[Mortalcoil]

 
 
 
@Mortalcoil Thanks for the suggestion. Sorry I don't know how to quote from two pages simultaneously :S. That could definitely be it. As of now, I don't own any "fun" headphones. That might very well be what I'm missing. As for the TH900 audition, I do happen to live in Toronto as well...

 
Dont get any ideas .......lol

 
Seriously though if you want to audition them try  http://www.headfoneshop.com/
 
You may know the shop already, small and crammed but he has the 900 usually in stock and for demo.
 

 

[drez]

Hey guys and gals, I'd just like to share an experience I had with everyone here for better or for worse.

Today, while I was hanging out with a few friends, I put some classical music on in the background with crappy Bluetooth speakers (JBL Pulse I). To be specific, I put on Tchaikovsky's violin concerto. Here it is (in parts unfortunately) on youtube: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok0IJhFGDpk.

By the way, this is an excellent recording in both sound quality and actual performance, and surpasses any other version of the piece I've listened to so far. I would highly recommend getting this CD if you're into this kind of stuff.

Anyway, I want to focus in on a particular moment while listening to the piece on that crappy speaker. It was around 9:30 in the video. You can hear the tempo of the piece rapidly accelerating and overall, things are getting pretty exciting. I can actually feel my heartbeat quickening along with the rising tempo, despite the low quality of the Bluetooth speakers. One of my friends even mentioned that she was getting stressed out (in a good way) while listening to that moment.

All in all, it felt great to be so into the music. It's been too long since I felt an emotional and almost physical reaction while listening to music.

So naturally, once I go home I try to reproduce this moment on my own system: Schiit Bifrost Uber into Bryston BHA-1 and (obviously) my HD800s. I queue up the piece in lossless, and I start listening. Great imaging, soundstage, and general fidelity as per usual on a high quality recording with the HD800s.

Anticipation rises as the part I mentioned previously draws near. Finally, it arrives and then... nothing. I don't feel anything. Sure it sounds great and all, but what happened to the quickening pulse and the excitement!?

At this point, a million questions are swirling in my head. Why should a $100 Bluetooth speaker illicit such an emotional response (which I feel is one of the most important attributes of any audio system) while my $3000+ headphone setup cannot? Is this due to the inherit advantages that speakers have over headphones? Was it just the state of mind I was in previously? Is it due to my amp synergy (I've heard reports that the pairing is flat and not very engaging)? Is it because of the HD800s "clinical" sound signature? Is my DAC bottlenecking my system? And so on and so forth.

So far, I've found no answers. Just more questions. Should I try modding the headphones? Should I try different amps? How about a new DAC? Would getting different headphones work? Why not just drop the headphone game altogether and move on to speakers? Maybe I'm just not in the mood anymore and should try again another time.

But stubbornly, I try listening to the piece once more. Since I'm frustrated, I decide to critically analyze every single second I listen to. So far so good. I'm thinking things like: "Wow, I can actually hear the reverberation of the violin against the room" and "I'm glad the HD800s are so revealing and transparent or else I wouldn't be able to fully appreciate the extremely rich and vibrant tone that Hilary Hahn produces with her violin. I mean, the violin is seriously singing right now!" I guess I'm not much of an analytical listener, huh.

Soon enough that dreaded moment at 9:30 arrives. And guess what? I'm too lost in the music to care. I do notice that there's still no faster heartbeat or whatever, but at this point I don't mind anymore. I'm enjoying the music goddammit! So what if I didn't get the exact same reaction as when I listened to that part before?

Instead, I keep on listening and I get close to the end of the first movement. The movement is getting to its climax and and then... could it be... yes! Hallelujah!! There it is. A slight shivering sensation coupled with a triumphant feeling from the music. All is well. My headphone setup is indeed capable of getting an emotional response from me, which again, is the most important aspect of any audio system to me.

So what's the point of all this? I'm not entirely sure; I felt like it was worth sharing though. Maybe my point is to remind you all to enjoy your music. Maybe it's to let you know that upgrading your system isn't all that important. Maybe there's no point at all. Who knows? Who cares?

Anyway, sorry for the long rambling post, and thanks for reading! I hope my story helps some of you somehow.

PS. I'd still like to know how to improve my system despite my epiphany. Its just not bothering me as much anymore. So if you got any suggestions...

I can relate to this, I think the cause is that when the brain is deprived of all the detail provided by HD 800 it focuses on something else, the tone and tempo. I have encountered this before. Sometimes a component will omit a lot of information (eg in treble) and you will say "hang on now the mids are more pure and clear, timing is better" but in reality there is just less other information so u focus on the mids, tone etc. I think they say "not seeing the forest from the trees"

 

[johnjen]

Hey guys and gals, I'd just like to share an experience I had with everyone here for better or for worse.

