[Evshrug]

I also bought the HD800 a decade ago and loved it to death, was actually a little star struck when I saw Axel Grel in person at a Tokyo show, etc.
But looking at what is going with them these days - the 800S pricing, the 820 sound sig, the crazy price differentials for Senn products on Drop: it is clear to me that the marketing department is setting strategy. Even this thread - the current Drop event is nothing but a marketing exercise without anything new or even any real discounts beyond typical street prices. And as for the Sennheiser web shop recommnended in the opening post, I clicked through and found exactly zero discounts on headphones. So, I can only assume this another of these irritating 'geographically limited' campaigns, USA only I assume, announced here on headfi with its globally distributed membership.
Definitely the kind of tone-deaf thinking typical of marketers. And not very good marketers at that.
This whole thing feels like a scam to me.

Drop and all their warehouses are based in the US... also, Sennheiser products in the US are subject to MAP pricing, so every authorized dealer in the US is having a sale in sync. Drop is offering their own store credit on top of that, and other retailers are offering their own incentives. The Sennheiser post even says that this is a US promotion... other regions are independent and make their own promotions, for example in Europe there is no MAP and so each retailer decides when and how much to run their own promotion.

It’s hardly a scam or something to get upset about... it’s a price discount promo. Just because Sennheiser doesn’t have a new product today (though they have released several in even just the past year) doesn’t mean they can’t run a sale promotion.

 

[Zoide]

I don’t think the hd820 is that bad. I still take it over the Z1R. I used to have the Utopia but its rather smallish soundstage sure did me in. Still own my HD800 after 10 years or so.

I don't see it in your signature though. Is it up to date and are the cans in order of preference?

(I don't know about other people but I always look at sigs to get a sense of how headphones rank )

Thanks

 

[ChoColostrum]

Scammy is perhaps a little too strong of a term here, however, one can't help but notice that the HD800S acted more like a gimmick to compensate for the low street price the HD800 were actually selling for, vs the introductory msrp. I bought my HD800 BNIB, from a Dutch reseller, for 830EUR shipped to EU, and then another one BNIB from an Italian reseller for 780EUR shipped to EU. That was almost 5 years ago. Wait... that is scammy!

So how much would you think an HD800 is worth the price? I am looking for used prices in ebay and local marketplace.

 

[roskodan]

roskodan said:

One can't help but notice that the HD800S acted more like a gimmick to compensate for the low street price the HD800 were actually selling for, vs the introductory msrp. I bought my HD800 BNIB, from a Dutch reseller, for 830EUR shipped to EU, and then another one BNIB from an Italian reseller for 780EUR shipped to EU. That was almost 5 years ago.

So how much would you think an HD800 is worth the price? I am looking for used prices in ebay and local marketplace.

Oh my, the original HD800 is now a relic. I wouldn't be surprised it goes up in price. I didn't find any listed online from resellers in the EU. Time to grab your phones and start making calls, if you wanna find a new one at a good price.

 

[ChoColostrum]

on ebay, they still go for $1K. Not sure what the prices should be by now.

 

[Malevolent]

I did. It sounds exactly like you'd expect with an odd tonality.

I mean when graphs show weird cavities, you will hear that you know.

Yes, I agree, a graph will tell a factual story. However, this is only part of the equation; the other half consists of actual head time with the pertinent earphone or headphone. This is the subjective component.

In any case, I've tried the HD820 on a few occasions. As a huge fan of closed-back cans, I found them decent, but not spectacular. They are certainly a polarizing headphone.

 

[roskodan]

on ebay, they still go for $1K. Not sure what the prices should be by now.

That is always funny to see how a headphone like the HD800, that is still regarded as the apex in technical achievement in dynamic coil drivers, gets sidelined by other headphones that are arguably lesser in raw technical terms, but are more in line with what is now perceived as a more desirable sound.

The HD800 at the time didn't have much competition, they moved mad volumes, and street price fell. Now competition is much stiffer, albeit the market is quite bigger, Sennheiser's flagship ended up as being one of the cheapest flagships among high-end manufacturers. So obviously they did what everyone does, and released new flagships (or as some see it, reworked flagships) more in line with what the competition was priced.

I guess people should buy more HD800S so that I can buy one really cheap in a year or two.

 

[Sonic Defender]

I wouldn’t jump to conclusions. Not everyone is like that. I thought their HD820 sounded tinny and lacked detail. The MDR-Z1R was much better. But their TWM2 are top notch and get the job done. Loved the sound on their wireless momentum earbuds 2. Just depends on the product.

