[pearljam50000]

Lol one star

 

[wink]

How did it score 1 star?  Musta been a sympathy vote.......  

 

[agooh]

It's about enjoying my music and hd800 failed to do that for me at least , so I'm not sorry for that 1 star. Hope they can add more bass and fix the harsh treble . still great headphones for who seek detail and big sound stage but your ears will suffer .

 

[nigeljames]

I have never found the HD800's to have harsh treble. Even on a recording that is known to have harsh treble, invarably the T1's sound harsher.

 

[inseconds99]

This might not directly answer your questions but.....
After looking at your music prefs in your profile I'm not so sure if the hd800s would be suited (to edm)

I have read/seen reviews that suggest the hd700s are suited for edm (when comparing to hd800s) but you did not find much value there.

I auditioned the hd600s one arvo for about 45 mins and I thought they were great value. Very easy listening, no sharpness at all but (relatively) nice and clear and open. Like settling in to an old favourite couch. Not sure about edm, as I don't listen too much, fine for tick and hip hop.

Straight after that I heard the he560s and I was blown away with the timbre and the lush upper mids and highs and firm and clear bottom end.

I was set to buy those, after another session of demoing them until I heard the hd800s, which also wowed me. I'd be happy with both. (I am happy with the hd800s).

The soundstage of the hd800s is fantastic. I do enjoy the mids and highs as that is a turn on for me in sound profiles. I don't find them fatiguing but I can understand those who do.

However in me choosing between the hd800s and he560s my difficult decision was simply between choosing the "pure enjoyment" of the he560s v the "analytical" offerings of the hd800s.

Im not saying the he560s would suit you but I do recommend as others would say to audition the hd800 and hd600 before seeing if either fit your musical preferences. Particularly if you are looking for headphones to purely enjoy rather than to analyse with (loosely speaking).

Perhaps the fostex th900 might suit at this price point? I believe, from more experienced auditioned/owners of these they can kick some butt.
Perhaps the new fidelio x2, at a mid fi price point, if you've enjoyed your x1s.

If you want something with nice bottom end (not too forced) perhaps the shure srh1540s might be worth looking at a mid price point - they are nice rounded numbers but do have a closed sound. But they bring me back to the value of the hd600s IF they suit.

Good luck with your decisions - always a tricky one until you demo some.

Peter t

Thank your for your informed response, I have other headphones and will own headphones in the future that will fill my edm and hip hop needs. As I grow older my taste in music is changing and my horizons are broadening. I have recently come into liking bands like the who, the Beatles, Metallica, pearl jam, Floyd, queen, Springsteen and many more. The headphones I currently own and have owned don't seem to do well with these artists and artists similar.

That is why I am trying to have a wide range of headphones to suit my wider range in tastes, also I would be willing to buy better dac/amps in the future as the headphone will be the first step. As it says in my profile I am an I.T. professional and have a huge liking for advanced technology and equipment of all kinds. I have read through most of the posts on this forum and have gotten much information from it. The reason for this post was to have the few direct questions I had left possibly be answered.

Joe

 

[skeptic]

I evidently missed all the excitement yesterday, but from the emails I received, my thanks to those of you who appreciated my post about op amps, negative feedback and why amps like the o2 may or may not sound good to different hd800 listeners, depending on their sensitivities to different orders and sorts of distortions.  
 
It is difficult to understand why my post was moderated out of existence while, for example, agooh's "contributions" have been preserved in this thread and others.  As a long term hd800 owner, O2 builder and one of a small handful who has taken the time and energy to populate and implement the agdr booster mod, to try and address some of the O2's shortcomings (e.g. extremely low slew rate), do I somehow fail to satisfy HF's rigorous metrics for who is or is not allowed to post on how these items sound together and why that might be?  
 
To be clear, in the realm of the subjective, while I like my O2 fairly well with some headphones (which I either know or suspect have very high freq. roll off that minimizes the impact of higher order distortions), it is simply awful with hd800's to my ears (with or without the agdr mod, which does slightly improve the amp).  James, and possibly a few others, disagree and love the pairing.  That is just fine.  What is not fine, and what I think must be addressed in scientific rather than merely subjective terms, are oversimplified claims that the O2 is the last word on accuracy and transparency.  Many (perhaps most?) of us who own the amp, among others, do not hear it that way, and the fascinating question is why.  This was the context for my prior post regarding the o2 and my reference to the Pass article - https://passlabs.com/articles/audio-distortion-and-feedback
 

 Which is precisely the reason so many folks dislike it. Op amps require negative feedback to run in a linear mode, i.e. as an audio amp. As explained in detail in the pass labs article I linked severally pages back, this topology reduces overall thd and lowers output impedance but gives rise to added disproportionate high order distortion and other undesireable complex nonlinear distortion products.

If you have any treble sensitivities or are focused on natural timbre, these may well sound far worse to you than higher average thd nonfeedback designs. This is why claims of any objective superiority or transparency associated with the o2 are so misleading and absurd.

     
Currawong was actually the one who first raised my attention to the existence of transient intermodulation distortion caused by global feedback in another headphone thread.  I'd ask that we be allowed to go down the same road here since I believe striving to understand our headphone setups is a big part of truly appreciating them.    

 

[Sorrodje]

   
It is difficult to understand why my post was moderated out of existence while, for example, agooh's "contributions" have been preserved in this thread and others.  As a long term hd800 owner, O2 builder and one of a small handful who has taken the time and energy to populate and implement the agdr booster mod, to try and address some of the O2's shortcomings (e.g. extremely low slew rate), do I somehow fail to satisfy HF's rigorous metrics for who is or is not allowed to post on how these items sound together and why that might be?  

