[Beagle]

Sounds like a natural phenomenon going from relatively bass heavy to relatively bass light. I've read countless other similar accounts over the years. I think the brain notices the contrast in bass level rather than appreciating what bass there is.
Re: the hd820, it is relatively more warm and bassy than the others in the 800 line, and this may lead some to think the bass hump is too large? Just speculation.

This warm blob effect does not bleed into the lower midrange, because the lower midrange is not there to bleed into....it's a bit sucked out. So it stands out in isolation. That's sort of how I'm hearing it.

 

[up late]

I think you've totally misread what you quoted that was written by those two people. They are standing up for the validity of those of us who like full, extended bass being lumped into bass head territory by fans of the Grado or older AKG sound (ie. bass light, early roll off) as if "bass head" is a bad thing, that invalidates your ability to make judgements about other aspects of the sound. I'd say a majority prefer having full bass, and good extension, reviewers addressing those concerns aren't a bad thing. I think they'd agree with you about the value of the bass.

i was actually supporting their views - too obliquely it seems

 

[up late]

What do you think of the 820?

i think that i'm looking forward to auditioning it as i said earlier in this thread, and i think that i'd like to see @jude's measurements of it

 

[Beagle]

You haven't heard it?

 

[up late]

obviously not. looking forward to it tho and seeing @jude's measurements, as i've already said.

 

[thatonenoob]

I heard this. idk.

 

[Rozeqloud]

These cans have me real excited ( thats what he said)

i have the Hd800 and an RSA Darkstar amp

Has anyone heard these babies on a Darsktar?

 

[Rchandra]

I heard this. idk.

Elaborate for us bro. I remember buying my z1r off your review so I'm curious to hear see your thoughts.

 

[thatonenoob]

Elaborate for us bro. I remember buying my z1r off your review so I'm curious to hear see your thoughts.

Okay I'll deliver.

To preface, this is based on my impressions over the course of about an hour ishk? Maybe it'll change if I have a long-term use/loan of this against my hd800 on my home rig, but until then, this is how I view the 820.

HD820 is pretty good for a closed headphone. However, to me, it's definitely still an attempt at catching the HD800 thunder in a bottle. I have no issues with seal. Apparently some people have issues with seal. I'm not sure why. It's got the same degrees of freedom as an hd800, with plusher earpads too. Are we forgetting that the earcups can rotate? Who knows.

Bass is pretty good. Worse extension than 800, seems to be more midbass. But nothing like the z1r or th900, senn tried to emulate the 800 here.

Lower mids on the thinner side. Didn't bother me as much as the upper mids. HD800 is obviously not known for emphasized upper mids, but the 820 upper mids feel even thinner and more distant.

Nothing offensive on treble. Imaging was really odd at times, stuff showed up in places I'd never encountered before... Soundstage good enough for closed. Imagine TH900 ishk (bigger, in fact?).

Thing is, the 820 doesn't really isolate that well. It's better than the th900, but far from z1r. Which begs the real question - why not hd800?

 

[Rchandra]

Okay I'll deliver.

To preface, this is based on my impressions over the course of about an hour ishk? Maybe it'll change if I have a long-term use/loan of this against my hd800 on my home rig, but until then, this is how I view the 820.

HD820 is pretty good for a closed headphone. However, to me, it's definitely still an attempt at catching the HD800 thunder in a bottle. I have no issues with seal. Apparently some people have issues with seal. I'm not sure why. It's got the same degrees of freedom as an hd800, with plusher earpads too. Are we forgetting that the earcups can rotate? Who knows.

Bass is pretty good. Worse extension than 800, seems to be more midbass. But nothing like the z1r or th900, senn tried to emulate the 800 here.

Lower mids on the thinner side. Didn't bother me as much as the upper mids. HD800 is obviously not known for emphasized upper mids, but the 820 upper mids feel even thinner and more distant.

Nothing offensive on treble. Imaging was really odd at times, stuff showed up in places I'd never encountered before... Soundstage good enough for closed. Imagine TH900 ishk (bigger, in fact?).

Thing is, the 820 doesn't really isolate that well. It's better than the th900, but far from z1r. Which begs the real question - why not hd800?

Thank you for that response. I do remember not liking it at all when I first heard it. But then over time letting my bud borrow my z1r and me borrowing his hd820 something well interesting happened. I began to get used to the hd820 sound and was able to use it more in bed over the z1r which did leak sound. However at the end I just missed the fun of the z1r and came to a conclusion that if one has a hd820 or a z1r that there is no need to get one over the other and just be happy owning one. But yes I personally think if you own a hd800S then I don't see the need to own the hd820 especially if closed back isn't needed.

 

[8bitme]

thatonenoob I have to say that's some strange comments from a reviewer. "Soundstage good enough for closed"? It runs circles around something like the Utopia and is among the best of any headphone really. I can't really say I agree with the upper mids sounding thin at all either. No offense but sounds to me that you're too used to the colored z1r sound profile and would need more time to appreciate HD 820.

 

[Giraku]

To me, 820 and 800/s are completely different animals. Of course, they share Sennheiser sound signature rather loosely not tightly. For myself, I couldn't stand for 800s thin sound. 820 is my current "the one" HPs. I went through many TOTL HPs (please check my profile) and settled on 820.
In my opinion, Sennheiser succeeded to please different group of people than 800/s fans/owners but badly failed on marketing. Most people expect 820 to be an upgrade of 800/s. They are not. Sennheiser should have named 820 differently to clarify the difference.

 

[thatonenoob]

thatonenoob I have to say that's some strange comments from a reviewer. "Soundstage good enough for closed"? It runs circles around something like the Utopia and is among the best of any headphone really. I can't really say I agree with the upper mids sounding thin at all either. No offense but sounds to me that you're too used to the colored z1r sound profile and would need more time to appreciate HD 820.

Not really. I don't currently own a Z1R. My headphones are the HD800 and T1. Make of that what you will, of course.

 

[Beagle]

Thing is, the 820 doesn't really isolate that well. It's better than the th900, but far from z1r. Which begs the real question - why not hd800?

Agree, and it leaks out a lot of sound for a closed. Ether C, Z1R and LCD-2 Closed have zero. Mind you, those clamp a little tighter.

 

[8bitme]

My measurements look rather different. I'll post them later or tomorrow with some accompanying discussion. I'll show frequency response and THD measurements to start, compared to HD800, HD800S and MDR-Z1R.

That video above is interesting (the one with Lachlan and his colleague). In that video are impressions from two gents prior to having seen any measurements.

Brian (@AxelCloris) is working on editing Axel Grell's HD820 presentation from CanJam New York now. We hope to be able to post that in the coming days.

My long story short: The HD800S has the edge in overall resolution -- that should be no big surprise. The HD800S is open-back, free-breathing, unencumbered by some of the issues of acoustics/physics that must be dealt with for this class of closed-back headphone. That said, for tonal balance, the HD820 is my personal favorite of the three HD8XX models. (For reference, I have a pretty strong preference for the HD800S versus the HD800.)

Let's talk more later.

Any updates?