[preproman]

   
Agreed. I tried the mod for couple of weeks and finally decided to take it off.
Losing the 90% I love to improve the missing 10% was not what I was looking for.
 
Its great as is.

 
+1 same here.  I heard two different pair with that mod.  Took away what I like about the HD800s.  However,  I did get a hardwire mod from SAA.  

 

[50Hz]

  IMO at this level of hi-fi digital sound alterations are harmful to the net result.
 

 
I absolutely believe it's the other way around. DSP room correction technology for speakers has already become pretty standard and eventually it will be the same with headphones IMO.

 

[Somphon]

   
+1 same here.  I heard two different pair with that mod.  Took away what I like about the HD800s.  However,  I did get a hardwire mod from SAA.  

Just check SAA's site and the mod sounds fantastic.

 

[zilch0md]

Spoiler: No Mod Protagonists (who apparently have proper DACs and amps for the HD800)

Quote:

 

  No mods here.. I like my HD800's how I like my women. No extra bits of cloth or foam stuck to em with sticky tape etc.
 

+1, I like the way it sounds without any modification,

 
 

No mods other than a longer more flexible cable here.

 
 

  Same here....Toxic Cables Silver Widows with stock HD800's. Love them!

 
 

 
Agreed. I tried the mod for couple of weeks and finally decided to take it off.
Losing the 90% I love to improve the missing 10% was not what I was looking for.
 
Its great as is.

 
 

  No mods here either other than a Norne Draug2...

 
 

  Eq does not make them smoother, rather just dull. IMO at this level of hi-fi digital sound alterations are harmful to the net result.
Proper chain is what the HD800 needs +maybe some modding for the standing waves area.
To my ears the usual 6-8k area is not a real problem from a decent amp and dac. I'm however finding there is a bit of emphasis at around 2.8kHz.

 
 

  Headphone lounge balanced cables, otherwise stock.

 
 

 
+1 same here.  I heard two different pair with that mod.  Took away what I like about the HD800s.  However,  I did get a hardwire mod from SAA.  

 
 

 
Summarizing my HD800 journey, as documented in numerous earlier posts here...
 
Before I got a Metrum Octave MkII and NuForce HA-200, when I was still trying to use my HD800 with the OPPO HA-1's ESS9018 DAC and multi-stage amp (i.e. lots of negative feedback), my HD800 was not happy.  
 
I spent a weekend starting with the Anax 2.0 mod, then modding the mod, and modding that mod, etc. until I finally came up with this:
 

 

 
I thought I had hit on the perfect solution (at least for use with the OPPO HA-1 DAC and amp.)  But during the following week, I kept noticing that, occasionally, I would hear a cupped-hands sort of honking in the low mids, that was really annoying.  It only happened with certain songs in a narrow frequency band.  So, after about a a week of using the mod, I decided to take it out and go "natural" again. 
 
Wow!  I was stunned by how much I had been missing with all that stuffing inside my HD800. The harsh shrillness (of the OPPO HA-1 and every other desktop and portable DAC and amp combination I owned at the time) was back, but so were a lot of very desirable traits that the HD800 delivers like no other headphone I've heard - imaging, sound stage, resolution, etc. - it all improved when I removed my Anax 37.0 mod.  
 
I had been reading about NOS DACs and took the plunge with the Octave MkII - a huge improvement for the HD800, even with the HA-1 amp, but Cees Ruijtenberg (designer of Metrum gear) advised me via email that the remaining edginess I was hearing with the HA-1 amp section was most likely due to its use of negative feedback. He didn't so much as hint that his Metrum Aurix amp happens to be a zero-feedback design, but rather than spend money there or on something like the zero-feedback Audio-gd Master 9, reviews of the $350 single-ended, low-feedback, Class A NuForce HA-200, by Mike Mercer and Armaegis (with two HA-200's in balanced mode), encouraged me to try it, instead.
 
I bought two HA-200's but left one of them unopened.  BINGO!  With the Octave MkII, just one HA-200 is so much nicer for the HD800 than the HA-1's amp (or any other desktop or portable amp I have) - I didn't even bother to take the second HA-200 out of the box. Also not wanting to go to the trouble of getting an unbalanced to balanced transformer and all the cables necessary to use my unbalanced Octave MkII with dual HA-200's in balanced mode, I sold the unopened HA-200.  
 