Absolutely, I had the 820 on hand and the fit was simply problematic (quite a common assessment I believe) and that made a proper audition impossible, but sadly what I heard was not at all promising, but do take that with a big grain of salt. I owned and loved the 800s as well as the 650 and 600, heard all of them driven well by tube and solid state. I also owned the Z1R and I can't for a moment comprehend enjoying the 820 more than the Sony, but different strokes for different folks as they say. I think people in Europe need to do some thinking on this topic. I suspect the EU is a complicated and expensive place to sell stuff and that is why you see some seemingly hard to fathom differences in market flexibility and pricing. As well while European buyers may envy the prices Americans' pay for gear but do consider how much more Americans' pay for health-care and education. Would you rather have more affordable audio products or universal health-care and much better public funding for higher education? What do you think pans out as a better economic benefit over the course of your life? I hope the answer is obvious.

 

[XM3orZ7m2]

My apologies, I've not had a chance to express my brand related criticisms so these brand based threads seemed like an apt place to do so. Sorry if I've rubbed anyone the wrong way. I'd like to revise and say the HD820 has polarizing reviews and that you should be very certain that you want to buy it, as it is one of the featured headphones on sale. I'll save my criticisms of the brand for brand related threads, not sales; however it only seems like @Sennheiser has only posted threads about selling product. Anyways, I still wish the best for the company as it still has a good place in my heart is my first purchase, and apologies again for the rather inflammatory remarks.

 

[Malevolent]

My apologies, I've not had a chance to express my brand related criticisms so these brand based threads seemed like an apt place to do so. Sorry if I've rubbed anyone the wrong way. I'd like to revise and say the HD820 has polarizing reviews and that you should be very certain that you want to buy it, as it is one of the featured headphones on sale. I'll save my criticisms of the brand for brand related threads, not sales; however it only seems like @Sennheiser has only posted threads about selling product. Anyways, I still wish the best for the company as it still has a good place in my heart is my first purchase, and apologies again for the rather inflammatory remarks.

No worries, buddy.

Let's all get back on track here.

 

[joshuachew]

My word, the headphone community is horrible.

How horrible were the measurements?

 

[Sennheiser]

My apologies, I've not had a chance to express my brand related criticisms so these brand based threads seemed like an apt place to do so. Sorry if I've rubbed anyone the wrong way. I'd like to revise and say the HD820 has polarizing reviews and that you should be very certain that you want to buy it, as it is one of the featured headphones on sale. I'll save my criticisms of the brand for brand related threads, not sales; however it only seems like @Sennheiser has only posted threads about selling product. Anyways, I still wish the best for the company as it still has a good place in my heart is my first purchase, and apologies again for the rather inflammatory remarks.

We usually make our official posts in the Sponsor's forum, and of course in our newsletters and press announcements on our website. Sometimes, we attach documents of additional information to our Sponsor's posts, for example the Q&A documents on a few recent product announcements like the HDV 820 and IE 80S BT. If you like this kind of supplementary design info and bit of back and forth communication in responses after that, let us know! We also generally like the product to speak for itself in the discussion threads, though we have contracted @Evshrug to relay information to us.

 

[PointyFox]

Before you get a HD820, be sure to check out it's reviews and rankings: https://crinacle.com/rankings/headphone/

No one should get it

Wow, I've got to say that Crinicle absolutely doesn't know what he's talking about with those headphones. A random order would have made more sense. He's got $250 Chinese headphones (Blon B20) beating the the Verite, Eikon, Z1R, HD800S, HD820, Stellia...and the Arya beating all the flagships except Utopia? Come on, I've heard them and didn't think they were as good as my HD800S. He's got the HD600 beating the LCD-4/HD800/HD800S too. Heck, he's got the Cascade beating the Z1R, Stellia, and HD820 and the Cascade sounds like a muddy mess to me.

 

[seanwee]

Wow, I've got to say that Crinicle absolutely doesn't know what he's talking about with those headphones. A random order would have made more sense. He's got $250 Chinese headphones beating the the Verite, Eikon, Z1R, HD800S, HD820, Stellia...and the Arya beating all the flagships except Utopia? Come on, I've heard them and didn't think they were as good as my HD800S. He's got the HD600 beating the HD800/HD800S too..

The utopia is another polarising headphone lol. I didn't like them.

And tuning wise overall I'd enjoy the HD600/660S over the HD800/800S but I wouldn't say that the HD600/600S beats the HD800/800S outright. The HD800/800S still has their unbeatable soundstage.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

And tuning wise overall I'd enjoy the HD600/660S over the HD800/800S but I wouldn't say that the HD600/600S beats the HD800/800S outright. The HD800/800S still has their unbeatable soundstage.

I agree with this. The 600 for me is more enjoyable for most music than the 800. That doesn't mean the 800 is not objectively better than the 600. It is, but that doesn't make it more enjoyable all the time.