[Giru]

Is a new HD820 a good deal at 1400 usd?

 

[ruinedx]

Is a new HD820 a good deal at 1400 usd?

Hell yeah

 

[Nooborghini]

Try the stock pads before you get anything else IMO. I found them to be very good; sennheiser tuned the sound with the stock pads, not Dekoni. Again I'd put the cash towards better electronics.

btw, if you decide to give the MX-HPA / MX-DAC a shot FYI they are out of production and you may want to act fast if you want "new" condition. They are actually the last 100% Musical Fidelity product of this type made before Musical Fidelity sold the company to Pro-Ject. They are on clearance now - MX-HPA is $599-$699, MX-DAC $849. The HPA goes for less because the dual-XLR is now an unpopular connector, but easily can get a dual 3-pin XLR > 4pin XLR adapter for use with CH800S, or alternatively a company like Moon Audio can make you a dual 3-pin XLR cable that is compatible with the HD820. Musical Fidelity now has a new DAC product out but its much larger and IMO not as attractive a package as the MX-DAC, and its built-in HPA is not balanced like the MX-HPA; so in this case the older model is superior to the newer one IMO.

I'll look at the prices now and see if I can get one on clearance, may need to export it from US to CAD. I want to see how it sounds first on my SMSL200 stacks before looking into amp/dac as I recently just bought these and really wouldn't expect to need to purchase another set unless it just sounds god awful on my stack right now.
You think that it makes that much of a difference? Compared to spending the same amount of money on a pair of HD800 or another set of HP?

 

[ruinedx]

I'll look at the prices now and see if I can get one on clearance, may need to export it from US to CAD. I want to see how it sounds first on my SMSL200 stacks before looking into amp/dac as I recently just bought these and really wouldn't expect to need to purchase another set unless it just sounds god awful on my stack right now.
You think that it makes that much of a difference? Compared to spending the same amount of money on a pair of HD800 or another set of HP?

Considering you have little dot tube now the solid state MX HPA amp will likely make more difference than another set of headphones. Whether you like that difference will be interesting to see but it will definitely be different, again personal preference 2nd order distortion of tubes vs clean solid state output. There also is large differences in solid state amps as well, I have two now that make headphones sound very different

Regarding the MX DAC, in 1989 Musical Fidelity basically invented the outboard DAC category with the Digilog so they are well known for being masters of Digital to analog. That might be a smaller difference but likely still noticable. The MX DAC might retain some collector value since it's the last pure musical fidelity DAC before the company was sold and it supports all the important formats (up to 24bit/192khz pcm and DSD128 via USB)

 

[joshnor713]

Is a new HD820 a good deal at 1400 usd?

Heck ya. I got it used for $1400 and don't regret it at all.

 

[Nooborghini]

Considering you have little dot tube now the solid state MX HPA amp will likely make more difference than another set of headphones. Whether you like that difference will be interesting to see but it will definitely be different, again personal preference 2nd order distortion of tubes vs clean solid state output. There also is large differences in solid state amps as well, I have two now that make headphones sound very different

Regarding the MX DAC, in 1989 Musical Fidelity basically invented the outboard DAC category with the Digilog so they are well known for being masters of Digital to analog. That might be a smaller difference but likely still noticable. The MX DAC might retain some collector value since it's the last pure musical fidelity DAC before the company was sold and it supports all the important formats (up to 24bit/192khz pcm and DSD128 via USB)

Yeah I expect the tubes to sound diff than the SS Amp. Was just curious if the DAC AMP combo you mentioned would sound different than my SMSL m200 and SP200

 

[ruinedx]

Yeah I expect the tubes to sound diff than the SS Amp. Was just curious if the DAC AMP combo you mentioned would sound different than my SMSL m200 and SP200

No way to know w/o trying

I have found very noticable differences in the various solid state amp / dacs i have tried

Going to be near impossible to find someone with both an MX HPA / MX DAC and SMSL stuff. MX HPA / MX DAC is specialty high end and not well known in USA (more Euro brand), while SMSL is commonly known and a step above entry level.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Is that headamp powerful enough for Sennheisers? I seem to remember thinking the specs were not encouraging.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Yeah I expect the tubes to sound diff than the SS Amp. Was just curious if the DAC AMP combo you mentioned would sound different than my SMSL m200 and SP200

On the surface the THX amps would seem like a bad idea for 800/800S and maybe by extension, the 820.

Analytical cans + sterile amps = e * (skull-piercing treble + boredom) ^2

 

[ruinedx]

Is that headamp powerful enough for Sennheisers? I seem to remember thinking the specs were not encouraging.

