[masamy]

SA5000s have less detail than W5000 .. I don't think so.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

SA5000s have less detail than W5000 .. I don't think so.

Do you own both, care to elaborate on setup?
SA5000 has more aggressive treble which might give an illusion of a better details but W5000 seems to resolve more just not as accentuated and throughout the full spectrum, not only in highs (that's the easiest to accomplish). But again that's how I hear it.

 

[AUDIOBREEDER]

HD800 is the best top tier headphone I've come across. The SA5000 is nice but doesnt bring out much clarity and 'space' in the music as the HD800 does.
 
I was thinking of buying the HD700 and sell HD800, but I havent listened to HD700 yet.

 

[ayaflo]

Quote:

HD800 is the best top tier headphone I've come across. The SA5000 is nice but doesnt bring out much clarity and 'space' in the music as the HD800 does.
 
I was thinking of buying the HD700 and sell HD800, but I havent listened to HD700 yet.

 I thought the SA-5000 was some of the most clear cans available .. 

 

[streetdragon]

Quote:

 
It's sad but true, the cable of my HD800 just snapped with a pull, and am still waiting for Sennheiser to send me a new one. I really cannot imagine what would happen if I dropped the HD800 on a hard floor.
I don't think one can just categorize headphones like that, different brand guitars and drums sound differently and how they were played and recorded made them sound totally different.
But IE8s are good at giving a 'live' feel to music which I like.
BTW, the HD25s are not sport headphones, they are design for DJs.

 

sorry to reply to such an old post, but yes i was told recently by an owner that his HD800 broke because he dropped it on the floor on the right earcup and now its bent and wont make any sound. it is in the bin now....

kind of like a mercedes vs an F1 car. F1 is far faster and superior but only runs well on high grade fuel, and breaks easy as hell too. while the mercedes is tougher, but not nearly as fast or as demanding as the F1

 

[maxmays1]

What type of Amp/Dacs are you people using for the SA5000

 

[ayaflo]

Quote:

What type of Amp/Dacs are you people using for the SA5000

 
dv-sp 402 e > tx-sr 501 > SA5k,
 
will be trying a tube magic audio A1 for amp pretty soon..

 

[masamy]

Quote:

HD800 is the best top tier headphone I've come across. The SA5000 is nice but doesnt bring out much clarity and 'space' in the music as the HD800 does.
 
I was thinking of buying the HD700 and sell HD800, but I havent listened to HD700 yet.

If I were you, I would not do it.
Quote:

Do you own both, care to elaborate on setup?
SA5000 has more aggressive treble which might give an illusion of a better details but W5000 seems to resolve more just not as accentuated and throughout the full spectrum, not only in highs (that's the easiest to accomplish). But again that's how I hear it.

Yes, I have owned both. And yes, both of them are detailed headphone. But the point is that W5000 seems to have many re-verb in the high mid ( 5k-7k, I think) and the sound is not clear and detail as well as Sa5000.
 
Hum. Can my W5000 be deffective ?

 

[takato14]

Quote:

Quote:

HD800 is the best top tier headphone I've come across. The SA5000 is nice but doesnt bring out much clarity and 'space' in the music as the HD800 does.
 
I was thinking of buying the HD700 and sell HD800, but I havent listened to HD700 yet.

If I were you, I would not do it.

Nor would I, the HD700 is a total flop...

 

[Sil3nce]

If anything, the W5000 mentioned in this thread is a flop. Many of the reviewers that have comprehensive experience also agree with me on this. Just look at Mahler's post.
The tonality and coloring really makes it an unpleasant experience. Completely not worth the price.
You pay more for the wood.
 
The SA5000 is a great can, you don't need thousand dollar amps and platinum cables to make it sing.
How much will it take to make the HD800s sound good? How much will it take to make the SA5000 sound good?
It's a no-brainer really. 
How much does the price of the HD800 influence how much people actually enjoy them?
Yes, it's a great headphone. No, it's not "technically" leagues above the Sony.
If this thread was the Qualia 010 vs the HD800s, I'm sure the general consensus would be a lot different.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

  If anything, the W5000 mentioned in this thread is a flop. Many of the reviewers that have comprehensive experience also agree with me on this. Just look at Mahler's post.
The tonality and coloring really makes it an unpleasant experience. Completely not worth the price.
You pay more for the wood.
 

Some people love them, some don't, individual subjective opinions are hardly a basis for declaring them as universally "not worth the price", it can only be deciding factor for you and you only.
 
They are not very popular these day due to the invasion of the new flagships, but hold their own very well and even outrun some.
 