 
 
Definitely agreed ! 

 

[agooh]

  I evidently missed all the excitement yesterday, but from the emails I received, my thanks to those of you who appreciated my post about op amps, negative feedback and why amps like the o2 may or may not sound good to different hd800 listeners, depending on their sensitivities to different orders and sorts of distortions.  
 
It is difficult to understand why my post was moderated out of existence while, for example, agooh's "contributions" have been preserved in this thread and others.  As a long term hd800 owner, O2 builder and one of a small handful who has taken the time and energy to populate and implement the agdr booster mod, to try and address some of the O2's shortcomings (e.g. extremely low slew rate), do I somehow fail to satisfy HF's rigorous metrics for who is or is not allowed to post on how these items sound together and why that might be?  
 
To be clear, in the realm of the subjective, while I like my O2 fairly well with some headphones (which I either know or suspect have very high freq. roll off that minimizes the impact of higher order distortions), it is simply awful with hd800's to my ears (with or without the agdr mod, which does slightly improve the amp).  James, and possibly a few others, disagree and love the pairing.  That is just fine.  What is not fine, and what I think must be addressed in scientific rather than merely subjective terms, are oversimplified claims that the O2 is the last word on accuracy and transparency.  Many (perhaps most?) of us who own the amp, among others, do not hear it that way, and the fascinating question is why.  This was the context for my prior post regarding the o2 and my reference to the Pass article - https://passlabs.com/articles/audio-distortion-and-feedback
 
     
Currawong was actually the one who first raised my attention to the existence of transient intermodulation distortion caused by global feedback in another headphone thread.  I'd ask that we be allowed to go down the same road here since I believe striving to understand our headphone setups is a big part of truly appreciating them.    

 
 

  http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/PhilipsFidelioX2.pdf 
 
Huge 10Hz-60Hz bass roll-off, massive 9kHz treble peak, rolled off 30Hz square wave, massive bass distortion and best of all, multiple 300Hz square wave overshoots which according to innerfidelity, implies ringing.
 
Objectively speaking, HD800 have no 'ringing'. If you believe you heard some sort of ringing, then I guess you have a defective pair.

Sometimes you have to believe your ears rather than measurements . I'm sure if we do blind test, philips X2 will beat hd 800 for it's has fun sound.

 

[Zoom25]

  Well my HD800's finally arrived 

But just my luck, i got recommended to buy the Grado Mini adaptor, but i can't find it in any store(called about 8 stores)
i bought a chinese cheap adapter but it sounds like crap.
So now i can't use them with my Geek Out at all until they stores will have the Grado adapter again , and who knows how long that will take 

 

 
 
Congrats bro!

 

[Sorrodje]

 
 
 
Congrats bro!

 

 

[pearljam50000]

Thank you friends very much 

You really moved me believe it or not... 

 

[inseconds99]

Sometimes you have to believe your ears rather than measurements . I'm sure if we do blind test, philips X2 will beat hd 800 for it's has fun sound.

That's an interesting quote and it might actually be true, I want the hd 800's for 3 reasons;

1. I am a technology junkie and want the best of everything.
2. I am looking for a large, very comfortable. (This is the most important as evey hewdphone I've owned has caused my ears to heat up, sweat or become irritates.)
3. I want a natural and detailed headphone. I want to be able to hear the music the way it was ment to be listened to. Similar to my calibrated Panasonic 65zt60 that is nearly pixel perfect in color representation and I view video the way it was ment to be viewed without crushed blacks, color errors or too much contrast.

I am not sure if the hd 800's meet this criteria as I don't own them yet, but this is my goal. I want to be comfortable, so comfortable I can wear them all day and hear everything I'm listening to without coloration. I want to enjoy the recording as the producer or artist intended.

 

[MrBeetroot]

In comparison to the Beyerdynamic DT150 the Sennheiser HD800 is way behind in representation quality.
The HD800 adds a significant amount of colour and retains a stage that is far from what could be described as a flat response. 
The price point of these headphones is rather unjustified also.
Guess it's all about the marketing with this model.
Not trolling, just my 2 cents

 

[Maxx134]

The point I didnt get to make in my deleted post,
is how the hd800 can make you see how every piece of equipment affects the sound from dac to amp to headohone cable(!),
And you can learn with these transparent headphone how to pick things out and have a prefference for components...

That is finnally why I chose to go tube amp and best dac I can find.

And with the hd800 you will realize the limits of opamp based equipment And why discrete and tube circuits are preferred over opamp, from a listening perspective,
not a "on paper" proof crap.
Reality bites when not all we hear can be correctly described on paper.

 

[Argo Duck]

I briefly auditioned an HD 800 two months ago - for comparison I own the LCD-3F, LCD2r1, Beyer T1 and Grado RS1 - and was impressed enough to order a pair. It arrived last week. Hence, my subscription to this thread.

I now regret it :rolleyes:

My read: owners and potential owners come here for pointers to the HD 800's character, strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, potential owners can only decide whether it's the or an hp for them by listening for themselves. Posts from those who have been disappointed by their own, personal listening experiences have no value to this when they fail to offer in-depth analysis of these experiences together with reference points and information about preferences that might help others understand the 'problem'.

And statements describing as 'fakes' or suckers for marketing those who do enjoy this headphone or any other audio gear are way out of line IMHO.