Today, while I was hanging out with a few friends, I put some classical music on in the background with crappy Bluetooth speakers (JBL Pulse I). To be specific, I put on Tchaikovsky's violin concerto. Here it is (in parts unfortunately) on youtube: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok0IJhFGDpk.

By the way, this is an excellent recording in both sound quality and actual performance, and surpasses any other version of the piece I've listened to so far. I would highly recommend getting this CD if you're into this kind of stuff.

Big Snip

PS. I'd still like to know how to improve my system despite my epiphany. Its just not bothering me as much anymore. So if you got any suggestions...

This kind of experience can be illusive and situationally dependent upon the specific circumstances.
And in some cases can't be duplicated, even with the same gear.

However to address your final question "I'd still like to know how to improve my system…"
The one recent development that might just take you one 'mother may I step up' closer to this degree of emotional involvement is to implement 'proper' EQ for your 800's.

This is a topic that has been simmering in the background for a while now with a recent upsurge in popularity and with significant results.

There are a bunch of ways to achieve this and it does take a system that can accommodate a DSP function in the digital domain well before the DAC.

The easiest implementation I have found is to use the Sonarworks DSP plug in in a suitable 'player'.
I use JRiver Media Center on my Mac and fuss with the settings inside the DSP a bit to dial it in to my satisfaction.
There are of course other parametric EQ plug in's available which can be setup to achieve the same EQ settings.
They do take an added degree of knowing what you are doing in order to 'shape' the EQ response curve to match the 800's.

What I have found is that with 'proper' EQ the 800's will be oh so much more captivating and listening will become what I call IMPERATIVE.
And lately, I came up with a new audiophool word, SuperGlue.
It means my 800's are stuck on my head and I find it VERY difficult to take them off.

This tweak is aimed squarely at improving the emotional reactivity quotient.
Which is a desirable goal, at least for me anyways.

And lastly, there are additional 'supportive' types and amounts of EQ that can be used with the Sonarworks (or any other implementation) to achieve truly spectacular results.
Some are experiencing this level of IMPERATIVE and are quite impressed.

JJ

 

[Oregonian]

  Does anyone know the max mW or W handling of hd800 @ 300ohm ?
 
I ask this because I listened to the hd800 on a powerhouse of a system and they sounded amazing. I ideally want to get an amp that will produce that amount of power without ruining the headphones. 

Not sure how much was feeding my HD800, but I run them out of a vintage Pioneer Spec 2 amp (250 wpc) and as loud as you can stand they sound amazing with bass that dispels all notion that these are bass-light headphones.  Note that this is not out of the speaker taps - it's direct from the headphone jack. 

 

[tehsprayer]

I'm getting the HD 800 as a gift for Christmas and currently own the Schiit Modi and Objective2 Amplifier. Would these headphones sound significantly better with something like the Schiit Valhalla 2? I love the aesthetics of the Schiit audio equipment, I bought a used Lyr a while ago and ran into problems where tubes would start to hiss after a couple weeks of use and got pretty annoying. So I'm a little afraid of going back to tube amplifiers although I did buy that amp used. I am almost certain i'll stick with the Modi forever unless it actually makes a difference going to a more expensive dac, it almost seems like placebo effect past the Modi.
 
I'm also thinking of adding the anax mod to the headphones, the 2.0 which includes the cutout of a circle and a trapezoid of creatology foam and then adding a cutout of rug liner on top of that. 
 
 
TL;DR - Would upgrading to the Valhalla 2 (possibly used) be worth the transition from the O2? The O2 is pretty transparent from what I've heard. Worth paying over $500 CAD for the upgrade? Also have the Modi which is a great little dac, worth changing that too? Or should I worry about that later on?
 
 
Thanks guys!

 

[Mr Rick]

  I'm getting the HD 800 as a gift for Christmas and currently own the Schiit Modi and Objective2 Amplifier. Would these headphones sound significantly better with something like the Schiit Valhalla 2? I love the aesthetics of the Schiit audio equipment, I bought a used Lyr a while ago and ran into problems where tubes would start to hiss after a couple weeks of use and got pretty annoying. So I'm a little afraid of going back to tube amplifiers although I did buy that amp used. I am almost certain i'll stick with the Modi forever unless it actually makes a difference going to a more expensive dac, it almost seems like placebo effect past the Modi.
 
I'm also thinking of adding the anax mod to the headphones, the 2.0 which includes the cutout of a circle and a trapezoid of creatology foam and then adding a cutout of rug liner on top of that. 
 
