[Lay.]

HD 800S for gaming? What a waste of a great HP....

I have to admit that I game more than I listen music on average day with my HD800S. Gaming was the reason that I came to read posts on head-fi on the first place about 9 years ago. Back then I bought my HD598's for gaming and they were great headphones for gaming but I did not like them for music listening. I did have a good set of speakers though.

Fast forward 9 years and I have headphones that I like a lot for both gaming and listening music. That is a huge plus for me.

Does anyone who has both hd650 and Hd800s ever use their 650 and if so - why?
I don’t have a lot of time to listen, but just find the 800s superior.... but would like to get another point of view.

I have HD660S but I can feel what you are saying about HD650 vs. HD800S. Couple of times I have thought of selling my HD660S because of the feeling that I would always gravitate towards HD800S. I'm mainly using HD660S at my workplace but when I have them both home there are two reasons that made me sometimes pick Hd660S.

1) I have a set of old favorite songs that are kind of poorly mastered/recorded. I just can't listen them with HD800S and I just pick up HD660S.
2) When I want to concentrate on vocals and I'm not in a mood for critical listening. There is something with the 600 -line that separates the vocals from everything else.

 

[prymortal]

The HD800 is a chameleon when it comes to the equipment that feed it. If you move up with your chain to higher end stuff, the HD800 scales with it.

I've heard the HD800 with a moderate soundstage & weak bass, but with good equipment, it improves in those areas significantly.

@prymortal

What is the set up you are using with the HD800?
I believe that a properly driven HD800 has the best soundstage existing on the market today.
And by best I mean not only wideness but also depth , height and proper positioning of the musicians.
As always poorly mastered material will sound as the stage is out of real proportion or bad placed instruments or throw at your face and other things some people are bitching off but that's not a fault of the headphone itself.
Blame the material and / or your equipment.

I was using the Jotunhiem [balanced dac] in balanced but it wasnt very pleasant, keep in mind it is ***'ed! so not suprising. Now im just using the JDS Labs "The Element" on high gain. Sounds better, soundstage is about the same size outwards, much higher & airy though.

I'm pretty sure you are going to say spend more get more & upgrade from that...... When i have money i'll look into it, for now this is good enough.

 

[Ichos]

Enjoy them as you can!
Sometime when funds permit then you can upgrade to something more tailored to the HD800.

 

[Whitigir]

@prymortal

What is the set up you are using with the HD800?
I believe that a properly driven HD800 has the best soundstage existing on the market today.
And by best I mean not only wideness but also depth , height and proper positioning of the musicians.
As always poorly mastered material will sound as the stage is out of real proportion or bad placed instruments or throw at your face and other things some people are bitching off but that's not a fault of the headphone itself.
Blame the material and / or your equipment.

Totally agree

 

[Ra97oR]

HD 800S for gaming? What a waste of a great HP....

I use my HD 800S for gaming with VOIP on Discord or similar. The comfort is a good reason to use them already.

It's only a waste if it's not getting used and collecting dust.

 

[Ichos]

The FAW cable Noir Hybrid is getting better and better maturing like an old wine!
Very effortless sound , dynamic with on spot natural tonality , perfect for classical music!

 

[Whazzzup]

 

[Ichos]

Great setup!!!

 

[peter123]

The FAW cable Noir Hybrid is getting better and better maturing like an old wine!
Very effortless sound , dynamic with on spot natural tonality , perfect for classical music!

LMAO! Lets hope it doesn't get bad due to age too soon then

 

[Ichos]

I will drink it before it expires!!!!

 

[llcook51]

Very nice, indeed.

 

[redryder]

Hi all, I currently have the HD650 and Fostex THX00. Would a HD800 be a good complement to these cans? I mostly listen to pop (from the 60s to present), some rock, light jazz vocals, and classical, in descending order of frequency.

 

[Nik74]

I own both the Hd650 and 800S and would say that the latter easily outperform the 650 in most areas. I use the 800S 80% of the time reaching for the 650 for recordings that need a more forgiving headphone or for when I want more bass slam rather than depth and ultimate texture in that area. Also there are recordings where the 800S may not fully convince musically - due to the recording being sub par- while the 650 will manage to sound pleasant and draw you in the music rather than highlight the bad mastering.
Another consideration if you do purchase the 800s is that the 650 will still sound euphonic even if you drive them to say 50% of their potential - I find them listenable even through the headphone out of my Mac book !- while the 800S will require careful matching with a top notch amplifier if you don’t want them to sound lean, screechy and uninvolving.
What would you be pairing them with ?

 

[redryder]

I own both the Hd650 and 800S and would say that the latter easily outperform the 650 in most areas. I use the 800S 80% of the time reaching for the 650 for recordings that need a more forgiving headphone or for when I want more bass slam rather than depth and ultimate texture in that area. Also there are recordings where the 800S may not fully convince musically - due to the recording being sub par- while the 650 will manage to sound pleasant and draw you in the music rather than highlight the bad mastering.
Another consideration if you do purchase the 800s is that the 650 will still sound euphonic even if you drive them to say 50% of their potential - I find them listenable even through the headphone out of my Mac book !- while the 800S will require careful matching with a top notch amplifier if you don’t want them to sound lean, screechy and uninvolving.
What would you be pairing them with ?

Thanks for the detailed reply. I’m pairing them with the ifi micro idsd bl as the dac/amp. Source is the onkyo dp-x1a

 

[Mrstump5]

Hello guys and gals I'm purchasing a hd800S soon after I sell my zmf verite pheasantwood. I'm looking for the best synergy of gear to pair the 800S with..i currently use a nfb28.38. I would rather solid state over tubes for ease of use and plug and play. I was thinking a yggy2 and maybe he-9/gs-x mini, rag 2. Idk i just dont want some super bright sound