[Landmantx]

Ahhh, I am perpetually trailing you Eric. You will be bathing in the MK3's glory at least a full week ahead of me. My HD800s will not arive until around 4-20. At which point my jaw will probably become unhinged. I better make sure there is enough money in my HSA to cover a jaw re-attachment surgery prior to the 20th.

 

[Olias of Sunhillow]

what tubes did you try in the WA2? 

I tube rolled pretty extensively with the WA2. It's been quite a while now, but I recall my favorite combination being Tung-Sol 7236, Amperex orange globe 7308 and stock rectifiers. Selling my first HD800 and my T1 made the WA2 expendable, though I wouldn't mind having one again now that I'm sticking with the Hd800.

 

[Dubstep Girl]

Quote:

I tube rolled pretty extensively with the WA2. It's been quite a while now, but I recall my favorite combination being Tung-Sol 7236, Amperex orange globe 7308 and stock rectifiers. Selling my first HD800 and my T1 made the WA2 expendable, though I wouldn't mind having one again now that I'm sticking with the Hd800.

 
oh ok.
 
i like sylvania 7236 but i enjoy the 5998 more, never heard the ts 7236. i have JAN-Sylvania 7308 which shouldn't be too much worse from the amperex. after getting RFT-EZ80's, my HD 800 really opened up and now i absolutely love them with my WA2. transparent, yet smooth and able to listen to every genre with the HD 800 without them ever getting harsh or analytical.
 
good to know the WA2 isn't too far off from Super 7 performance with the right tubes, i'm looking at getting some Siemens CCa or something as the finishing touches on my WA2 soon.

 

[Olias of Sunhillow]

Quote:

 
oh ok.
 
i like sylvania 7236 but i enjoy the 5998 more, never heard the ts 7236. i have JAN-Sylvania 7308 which shouldn't be too much worse from the amperex. after getting RFT-EZ80's, my HD 800 really opened up and now i absolutely love them with my WA2. transparent, yet smooth and able to listen to every genre with the HD 800 without them ever getting harsh or analytical.
 
good to know the WA2 isn't too far off from Super 7 performance with the right tubes, i'm looking at getting some Siemens CCa or something as the finishing touches on my WA2 soon.

 
I found the TS 7236 and TS 5998 to be quite similar. Personally, I never found rectifiers to make a big difference in this amp, but I admit that I only tried three different sets. The CCa are great -- grab some if you can for a reasonable price.
 
I'd say the sound quality is the WA2 isn't far behind the S7 -- more of a preference issue than anything else. After running a Mapletree and a variety of Woo amps with my first HD800, I decided I wanted to go less lush and more detailed with my 2nd set.

 

[Dubstep Girl]

Quote:

 
I found the TS 7236 and TS 5998 to be quite similar. Personally, I never found rectifiers to make a big difference in this amp, but I admit that I only tried three different sets. The CCa are great -- grab some if you can for a reasonable price.
 
I'd say the sound quality is the WA2 isn't far behind the S7 -- more of a preference issue than anything else. After running a Mapletree and a variety of Woo amps with my first HD800, I decided I wanted to go less lush and more detailed with my 2nd set.

 
yeah rectifiers don't make a huge difference to me either. 
my WA6-SE is my choice when i need less detail and more neutrality 

 in many ways, i find the WA6-SE to be better than the WA2 (in terms of accuracy and detail), but its not as sweet or lush like the WA2. i love both with the HD 800, but it took quite a bit of tube rolling to get it there for me, the woo amps were definitely made for tube rolling.

 

[moses1258]

Thanks to everyone who made an amp suggestion for my HD800's.  I will now sit and contemplate.

 

[LugBug1]

'There once was a sheep called Flossy,
Who listened to files that were lossy,
Though the files were compressed,
They still sounded the best,
That's because she had the top of the range Sennheiser flagship HD800 headphones.' 
 
 
 

 

[negura]

Quote:

 
HD800 has ruined me, only a few STAX can excite me, but they are way our of my budget.  LCD-2 has some interesting qualities but I don't have enough money to spend on interesting qualities.

 
This is exactly where I am regarding LCD-2 vs HD800 right now. I agree there are several interesting qualities as you say, but the overall experience isn't a match to the HD800s. I will give it a few more days and see how it goes, then if nothing changes I might as well decide to sell my LCD-2s and continue wondering whether the LCD-3s are worthwhile in adding air, sound stage, detail and dynamics to improve the overall experience in these regards from the LCD-2s.
 
All the occasional scaremongering I've read about the HD800 being too analytical, not "musical" enough, not enough bass etc.. I am hearing no evidence to support those claims. If analytical means detailed and micro-detailed, I will happily take all of that. Musical to me it's the actual sound of the recording and don't think I am fancying too much added coloration anymore, as I feel where it can works well sometimes, it's detracting from the experience with other recordings/genres.
 
 
 
Quote:

Exact same response on nearly the same rig.  No want or need for Anax here though.

Glad you are enjoying these headphones as much as I am.  I can't wait for the finalised Rabid Dog mods.

 

I've taken ANAX 1.0 out for now I didn't glue them so it was quite easy. I feel they affect the tonality of some instruments more than I would like. I am going to experiment with ANAX 2.0 this week-end as I've got plenty of materials left and I've heard it adds even less coloration. The recordings I have and that are recorded too bright, are bright even with the LCD-2s, but unfortunately there's a few of them and I enjoy those bands. This said and all considering, I am actually surprised that it's all not too bad with the HD800s in this aspect.

 

[negura]

. deleted

 

[rawrster]

My new headband came in today. I think I ordered them Monday or Tuesday so it came pretty fast. I'll change them later and no more flaking

 

[silversurfer616]

Where did you order it from,please?Thanks!

 

[rawrster]

I called Sennheiser USA to order it. If your profile is correct and in New Zealand I am not sure how that works since they may have agreements with dealers by you
 
 
edit: I've gotten home and replaced the headband pads. My HD800 looks pretty new now. I got the pads replaced a few months ago and now the headband pads. The comfort is much better and the pads area isn't so squishy for lack of a better word and no flakes.

 

[wink]

Syntec International for Aus/NZ but they're a pain to find the parts in.
 
 
This is the service website.
http://service.syntec.com.au/
 
They only have the earpads on the list.  May need th use the part request form, which is not much use if you don't know the part no.
http://service.syntec.com.au/index.php?cPath=2142&osCsid=ddf046c311cfd376b62585beba651009

 

[Dubstep Girl]

Quote:

 
This is exactly where I am regarding LCD-2 vs HD800 right now. I agree there are several interesting qualities as you say, but the overall experience isn't a match to the HD800s. I will give it a few more days and see how it goes, then if nothing changes I might as well decide to sell my LCD-2s and continue wondering whether the LCD-3s are worthwhile in adding air, sound stage, detail and dynamics to improve the overall experience in these regards from the LCD-2s.

 
i always wonder the same about the LCD-3. 

 

[myc]

Is there any 3rd party earpads for this HD 800? I'm thinking something like JMoney pad for Denons... it can even increase bass performance on it.
 
And.. what is speaker you would suggest, guys? For this HD 800 .. I mean.. to complement and bring the same presentation compared to qualities had on HD 800