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The (new) HD800 Impressions Thread
Jul 8, 2014 at 12:13 AM Post #11,987 of 29,017
pleasantsounds said:
   
I was seriously considering the Source, but at the time there was very little info available regarding how it plays with other gear. When I went to audition it, my supplier was out of stock. In the end I went with the Hilo and am very pleased with its performance. 
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I know what you mean. The Source isn't popular with the headphone crowd or commercial home use folks. I got it for monitors primarily and to use it occasionally with easy to drive Denons and such. The HD800 weren't even in consideration at that time, much less being able to drive them off the Source. I just got lucky at a meet where I tried like 30+ headphones with it. Kept coming back to the HD800s.
 
The Lynx Hilo is an amazing piece. I was looking at that along with some Antelope Zodiac pieces. Studio gear always gives a sense of convenience to me both in it's performance and use.
 
Jul 8, 2014 at 12:14 AM Post #11,988 of 29,017
silverears said:
  I'm am looking to verify what's been posted here.  HDVD 800, the best choice here?  I will try it for the sake of finding out.  
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WE DID IT GUYS!
 
Jul 8, 2014 at 12:15 AM Post #11,989 of 29,017
silverears said:
  I'm am looking to verify what's been posted here.  HDVD 800, the best choice here?  I will try it for the sake of finding out.  
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That's the spirit... 
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Just to share with you my personal experience, I didn't like HD800 much at the meets to which I've been.  There were high end amps driving this HP at these meets.
Lucky for me, my friend let me borrow his for almost 3 weeks... The rest is pretty much history.  
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Jul 8, 2014 at 12:18 AM Post #11,992 of 29,017
Jul 8, 2014 at 1:28 AM Post #11,996 of 29,017
There are a lot of better amps for the HD800, I'm sure the HDVA600 is not the best. Even the BHA-1 is better than the HDVA600 in some ways, and worse in some other IMO. 
 
PS: I think this is the 6th time you state that the HD800 isn't for you, move on mate..
 
Jul 8, 2014 at 3:37 AM Post #11,997 of 29,017
nephilim32 said:
May I suggest ARCAM irDAC. It's amazing for the money and completely high end. 2013 Whathifi.com's DAC of the year!
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It's under 750$. A steal!!
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This is next on my list :)
 
I've been happy with the rDAC for years so even a slight improvement I'll be even happier. The rDAC is very natural 'analogue' sounding with great timing and I've found it to be a good match with HD800.     
 
Jul 8, 2014 at 3:44 AM Post #11,998 of 29,017
For me the HD800 is more DAC dependent than amp. The various (non totl) SS amps I had or tried from violectric, audio-gd, burson, bryston, and spl all do a good job amping the hd800 for me without much or any distortion and feels transparent to the sound I get from the source lineout. But the sources I tried v800, nfb28, hm901, dx50/90, various AKs, Hugo, ODAC, and Bellina all sounded more different on the same amp (mainly via nfb28 analog input) then AMP rolling (mainly with hm901 lineout as source).
 
Jul 8, 2014 at 4:14 AM Post #11,999 of 29,017
silverears said:
 
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  So, what is a good setup then?  This setup isn't able tell me about the characteristics of the HD800?  What is meant by far from it?
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I've had my HD800 for a year and a quarter now. Tried about 15 amps (mostly vintage as I collect these but also some decent hp amps from Schiit, Matrix and Audio gd) 5 dacs (including Arcam, Cambridge audio, Beresford) and I can tell you FROM EXPERIENCE (yes I did shout that bit! ) that the Senn's main characteristic is transparency.
This is once you learn their basic power requirements. And this is as simple as this (there will always be exceptions as nothing is absolute)
More power = more bass. High current/ low impedance amps will give them razor sharp speed and dymanics up top but they can sound lacking below. High impedance amps will feed them more voltage and give them more bottom end and fullness into the mids, but sometimes at the expense of sub level tightness. 
 
Now this is where the experience part comes in. Until you have tried many amps or many dacs, you really won't know that the HD800 are extremely transparent. This is because they sound like whatever they are plugged into.
 
So, when experienced members give you recommendations, or are trying to persuade you to try other equipment, it is not because they are trying to persuade you - that you are wrong about this headphone. It is because they have learned themselves what is good or bad and are trying to help you.  
 
Now if it comes down to a mistrust of others subjective liking, then you really shouldn't be on a forum that gives out headphone advice and therefore just trust your own ears and go it alone.   
 
But I would seriously stop asking all the technical questions and listen to the experienced members advice on system matching, because knowing why an impedance curve affects this and that will not - I repeat NOT help you enjoy your 80's pop music. 
There are far too many variables in any hifi component to say what will happen if you change a resistor and what change that will be or how it will affect the sound- and there can be no 'general' answer to this.   
 
Jul 8, 2014 at 4:18 AM Post #12,000 of 29,017
62ohm said:
There are a lot of better amps for the HD800, I'm sure the HDVA600 is not the best. Even the BHA-1 is better than the HDVA600 in some ways, and worse in some other IMO. 

PS: I think this is the 6th time you state that the HD800 isn't for you, move on mate..
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Ummm cool. So how extensively did you test the Hdv600 compared to the BHA-1?? Love to hear your findings in a bit more detail. Also, have you by chance tried the Burson soloist with the 800's? I think that Burson amp is the bees knees right now for me. :)
 
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