With fatigue no longer an issue, there was still a lingering brightness (at least for the tastes of an LCD-2 rev.1 fan), so I decided to try my hand at Currawong's HD800 mod and have settled on using this thin felt ring around the drivers - nothing else:
 

 
All those desirable traits that had been affected by my Anax 37.0 mod remain intact with this mod - just covering the smooth metal ring that surrounds the driver with a very thin self-adhesive felt that doesn't block the driver's "view" of the interior of the HD800.
 
So, basically, I've ended up being very much like you happy campers I've quoted in the spoiler, above, having learned that a "compatible" DAC and amp are the best way to preserve all that an HD800 brings to the table, but this last little mod has put the polishing touches on a good NOS DAC and a relatively inexpensive solid state amp.
 
Mike

 

[Taowolf51]

  Eq does not make them smoother, rather just dull. IMO at this level of hi-fi digital sound alterations are harmful to the net result.
Proper chain is what the HD800 needs +maybe some modding for the standing waves area.
To my ears the usual 6-8k area is not a real problem from a decent amp and dac. I'm however finding there is a bit of emphasis at around 2.8kHz.

 
That's not true at all, if it were, just about every song would sound dull on the HD800's. Digital EQ's are used frequently during production, so unless you only listen to raw recordings or music and pressings more than 20 years old (where analog EQ's were used), it's very very likely that the music you are listening to has had multiple digital EQ's applied to it. Either the EQ you were using was a poor quality graphic EQ, or you didn't take the time to dial it in to your tastes.

 

[ubs28]

   
I absolutely believe it's the other way around. DSP room correction technology for speakers has already become pretty standard and eventually it will be the same with headphones IMO.

Speakers sound differently depending on the room. Headphones don't have this issue.

 

[ToddTheMetalGod]

Speakers sound differently depending on the room. Headphones don't have this issue.

They do slightly though. There's aspects like head shape, ear shape, and designing the inside of the cups to reduce distortion. The HD800's are actually a great example of a very well designed headphone in relation to these qualities. Of course, it's nothing compared to a speaker system... but unless you're aiming for practically perfect sound or using a panel speaker (open baffle, planar, or electrostatic) I find in a decent room they don't usually require treatment.

It's actually quite rare I find that in a true hi-fi stereo someone uses a room correction equalizer. Most people if they find room correction is needed use a combination of diffraction panels, bass traps, and sound absorption panels.

 

[kazsud]

   
That's not true at all, if it were, just about every song would sound dull on the HD800's. Digital EQ's are used frequently during production, so unless you only listen to raw recordings or music and pressings more than 20 years old (where analog EQ's were used), it's very very likely that the music you are listening to has had multiple digital EQ's applied to it. Either the EQ you were using was a poor quality graphic EQ, or you didn't take the time to dial it in to your tastes.

Digital eqs in iTunes & foobar2000 are not like the digital eqs used for mixing.

 

[analog'd]

 

   
That's not true at all, if it were, just about every song would sound dull on the HD800's. Digital EQ's are used frequently during production, so unless you only listen to raw recordings or music and pressings more than 20 years old (where analog EQ's were used), it's very very likely that the music you are listening to has had multiple digital EQ's applied to it. Either the EQ you were using was a poor quality graphic EQ, or you didn't take the time to dial it in to your tastes.

Digital eqs in iTunes & foobar2000 are not like the digital eqs used for mixing. I do no mixing, and generally never use any type of equalizer, but I am curious.
 

how do they differ? (a question, not a challenge).

 

[dxanex]

Hello! I've finally decided to take the plunge on the HD800 but I own the HD 650 and HD 700 and one of them needs to go first. I really enjoy both headphones for different traits...
 
My question is which one would best complement the HD800? Anyone here have extensive experience or own all three?

 

[longbowbbs]

Keep the 650's.....

 

[Revogamer]

+1 to keeping the 650's - the HD700's are sort of a middle ground between the two so wouldn't really be worth keeping as well as the others.. (imho)

 

[preproman]

I would keep the 650s and the 600s before I keep the 700s..

 

[dxanex]

Looks like there's a consensus forming here. I was kind of leaning towards selling off the HD 700. Even when I haven't used the HD 650 for a long period of time, I'm always pleased by the sound when I return to them.

 

[ogodei]

+2 ( or 3 or 4, I've lost count) on 650s to compliment 800s.