[Maxx134]

Sadly, the photos seem to be gone, but most of this discussion traces back to arnaud's measurements in 2010 regarding reflections in the cup: http://www.head-fi.org/t/468461/hd800-imaging-and-treble-why-and-how-it-can-be-improved-upon

I am hearing a slightly less treble glare/etch with the grill removed BUT that grill is all important to protect rear from the strong magnetic attraction from there...


Hmm time to try some super thin shelf liner..


edit:
Sorry I just realized this is impressions thread and I know alot members here have been thru their share of cans before or after arriving at the hd800. .
I posted brief impressions/comparisons on all the headphones I owned in my profile if anyone interested in indirect comparisons. .

 

[johnjen]

I am hearing a slightly less treble glare/etch with the grill removed BUT that grill is all important to protect rear from the strong magnetic attraction from there...


Hmm time to try some super thin shelf liner..

edit:
Sorry I just realized this is impressions thread and I know alot members here have been thru their share of cans before or after arriving at the hd800. .
I posted brief impressions/comparisons on all the headphones I owned in my profile if anyone interested in indirect comparisons. .

I've been running te SAA mod'd 800's for a couple of years now and thus far there haven't been any problems with the absence of the external shield.
 
And SAA's mod does involve more than just removal of parts.  There is the change to the driver assembly mounting 'system' and the treatment of the xlr connectors to name but 2 more portions of their system of mods.
 
AND I highly recommend hardwiring to eliminate the 'choke point' of those tiny connectors and wimpy wires indside the ear cups…
 
And as I'm sure you're aware, these mods also mean that ALL of the upstream gear now takes on an even greater portion of the SQ delivered to our ears.
 
IOW what you will hear will be even more a reflection of the signal fed them.
 
JJ 

 

[Maxx134]

Haha excellent point about increase transparency almost unthinkable that it can get better than stock (!)
Also have to agree about this super thin plug as I recently soldered an hd800 connectors and you need hands of a micro surgeon to make connector for this hd800 that thing is super thin but the fact that it is just a short length is not so bad.

 

[Maxx134]

Well for what its worth, both annax & SAA mods actually do adress the hd800 treble/ring problem, so I have combined both to my ears they work really good and the final piece of this puzzle will be annax3.0 ...
O don't see anything toppling the hd800 now,
but this year will be interesting to see how the newcomers compare..
The he1k & dharma

 

[johnjen]

Haha excellent point about increase transparency almost unthinkable that it can get better than stock (!)
Also have to agree about this super thin plug as I recently soldered an hd800 connectors and you need hands of a micro surgeon to make connector for this hd800 that thing is super thin but the fact that it is just a short length is not so bad.

Yeah I agree, that link is very short.
But if you get that crazed look in your eye, like any self respecting DIY'r occasionally does… 

And decide to hardwire straight to the drivers, you'll probably come to understand how even that short length with 3 solder joints and a curious choice of wire, 'colors' things…  
And at these levels of transparency and precision, well, the fewer 'choke' points, the better.
 
JJ 

 

 

[knowhatimean]

 

Sadly, the photos seem to be gone, but most of this discussion traces back to arnaud's measurements in 2010 regarding reflections in the cup: http://www.head-fi.org/t/468461/hd800-imaging-and-treble-why-and-how-it-can-be-improved-upon

I am hearing a slightly less treble glare/etch with the grill removed BUT that grill is all important to protect rear from the strong magnetic attraction from there...


Hmm time to try some super thin shelf liner..

edit:
Sorry I just realized this is impressions thread and I know alot members here have been thru their share of cans before or after arriving at the hd800. .
I posted brief impressions/comparisons on all the headphones I owned in my profile if anyone interested in indirect comparisons. .

So, the grille behind the HD800 is creating a slight reflection or is it a magnetive field disruption that is creating the treble glare ?
 
I would never have suspected that ! I had incorrectly assumed that the treble artifacts could all be attributed to "mechanical" reasons.
due to the physical form factors of the HD800. (I didn't consider that "electrical matters " could be influencing things)
 
(Please bear with me at trying to explain my impressions as I don't have an Engineering background; just some Guitar Building School experience many years ago) (I'll have to be careful not to get too close to "head height" metallic surfaces after I remove the
grilles as I'd have to use my 1st alert pager to notify someone "Help, I'm stuck to the wall & I can't get up")
 
(Sorry about that, I'm a little crazy....must be from all this modding)

 

[rage3324]

Does the HD800 pair well with Woo Audio WA7? My initial findings say yes, but just want to confirm that. 

 

[frank2908]

I have been playing with the hd800 driver for a while, but I build a totally new headphones cup so I can't comment on the effect of removing the grill. Here is my theory on the source of the brightness:
The back of the driver is covered with metal. And Sennheiser might have tune the driver so that the resonance of this metal back is at a very high frequency, therefore you have the very extended high. When I damp the back of this driver with blutack, the brightness is gone but the micro detail and micro imaging is also gone. I have tried damping the Grado sr125 driver with blutack to remove the brightness, and it also remove some detail in the treble and also blur the mid.therefore the resonance frequency of the metal back HD800 is much higher than the plastic backed grado.

 

[Maxx134]

I am in agreement that the grill is affecting in a very high range (the feeling of agreeable VS harsh treble) and the super thin open shelf liner I applied gives me the same affect as removing the grill,
so I believe it is a type of reflection or as stated above resonance about the grill,
yet I still have micro detailing regardless either with or without the grill, and not any loss of air with my felt applied so I keeping it that way..
edit:
There was some very slight very upper treble distance created with grill off as well..
I personally like grill on as that area is has more substance that way.

 

[knowhatimean]

I had totally forgotten how much "openness" my HE-6 headphones gained when I removed the grilles on the outerside of these phones
 
I had planned on doing a "re-grille" mod but discovered I greatly preferred their sound w/ no grilles whatsoever. It's funny , that while
HE-6 can sound equally transparent as the HD800 they are tonally a bit more colored.(The width & depth of available soundstage information is significantly different comparing the stock versions of these 2 hp)
 
The truth is all the different distinctions we make about all our Sennheiser,Audeze, Hifiman, ..etc. headphones are all completely subjective as we all have slighly different ideas as to what constitutes the descriptive terms we all use. I guess the only thing that
most of us can use to reference things is how someone thinks they compare to another headphone we're familiar with.
 
Well, let me get started on removing that metal ring & grille on the HD800 & then talk about what my impressions are !

 

[RapidPulse]

  Does the HD800 pair well with Woo Audio WA7? My initial findings say yes, but just want to confirm that. 

My ears say...YES  

 

[rage3324]

  My ears say...YES  

 
Thank you. Now I am off to find a pair of HD800

 

[koiloco]

  Does the HD800 pair well with Woo Audio WA7? My initial findings say yes, but just want to confirm that. 

Enough to enjoy what HD800 has to offer but IMO, there're other cheaper options that could give about the same return.

 

[rage3324]

  Enough to enjoy what HD800 has to offer but IMO, there're other cheaper options that could give about the same return.

Agreed. I bought the WA7 partly based on style (and off massdrop for a discount). So when I was weighing my options, the cost for style was not a lot because of the discount. Plus the support for a wide array of headphones is nice

 

[whirlwind]

Who here has the WA2 paired with the HD800
 
I may give this combo a go......Is it a worthy option ?