[Rozenberg]

 
- Laconic Labs Midnight Blues Mini 

This one seems to be well regarded on the other forum. Might not go wrong, but even if you do, it should be pretty easy to resell without loss.

 - Liquid Carbon (2nd Hand - don't really want to spend more than the cost of one of these)

Personally only have experience with this one. Nice warmish sound, bass got nice kick and all, but unfortunately (for me) the treble got toned down a bit which caused some loss in extension.
The Carbon seems to have good resale value as well as long warranty is still valid (for 1st version).
 

---

On another note, I got a modified Cavalli SOHA II and so far really liking it. Just need better ECC88 tubes to make it compatible when rolling my Crimson as well and I'm set.

 

[mrmarano]

Does anyone pair their HD 800 with an SS amp? Like the Project Polaris from Garage1217.

 
 
Yep.
 
Headroom BUDA. Vintage, yes. And it sounds awesome.

 

[Rockin_Zombie]

   
- First Watt M2 (if i can find one!)
 

I can vouch for First Watt. My J2 + HD800S pairing is marvelous. Who says HD800 lacks bass? Granted mine is HD800S, but there's way more slam with the J2 compared to other amps I have tried (Benchmark DAC 3 built-in amp, a lowly little dot tube amp) . As a bonus if you have a decent speaker setup the amp can do double duty. 

 

[jibzilla]

  just the burson soloist. the sl is a baby brother i think. the soloist is the amp that's found (with a dac) in the burson conductor

 
I owned the soloist as well. It was a great amp but I felt it was more of an all arounder than voiced particularly for the hd800. For the hd800 in that price range I would look for a used headroom(BUDA), beezar torpedo, or bottlehead mainline. These amps were voiced with the hd800 in mind imo.   

 

[analog'd]

 

  just the burson soloist. the sl is a baby brother i think. the soloist is the amp that's found (with a dac) in the burson conductor

 
I owned the soloist as well. It was a great amp but I felt it was more of an all arounder than voiced particularly for the hd800. For the hd800 in that price range I would look for a used headroom(BUDA), beezar torpedo, or bottlehead mainline. These amps were voiced with the hd800 in mind imo.   

i agree that were i buying an amp AFTER buying the hd800, i would not necessarily want the burson. i'd audition more. but having owned it it's adaptability to do well with so many cans is important to me because of my limited budget. i used to have a ray samuals hr2 for the same reasons. 

 

[jibzilla]

I havent heard the Soloist but for me the HD800 started to reveal itself more when I switched to tubes. I did not care for tubes with other headphones. The 800 seems to crave them though. Good tubes mind you, not mushy crap.

 
I really like mixing tube with SS. Either source or amp mixing the two together gives a sound that's the best of both worlds.

 

[jamesino]

I've been playing around with Equalizer Apo to tame down the 6KHz peak and it sounds pretty good. Do you guys dial it down at 6000 Hz exactly, or do you guys dial it down at 6500 Hz, which is where the peak seems to be from online FR charts?
 
Also, what is the difference between Sonarworks and Equalizer, aside from cost?

 

[screwdriver]

i used to own  alo studio 6 , decware csp3 , sennheiser hdva600 in the past - now i dont have a dedicated headphone amplifier -  im, using the sophia electric el34 from my speaker system to drive the sennheisers  hd800 and hifiman he1000- i have to use a hifiman adapter so  ican connect XLR - sounds excellent imo with a rega dac r , oppo 201 player to play flac files 

 

[artpiggo]

Does anyone pair their HD 800 with an SS amp? Like the Project Polaris from Garage1217.

HD800 + Lisa L3 is a great match. It has bass boost option also. Set it some point at 5 o clock.

Also, I once test HD800 + cary HH1 which is hybrid tube+ SS. Total amazing matching ever. I regret that I couldn't find it in my country anymore.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Mjolnir 2 with lisst is fine; with sonarworks its great.

 

[RCBinTN]

Does anyone pair their HD 800 with an SS amp? Like the Project Polaris from Garage1217.

 
Catching up.  My un-modded HD800 are paired with the Bryston BHA-1 SS amp.  The SQ is great when fed by the Gungnir MB DAC.  Super resolving and very nice bass - even makes (well recorded) rock music shine.  It's not overly bright, to my ears.
 
I have read a lot of positive comments about pairing with the Mjolnir2, as I think @bosiemoncrieff posted earlier.
 
I have heard better rigs than my system.  The pairing with the Yggy and Ragnarok was super-punchy and smooth.  The best I've heard, however, was driving with the Yggy and Woo WA5 (of course, it's a tube amp).  The SQ with the Yggy/WA5 was just superb.  Both of those rigs were on-display at a HP meet in Nashville; they are a bit more expensive than my gear .
 
Cheers,
RCBinTN

 

[bearFNF]

Cavalli Liquid Gold does a great job with the HD800.

 

[ColtMrFire]

I also got to hear the HD800 with the Yggy/Rag combo and it was quite incredible.  Nice and full bodied with great depth and layering.  Not harsh.  Must be used with a balanced cable though to get the best sound, as the SE connection is gimped.
 
