[roguegeek]

Alright, I think I'm ready to give some initial impressions, but let me start by supplying a very brief background so that there's context to my statements.
 
I started this whole journey looking for headphones specifically for competitive gaming. Ended up with the AD700, a can I absolutely still adore, which turned out to be my gateway drug into this whole hobby. Since then, I played in the portable market and moved up into the mid-fi market which is where I've spent a lot of my time developing my preferences. At this point, I appreciate and own colorful cans, specifically bright, airy, and aggressive, but I've always preferred cans that are as neutral as possible. I'm a soundstage and detail whore, as well. So in reading what the HD 800 is all about, you can see why I've had it on my list for quite some time as a possible end-game can for me. As far as my buying habits go, it's about having the right tool for the right job. I love my PX 100-II, Porta Pro, MDR-1R, and XBA-3 for traveling. My K702 65th AE is amazing for competitive gaming. My SRH940 is a nice closed option for office use and when I can go open, I prefer my SR325is. I adore my HD 600 and HD 700 for open home. The HD 800 represents my first real move into the top-of-the-line or flagship market. Additionally, I've developed a collector's mentality. Do I need an HD 650? No, but I might as well grab once since I have the HD 600, HD 700, and now HD 800.
 
One other quick thought. I usually shy away from popular ideas or products unless I can have my own experiences with them to make up my own opinions. If you were to say to me a year ago that a decent amount of cans I’d own would be Sennheiser, I would have probably laughed in your face. Cut to today, I’ve been consistently and pleasantly surprised by most of their offerings and have developed a certain level of "faith" with them. I would not, in any way, shape, or form, call myself a Sennheiser fanboy. I’m just a fan of good product that works well for my needs.
 
So onto the HD 800. The first 72 hours of my can’s home life were spent going through endless loops of high quality pink noise and logarithmic sine. My impressions rely on about only 10 hours of listening after this break-in process. I’m going to be less technical and more emotional in explaining what I’m hearing.
 
I’ll start with the positives. What I’ve gathered in this short time is that this can’s sonics were made for my tastes. They are highly neutral and extremely resolving. This is the kind of detail I have always wanted to hear in my content. I feel like I’m looking to through a large, clear, wide open window into my music, experiencing it the way an artist intended it to be. That give me a great sense of joy, so I am not able to relate to the people who say there is no fun to be had in these cans or they’re not musical. Yes, they are highly analytical, but that’s one of the reasons I am so happy when they are on my head. I also can’t relate to people who call them cold. They are not cold. The bass is tight, accurate, and very well extended. It’s not warm. it’s just… perfect. On the opposite end, I simply can’t agree with anyone who calls these cans bright. They are very detailed and, again, very extended, but there’s no amount of harshness with it and I haven’t experienced any level of fatigue. Beyond the signature of the frequency, the soundstage is extremely wide and positional accuracy is the best I have ever heard.
 
Some of the factors that are just kinda neutral or so-so for me would be things like the fit. I suppose I must have a small head because I really haven’t read many issues with it. For me, they just don’t seem entirely secure on my noggin. I can lean my head forward or back and the cans will begin to shift on my head. It’s not as bad as I’m making it sound, but it’s something that could be better. Honestly, the HD 800’s younger brother, the HD 700, has just been the most perfect open full-size can when it comes to comfort and fit. Nothing has been able to come close to touching it.
 
I’ll finish this off with some critical things about the HD 800. You shouldn’t expect to pay $1500 for a headphone and get practically the same packaging and materials you get from the HD 600. A cardboard box, some foam, and a piece of silk? It’s in no way impressive. On top of this, the supplied “book” in several languages is somewhat laughable. The stock and finish are not that great of quality and the content inside is just not very interesting or informative. No, for $1500, I expect a whole lot more impressive packaging and extras than this.
 
Overall, I’m very happy. As time goes on, I think I’ll be exploring what the value of these cans mean to me, what else I can hear from them, and the further amping options I can play with. At this initial point, the HD 800 has exceeded almost every very high expectation I had of it and will be remaining within my collection for the foreseeable future.

 

[TwoEars]

  Alright, I think I'm ready to give some initial impressions, but let me start by supplying a very brief background so that there's context to my statements.
 