 
TL;DR - Would upgrading to the Valhalla 2 (possibly used) be worth the transition from the O2? The O2 is pretty transparent from what I've heard. Worth paying over $500 CAD for the upgrade? Also have the Modi which is a great little dac, worth changing that too? Or should I worry about that later on?
 
 
Thanks guys
 
 

Sorry, misread your post. I really shouldn't comment as I have no experience with the O2.

 

[raybone0566]

I'm getting the HD 800 as a gift for Christmas and currently own the Schiit Modi and Objective2 Amplifier. Would these headphones sound significantly better with something like the Schiit Valhalla 2? I love the aesthetics of the Schiit audio equipment, I bought a used Lyr a while ago and ran into problems where tubes would start to hiss after a couple weeks of use and got pretty annoying. So I'm a little afraid of going back to tube amplifiers although I did buy that amp used. I am almost certain i'll stick with the Modi forever unless it actually makes a difference going to a more expensive dac, it almost seems like placebo effect past the Modi.

I'm also thinking of adding the anax mod to the headphones, the 2.0 which includes the cutout of a circle and a trapezoid of creatology foam and then adding a cutout of rug liner on top of that. 


TL;DR - Would upgrading to the Valhalla 2 (possibly used) be worth the transition from the O2? The O2 is pretty transparent from what I've heard. Worth paying over $500 CAD for the upgrade? Also have the Modi which is a great little dac, worth changing that too? Or should I worry about that later on?


Thanks guys!

I just upgraded my source from the modi to bitfrost multibit and the improvements were enormous. It was very noticeable on every headphone I own. Vahalai2 is a very good match with hd800. I've had mine for a bit & there's no problems.

 

[AlanU]

  I'm getting the HD 800 as a gift for Christmas and currently own the Schiit Modi and Objective2 Amplifier. Would these headphones sound significantly better with something like the Schiit Valhalla 2? I love the aesthetics of the Schiit audio equipment, I bought a used Lyr a while ago and ran into problems where tubes would start to hiss after a couple weeks of use and got pretty annoying. So I'm a little afraid of going back to tube amplifiers although I did buy that amp used. I am almost certain i'll stick with the Modi forever unless it actually makes a difference going to a more expensive dac, it almost seems like placebo effect past the Modi.
 
I'm also thinking of adding the anax mod to the headphones, the 2.0 which includes the cutout of a circle and a trapezoid of creatology foam and then adding a cutout of rug liner on top of that. 
 
 
TL;DR - Would upgrading to the Valhalla 2 (possibly used) be worth the transition from the O2? The O2 is pretty transparent from what I've heard. Worth paying over $500 CAD for the upgrade? Also have the Modi which is a great little dac, worth changing that too? Or should I worry about that later on?
 
 
Thanks guys!

There will always be an improvement when you change DAC's and Amps. 
 
What you will find is the 02 is very transparent and other amps can provide more finesse. 
 
I've compared my 02 amp against my Burson Virtuoso. When the Burson had little burn in time it presented music very similar to the 02 amp. As I allowed the brand new Burson to run for several hours the sound changed. The Burson presented the music "more" effortlessly and more refined than the 02. 
 
Not saying the Burson is a superior beast....far from. However my point is that there is always room to increase SQ. In the audio world the Headphone world is still reasonably inexpensive compared to 2 channel hifi. 
 
The HD800 is a great set of headphones. If you want lush warm mids with organic feel the HD800 is not going to deliver this as well as other cans.

 

[blacknile]

 
The HD800 is a great set of headphones. If you want lush warm mids with organic feel the HD800 is not going to deliver this as well as other cans.

 
Hmm this is not the case in my experience. Based on my recently acquired HD800 (late 40K S/N) powered by a Violectric V200, the mids are extremely lush and organic, provided they are actually present and well captured in the original recording. I find these HD800 to be extremely revealing, which means they will "reveal" organic lush mids of a well recorded Brahms quartet, for example; but they will also "reveal" poorly recorded music.
 
If on the other hand we are interested in a pair of rose-tinted spectacles, then I find the HD800 are not the right tool. If this is the case, one might as well buy a pair of Sennheiser PX100, which will make even the remixed edition of Raw Power by the Stooges have lovely lush warm mids

 

[AlanU]

   
Hmm this is not the case in my experience. Based on my recently acquired HD800 (late 40K S/N) powered by a Violectric V200, the mids are extremely lush and organic, provided they are actually present and well captured in the original recording. I find these HD800 to be extremely revealing, which means they will "reveal" organic lush mids of a well recorded Brahms quartet, for example; but they will also "reveal" poorly recorded music.
 
