[Argo Duck]

^ Hmm, yes fair enough.

My point - some past research work in which I was involved was based on manipulating conditions under which humans perceive and behave - is that conditions that positively enhance one's experience are a 'real' gain. Indeed, one may perform better or worse due to these conditions.

But I see your point which is that the enhancing conditions need not be "uber expensive"!

 

[shabta]

I honestly thought the difference was pretty big, I even went balanced and thought that made even more of a difference. Then when I was unable to see which on I was listening to that difference became very hard to detect . It was a similar experience when I first did ABX tests with flac vs 256 aac. I had convinced a friend that I could definitely hear lossless vs lossy and I stepped up to the challenge because it was so obvious ...... I failed miserably using an ABX software for Mac . The bottom line is , and of course to keep it on topic , is my experience with the hd800 is that it's not as picky with amps as many here suggest. Members like pearl jam have been scared off from owning hd800 because they have been led to belive they need an uber expensive amp to make it worth owning , and as a result they either don't buy them or worry to much to enjoy them with their equipment . I Was the same and I spent a lot of money trying to get the most out of the hd800 to then realise in the end it didn't take that much at all. I want others to not make the same mistakes I made and to just enjoy these awesome cans!

I am someone that in blind abx testing can usually tell flac from 320 mp3 and Hi-res from ordinary flac.  I do hear differences between amps, even when I can't see the amp. But, the very nature of explaining those differences in words makes it sound like the differences are much bigger than they actually are. And more to the point, on many of the differences, as long as you aren't doing a direct a/b, you won't care that much. That is definitely true for a well mastered redbook CD vs. the Hi-res version. You might be able to tell a difference, but if you just hear one or the other on its own (without knowing which it is), you almost for sure won't be thinking "thank goodness I am listening the superior hi-res version".
 
As long as you have an amp that can properly drive the HD800, the differences between amps are audible but narrow, compared to differences between headphones. Therefore, I usually recommend getting the best headphone you can afford/like and if necessary use the minimum acceptable ( and usually relatively inexpensive) amp/dac. That will make a much huger difference than getting a fab dac or amp and a mediocre headphone. It seems that this is not a majority opinion here... so YMMV

 

[thomascrown]

I can only afford the Vali so you made me feel good.
Thanks ^_^

I owned the Vali when I had my hd650 and imo you'll have plenty of satisfactions with that amp. 

 

[Priidik]

Members like pearl jam have been scared off from owning hd800 because they have been led to belive they need an uber expensive amp to make it worth owning , and as a result they either don't buy them or worry to much to enjoy them with their equipment . I Was the same and I spent a lot of money trying to get the most out of the hd800 to then realise in the end it didn't take that much at all. I want others to not make the same mistakes I made and to just enjoy these awesome cans!

To each their own.
I would have simply saved $$ if somone could have told me sooner that i need an exeptional amp and equally exeptional dac to get most out of HD800.
I quess the trip is worth something too.
 
Understandably people seek different strengths of this phone, so for some maybe an O2 or a Lehmann BCL is end of the road. 
I am much more needy than i first anticipated. 

 

[shabta]

  To each their own.
I would have simply saved $$ if somone could have told me sooner that i need an exeptional amp and equally exeptional dac to get most out of HD800.
I quess the trip is worth something too.
 
Understandably people seek different strengths of this phone, so for some maybe an O2 or a Lehmann BCL is end of the road. 
I am much more needy than i first anticipated. 

Well the non feedback/opamp Lehmann BCL will be a lot closer to nirvana than the O2. 

 

[Sorrodje]

   
Understandably people seek different strengths of this phone, so for some maybe an O2 or a Lehmann BCL is end of the road. 
I am much more needy than i first anticipated. 

 
 
As long as nobody claims to hold the truth and anyone alse is wrong, it's fine for me. 
 
I personaly found that op-amp based & Solid state last products from Jan Meier  (Corda Jazz , Classic and DACCORD) are really great even with the HD800.  I know the Hype go towards R2R DAC , Discrete design and Tubes but I still love what Jan Meier Offers.
 
I wouldn't let go my full discrete R2R dac and my DNA amp though . 

