[DarKen23]

 
The Leviathan is still roughly 2-3 months out. As lovely as the WA5-LE is-it isn't really doing it for me soundwise. I do have an Eximus (3rd one lol) arriving tomorrow, should be interesting to see how that pairs with the Woo-my v800 has been excellent in the interim. I've honestly wanted this Luxman for a long while-but they rarely come up used. It's possibly the best ss amp one can get for the HD800-and that is my hope that it will work as an end game ss in that regard. The guy I bought it from prefers it with his HD800 more than the GSX, which isn't surprising, really. Supposed to be fantastic synergy there-can't wait to see how it shakes out.

On a somewhat ironic side note-I'm more of a black electronics fan myself-but the Woo, Eximus, and Luxman are all silver and are the best looking components I've owned (judging from P1u pics). Funny that.

-Daniel

what luxman amp?

Luxman P1u

 

[MelvinV]

It's the same case for me when I first send in suspected of cable problem back in June. It seems difficult for them to detect faults on cable. Is yours fixed now?

I went to my HD 800 dealer and they gave me a new cable. Probably because repairing a cable costs way more money then a new one, probably €150 profit on that €180 cable lol.
So far everything is perfect again, and I still have the old cable (it probably broke at the Y-split internally) which I may use for DIY some time.

 

[LugBug1]

I'm reluctant to jump to that conclusion as I've yet to change the cables and from my past experience with other headphones the wa2 has no problem with static. Perhaps I should change cables? Either way there's no cheap solution when it comes to the senns though.

 
The Senns are very sensitive and will show the noise floor of certain amps, or the microphonics of tubes. Not saying that the WA2 is to blame, but seems a bit strange that you've had the drivers changed and you are still getting noise. Have you tried different tubes? As I would attribute a static noise as coming from an amp not the headphones. Also, tubes make a static noise when they are either failing or settling in. And some tubes are just noisy! 
Good luck though my friend, I've been in a similar situation and couldn't pin it down. Noise with the HD800's but not with other headphones.. 

  I just put it down to sensitivity. 

 

[Audio Jester]

  The Leviathan is still roughly 2-3 months out. As lovely as the WA5-LE is-it isn't really doing it for me soundwise. I do have an Eximus (3rd one lol) arriving tomorrow, should be interesting to see how that pairs with the Woo-my v800 has been excellent in the interim. I've honestly wanted this Luxman for a long while-but they rarely come up used. It's possibly the best ss amp one can get for the HD800-and that is my hope that it will work as an end game ss in that regard. The guy I bought it from prefers it with his HD800 more than the GSX, which isn't surprising, really. Supposed to be fantastic synergy there-can't wait to see how it shakes out.
 
On a somewhat ironic side note-I'm more of a black electronics fan myself-but the Woo, Eximus, and Luxman are all silver and are the best looking components I've owned (judging from P1u pics). Funny that.
 
-Daniel

Daniel, you have issues. 

 

[PleasantSounds]

   
The Senns are very sensitive and will show the noise floor of certain amps, or the microphonics of tubes. Not saying that the WA2 is to blame, but seems a bit strange that you've had the drivers changed and you are still getting noise. Have you tried different tubes? As I would attribute a static noise as coming from an amp not the headphones. Also, tubes make a static noise when they are either failing or settling in. And some tubes are just noisy! 
Good luck though my friend, I've been in a similar situation and couldn't pin it down. Noise with the HD800's but not with other headphones.. 

  I just put it down to sensitivity. 

 
I second this opinion. To blow a transducer you have to put too much current through it for long enough for it to overheat and burn through the insulation of the coils. I don't think you could play music loud enough to do that without going deaf. But the other possibility is that you could have DC flowing through it and that's barely audible as all you can hear is the imperfections in current stabilisation. That may happen if you have a faulty capacitor within the amp circuits. 
I'd get that amp checked. If that's too hard/costly to arrange then at least check the headphone output with a multimeter - that's a $10 investment.

 

[magiccabbage]

when i had stock tubes in my WA2 i could hear some noise but only when the amp was turned up near 2 o'clock. I upgraded the tubes a while back and the noise dropped off completely. I was not expecting this to happen because i thought that high gain tubes would mean slightly more noise but i was wrong to assume that. If i have no music playing and turn the volume up to its fullest there is only the slightest hum. I also bought the T1's so i think maybe they have less noise than what i was using before -HD650. 

 

[Dubstep Girl]

My wa2 is completely free of any noise at any volume level

Cant wait for luxman vs wa5 vs ZDSE impressions.