If on the other hand we are interested in a pair of rose-tinted spectacles, then I find the HD800 are not the right tool. If this is the case, one might as well buy a pair of Sennheiser PX100, which will make even the remixed edition of Raw Power by the Stooges have lovely lush warm mids

I guess this is the beauty of the headphone world. We have full control of our environment and can swap speakers in a matter of seconds
 
Yes the HD800 is extremely transparent so the Source and Amplification can do wonders in the sound you'd get from the headphones. I think regardless how we can try to dumb down the extreme dynamics of these headphones they can still present a ferrari/lamborhini fast performance while some other flagship headphones performs like a refined  Bentley. This is the type of explanation I got for my 2 channel hifi world when I spoke to the founder of Totem acoustics. My $8000 Totem Earth speakers are similarly price to the other high end Totem Wind speaker. Vince Bruzzese described my Earth's as a Lamborhini. I tame my Lamborhini with tubes This slightly changes the natural behaviour my Totem Earth's have. I can make them into an intense beast with a solid state dac or relax an roll off the edge with tubes. However my Totems will never be Harbeth speakers with the most incredible sweet mids.........
 
Now back to the headphone world.....
 
The HD800 will always be a "fast" dynamic speaker and can be manipulated to slow down if the source/amplification throws its "coloured" characteristic at it. This is where the HD800 can almost be a "universal" headphone. I'm in the process of either having a solid state and tube dac setup for my Burson Virtuoso. This way I can use tubes for more lush organic mids and use the solid state dac as a micro detail, fast setup for different genre of music. Another option I'm considering is to buy a woo audio tube amp (still undetermined) to sweeten the Hd800. 
 
Same analogy is to tame an AKG 701 with tubes. You can change the sound signature with different source/amplification as long as it has a warm characteristics. However at the end of the day the speaker will always have the "built in" house sound it was designed to sound like. 
 
The quality of the recording does make a difference. But one thing I do find is that you can use that same exact recording with a tube dac and it will sound different to a solid state dac. I can have great emotional content using my tube dac and use a Concero HD and change it to a dynamic micro detailed analytical music session. All of this just by swapping DAC's. All of this using a set of HD650's!! and not even using the HD800.
 
The end of the chain (our headphones) makes a big difference but the synergy of the components in the beginning of the chain has alot of weight as well when it comes to the total SQ of the headphone rig. 
 
Your Violectric V200 with a typical $500-1500+ Esabre dac will sound different if you compare it to a burr brown chipset or a tube dac. All of this is without even discussing the end "speaker". 
 
As technology gets more advanced it's nice to see speakers/headphones improving in incremental steps.  The HD800 is my comfort HP and as long as it's tamed with tubes I do enjoy them. However I know there's others that can excel in certain genres over the Hd800.

 

[tehsprayer]

Curious if anyone has experienced both the Valhalla and Valhalla 2 with the HD 800. Thinking of buying a used pair and I could probably get Valhalla down for around 210 USD or a Valhalla 2 for around 300 USD. But since the Canadian dollar is so bad right now, was wondering if it is worth the jump to the 2.
 
I heard the second version is more solid state like and less tubey sounding. But that's all I know.
 
Also would be running with the Modi as the source.

 

[AlanU]

  Curious if anyone has experienced both the Valhalla and Valhalla 2 with the HD 800. Thinking of buying a used pair and I could probably get Valhalla down for around 210 USD or a Valhalla 2 for around 300 USD. But since the Canadian dollar is so bad right now, was wondering if it is worth the jump to the 2.
 
I heard the second version is more solid state like and less tubey sounding. But that's all I know.
 
Also would be running with the Modi as the source.

I'd stick with your 02 amp and look into changing your dac. 
 
Your current setup and just buying a pair of HD650 the music will sound totally different. Changing the "speakers" will make the most drastic change in SQ.
 
You may find buying even buying a used Musical Paradise MP-D1 24Bit USB Asynchronous Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) would transform a more drastic musical change to the HD800 vs buying a Valhalla.
 
Many ways to skin a cat. As far as amps go I'd say there's a definite change in SQ. However there are alot of things in the chain of events so you can manipulate other things to get the sound your after. 

 

[eliben85]

Hi all, I am thinking about selling my HD800 as I barely ever use them for the past year. What would be the value of the phones second hand? 
Thanks in advance for replying

 

[kvn864]

I just bought a pair, didnt see your post, you should get 800-1000 for great condition

 

[yates7592]

If anybody wants to offload their Norne Draug 2 cable with 3-pin XLR's please PM me, thanks!