[Sorrodje]

  I have no doubt whatsoever that "Acoustic" music of any kind absolutely is the sweet spot for HD800. Depending on how good a job was done capturing the acoustic elements of the recording, the "sky's the limit" on how great this music can sound on these phones.I spend less then a very low % of my listening time listening to any non-acoustic music. Orchestral music can be just exceptional sounding on them !

 
That's my opinion too. 

 

[Argo Duck]

I still have the Meier Classic in my stable of amps - it works very well with the Audez'e LCD 3F for example.

Once I'm past the 'honeymoon' period with the HD 800 I'll try to offer some useful impressions of the 800/Classic. ATM, a Decware CSP2 tube amp (tuned neutral) is doing the HD 800 honors.

Edit: Just to add Jan Meier himself described the Classic as "slightly warmer" than his previous flagship the Concerto amp. The Concerto was indeed - TME - a neutral but drier, faster sounding amp. Notes decayed quickly and - thinking of piano - perhaps a little unnaturally. Great for hearing detail or being analytical/critical! The Classic OTOH brings a more 'natural' length of decay and timbre to my ears.

 

[agile]

I have no doubt whatsoever that "Acoustic" music of any kind absolutely is the sweet spot for HD800. Depending on how good a job was done capturing the acoustic elements of the recording, the "sky's the limit" on how great this music can sound on these phones.I spend less then a very low % of my listening time listening to any non-acoustic music. Orchestral music can be just exceptional sounding on them !

Many years ago I had a Meier Stepdance 2 that I used that I just loved ! The Corda Classic is one of the few non-balanced in amps that I'm seriously interested in given how impressed I was with that portable amp I had . I keep saying I want to go to a balanced amp so that I can use my Metrum Hex DAC's balanced outs, but truthfully, I've never felt shortchanged running the Hex single ended.

What is the Classic's going price for the U.S. ? Anyone have any feelings about the SPL Phonitor mini use with the HD800 ?

 

[Sorrodje]

Edit: Just to add Jan Meier himself described the Classic as "slightly warmer" than his previous flagship the Concerto amp. The Concerto was indeed - TME - a neutral but drier, faster sounding amp. Notes decayed quickly and - thinking of piano - perhaps a little unnaturally. Great for hearing detail or being analytical/critical! The Classic OTOH brings a more 'natural' length of decay and timbre to my ears.

 
That match my own impressions with the Corda Jazz (good match with HD800 - neutral / slightly on the lean side ) and the Concerto ( not good wit the HD800 - Clinical/Dry - Sold quickly) 
 
Your Decware amp' should be a really good companion indeed. 

 

[Argo Duck]

^ The Decware does seem a good match. Nearly everything sounds terrific (wide mix of material, about 20 hours active listening so far). But - as I say - still the honeymoon period and no comparisons yet, sighted or unsighted

Yes, I can imagine the Concerto would not have been good with the 800. With an Audez'e LCD 2 (rev 1) though...pretty good...

 

[Sorrodje]

The result is still terrific with my Sonett... and that last for one year  
 
 
 
For those who are after some good Electronic Music  
 

 

[shabta]

   
I don't think this is possible.  As I understand it, op amps must be fed feedback in order to operate as audio amps/in a linear mode.  Different op amp based amps certainly can sound very different from one another.  E.g., you would never confuse the sound of an iphone vs. mini3 vs. o2 - which all have very different signatures.  But they all inherently require negative feedback, as do all other portable and op amp based amplifiers.

Yeah my bad. The Black Cube Linear uses an opamp-based first amplification stage ( OPA2134), followed by a discrete zero global feedback Class A output stage to amplify the incoming signals. I forgot. Oh well. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[shabta]

  I have no doubt whatsoever that "Acoustic" music of any kind absolutely is the sweet spot for HD800. Depending on how good a job was done capturing the acoustic elements of the recording, the "sky's the limit" on how great this music can sound on these phones.I spend less then a very low % of my listening time listening to any non-acoustic music. Orchestral music can be just exceptional sounding on them !
 
 

 
It's the only way I can really judge whether a speaker or headphone is accurate. It's kinda hard to know what electronic music, with all the studio wizardry is supposed to sound like. Anyway, hearing the HD800 with Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and some of my favorite classical piano sold me... Bought it right then and there.