I started this whole journey looking for headphones specifically for competitive gaming. Ended up with the AD700, a can I absolutely still adore, which turned out to be my gateway drug into this whole hobby. Since then, I played in the portable market and moved up into the mid-fi market which is where I've spent a lot of my time developing my preferences. At this point, I appreciate and own colorful cans, specifically bright, airy, and aggressive, but I've always preferred cans that are as neutral as possible. I'm a soundstage and detail whore, as well. So in reading what the HD 800 is all about, you can see why I've had it on my list for quite some time as a possible end-game can for me. As far as my buying habits go, it's about having the right tool for the right job. I love my PX 100-II, Porta Pro, MDR-1R, and XBA-3 for traveling. My K702 65th AE is amazing for competitive gaming. My SRH940 is a nice closed option for office use and when I can go open, I prefer my SR325is. I adore my HD 600 and HD 700 for open home. The HD 800 represents my first real move into the top-of-the-line or flagship market. Additionally, I've developed a collector's mentality. Do I need an HD 650? No, but I might as well grab once since I have the HD 600, HD 700, and now HD 800.
 
One other quick thought. I usually shy away from popular ideas or products unless I can have my own experiences with them to make up my own opinions. If you were to say to me a year ago that a decent amount of cans I’d own would be Sennheiser, I would have probably laughed in your face. Cut to today, I’ve been consistently and pleasantly surprised by most of their offerings and have developed a certain level of "faith" with them. I would not, in any way, shape, or form, call myself a Sennheiser fanboy. I’m just a fan of good product that works well for my needs.
 
So onto the HD 800. The first 72 hours of my can’s home life were spent going through endless loops of high quality pink noise and logarithmic sine. My impressions rely on about only 10 hours of listening after this break-in process. I’m going to be less technical and more emotional in explaining what I’m hearing.
 
I’ll start with the positives. What I’ve gathered in this short time is that this can’s sonics were made for my tastes. They are highly neutral and extremely resolving. This is the kind of detail I have always wanted to hear in my content. I feel like I’m looking to through a large, clear, wide open window into my music, experiencing it the way an artist intended it to be. That give me a great sense of joy, so I am not able to relate to the people who say there is no fun to be had in these cans or they’re not musical. Yes, they are highly analytical, but that’s one of the reasons I am so happy when they are on my head. I also can’t relate to people who call them cold. They are not cold. The bass is tight, accurate, and very well extended. It’s not warm. it’s just… perfect. On the opposite end, I simply can’t agree with anyone who calls these cans bright. They are very detailed and, again, very extended, but there’s no amount of harshness with it and I haven’t experienced any level of fatigue. Beyond the signature of the frequency, the soundstage is extremely wide and positional accuracy is the best I have ever heard.
 
Some of the factors that are just kinda neutral or so-so for me would be things like the fit. I suppose I must have a small head because I really haven’t read many issues with it. For me, they just don’t seem entirely secure on my noggin. I can lean my head forward or back and the cans will begin to shift on my head. It’s not as bad as I’m making it sound, but it’s something that could be better. Honestly, the HD 800’s younger brother, the HD 700, has just been the most perfect open full-size can when it comes to comfort and fit. Nothing has been able to come close to touching it.
 
I’ll finish this off with some critical things about the HD 800. You shouldn’t expect to pay $1500 for a headphone and get practically the same packaging and materials you get from the HD 600. A cardboard box, some foam, and a piece of silk? It’s in no way impressive. On top of this, the supplied “book” in several languages is somewhat laughable. The stock and finish are not that great of quality and the content inside is just not very interesting or informative. No, for $1500, I expect a whole lot more impressive packaging and extras than this.
 
Overall, I’m very happy. As time goes on, I think I’ll be exploring what the value of these cans mean to me, what else I can hear from them, and the further amping options I can play with. At this initial point, the HD 800 has exceeded almost every very high expectation I had of it and will be remaining within my collection for the foreseeable future.

You should polish that up and put it in the review section when you've had them a while longer, great write-up!

 
I can also say I've had the exact same relationship with Sennheiser. Never really been a sennheiser fan boy, I just bought things which I thought seemed good. Then one day I kind of realized *how come all my headphones and in-ears are sennheiser, what happend here*

 
You certainly sound like the kind of person who'd like the HD800's! They are all about detail and "tactility". The are not bass shy it's just that the bass is extremely tight and very high quality. I've done extensive back-to-back listening between the HD800 and LCD-3. If you're a bass head the LCD-3 is definitely the can for you... but in terms of how deep the bass goes and how much information is there the HD800 actually has it beat. At least to my ears. The LCD-3 hits you harder but with the HD800 you can hear more texture and different layers even in the sub-bass.

 

[roguegeek]

You should polish that up and put it in the review section when you've had them a while longer, great write-up!

hehe Thanks for the feedback. I would want a real review to have more technical aspects to it, so maybe I'll add to it later and throw it into the product review section when my experience with the HD 800 has grown.
 

