[SilverEars]

Is Beta 22 a bad pairing with these?

 

[eantala]

my super 7 just came in .. man these hd800 never cease to amaze me. 
the super 7 is the cat's pajama's also..
everytime I listen to my 2 channel for extended periods I get ideas of selling the head-fi stuff
but when I start  listen these again I still love them as much as I ever did. 

 

[magiccabbage]

  my super 7 just came in .. man these hd800 never cease to amaze me. 
the super 7 is the cat's pajama's also..
everytime I listen to my 2 channel for extended periods I get ideas of selling the head-fi stuff
but when I start  listen these again I still love them as much as I ever did. 

WHAT 2 CHANNEL YOU GOT? 

 

[Maxvla]

Is Beta 22 a bad pairing with these?

Not bad, but not great.

 

[TwoEars]

  That's an interesting point - the size of the driver but then ...
the driver surface of the Audeze range or SR-009 isn't any smaller than the driver of the HD800, are they?
So this leaves the angle position but then there were a couple of Staxes around with angled position drivers.
I guess it's not so easy to explain how the Sennheiser development crew came up with this "beast"

.

 
It's not only about the size of the driver, or how it's angled, but how it moves as well. The ring driver was specifically designed to have a "flat wavefront" and act on the out ear as well as the inner ear, this simulates the sound waves of speaker reaching you from far away.
 
Orthos and stax have big membranes but I'd wager that the HD800 still has the "flattest wavefront" of them all.

 

[SilverEars]

Not bad, but not great.

What is considered great?  Also, is the Matrix M-stage better pairing than the Beta?

 

[Maxvla]

I'd say so, but not by a lot. The M-Stage allows the HD800 to do what it does, but has a little etch here and there. Not the biggest stage and layering isn't as good as a high end amp, but extremely respectable for $280. The B22 dulls the HD800 to a significant degree and it feels like it lacks energy, soft in bass delivery.

There a lot of great amp matches with HD800s, too many to list really.

 

[froger]

I am using HD800 with DNA Stratus. The transparency and tonality I get is incredible, and together with the body that the amp is able to give to the voice, the singers and instruments sound like they are right in front singing to me, goosebumping realistic. Many said that HD800 has a wide soundstage, but I am even more impressed with its deep depth that it is able to portray. Using my DAC and the Stratus, the layering in depth to me is more impressive than the width. As what other have said, HD800 really scales very well and after spending 15k on my set-up,I am still not sure if I am near HD800's performance ceiling. One thing for sure, I am very satisfied with what I am hearing with the HD800 and I have no desire at the moment to purchase another headphone at all, as HD800 is playing all the music I have so well.

 

[preproman]

   
Yeah I liked that about the HD800. It's the closest headphone that can emulate how speakers throw a soundstage from the front and also have a pinpoint centerstage. Centerstage is quite important to me. I hated how some planars, like HE-500 didn't have a coherent centerstage despite how well it imaged on the sides. LOL I'm in the process of adding new TVs to each floor along with their active monitors and DAC/pre-amp. Down to one passive speaker setup. It's much cheaper, easier and better sounding this way.
 
Yeah definitely not. I wish I had tried them earlier. I suppose it's all for the best. At least this way I won't have a "what-if" planar bug. I've yet to experiment with HD800 on other setup besides mine, but it sounds like a high end neutral monitor. Much better than the laid back Audeze.
 
Yup. I've owned all or auditioned all the planars and their bass isn't anything over special compared to HD800. HD800 with seem deep house easily shows just how much it can be a sub bass head monster. The only planar I'd take is LCD-2 for it's slam. The other Audezes and Hifiman either go soft on the impact (LCD-3) or lose out on the extension (HE-500).

 
The HE-6 does neither.   

It's all relative. I have the RS1i as my complementary pair of HPs to the HD800 and in my case, yes, the HD800 are polite.

 
Yes it's all relative.  However, relative still does not make them polite.  It just makes them less forward than the RS1's.

 

[OldSkool]

Thinking hard about upgrading from the Lyr. Any suggestions on what <$1500 amp would work equally well with HD800 and LCD2.2?
 
Thanks in advance.

 

[scolaiw]

  Thinking hard about upgrading from the Lyr. Any suggestions on what <$1500 amp would work equally well with HD800 and LCD2.2?
 
Thanks in advance.

If you can run balanced, you could always go the Mjolnir. Otherwise the Phonitor or Auditor are pretty good for the job also... but seriously, there are so many amps out there that could fit your liking, you could even build one or get someone to build one for you just to your likings. The options are endless. 

 

[bearFNF]

Thinking hard about upgrading from the Lyr. Any suggestions on what <$1500 amp would work equally well with HD800 and LCD2.2?

Thanks in advance.

Decware CSP3 or Taboo MKIII would be good options.

 

[moses1258]

Decware CSP3 or Taboo MKIII would be good options.

I have the CSP2+ from Decware and recommend it highly with the HD800.  It adds just the right amount of warmth while still retaining the details that make the 800 special.
 
I even went to Decware to meet Steve and the team.  The man is dedicated to making good sounding amps, speakers, etc.  Read some of his articles on Decware.com and you'll see what I mean.

 

[Zoom25]

  Thinking hard about upgrading from the Lyr. Any suggestions on what <$1500 amp would work equally well with HD800 and LCD2.2?
 
Thanks in advance.

BHA-1

 

[Rossliew]

  I am not sure about this.
It is ambient information, reflections of the original sound source from the walls of the performance/recording room. That includes all frequencies not only treble. The most important factor for localization are time differences between these reflections and the source and the delay between the receptions of this information at your eardrums. So accuracy in detail and perfect timing need to come together to make the reproduction believable.

LOL...this is too technical for me! In simple layman's terms, I find the treble to the single greatest contributing factor to hearing more spaciousness in the music and a more expansive sound stage. All my previous headphones were dark sounding in nature and even if they were open backed, the sound tended to be closed in due to the rolled off treble. Yes, bass was thumping but it was lacking something and I find the HD800 has made me appreciate higher frequencies a lot more than before : ) But, thanks for the clarification, in any case!