[Blotto80]

A few weeks ago I stumbled across an open-box deal for a pair of HD800S and even though I had previously decided I was done with full sized headphones, I couldn’t resist the price and grabbed them. I am impressed. I’ve always been “treble sensitive” and always gravitated towards the darker end of the spectrum like the HD650 or the LCD2 but the presentation of these is so amazing that it quickly overcomes the brightness and turns these into an amazingly realistic , life-like listen.

Aside from Music, I’ve been gaming on these with HeSuVi and the results are phenomenal. Positioning is pinpoint and the environments have a sense of space that I’ve not heard before.

I’ve always wanted an HD800 but have been afraid of the treble, the S has made them extremely enjoyable.

 

[llcook51]

And will I notice a difference between my current Sennheiser 600's and my soon to come 800s?

oh yeah.

 

[WHO23]

And will I notice a difference between my current Sennheiser 600's and my soon to come 800s?

Oh yes definately. When you get the HD800S, I recommend trying it with an orchestral song and proceed to close your eyes.

 

[headblid]

Assuming that you have high quality files and a decent chain, the 800S belongs in a different world altogether - the speed and the clarity are just uncanny. The first time I stopped hunting for upgrades was after I got an HD600 in the early 2000s then went on 10+ years then started looking and went through a bunch of cans, then picked up an 800S and stopped again for another few years. I recently started looking for better than the 800S and have yet to come across anything that’s a clean cut upgrade on the 800S all around.

With the current pricing and the quality you get out of the 800S, it makes cans at 3 to 4x the price extremely unattractive propositions if 800S is a sound signature you like.

With all that said, they won’t make your 600 or 650 unlistenable by any means, just different so you may want to keep them around till you have had time to process your library through the 800S. Some of the not so well recorded stuff or low bitrate stuff may not do so well on it.

Cheers,

Back to sound quality... Will I notice a considerable improvement in sound quality when going from the 600 to the 800s?

 

[Womaz]

Hi guys . I have just purchased some HD800S . They will be fed with my Devialet 200 and the Auralic Taurus mk2 . Does anyone use the Taurus with these headphones . As always I am wondering if there are better Amps out there . I also have the HEKv 1

 

[Whazzzup]

Hi guys . I have just purchased some HD800S . They will be fed with my Devialet 200 and the Auralic Taurus mk2 . Does anyone use the Taurus with these headphones . As always I am wondering if there are better Amps out there . I also have the HEKv 1

I have seen folks with that pairing over the years in there sig.....Amps are nice but really its server and dac that will scale these puppies. amps are for the last 5% or whatever, in my case transparency so that doesn't need lots of thought

 

[Seyumi]

Is the general consensus still that the HD800s’s are still a better overall headphone than the HD820’s? Almost every single professional and personal review I’ve read seems to confirm this. I’m in the market for either headphone and will be pairing it with an HDV 820 DAC. I’m more a “fun” listener person than a “critical” one. I also like to PC game a lot as well (not competitive, just for fun). I’m also more of an EDM listener than a classical one. I’m torn between which headphone I should get and I can’t really afford to make the wrong choice. I’m leaning more towards the HD800s again from what I’ve read. Thank you.

 

[Mrstump5]

Has anyone here paired the hd800S with the thx 789 AAA amp and/or the soekris 1541 dac? Thoughts? I'm debating on this pairing vs an hdv820

 

[KaiserTK]

Has anyone here paired the hd800S with the thx 789 AAA amp and/or the soekris 1541 dac? Thoughts? I'm debating on this pairing vs an hdv820

I listened to that exact pairing a month ago, and I liked it so much I tried to buy it off the guy!
The Soekris compared to D/S Dacs (Chord, Questyle) around that price range have a much smoother and more holographic presentation. The THX adds crispness and a bit more transparency to the sound.
I would also add that an aftermarket cable (Norne, Forza) also helps by rounding out the sound a bit more and slight bit more clarity (depending on what cable you get).

 

[Womaz]

I have seen folks with that pairing over the years in there sig.....Amps are nice but really its server and dac that will scale these puppies. amps are for the last 5% or whatever, in my case transparency so that doesn't need lots of thought

Thanks for the reply. My Devilalet 200 will act as the DAC and I am getting a Roon Nucleus in the next few weeks which will be my server.
I have been wondering wether I would be better served with a different DAC, so maybe like a dedicated DAC. The Devialet is an excellent piece of kit, but I dont have any idea how the DAC compares to others .

 

[soekris]

Has anyone here paired the hd800S with the thx 789 AAA amp and/or the soekris 1541 dac? Thoughts? I'm debating on this pairing vs an hdv820

I'm using the HD800S for testing and demoing my DAC's, they sound fantastic on the balanced headphone outputs on a dac1541....