If you check recent Singapore meet expression, this is exactly that, it really wowed some and left some absolutely cold.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/694151/singapore-head-fi-meet-8th-december-2013-pictures
 
I still hold high regard and respect to them, they are my closed HD800, and I happen to just LOVE their "coloration", HD800 feel cold and heartless after them.

 

[Sil3nce]

Some people love them, some don't, individual subjective opinions are hardly a basis for declaring them as universally "not worth the price", it can only be deciding factor for you and you only.

They are not very popular these day due to the invasion of the new flagships, but hold their own very well and even outrun some.

If you check recent Singapore meet expression, this is exactly that, it really wowed some and left some absolutely cold.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/694151/singapore-head-fi-meet-8th-december-2013-pictures

I still hold high regard and respect to them, they are my closed HD800, and I happen to just LOVE their "coloration", HD800 feel cold and heartless after them.

Well that wasn't the point I was trying to make. You're right though. Certainly people buy into the W5000. But for those that I trust, and many other reviewers I personally know, the W5000 is a joke when it comes to technical proficiency. We're not even talking about measurements here. To my ears, they are hardly worth 1/3 of their price. I can understand if they were musical and appealed to a niche music genre like so many other AT cans. But I haven't found them particularly responsive. They also scale pretty poorly. Comparing these to the HD800s is hardly fair. Completely different approaches. The W5000 sounds sluggish and heavy next to the HD800s.
But like you said, that's my personal perspective. You're free to enjoy yours. I'm happy with my cans.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

After owning and auditioning other ATH woodies I can say that to different degree they all share the same house sound, to my ears W5K is no different. 
Technically they are very capable cans, fast, spacious, and very detailed. I'd say revolutionary for their time. Whether their coloration is your thing is secondary, but dissing their technical abilities is hardly fair.
No one comparing HD800 and W5K directly, in my opinion these are really untouchable today. But considering trade offs of the closed design I can't think of any other phones today that can come that close.
 
MDR SA-5000, I loved the build of the phones, futuristic design, and Sony's attention to details. But I really was just looking at them more than listening, perhaps they needed tubes to sound right, but out of different SS amps I've tried they always were the least favorable of the phones I've owned (too cold and clinical, almost K701 like) so I unloaded them w/o hesitation at the very first good opportunity.
And I really like Sony as a brand, currently enjoying MDR-1R and MDR-7520, SA-5000 on the other hand

, nope, nothing in common, creature from a different planet. I was always thinking of ATH-AD2000 as "fixed" version of SA5000, does all things that SA5000 did right but w/o being digital synthesizer cold. If you really like SA-5000, give them a try, make sure it's not the latest AD2000X version, they killed them by removing that charming midrange warmth.
 
Cheers. 

 

[elmoe]

Glad I found this thread.
 
It's my opinion that the SA5000s need a good tube amp with the right tubes. Once you have that, you're pretty much set, they are absolutely wonderful for the price. It is in my opinion the "freak pair of cans" in the Sony lineup. It's a difficult thing to make them sound great with any recordings if you don't have tubes, but they really shine with proper masterings. Add tubes to the audio chain, and everything starts to sound amazing, even older recordings. They are finicky, and you need time and patience to find the right amp to go with them, but I can never praise them enough - in my opinion they rival some of the most expensive Stax headphones out there, and for a dynamic headphone you can find for 300-350usd used, that's really something.

 

[takato14]

  Glad I found this thread.
 
It's my opinion that the SA5000s need a good tube amp with the right tubes. Once you have that, you're pretty much set, they are absolutely wonderful for the price. It is in my opinion the "freak pair of cans" in the Sony lineup. It's a difficult thing to make them sound great with any recordings if you don't have tubes, but they really shine with proper masterings. Add tubes to the audio chain, and everything starts to sound amazing, even older recordings. They are finicky, and you need time and patience to find the right amp to go with them, but I can never praise them enough - in my opinion they rival some of the most expensive Stax headphones out there, and for a dynamic headphone you can find for 300-350usd used, that's really something.

So to make them sound good you need something that adds warmth (distortion) and smears details. Okay.
 
[/ROLLING MY ******* EYES]
 
The SA5000 isn't a good headphone. It's essentially an open-air, angled Grado. Except, nasty ringing and resonances aside, Grados actually have fast attack. The SA5000 doesn't. It does sound fast at first listen but as you keep using it you realize it's just faking speed by being dry, bass light, and treble happy. It's slow and its treble is extremely out of control. The soundstage is extremely closed in sounding and they have problems with distortion in the bass. It's one of the worst headphones I've ever used.
 
The HD800 is a good headphone. It actually has bass and it has excellent attack and decay. They're completely incomparable in my opinion.