MX hpa? As long as you use with balanced cable (which is how it's intended to be used anyway based on the circuit topology - balanced input and output), definitely.

Even my quietest albums - like the DSD128 version of Cat Stevens Tea for the Tillerman - are loud with the hd820 + MX hpa in low gain mode and volume knob at 12 o clock. Lots of bass as well . Also best SS amp I could find for the hd800 (original) when I owned that.

It's a hard unit to find reviews for but here are a couple:

This one reviewer used HD800S to review:
https://www.translatetheweb.com/?re...idelity-mx-hpa-fejhallgato-erosito-teszt_1833

https://www.musicalfidelity.com/uploads/reviews/HFN_MF_MX-HPA_web.pdf

If you are looking to try an SS amp for hd800s I'd highly recommend giving it a try, especially now that it's on clearance at $599 down from it's original $999 msrp; just make sure you have the cables to use the balanced I/O

 

[ruinedx]

On the surface the THX amps would seem like a bad idea for 800/800S and maybe by extension, the 820.

Analytical cans + sterile amps = e * (skull-piercing treble + boredom) ^2

Yeah this is the issue I ran into with some solid state amps. I had the ha-1 which was super powerful but very sterile and the hd800 was literally painful to listen to. Took me a little bit to find a combo that worked well.

 

[flailure]

That is perfect, I figured it was the case. The 820 is on it's way!




That is what I am thinking as well, someone said to try it but I feel like it wouldn't be my cup of tea for active listening. I rarely use my tubes, it's only when I want to feel dirty.

congrats, and +1 on keeping the stock pads, yes they have leather, but it does not touch your skin, HD820 has a hybrid design, it has a layer of velour like material that actually touches your skin, works pretty well.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

MX hpa? As long as you use with balanced cable (which is how it's intended to be used anyway based on the circuit topology - balanced input and output), definitely.

Even my quietest albums - like the DSD128 version of Cat Stevens Tea for the Tillerman - are loud with the hd820 + MX hpa in low gain mode and volume knob at 12 o clock. Lots of bass as well . Also best SS amp I could find for the hd800 (original) when I owned that.

It's a hard unit to find reviews for but here are a couple:

This one reviewer used HD800S to review:
https://www.translatetheweb.com/?ref=TVert&from=&to=en&a=https://www.av-online.hu/fejhallgato/musical-fidelity-mx-hpa-fejhallgato-erosito-teszt_1833

https://www.musicalfidelity.com/uploads/reviews/HFN_MF_MX-HPA_web.pdf

If you are looking to try an SS amp for hd800s I'd highly recommend giving it a try, especially now that it's on clearance at $599 down from it's original $999 msrp; just make sure you have the cables to use the balanced I/O

Thanks. I have seen situations where 600s can be driven to earsplitting volumes but still sound lifeless. I don't go by loudness when considering how well an amp drives a pair of Sennheisers.

Not, I'm not looking for a headamp. I do like my Musical Fidelity integrated but I have no experience with the amplifier being discussed. Just wanted to ask since you have it. Thanks.

 

[ruinedx]

Thanks. I have seen situations where 600s can be driven to earsplitting volumes but still sound lifeless. I don't go by loudness when considering how well an amp drives a pair of Sennheisers.

Not, I'm not looking for a headamp. I do like my Musical Fidelity integrated but I have no experience with the amplifier being discussed. Just wanted to ask since you have it. Thanks.

Another one that I've found that works well for the 800/820 is the HPA built into the EVGA nu audio soundcard ($249) believe it or not. The only thing I would say is that it imparts a bit of a "syrupy" or "rounded" character on the audio and soundstage is slightly compressed compared to the MX hpa; though these characteristics may be preferable for poor recordings. Bass also seems a little less controlled yet greater in quantity (though not depth) than the MX HPA. I believe the evga can drive around 180mw into 300ohm out of the 1/4" unbal jack. I haven't heard anything anywhere even remotely close to it's performance for the price

I was interested in hearing the hdv820 with the hd820 headphones but my experience with the similar hdvd800 is it gave that same sort of rounded feel to the hd800s that robbed it of it's precision a bit. Still would like to hear sometime tho.

 

[ruinedx]

https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/brands-s-se/hd820/

Wow look at the massive difference this site measured between optimal and non optimal pad seal . It does give credence to the theory that seal might be causing the wide observational discrepancies with this headphone especially with people who wear glasses