The best Solid State I heard though was the Black Widow/Yggy.  That was something even the Rag couldn't touch.  It sounded like a tube amp even though it was SS.  Crazy.  But good luck finding one.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Thoughts on Sonarworks
 
There is no question that the EQ curve that Sonarworks gives HD800 is the single most significant sonic change possible to the headphones: more so than DAC, amp, and indeed the physical mods to tame the 6khz peak. It is uniquely able to be turned on and off instantaneously. While the EQ'd sound is essentially a prerequisite for every genre other than classical, I am oddly indifferent about its effect on classical music. Although Sonarworks improves listenability of poorly recorded and 'historical' recordings, the stock treble energy creates some of the sparkle that adds a secret sauce to many well-recorded documents that I am loath to give up. The EQ unquestionably reduced the soundstage. Furthermore, while few would call HD800 a "euphonic" headphone, I find its stock colorations (albeit entirely on the bright/cold side of the ledger) to add a naturalness or realism to some classical music that the more neutral frequency doesn't provide. The sense of space feels more well-defined, even as the sound is less emotive and satisfying. 
 
Perhaps this is an instance of masochistically finding something worthwhile in what is not strictly beautiful, of coding harshness or abrasiveness as "accuracy," but for orchestral music (and nineteenth century orchestral music more or less alone), I think I will use SW perhaps half the time, and bypass it the other half. For piano, chamber, and pop, stock is more or less categorically inferior. 
 
Sonarworks is uniquely adept at eliminating white noise. For instance, in the Kempff stereo Beethoven cycle, although SW leaves in some low hiss in the middle register, the treble cut reduces the sound dramatically. Moreover, that lower register is less noticeable by far than the treble. 
 
SW is cheaper than a tube amp, cheaper than a multibit dac, cheaper than going balanced—it's 5 months of Tidal, to the dollar, and I would take a 256 kbps source though SW over lossless without any day. We should create a flowchart for chain recommendations for HD800.
 
Are you using SonarWorks? Yes -> Your Magni/Modi stack is probably fine, though Vali/Mimby may give you that last 10-15%. 
No -> get SW, or get MJ2, Gumby, balanced cables, '75 Reflektor tubes, and still find HD800 just "ok" for anything other than classical.

 

[FLTWS]

 
Quote:

  Thoughts on Sonarworks
 
There is no question that the EQ curve that Sonarworks gives HD800 is the single most significant sonic change possible to the headphones: more so than DAC, amp, and indeed the physical mods to tame the 6khz peak. It is uniquely able to be turned on and off instantaneously. While the EQ'd sound is essentially a prerequisite for every genre other than classical, I am oddly indifferent about its effect on classical music. Although Sonarworks improves listenability of poorly recorded and 'historical' recordings, the stock treble energy creates some of the sparkle that adds a secret sauce to many well-recorded documents that I am loath to give up. The EQ unquestionably reduced the soundstage. Furthermore, while few would call HD800 a "euphonic" headphone, I find its stock colorations (albeit entirely on the bright/cold side of the ledger) to add a naturalness or realism to some classical music that the more neutral frequency doesn't provide. The sense of space feels more well-defined, even as the sound is less emotive and satisfying. 
 
Perhaps this is an instance of masochistically finding something worthwhile in what is not strictly beautiful, of coding harshness or abrasiveness as "accuracy," but for orchestral music (and nineteenth century orchestral music more or less alone), I think I will use SW perhaps half the time, and bypass it the other half. For piano, chamber, and pop, stock is more or less categorically inferior. 
 
Sonarworks is uniquely adept at eliminating white noise. For instance, in the Kempff stereo Beethoven cycle, although SW leaves in some low hiss in the middle register, the treble cut reduces the sound dramatically. Moreover, that lower register is less noticeable by far than the treble. 
 
SW is cheaper than a tube amp, cheaper than a multibit dac, cheaper than going balanced—it's 5 months of Tidal, to the dollar, and I would take a 256 kbps source though SW over lossless without any day. We should create a flowchart for chain recommendations for HD800.
 
Are you using SonarWorks? Yes -> Your Magni/Modi stack is probably fine, though Vali/Mimby may give you that last 10-15%. 
No -> get SW, or get MJ2, Gumby, balanced cables, '75 Reflektor tubes, and still find HD800 just "ok" for anything other than classical.

 
I'm only OCD about classical genres and particularly the Late Romantics and 20th Century composers. Jazz, rock, pop, etc., I just don't listen that hard to those and other non-classical genres to question how the sound relates to the sound of "real" in an acoustic space. I just enjoy them for what they are musically. It's unlikely I'll ever get involved with EQ'ing.
 
I've got enough different Schiit amps (and the Class A Oppo is no slouch either fed by Yggy), and 12 premium tube sets for MJ2, that I think I can find the right flavor for whatever I'm listening to with either my stock HD800 or Utopia.
 
Thanks for your thoughts, they're always a good read.