[Youth]

   I really like the sound of that... ill probably end up buying one soon. ill sell my HD800 with Draug 2 cable.

 
Why not use the Draug 2 with HD800S?

 

[Cenacheros]

What are the differences between the Senn.650 latest model and the 800S? I'm hearing the 650s at their best,recabled,well amplified,and with a 2Qute as DAC.In the past I've dismissed the 800 simply because of it's reported"bright and hot" signature. Is there a big step up in overall sound? The 800S has certainly piqued my interest! Thanks!

 

[MattTCG]

   
Why not use the Draug 2 with HD800S?

 
Got both inbound. 

 

[shabta]

  Salut! I was the original drummer for Voyage and one of the founding members. We were a part of the birth of hard rock in France and it was an exciting time. We toured with Magma and Christian Vender was quite the character, great drummer with impeccable taste and pedigree. Anyone that was into Tony Williams I held in high esteem. Highlights were playing on the same stage with Pink Floyd, Ginger Baker's Air force, Atomic Rooster, Soft Machine, Joan Baez and Eric Clapton. I could write a book, but I won't.... All this to say, that I have placed a reservation with Dr. Jan Meier for the HD 800 S.
Bob

Salut! Incroyable! Too bad you won't write a book, what a great era. Christian Vender must have been a hoot, and a incredibly creative musician. I maybe don't remember  Voyage, I thought it was a late 70s Disco/Funk/Pop thing. 

 

[ubs28]

I would respectfully disagree. To me the HD800S is very neutral and transparent (based on 2 hours listening, so take that with a suitably sized salt chunk). Feed it a dark track and it sounds dark. Feed it a bright track and it sounds bright. My modded HE6 and Ether C are both a little on the bright side - some sparkly treble happening with both of those. Unmodded HD800 definitely in the bright camp with that piercing treble peak.

HD800S is the closest thing I have heard to dead neutral in any headphone so far in this hobby (note - I have not heard an SR-009).

This is very relative and subjective, of course.

The AKG 240 is even brighter than the original HD800 and that headphones is used alot by producers.

 

[raybone0566]

Will do some A/B this weekend and post some thoughts. Pity my 300B amp is currently busted. The HD800 was fantastic from tubes - HD800S should be even better.

What happened to that beautiful amp Tony?

 

[shabta]

  What are the differences between the Senn.650 latest model and the 800S? I'm hearing the 650s at their best,recabled,well amplified,and with a 2Qute as DAC.In the past I've dismissed the 800 simply because of it's reported"bright and hot" signature. Is there a big step up in overall sound? The 800S has certainly piqued my interest! Thanks!

Well I owned a HD 650 at the time when I first demo'd  the HD800. Sometimes it is better to listen for one's self since a lot of writing by its very nature exaggerates the differences between components. But to me the sound stage, air, articulation, transient decay, tonality are all better on the HD800 compared to the HD650. HD650 is sometimes better on crappily recorded stuff and has more grunt for Rock n Roll. But even there, I almost always want to grab the HD800, because i find the ability to present the inner level of detail so enticing. The S is so much closer to its older sib than to the HD650. I probably bored people enough at this point delineating the differences between S and Classic. It depends a lot on your music and what kind of sound you want to hear. But from where I sit the S gives a much less dense presentation of the music than the HD650, more extended at the top and the bottom and pretty much bests it in every dimension except price and amp pickiness. YMMV.

 

[plakat]

   
I second that. The Oppo HA-1 looks compelling feature wise, but I am looking for something that has a smooth treble and I am not sure if that is the case with the Oppo.
 
@plakat do you prefer the Benchmark DAC2 HGC over the Sennheiser?

I'd answer with a cautious 'yes'... I can't switch fast enough between them (I would have to reconfigure the Benchmark to pass on Coax), but it seems to me a bit more detailed and dynamic, but maybe a touch less bass but with a bit better control.

 

[Cenacheros]

 I was hoping you'd reply! I've a feeling the 650s are fine for me.Many thanks!

 

[TonyNewman]

What happened to that beautiful amp Tony?

 
A sad tale of woe and user stupidity...
 
I yanked a driver tube before the caps had discharged - that blew a driver on my HD800 and damaged the amp. Later I put a rubbish 300B tube in it that went bad - cooked the amp. Have some replacement parts on the way from Glenn, then will get a local repair guy on the job. It will get fixed, but will take a while. Really kicking myself for being so stupid

 

[Whazzzup]

 

What happened to that beautiful amp Tony?

 
A sad tale of woe and user stupidity...
 
I yanked a driver tube before the caps had discharged - that blew a driver on my HD800 and damaged the amp. Later I put a rubbish 300B tube in it that went bad - cooked the amp. Have some replacement parts on the way from Glenn, then will get a local repair guy on the job. It will get fixed, but will take a while. Really kicking myself for being so stupid

Dont be so hard on yourself. Life is a lesson.

But for those reasons as well as my tastes and technology, ( chords FPGA, taps and dac amp board integration) im SS all the way.

 

[Sko0byDoo]

   
A sad tale of woe and user stupidity...
 
I yanked a driver tube before the caps had discharged - that blew a driver on my HD800 and damaged the amp. Later I put a rubbish 300B tube in it that went bad - cooked the amp. Have some replacement parts on the way from Glenn, then will get a local repair guy on the job. It will get fixed, but will take a while. Really kicking myself for being so stupid

 
Oh sh**t to hear the mishaps to your 300B.  Tube amp should be simple enough that not too much fixing is required.  Time to switch over to the Woo?  

 

[bmichels]

As you know, with 2 other Head-Fiers, We has organised a micro-micro-Canjam, with HD800, HD800s, HE1000, TH900 and Dhrama, using TotalDAC and GSX or EC445.
 
I was out of luck since I had a flu this day, so my hears were not at their best...   However:
 
- All 3 of us have not heard any real improvement between HD800 and HD800s. This was disapointing.
- Re the Dhrama, my friend who has a HE1000 prefered by far the Dhrama to the 2 HD800s. He though the Dhrama offer the same tonality & quality than his HE1000 bit still was lacking soundstage. I also Prefer Dhrama to the HD800.   But, I still like my TH900 a lot !
- We tested the HE1000 with the special cable that allow to connect the HE1000 direct to the TotalDACs line out: Sound was VERY  VERY good indeed, to the point that my friend who has the HE1000 will buy a TotalDAC (but before he may try to hear the DAVE). 

 

[DWbirdseye]

  Salut! Incroyable! Too bad you won't write a book, what a great era. Christian Vender must have been a hoot, and a incredibly creative musician. I maybe don't remember  Voyage, I thought it was a late 70s Disco/Funk/Pop thing. 

 
Merci! Voila:
 
Check the right column there's more....... et des chansons de triangle, magma etc...
 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie4pxwqIKsQ

 

[Dobrescu George]

  Dont be so hard on yourself. Life is a lesson.

But for those reasons as well as my tastes and technology, ( chords FPGA, taps and dac amp board integration) im SS all the way.

I am on the same page, I think that solid state is much safer and better to use.
 
I am worried that tube amps might induce distortion too with signal, and from an engineering point of view, solid state amplification is worlds more efficient in both power consumption and noise inductance. Theoretically, solid state will always induce less noise, but in practice I heard solid state that sounded bad, very bad

. Less clear and noisier than a Woo audio fireflies, but at the same price, I think that Solid state is a safer bet and a better road to travel. (Hugo FTW).