I received mine today from Jan Meier and spent a couple of hours listening. Right now I am using a Corda Cantate (amp+dac), which is fairly dark and warm in my experience (coming form someone who does not believe too much in amp colouration). It won't be my end game, but it must do for a first test. I only heard the HD800 briefly, so I can't offer much of a comparison, but I wanted to share some initial impressions.
My head/earphones for a bit of background:
- Sennheiser HD650 (don't like it's veil and colouration)
- AKG K702 (used to find them boring but come to like them a lot, only dislike their lack of sub bass) ->
actually a bit similar to the HD800S imho
- Beyerdynamic DT990 pro (only use them for gaming, like the bass and the treble is great for positional audio but I find the peak atrocious for music)
- Yamaha HPH-MT220 (fairly neutral but still fun with a decent low end, bargain headphone)
- Shure SE846 (warmer tone, but unlike the HD650 not too warm for my taste, great sub bass for BA IEM)
- Compact Monitors Stage 3 (cIEM, neutral with a slight bass emphasis, sound very natural)
I enjoy a large variety of genres, but focus on electronic music (not EDM though).
General first impressions (most likely the same for the HD800):
Nice packaging and great build quality. This does not come across on the pictures and with the black coating they look better than their sibling. But overall, I still don't like the design aesthetics
. Haven't had a chance to look at the frequency response plot but could post it later if requested.
They seem to be rather efficient and less power hungry than some of my other headphones, which I did not expect given their impedance and the notions of them being hard to drive (i.e. HD800).
Sound:
I would describe them as neutral but slightly bright. From memory I can kind of hear that the 6k peak is reduced compared to the HD800, and maybe in direct comparison they could be perceived slightly warmer. However, there is still some peak left, that can be a bit harsh depending on the track. Too early for a final verdict on that, but so far it is definitely not a deal-breaker for me. Sound stage is amazing and they are fast and detailed. The music feels quite natural to me. Don't find the mids recessed, but that might be very subjective. Some say the HD650 have neutral mids, which I wholeheartedly disagree with.
What I am missing a bit is the sub bass (~around and below 30 Hz). So far this is the only "weakness" that is apparent to me.