 

[Taowolf51]

With the HD800's and V2, The Punch Brother's latest album (The Phosphorescent Blues) sounds absolutely phenomenal.
 
 
Speaking of the V2, after lots of use and a few tweaks to my EQ, lots of the small issues I described earlier have been fixed. I tweaked my EQ to have a smaller bass boost and a new small upper treble reduction to more closely resemble the balance when I was using my M-Stage. I later checked it against Audiocheck's Perceptual sine sweep and found it damn close to flat. After putting the V2 through maybe 50-70 hours of use since my first impressions and the EQ tweaks, the decay is shorter (faster sounding) especially in the bass,and it's less fatiguing. I also reduced the EQ's preamp intensity, which gave me back some volume, so I now listen at around 10-11 o'clock. All of this is with high gain. Low gain seems to speed things up a very small amount and reduces the bass by a small amount.
 
 

   
It's the only way I can really judge whether a speaker or headphone is accurate. It's kinda hard to know what electronic music, with all the studio wizardry is supposed to sound like. Anyway, hearing the HD800 with Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and some of my favorite classical piano sold me... Bought it right then and there.
 

 
Honestly, most music these days goes through a bunch of studio wizardry, and that includes stuff like bluegrass, jazz, and classical. That's not a bad thing, though (usually).

 

[shabta]

 
 
 
Honestly, most music these days goes through a bunch of studio wizardry, and that includes stuff like bluegrass, jazz, and classical. That's not a bad thing, though (usually).

Right! Which is why I go to 50s jazz to test a headphone. I do think that I know what a violin or piano is supposed to sound like though, whereas I am not as sure what a drum machine or synthesizer is supposed to sound like...

 

[Argo Duck]

+1. The instrument I know best is piano, which I played for many years. OTOH, my memory and experience of piano is mostly from sitting at the instrument. I suspect this biases my experience compared to someone who doesn't play and hears it only from within a concert hall or chamber. And how does this relate to where microphones are positioned?

 

[NZtechfreak]

Right! Which is why I go to 50s jazz to test a headphone. I do think that I know what a violin or piano is supposed to sound like though, whereas I am not as sure what a drum machine or synthesizer is supposed to sound like...

As a guitarist I relate to this comment, definitely the instrument I'm most sensitive to - if a headphone can't do guitars to my liking it gets the heave-ho very quickly.

 

[JamieMcC]

As a new HD800 owner ( arrived this morning) I'm just dropping in to say hi and subscribe to the thread.  I only managed to grabbed a couple of hours listening time today but am liking the HD800 experience so far and looking forward to spending many more hours with them.

 

[knowhatimean]

It's killing me , waiting for a Hard Drive that I've just add a few pieces of music to finish optimizing so I can take another listen to some of the things I discovered 2 nights ago ! What I had thought to be the sound of a cracked hammer-shaft on Bryon Janis / Dorati / LSO Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos recordings now appears to be a matter of a too close microphone simply being overloaded due to it's placement near the piano.
 
The continuousness of the clarity of most of the Orchestral playing kind of discounts the possibility of the noise I was hearing as being a  problem originating from the piano's action . This speaks volumes as to what you're able to hear through the HD800. (& I'm positive that my Metrum Hex DAC has a great deal of impact on this display of "Acoustic Excellence")
 
Yeah, I think these headphones are keepers. (Hey , I think my Hard Drive is ready; Alright !) (You guys really have to hear these phones straight-wired to the headphone cables ! very nice indeed )

 

[skeptic]

  Yeah my bad. The Black Cube Linear uses an opamp-based first amplification stage ( OPA2134), followed by a discrete zero global feedback Class A output stage to amplify the incoming signals. I forgot. Oh well. Thanks for the heads up.

 
Thanks for explaining this - makes perfect sense to me now!  I have yet to hear a BCL but would be very interested to do so now that I better understand the design.  
 
Also, x2 on your comment about the hd800's being ideally suited for enjoying high quality, unprocessed, recordings of live instruments and voices, where the realism and natural timbre are able to come through.  Although I still listen to contemporary music (mostly via spotify), my music purchasing took a sharp left turn when I bought these headphones and is now 95% choral. classical, jazz, bluegrass and blues.  Picking up something like the decca sound box set and a handful of LFF's jazz recommendations is sort of a must for hd800 owners, IMO, to hear what these amazing phones can really do.