[Soundsgoodtome]

It's incredible what a small piece of foam can do to the sound, it transforms an unbearable phone on poor recordings/mastering to perfect. I think it's also called The French Mod for SD's nationality.

 

[Hansotek]

I could never stand the sound of the Anax mod personally. With the right equipment in the chain, it's not only unnecessary, but actually makes the headphone sound worse. IMHO,YMMV, etc.

 

[vc1187]

I could never stand the sound of the Anax mod personally. With the right equipment in the chain, it's not only unnecessary, but actually makes the headphone sound worse. IMHO,YMMV, etc.

Same experience here.

 

[shultzee]

  I did it and got me a HD 800 ... boy are they good. I thought my HE 560 were transparent, but the HD 800 is something on another plane. The bass can go so deep (if the song demands it), its just awesome!
Wish I had heard them before I got the HE 560 so I could have saved myself the investment.
 
So far the troublesome 6kHz spike does not bother me. I have my anax mod 2 cutouts ready, but so far I don't see a reason to implement them...
Can you guys provide me with exemplary songs which make the problem more transparent?

I did the anax mod and ended reverting back to stock.  The 6khz spike is not a issue for me as well.  However some of the problem is source dependent.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

Have you tried the French mod? I never heard anax for extended or critical but the essentially the french mod is a bootleg hd800s.

I could never stand the sound of the Anax mod personally. With the right equipment in the chain, it's not only unnecessary, but actually makes the headphone sound worse. IMHO,YMMV, etc.

 

[Hansotek]

Have you tried the French mod? I never heard anax for extended or critical but the essentially the french mod is a bootleg hd800s.

 
No, I haven't. I don't really like the HD800S as much as the HD800 either, though. I get that some people like it better the other way around, nothing wrong with that. I just feel like the original HD800 out-scales it once you plug it into really good gear.  

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

   
No, I haven't. I don't really like the HD800S as much as the HD800 either, though. I get that some people like it better the other way around, nothing wrong with that. I just feel like the original HD800 out-scales it once you plug it into really good gear.  

With the transparency it sure does scale better. The idea is better not to hold back and be prone to sibilant music but climb in gear or have a great all-arounder that has some compromises but will play nice to a lot of music and ears. I can see why Sennheiser would revamp their old king.

I think with the French Mod and HD800S the headphone lands on just right. Sometimes getting 'really good gear' just means getting gear that is subdued. Example, the HD800 stock sounds fantastic out of the MHDT Labs Stockholm V2 while it sounds somewhat sibilant than the MHDT Labs Pagoda. With the French Mod, it still sounds fantastic with the V2 but even better with the Pagoda. Technically the Pagoda is better than the Stockholm but you see where synergy plays as 'really good gear'. Both are R2R btw.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Should I expect it to scale significantly from uberfrost to Yggdrasil?

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

  Should I expect it to scale significantly from uberfrost to Yggdrasil?

Scale so much you'll turn into a fish. Bad joke Fridays

 

[Liu Junyuan]

French SD mod FTW.

 

[MacedonianHero]

   
No, I haven't. I don't really like the HD800S as much as the HD800 either, though. I get that some people like it better the other way around, nothing wrong with that. I just feel like the original HD800 out-scales it once you plug it into really good gear.  

Curious what you define as "really good gear"?

 

[Peti]

Liquid gold! Even though I have heard it with the HD800 at Canjam, I was blown away by what I have heard. Since then I have picked up an HD800 (for the third and last time) and a Liquid Carbon. I have heard the S model of the HD800 and I think the original outperforms the S when amped properly. Of course it is only my humble opinion. I think these noble German designers went well ahead of their time when created and then marketed the HD800 in 2009. It's not the first time with German engineers/engineering though. I feel in the future there will be even more advanced amps made that will do ultimate justice to the HD800.

 

[defbear]

I have owned my HD800 set for about a year. I also bought a Schiit Bifrost Uber and Lyr2. It was a little shrill. I had read that the hd800 does not really break in or 'burn in' but pretty much stays the same. Zat true? I have been enthusiastically pursuing 'the one' for the HD800 and have a Master 11 and Liquid Carbon. Both play great with the hd800. Balanced. But what I now find after living with them for a year is that the Bass has really developed and the highs are not sharp. Either they have burned in or I have lost my hearing. My old school hd800 set now sounds pretty spectacular with everything.
So I sent my Bifrost uber in for the multi bit upgrade. Schiit customer service is wonderful. The turnaround time was only a day. I have been burning in the 'bimby'. It sounds bigger than when new. But. I don't like it with my Liquid Carbon. And I don't like it with the Master 11. But OMG Bifrost Multi it into my neglected Lyr2 is Magic. The hd800 has everything you could wish for in this setup. Bass, soundstage, detail, clarity and dare I say Fun & Musical. That's just another step in the journey.

 

[Hansotek]

Curious what you define as "really good gear"?

My school of thought is, provided everything else is of acceptable quality, the amp is the most critical component in the chain. I've said it before: I'd rather have a $3,000 amp and a $300 headphone than a $3,000 headphone and a $300 amp. That being said, I might be a little jaded when it comes to what I consider to be "really good" gear, relative to the HD800. I was referring to the top-flight Cavalli amps: Liquid Gold, Glass and Tungsten; Donald North's Stratus tube amp; Questyle's CMA800R monoblocks; etc.

HOWEVER, my only reason for piping in in the first place was because the gentleman seemed to be happy with his HD800 stock and unbothered by the treble, yet thinking about the mod anyway. It's not like you HAVE TO do it.

 

[Xeculus]

Curious what you define as "really good gear"?

My school of thought is, provided everything else is of acceptable quality, the amp is the most critical component in the chain. I've said it before: I'd rather have a $3,000 amp and a $300 headphone than a $3,000 headphone and a $300 amp. That being said, I might be a little jaded when it comes to what I consider to be "really good" gear, relative to the HD800. I was referring to the top-flight Cavalli amps: Liquid Gold, Glass and Tungsten; Donald North's Stratus tube amp; Questyle's CMA800R monoblocks; etc.

Speaking of Cavalli amps, may I ask why you're not using the Liquid Crimson with the HD800?