 
I can also say I've had the exact same relationship with Sennheiser. Never really been a sennheiser fan boy, I just bought things which I thought seemed good. Then one day I kind of realized *how come all my headphones and in-ears are sennheiser, what happend here*

That made me laugh hard because I had the exact same conversation with myself at the start of the year.
 

  You certainly sound like the kind of person who'd like the HD800's! They are all about detail and "tactility". The are not bass shy it's just that the bass is extremely tight and very high quality. I've done extensive back-to-back listening between the HD800 and LCD-3. If you're a bass head the LCD-3 is definitely the can for you... but in terms of how deep the bass goes and how much information is there the HD800 actually has it beat. At least to my ears. The LCD-3 hits you harder but with the HD800 you can hear more texture and different layers even in the sub-bass.

I like well extended and high quality bass. I'm just not a fan of a lot of exaggeration or color. I've had pretty poor experiences with orthodynamic cans. Yeah, the bass has been good, but I have not heard one yet where the mids or treble felt "right" to me. I'm highly sensitive to treble in that I put a priority on it as something that a can must perform well with.

 

[62ohm]

Heck, I listen to all of my music, even old recordings (Bowie, Doors, Zeppelin) with HD800 lol
 
Of course, there are some that I can't listen due to bad recordings I assume (or did I got a bad copy of the CD? is that possible?) like Oasis' "Time Flies".

 

[Dionysus]

Alright, I think I'm ready to give some initial impressions, but let me start by supplying a very brief background so that there's context to my statements.

I started this whole journey looking for headphones specifically for competitive gaming. Ended up with the AD700, a can I absolutely still adore, which turned out to be my gateway drug into this whole hobby. Since then, I played in the portable market and moved up into the mid-fi market which is where I've spent a lot of my time developing my preferences. At this point, I appreciate and own colorful cans, specifically bright, airy, and aggressive, but I've always preferred cans that are as neutral as possible. I'm a soundstage and detail whore, as well. So in reading what the HD 800 is all about, you can see why I've had it on my list for quite some time as a possible end-game can for me. As far as my buying habits go, it's about having the right tool for the right job. I love my PX 100-II, Porta Pro, MDR-1R, and XBA-3 for traveling. My K702 65th AE is amazing for competitive gaming. My SRH940 is a nice closed option for office use and when I can go open, I prefer my SR325is. I adore my HD 600 and HD 700 for open home. The HD 800 represents my first real move into the top-of-the-line or flagship market. Additionally, I've developed a collector's mentality. Do I need an HD 650? No, but I might as well grab once since I have the HD 600, HD 700, and now HD 800.

One other quick thought. I usually shy away from popular ideas or products unless I can have my own experiences with them to make up my own opinions. If you were to say to me a year ago that a decent amount of cans I’d own would be Sennheiser, I would have probably laughed in your face. Cut to today, I’ve been consistently and pleasantly surprised by most of their offerings and have developed a certain level of "faith" with them. I would not, in any way, shape, or form, call myself a Sennheiser fanboy. I’m just a fan of good product that works well for my needs.

So onto the HD 800. The first 72 hours of my can’s home life were spent going through endless loops of high quality pink noise and logarithmic sine. My impressions rely on about only 10 hours of listening after this break-in process. I’m going to be less technical and more emotional in explaining what I’m hearing.

I’ll start with the positives. What I’ve gathered in this short time is that this can’s sonics were made for my tastes. They are highly neutral and extremely resolving. This is the kind of detail I have always wanted to hear in my content. I feel like I’m looking to through a large, clear, wide open window into my music, experiencing it the way an artist intended it to be. That give me a great sense of joy, so I am not able to relate to the people who say there is no fun to be had in these cans or they’re not musical. Yes, they are highly analytical, but that’s one of the reasons I am so happy when they are on my head. I also can’t relate to people who call them cold. They are not cold. The bass is tight, accurate, and very well extended. It’s not warm. it’s just… perfect. On the opposite end, I simply can’t agree with anyone who calls these cans bright. They are very detailed and, again, very extended, but there’s no amount of harshness with it and I haven’t experienced any level of fatigue. Beyond the signature of the frequency, the soundstage is extremely wide and positional accuracy is the best I have ever heard.

Some of the factors that are just kinda neutral or so-so for me would be things like the fit. I suppose I must have a small head because I really haven’t read many issues with it. For me, they just don’t seem entirely secure on my noggin. I can lean my head forward or back and the cans will begin to shift on my head. It’s not as bad as I’m making it sound, but it’s something that could be better. Honestly, the HD 800’s younger brother, the HD 700, has just been the most perfect open full-size can when it comes to comfort and fit. Nothing has been able to come close to touching it.

