleading.

 

[Energy]

I use the iFi Micro iDSD. HD800S sounds sublime with it. Well under 1K, drives it beautifully, and in my case it's as good as the tube amps I've tried it with. I haven't found the HD800S to be picky with source at all - and the idea you need tubes to be very misleading.

 
Quite a nice review you've made. So well written.
 
Would you say you prefer the HD800S as an end game over other full size headphones such as the LCD-3 that you briefly spoke about listening before in the past?

 

[McClelland]

I use the iFi Micro iDSD. HD800S sounds sublime with it. Well under 1K, drives it beautifully, and in my case it's as good as the tube amps I've tried it with. I haven't found the HD800S to be picky with source at all - and the idea you need tubes to be very misleading.

I agree. Most of my time has been spent listening with the MJ2 with tubes, but I've not thought that was essential in any way.

 

[Brooko]

Quite a nice review you've made. So well written.

Would you say you prefer the HD800S as an end game over other full size headphones such as the LCD-3 that you briefly spoke about listening before in the past?

For my tastes - yes. I really liked both the LCD2 & 3 - probably the 2 more than the 3 for me. But for my own personal preferences the 800S is definitely my personal end-game. I bought a pair shortly after finishing the review. I have no regrets

 

[Arniesb]

For my tastes - yes. I really liked both the LCD2 & 3 - probably the 2 more than the 3 for me. But for my own personal preferences the 800S is definitely my personal end-game. I bought a pair shortly after you posted the review. I have no regrets

Yeah it is a heck of a headpones, i buyed those shortly after you posted a review of it lol. Havent listened T1 for 3 weeks atleast. It is a really very balanced headphones that have almost every frequency right "besides 2khz to 4khz range" few db whould welcomed in that range The crazy good soundstage, incredible clean window transparency, level of micro detail and overall tonal balance just caught me of guard. I dont think i will go back to T1... Might just sell it. I should add that after burn in (brain burn in) it sound even better. I Thought at first that my A20 sounds little off with HD800S, but now that im adjusted to HD800S singnature it sounds all good. Really good headphones for almost any genre, especially very good with movies and games. Highly recommend!!! Be aware Delta sigma owners, These headphones will sound bright with such dac. If you have neutral or cold or bright amp, then delta sigma is a no go! I suggest warm ss or tube amp if you have cold, neutral dac or any signature amp if you have multibit dac. Have a good day.

 

[fapman]

 
Well I mean... I might get curious in the future and give tubes a listen, but right now I don't want to get into a whole new €€ sinking audio hobby

Mjolnir 2 and Gungnir sure looks like a nice stack, but how does a Mjolnir 2 compares to HDVA 600 ? And is Ragnarok really better than both ? Can't find Schiit products locally so...
 
Also, what do you think about Auralic Taurus Mk2 ?
 
At first I really wanted to get the HDVA 600 so Im looking for objectives reasons to get let's say Mjolnir 2. If only we had news of the new HDVD 820, I read that it will be fully optimized for the HD800 S.

Without getting fully into the tubes vs solid states thing. Just wanted to comment in the €€ sinking audio hobby and HDVD 820 thing.... 

I am the one who is also waiting for that upcoming amp, and i have fully prepared my wallet for it to cost around 2000€, so there goes that "sinking money to this hobby"...  

Offtopic but:
I am pretty new to this hobby, and when i first looked at HD800 i thinked that was pretty expensive. After HD800S came out i thinked that, that was ever more expensive....! "No way i will put same amount of money to the amp/dac side"

And here we are, one year later i am waiting for around 2000€ amp/dac to hit the market so i can buy it. It's crazy what this hobby and community does to you.... One year from now 10 000€ power cable is "reasonable" and 2 years from now i am in the waiting-line for the HE-1...?!

Just wait buddy  

 

[Whazzzup]

There is stuff out now other than what has been mentioned, that's fantastic for hd800S

 

[Energy]

Yeah it is a heck of a headpones, i buyed those shortly after you posted a review of it lol. Havent listened T1 for 3 weeks atleast. It is a really very balanced headphones that have almost every frequency right "besides 2khz to 4khz range" few db whould welcomed in that range The crazy good soundstage, incredible clean window transparency, level of micro detail and overall tonal balance just caught me of guard. I dont think i will go back to T1... Might just sell it. I should add that after burn in (brain burn in) it sound even better. I Thought at first that my A20 sounds little off with HD800S, but now that im adjusted to HD800S singnature it sounds all good. Really good headphones for almost any genre, especially very good with movies and games. Highly recommend!!! Be aware Delta sigma owners, These headphones will sound bright with such dac. If you have neutral or cold or bright amp, then delta sigma is a no go! I suggest warm ss or tube amp if you have cold, neutral dac or any signature amp if you have multibit dac. Have a good day.

 
Glad you are liking your HD800S.
 
I also agree with you regarding the Delta/Sigma DAC's. It has a sonic ring and is more obvious when using neutral/bright headphones such as the HD800S. Personal to belief is why I'm switching out of Delta Sigma myself. HD800S is a worthy end game headphone, however even with the treble spike and increased bass, it still is somewhat picky with DAC's and Amplifiers.

 

[Arniesb]

Glad you are liking your HD800S.