 

[pearljam50000]

Finally i got the Grado mini adaptor from the internet it should be here in the next two weeks. waiting is so hard

Anyways, i was thinking maybe i i made a mistake because the Sennheiser adapter uses the same type of cable  as their headphones, and Grado uses the same cable they use in their headphones, and is different from the Sennheiser cable(not sure how)
How big is difference between them  regarding the sound quality?
I hope the Grado adaptor won't change the sound too much 

 

 

[Sorrodje]

No difference at all. Don't worry about that.  

 

[johnjen]

  Finally i got the Grado mini adaptor from the internet it should be here in the next two weeks. waiting is so hard

Anyways, i was thinking maybe i i made a mistake because the Sennheiser adapter uses the same type of cable  as their headphones, and Grado uses the same cable they use in their headphones, and is different from the Sennheiser cable(not sure how)
How big is difference between them  regarding the sound quality?
I hope the Grado adaptor won't change the sound too much 

 

That is a non-issue at this point.
 
JJ

 

[bearFNF]

  Finally i got the Grado mini adaptor from the internet it should be here in the next two weeks. waiting is so hard

Anyways, i was thinking maybe i i made a mistake because the Sennheiser adapter uses the same type of cable  as their headphones, and Grado uses the same cable they use in their headphones, and is different from the Sennheiser cable(not sure how)
How big is difference between them  regarding the sound quality?
I hope the Grado adaptor won't change the sound too much 

 

Sound wise I would not worry.
I had a fit issue, though. see picture.

 

[RUMAY408]

   
 
As long as nobody claims to hold the truth and anyone alse is wrong, it's fine for me. 
 
I personaly found that op-amp based & Solid state last products from Jan Meier  (Corda Jazz , Classic and DACCORD) are really great even with the HD800.  I know the Hype go towards R2R DAC , Discrete design and Tubes but I still love what Jan Meier Offers.
 
I wouldn't let go my full discrete R2R dac and my DNA amp though . 

The Meier stack may be the "best bang for the buck" solid state system for the HD800 that I have heard, I'm off to another meet next week so plenty more AMP/DAC combo's to try.
The Valhalla 2/Bifrost is solid and depending on the tube quality in the Valhalla a nice choice for a lower cost HD800 AMP/DAC . 
 
I love the HD800 but some music just works better with this HP and acoustic might be the sweet spot.

 

[Alexalder]

I'm going to try them on saturday with my equipment for the first time, hype

 

[knowhatimean]

 
The Meier stack may be the "best bang for the buck" solid state system for the HD800 that I have heard, I'm off to another meet next week so plenty more AMP/DAC combo's to try.
The Valhalla 2/Bifrost is solid and depending on the tube quality in the Valhalla a nice choice for a lower cost HD800 AMP/DAC . 
 
I love the HD800 but some music just works better with this HP and acoustic might be the sweet spot.

I have no doubt whatsoever that "Acoustic" music of any kind absolutely is the sweet spot for HD800. Depending on how good a job was done capturing the acoustic elements of the recording, the "sky's the limit" on how great this music can sound on these phones.I spend less then a very low % of my listening time listening to any non-acoustic music. Orchestral music can be just exceptional sounding on them !
 
Many years ago I had a Meier Stepdance 2 that I used that I just loved ! The Corda Classic is one of the few non-balanced in amps that I'm seriously interested in given how impressed I was with that portable amp I had . I keep saying I want to go to a balanced amp so that I can use my Metrum Hex DAC's balanced outs, but truthfully, I've never felt shortchanged running the Hex single ended.
 
What is the Classic's going price for the U.S. ? Anyone have any feelings about the SPL Phonitor mini use with the HD800 ?

 

[shabta]

I am still happy with my StageDAC. But I am interested to try a r2r ladder DAC with my setup. Maybe if a used metrum octave mkii comes up...

 

[skeptic]

  Well the non feedback/opamp Lehmann BCL...

 
I don't think this is possible.  As I understand it, op amps must be fed feedback in order to operate as audio amps/in a linear mode.  Different op amp based amps certainly can sound very different from one another.  E.g., you would never confuse the sound of an iphone vs. mini3 vs. o2 - which all have very different signatures.  But they all inherently require negative feedback, as do all other portable and op amp based amplifiers.