[screwdriver]

I did Bid farewell to my sennheiser Hd800 . maybe someday again ........

 

[Sorrodje]

Look for a HE-5 and then talk to LFF To me they are like a HD800 X 110% (that is for imaging, soundstage and detail retrieval) then polished down to a bit under the level of the HD800. So smooth everywhere, yet i dont feel like its lacking anything (as are most headphones when compared to the HD800's) . Then add warmth and amazing tight bass.

I'm bad at descriptions, but love both sounds... I have phases that one get more headtime than the other 

Do you use the code-x as a complementary headphone for the hd800 or to replace it?

 

[navigavi]

I have the 580's and the 800's. The 800's for the home rig, the 580 for the office without amp or dac, and as source spotify. The 580's sound good even without proper amping. It's just a very allround headphone. 580's, 600's and 650's are very much alike.

 

[kothganesh]

  I did Bid farewell to my sennheiser Hd800 . maybe someday again ........

That Stratos and HE 6 did the trick eh?

 

[50Hz]

  Try listening speakers dsp'd vs speakers in a treated room. I see the merits of room dsp-s , its convenient and gives really decent result but so far from what i have heard from top shelf studio monitors (Genelec 8260) dsp-d sound is not creally there sq wise. For music listening tasks i would not use it.
Same with HD800, digital crossfeeds and eq-s all sound wrong to me. Lately have been more and more into pure bit perfect playback.
To each their own i guess. 

 
When talking about speakers an acoustically treated room is obviously the most important step in creating a good listening environment, however study's have shown that room correction can be a nice icing on the cake.  Here's an interesting blog post about a study done by Sean Olive and the guys at Harmon. (and they have an amazing listening room already)
 
http://seanolive.blogspot.co.nz/2009/11/subjective-and-objective-evaluation-of.html
 
 
In regard to headphones I'm talking more about using eq to closer match specific target curves. In this double blind study researches developed some really cool technology that allowed them to use a pair of Sennheiser HD 518 headpones to clone the response curve of other headphones and apply certain target curves. To make a long story short the researchers found that people liked headphones that mimic the sound of good speakers in a good room.
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/harman-researchers-make-important-headway-understanding-headphone-response
 
Here's a slide presentation summarizing the findings
 
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16343460/Olive%20ALMA%202014%20Winter%20Symposium%20Headphone%20Talk%20copy.key.pdf
 
 
Here's another couple of articles from Innerfidelity that talk further about these target curves
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/headphone-target-response-curve-research-update
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/first-test-estimated-harman-target-response-curve-various-headphones
 
Interestingly AKG is supposedly releasing a pair of headphones this year that will meet this target curve.

 

[Canadian411]

  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?

 650 of course I never liked HD700,

 

[Dopaminer]

   650 of course I never liked HD700,

I agree : keep the 650.  You`ll get more for the 700 sale. I never like its sound either. 

 

[maclenltd]

Anyone have any inside tips for listening to vinyl (all analog) with their HD800s? I can obviously take an output and amp it up with a newer headphone amp but then it is unnecessarily converted to a digital stream. Has anyone had success using the HD800 with vintage headphone amps or vintage stereos? Or, are the HD800s not well suited for vinyl since they are so revealing?
EDIT: sorry, I was confused because my amp has a DAC built-in. I now realize that I can use any headphone amp without a DAC to achieve an analog chain.

 

[audiokid]

Hi

What would you guys recommend out of the HDVA 600, the Lehmann Black Cube Linear (or something else?) with the HD800. I'm not looking to spend any more than £1200 and don't really want to be going down the valve route. I also want the amp to be fairly compact for the desk.

Alternatively, should I use my Chord Hugo for amp duties as well as the dac? Am I missing out on anything by not adding a dedicated amp?

Thanks

 

[Eternal Phoenix]

  I can obviously take an output and amp it up with a newer headphone amp but then it is unnecessarily converted to a digital stream. 

 
Am I missing something here? - You want to amp the output, yes?  Where is the digital stream coming from?
 
 
If I am understanding this correctly, then you have NO digital stream as you would just feed your phono pre-amp directly into the analogue inputs of the headphone amp.
 