I also agree with you regarding the Delta/Sigma DAC's. It has a sonic ring and is more obvious when using neutral/bright headphones such as the HD800S. Personal to belief is why I'm switching out of Delta Sigma myself. HD800S is a worthy end game headphone, however even with the treble spike and increased bass, it still is somewhat picky with DAC's and Amplifiers.

It is really picky indeed. Even thou my Amp is really warm for ss, but there is some very few hard edges left on some songs. Well... It is mostly, because of my Delta Sigma dac. I Thought about purchasing Feliks Audio elise tube amp for eliminating some few harsh edges left, but i heard one user talking about faulty tube blowing up HD650 Driver "Until D if i remember correctly" and i thought i don't want that for myself man... I dont want that some tube to blow up my Precious HD800S drivers... I will ask Luckasz from Feliks Audio, maybe he will make SS in the future.

 

[Venom Snake]

A quick update about HD800S + Valhalla 2 / Bifrost multibit after 50 hours of mechanical break-in:

I believe there is a sublime improvement in a way that the HD800S is more "opened" than before but I'm still in the break-in process but I have a feeling that the volume has decreased even though I never fiddled with the volume knob on valhalla (I set it at 2 pm if that makes sense) so how is this possible? I even checked the PC volume and it's at 100% so I'm not sure why the volume has decreased over time.

All in all I really do enjoy my HD800S so much that it became my official audio source for listening to music, games and movies. But I do have a question guys:
Play games that has lots of loud explosions and things going on like battlefield 1 and Gears of War 4, also I tend to watch lots of action movies so I'm afraid about the durability of the HD800S; can the senn handle those loud distortion or may I risk the possibility of damaging the drivers inside the HD800S? I love my cans but I'm always worried that I may damage my 1800$ end-game headphone

 

[McClelland]

so I'm afraid about the durability of the HD800S; can the senn handle those loud distortion or may I risk the possibility of damaging the drivers inside the HD800S? I love my cans but I'm always worried that I may damage my 1800$ end-game headphone

I mean this as a sincere response.  I would be more concerned about damaging the receivers in your ears.  Sharp spikes of of high dB are one of the things that degrade hearing over time and precipitate tinnitus.  Etymotics makes a line of audio/musician earplugs that reduce the max dB that gets to your ears without altering tonal quality.  The ER 20xs are their high-fidelity ones and I take them to concerts and movies, especially during previews when I have no idea what I am going to run into.  Wish I had started doing it decades ago.  If you are in a situation in which you can listen to speakers at the same time, you could hook up a powered sub to play at the same time and get major doses of deep rumble you would feel in your body without having it cranked up right next to your ear.  McC

 

[Arniesb]

A quick update about HD800S + Valhalla 2 / Bifrost multibit after 50 hours of mechanical break-in:

I believe there is a sublime improvement in a way that the HD800S is more "opened" than before but I'm still in the break-in process but I have a feeling that the volume has decreased even though I never fiddled with the volume knob on valhalla (I set it at 2 pm if that makes sense) so how is this possible? I even checked the PC volume and it's at 100% so I'm not sure why the volume has decreased over time.

All in all I really do enjoy my HD800S so much that it became my official audio source for listening to music, games and movies. But I do have a question guys:
Play games that has lots of loud explosions and things going on like battlefield 1 and Gears of War 4, also I tend to watch lots of action movies so I'm afraid about the durability of the HD800S; can the senn handle those loud distortion or may I risk the possibility of damaging the drivers inside the HD800S? I love my cans but I'm always worried that I may damage my 1800$ end-game headphone

Absolutely no way. Sennheiser HD6** HD700 and especially HD8** have most durable drivers in the business. I heard few cases of drivers going bad on HD600 series, but never heard of HD8** drivers failures. I read tens or hundreds reviews and opinions, but never heard about failure of HD800 drivers.

 

[daphen]

  Here is a just posted review that was less than stunning
 
 
by @kendetamas   http://www.head-fi.org/products/sennheiser-hd-800-s/reviews/15120

Well, you can't agree with everyone I guess.

 

[swspiers]

so I'm afraid about the durability of the HD800S; can the senn handle those loud distortion or may I risk the possibility of damaging the drivers inside the HD800S? I love my cans but I'm always worried that I may damage my 1800$ end-game headphone

I mean this as a sincere response.  I would be more concerned about damaging the receivers in your ears.  Sharp spikes of of high dB are one of the things that degrade hearing over time and precipitate tinnitus.  Etymotics makes a line of audio/musician earplugs that reduce the max dB that gets to your ears without altering tonal quality.  The ER 20xs are their high-fidelity ones and I take them to concerts and movies, especially during previews when I have no idea what I am going to run into.  Wish I had started doing it decades ago.  If you are in a situation in which you can listen to speakers at the same time, you could hook up a powered sub to play at the same time and get major doses of deep rumble you would feel in your body without having it cranked up right next to your ear.  McC

Worth repeating. My best friend has severe tinnitus, and will likely never listen to headphones again. I'm glad I did pay attention to this years ago when I played in loud bands!!!

 

[frankrondaniel]

Worth repeating. My best friend has severe tinnitus, and will likely never listen to headphones again. I'm glad I did pay attention to this years ago when I played in loud bands!!!

 
Wish I more careful with loud volume in my younger days with both live and recorded music - I have very annoying tinnitus these days.  I can't impress enough to play at lower volumes - wish someone warned me back then!