 

[lwd]

Is the general consensus still that the HD800s’s are still a better overall headphone than the HD820’s? Almost every single professional and personal review I’ve read seems to confirm this. I’m in the market for either headphone and will be pairing it with an HDV 820 DAC. I’m more a “fun” listener person than a “critical” one. I also like to PC game a lot as well (not competitive, just for fun). I’m also more of an EDM listener than a classical one. I’m torn between which headphone I should get and I can’t really afford to make the wrong choice. I’m leaning more towards the HD800s again from what I’ve read. Thank you.

I compared the two directly a few months ago. To my ears the HD800S sound better, and they're substantially cheaper as well of course. I'd only get the HD820's if you really need closed back. And if you really need closed back there are other interesting options from MrSpeakers and others at a similar price.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Is the general consensus still that the HD800s’s are still a better overall headphone than the HD820’s? Almost every single professional and personal review I’ve read seems to confirm this. I’m in the market for either headphone and will be pairing it with an HDV 820 DAC. I’m more a “fun” listener person than a “critical” one. I also like to PC game a lot as well (not competitive, just for fun). I’m also more of an EDM listener than a classical one. I’m torn between which headphone I should get and I can’t really afford to make the wrong choice. I’m leaning more towards the HD800s again from what I’ve read. Thank you.

I owned the 800S and had my friends 820 here as I was selling it for him. My experience is that the 800S sounds noticeably better, for my preferences anyway. The 820 sounded off to me, but I couldn't manage to get enough time with it as the fit was so loose and I couldn't seem to get it acceptably secured. My friend who I was selling the 820 for has a larger head than mine and he could not get a proper fit either and decided to sell for that reason. The fit was the reason the bass felt Grado like to me, which means for me to thin and without adequate impact. I get the sense, but can't be sure, that even if the fit was better on the 820 I would still prefer the 800S.

 

[headblid]

I have both and run them both out of the HDV820. I would say there's no reason to go for the 820 if you can leave with an open back and if you're okay with the bass on the 800S. I personally like the bass on the 800S and\but don't mind the increased slam from the 820. Here are a few differences I noticed over the last little while:

• Fit: This is a real issue with the 820 for me - I fiddled for weeks, heck I even went reading the manual to try and get the fit right. There are several posts in this thread about how to put them on properly. Some people don't seem to have an issue with the fit but given all the reports, I strongly suggest you try these out first or buy them from a place with a good return policy in case you can't get it to fit properly. You should be able to tell fairly quickly if the fit is off, there's be thin bass with a distant tunnel-ly feeling to the sound
• Sound: With the right fit, the bass slams great and will rattle your bones like it's supposed to. Aside from the bass, the rest of the signature is I would say somewhat similar to the 800S with a tiny little less of everything, stage, transparency, etc... This makes the 820 more forgiving and often times an easier listen than the 800S at it exposes less flaws on good quality tracks. If you're looking for a fun listen, I suspect the 820 might be the better bet unless you EQ the 800S.
• Switching back and forth between the 2 during a listening session, the 800S feels like you're just extracting that last 2% out of the 820 with a tiny bit less bass. If you have something like Sonarworks and don't need a closed back, you can EQ the 800S - the bass will be almost there with the 820 in slam but the quality is a tiny bit better.
• Price: No matter how hard I look, I find the 820 overpriced when you have something like the 800S.

While my description may sound like there are big differences, the two headphones definitely compare in terms of quality and I could easily see people going for either one depending on their musical preferences. The main thing I would focus on though is fit if you're considering the 820 - if you can sort that out, it is a terrific headphone.

Is the general consensus still that the HD800s’s are still a better overall headphone than the HD820’s? Almost every single professional and personal review I’ve read seems to confirm this. I’m in the market for either headphone and will be pairing it with an HDV 820 DAC. I’m more a “fun” listener person than a “critical” one. I also like to PC game a lot as well (not competitive, just for fun). I’m also more of an EDM listener than a classical one. I’m torn between which headphone I should get and I can’t really afford to make the wrong choice. I’m leaning more towards the HD800s again from what I’ve read. Thank you.

 

[llcook51]

Assuming that you have high quality files and a decent chain, the 800S belongs in a different world altogether - the speed and the clarity are just uncanny. The first time I stopped hunting for upgrades was after I got an HD600 in the early 2000s then went on 10+ years then started looking and went through a bunch of cans, then picked up an 800S and stopped again for another few years. I recently started looking for better than the 800S and have yet to come across anything that’s a clean cut upgrade on the 800S all around.

With the current pricing and the quality you get out of the 800S, it makes cans at 3 to 4x the price extremely unattractive propositions if 800S is a sound signature you like.

With all that said, they won’t make your 600 or 650 unlistenable by any means, just different so you may want to keep them around till you have had time to process your library through the 800S. Some of the not so well recorded stuff or low bitrate stuff may not do so well on it.

Cheers,

Good advice.