 

[helljudgement]

Forgot to mention the static only occur when the headphone is being plugged into the amp and when I move the jack. The amp itself is dead silent when plugged in even without playing music but it hisses sometimes when I touch the volume control and it becomes louder as the volume goes up but I suspect that has to do with the sensitivity of the 800.

 

[MelvinV]

   
The Senns are very sensitive and will show the noise floor of certain amps, or the microphonics of tubes. Not saying that the WA2 is to blame, but seems a bit strange that you've had the drivers changed and you are still getting noise. Have you tried different tubes? As I would attribute a static noise as coming from an amp not the headphones. Also, tubes make a static noise when they are either failing or settling in. And some tubes are just noisy! 
Good luck though my friend, I've been in a similar situation and couldn't pin it down. Noise with the HD800's but not with other headphones.. 

  I just put it down to sensitivity. 

Well last time I put my HD 800 in my motherboard's audio output there wasn't any noise really. And I assume that the WA2 is better than a "premium" onboard audio solution.

 

[LugBug1]

  Well last time I put my HD 800 in my motherboard's audio output there wasn't any noise really. And I assume that the WA2 is better than a "premium" onboard audio solution.

Unless there is a powerful enough amplifier within your motherboard I wouldn't expect much noise, same goes with plugging direct into any media player too. I wager it sounded schiit though?
 
Yeah as I said with "certain amps" the hd800's will show noise more than other headphones ime. There are a lot of variables that can cause this including impedance matching. I havent heard the WA2 so can't comment. Other than it is a tube amp and some tubes make noises. 

 

[Sanlitun]

Does anyone else have wrinkled silver mesh material on their HD800? On my new phones the mesh is not perfect in the area just above where the cables connect and there is a bulge.
 
I'm wondering if there has been a manufacturing change somewhere along the line with these. The Stereophile review alludes to "machined stainless-steel earpieces" and mine don't seem to contain any metal in the structure other than the head band and some screws.
 
I'm trying to be as dispassionate as possible with these phones and not jump to any conclusions so soon but so far it's been a struggle to see the upside.

 

[roskodan]

almost all plastic, but it feels good, like warm machined aluminium
 
read your previous post, soundstage is very speaker like in the center while still retaining the binaural, no crossfeed effect on L & R, not really intimate, very pleasant in a speaker like sensation in the center
 
there is a sensation of high awareness as music comes to you very effortlessly
 
timber on my rig is the closest to the real thing i've heard so far, especially with nature sound recordings, so realistic
 
and yes they are a little on the thin side compared to orthos, like speakers in open space
 
still i don't know for any sensation of lacking coherence, on the contrary maybe

 

[DarKen23]

Does anyone else have wrinkled silver mesh material on their HD800? On my new phones the mesh is not perfect in the area just above where the cables connect and there is a bulge.

I'm wondering if there has been a manufacturing change somewhere along the line with these. The Stereophile review alludes to "[COLOR=333333]machined stainless-steel earpieces" and mine don't seem to contain any metal in the structure other than the head band and some screws.[/COLOR]

I'm trying to be as dispassionate as possible with these phones and not jump to any conclusions so soon but so far it's been a struggle to see the upside.

I have the exact same bulge, it's bothered me beyond imagination. I assume when you press it, it pops back out?
I don't believe that it has anything to alter the sound of the cans. I was worried that this bulge would cause distortion or something, but it doesn't seem like it affected the sound.
What's even more weird is that, the bulge has mysteriously disappeared, it's now perfectly leveled.

 

[skeptic]

I can't speak to any bulges in the mesh - but the material choice is a big positive in this instance.  In addition to having ring drivers, the composite plastic that makes up the frame of the cups is one of the patents that sets hd800's apart.  In the original hd800 thread, John Willet (former Senn rep) used to post about this from time to time and explain the major benefits of this design decision (greatly reduced resonance as opposed to metal or wood).  It is also lighter and helps to account for the awesome comfort of these 'phones. 

 

[magiccabbage]

  I can't speak to any bulges in the mesh - but the material choice is a big positive in this instance.  In addition to having ring drivers, the composite plastic that makes up the frame of the cups is one of the patents that sets hd800's apart.  In the original hd800 thread, John Willet (former Senn rep) used to post about this from time to time and explain the major benefits of this design decision (greatly reduced resonance as opposed to metal or wood).  It is also lighter and helps to account for the awesome comfort of these 'phones. 

 
I wanted to ask and maybe you can answer this - The bendy plastic material behind the drivers that looks silver but isn't, do you know if it s replaceable? In pictures it looks like it is made of metal but it's not