The digital would come if you were using a DAC to feed the amp, however as you're coming direct from a turntable, the alternate source is unnecessary.

The only thing I can think you're thinking is an integrated DAC/Amp in which case, you'd still just use the analogue inputs and bypass the internal amp.
 
Hope this helps

 

[MattTCG]

  Anyone have any inside tips for listening to vinyl (all analog) with their HD800s? I can obviously take an output and amp it up with a newer headphone amp but then it is unnecessarily converted to a digital stream. Has anyone had success using the HD800 with vintage headphone amps or vintage stereos? Or, are the HD800s not well suited for vinyl since they are so revealing?

 
There is a ton of information about vintage amps with hp's on the calling all vintage amp/receiver thread. Personally I've found that the vintage amps/receivers sound fantastic with planar mag hp's, but sometimes the noise floor is high with dynamic driver/traditional hp's. I believe that Oregonian has had good success with the 800 and vintage gear. You might ask him directly.
 
gL...

 

[maclenltd]

   
Am I missing something here? - You want to amp the output, yes?  Where is the digital stream coming from?
 
 
If I am understanding this correctly, then you have NO digital stream as you would just feed your phono pre-amp directly into the analogue inputs of the headphone amp.
 
The digital would come if you were using a DAC to feed the amp, however as you're coming direct from a turntable, the alternate source is unnecessary.

The only thing I can think you're thinking is an integrated DAC/Amp in which case, you'd still just use the analogue inputs and bypass the internal amp.
 
Hope this helps

 Thank you for clarifying this. I think I was confusing myself. The amp that I am using has a DAC built-in and there doesn't seem to be a way to bypass it. That being said, your advice to take the output from my phono preamp into a headphone amp without a DAC would definitely work. I can't believe I didn't think about that.

 

[Eternal Phoenix]

   Thank you for clarifying this. I think I was confusing myself. The amp that I am using has a DAC built-in and there doesn't seem to be a way to bypass it. That being said, your advice to take the output from my phono preamp into a headphone amp without a DAC would definitely work. I can't believe I didn't think about that.

 
In that case - what Integrated amp/DAC are you using? and maybe head-fi's gear heads can attempt to solve your input issue!

 

[Priidik]

 
In regard to headphones I'm talking more about using eq to closer match specific target curves. In this double blind study researches developed some really cool technology that allowed them to use a pair of Sennheiser HD 518 headpones to clone the response curve of other headphones and apply certain target curves. To make a long story short the researchers found that people liked headphones that mimic the sound of good speakers in a good room.
 
 

That's swell, but there are other technicalities, more important than the target curve.  DSP-d HD202 can not sound the same as HD800, won't you agree?
 
I'm newb to tech behind digital eq-s, but the best i have heard is Apple AU parametric in Logic, even from among many proffessional offers. Digital lin phase eq tries to rebuild phase, right? In any case it is lossy. 
 
I wonder what the HD800 would sound like if it was tuned according to Harman reference. Many would ditch their planars for sure.

 

[LugBug1]

  Anyone have any inside tips for listening to vinyl (all analog) with their HD800s? I can obviously take an output and amp it up with a newer headphone amp but then it is unnecessarily converted to a digital stream. Has anyone had success using the HD800 with vintage headphone amps or vintage stereos? Or, are the HD800s not well suited for vinyl since they are so revealing?
EDIT: sorry, I was confused because my amp has a DAC built-in. I now realize that I can use any headphone amp without a DAC to achieve an analog chain.

IME, the HD800 are a little too sensitive for most vintage amps from the 70's. They sound different than dedicated ss amps with a bigger stronger (but less tight) bass but 95 percent of the vintage amps I trialled with the Senn's (approx 12 including Pioneer, Sansui, Marantz etc) displayed some hiss because of the sensitivity and high impedance. Some more than others...  I found a much better match with NAD amps from the 80's as these have a much lower impedance out and I think they are a brilliant match - vintage analogue smoothness and loadsa power! They're all I use these days. 
 
At the end of the day, the HD800 are all about transparency so there is no reason at all why vinyl won't sound cracking (not crackling!) from a decent turntable.