I’ll finish this off with some critical things about the HD 800. You shouldn’t expect to pay $1500 for a headphone and get practically the same packaging and materials you get from the HD 600. A cardboard box, some foam, and a piece of silk? It’s in no way impressive. On top of this, the supplied “book” in several languages is somewhat laughable. The stock and finish are not that great of quality and the content inside is just not very interesting or informative. No, for $1500, I expect a whole lot more impressive packaging and extras than this.

Overall, I’m very happy. As time goes on, I think I’ll be exploring what the value of these cans mean to me, what else I can hear from them, and the further amping options I can play with. At this initial point, the HD 800 has exceeded almost every very high expectation I had of it and will be remaining within my collection for the foreseeable future.

I love everything you said here, if I was to give my impressions of the HD800 after a couple of weeks of listening, it would echo almost to the letter how you have eloquently put it, even the point about the HD700 they are the world most comfortable full size cans. Great write up Rogue. I'm very happy with the upgrade the HD800 are some serious audiophile cans. I do not see anything in the future for me, now I will concentrate on the amp.

 

[Sonido]

Wait till you guys sell your HD700 (and other headphones as well) to fund better amps and DACs.

I myself don't care for collecting, and if it's dust they're collecting, I'm selling them. No head time means no use to me. A nicer amp or dac is worth far more than a random two-minute comparison with some unused headphone once a month.

 

[roguegeek]

Wait till you guys sell your HD700 (and other headphones as well) to fund better amps and DACs.

I myself don't care for collecting, and if it's dust they're collecting, I'm selling them. No head time means no use to me. A nicer amp or dac is worth far more than a random two-minute comparison with some unused headphone once a month.

hehe Well I'll agree with you on this. If they collect dust, they aren't good enough to hold onto. I just don't think that will be the case with the HD 700, even with the HD 800 in hand now. I know for sure the HD 600 will never leave, though. Only time will tell, I suppose.

 

[magiccabbage]

  hehe Well I'll agree with you on this. If they collect dust, they aren't good enough to hold onto. I just don't think that will be the case with the HD 700, even with the HD 800 in hand now. I know for sure the HD 600 will never leave, though. Only time will tell, I suppose.

i thought that about the HD650 but when i got the T1 and HD800 things changed. I couldn't go back to the 650's

 

[Dionysus]

Lol HD700 was already sold, the limited time I have for head time won't facilitate more than one set of cans. I am already looking for the next amp/dac.. For me it's one nice system to come home to on weekends and sit and have a few hours to critically listen to my favorite music is all I'm after.

 

[palmfish]

  i thought that about the HD650 but when i got the T1 and HD800 things changed. I couldn't go back to the 650's

 
I can totally understand that.

 

[icebear]

  Alright, I think I'm ready to give some initial impressions, but let me start by supplying a very brief background so that there's context to my statements.
... I’ll finish this off with some critical things about the HD 800. You shouldn’t expect to pay $1500 for a headphone and get practically the same packaging and materials you get from the HD 600. A cardboard box, some foam, and a piece of silk? It’s in no way impressive. On top of this, the supplied “book” in several languages is somewhat laughable. The stock and finish are not that great of quality and the content inside is just not very interesting or informative. No, for $1500, I expect a whole lot more impressive packaging and extras than this.
....

 
Thanks for sharing your impressions, great write up

.
Pretty much is in line with my thoughts, too.
 
As far as your critique about the packaging and the book - I agree about the descriptions but I do not really care. Or ... I'd rather prefer it like it is.
Unless I'll be moving, I don't need the box and I will most likely also never look at this book again. So I prefer the functional but not over the top packaging to some fancy wooden box and leather bound instruction manual for $250 more. So I roughly paid 95% for the headphones and 5% for the box (not getting into margins...). Otherwise it's about 80/20.

 

[koiloco]

@roguegeek, would you like more of the $ you pay for the HD800 to go into packaging vs. the build and sound quality of the HP?  I know which one I would prefer.  My $60k car comes with the same plastic gas cap as a Toyota corolla but I am more than fine with it.  

 

[Frank I]

 so true. The headphone is a classic already.

 

[akhyar]

^ agree
The box, manual, receipt went straight to the store room on the 1st day

 

[Sonido]

Lol HD700 was already sold, the limited time I have for head time won't facilitate more than one set of cans. I am already looking for the next amp/dac.. For me it's one nice system to come home to on weekends and sit and have a few hours to critically listen to my favorite music is all I'm after.

Dang was totally gonna make some prop bets on whether you or roguegeek sold HD700 first. O well, we can still take bets on how long it will take him to sell his.