[Strayngs]

Yes there's always that guy out there that tells you amps and Dacs make no difference. I can tell you from experience that it makes a ton of difference. I've had quite a few amps and quite a few Dacs and everyone sounded different.

 

[Poganin]

Ended up trading it for, among other things, an LCD-3, and I haven't looked back!

Funny you should say that because I'm trying to get rid of my LCD-3 on grounds of comfort. The weight, the clamp... after a couple of hours it induces a horrible headache in me, and its with the new headband. I had been saving for it for so long and when I finally got it, I couldn't enjoy it at all.

 

[paradoxper]

Yes there's always that guy out there that tells you amps and Dacs make no difference. I can tell you from experience that it makes a ton of difference. I've had quite a few amps and quite a few Dacs and everyone sounded different.

And there's always that guy who argues with him.

 

[nasty nate]

And there's always that guy who argues with him.

and round n’ round we go

 

[Kukuk]

Funny you should say that because I'm trying to get rid of my LCD-3 on grounds of comfort. The weight, the clamp... after a couple of hours it induces a horrible headache in me, and its with the new headband. I had been saving for it for so long and when I finally got it, I couldn't enjoy it at all.

I much prefer the old style headband. You might try the old headband before selling them on. I find it does a better job of spreading the weight out more evenly across the top of your head. This has a knock-on effect of lowering the clamp force a bit. I do sorta wonder if my pair is more comfortable because the pads are more well-worn, though.

Also, I have an odd taste in comfort, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

You really have to try them with the new headband. A top 5 headphone in comfort somehow.

I just couldn't see it helping that much, because of the nature of their fitment. They're not meant to clamp, so no matter what basically all the weight is on top of your head. I could see a plush headband helping to mitigate some of the weight issues, but it really needs to have a good clamp to spread the weight around.

 

[Benny-x]

Agreed. I've never heard the HD800S sound good on an amp under $3,000. 430HAD and WA33 have been the best options I've come across. The Questyle Goldstack doesn't create a grand enough sound or soundstage but there's a quality of timbre which blows me away.

Do you own the Questyle Golden Reference stack? Not many people have gotten to hear the stack outside of meet conditions, let alone buy it.

It was apparently designed with the HD800 in mind, which is why all the components have "800" in their names. I've actually wondered how close the Gold Stack sounds to the 430HA or with the LCD series headphones.

 

[BassicScience]

Do you own the Questyle Golden Reference stack? Not many people have gotten to hear the stack outside of meet conditions, let alone buy it.

It was apparently designed with the HD800 in mind, which is why all the components have "800" in their names. I've actually wondered how close the Gold Stack sounds to the 430HA or with the LCD series headphones.

Even the Questyle Gold stack couldn't make the HD800S palatable for me due to that headphone's lack of bass and peaky highs. I really wanted to like the Sennheiser based on its looks and comfort and relatively affordable price, but it was not to be. For someone who likes the sonic profile of the HD800(S), the Gold stack may well be worth auditioning. BTW, when I auditioned and purchased the Focal Utopia at a Canjam several years back, Focal were running it through that stack, which showed it off to fantastic effect. I ended up purchasing the DAC, which I felt was the most distinguished of the components and a steal at its price point, and still absolutely love it to this day.

 

[FYFL]

Even the Questyle Gold stack couldn't make the HD800S palatable for me due to that headphone's lack of bass and peaky highs.

That was my concern. Dr@p just announced HD800 with tuning that might address those issues. For 1100 bucks, it might be worth a shot for some poor soul.

 

[Ciggavelli]

That was my concern. Dr@p just announced HD800 with tuning that might address those issues. For 1100 bucks, it might be worth a shot for some poor soul.

It’s definitely got me interested. Hopefully the build quality is good, but I guess you get what you pay for

 

[Mightygrey]

Do you own the Questyle Golden Reference stack? Not many people have gotten to hear the stack outside of meet conditions, let alone buy it.

It was apparently designed with the HD800 in mind, which is why all the components have "800" in their names. I've actually wondered how close the Gold Stack sounds to the 430HA or with the LCD series headphones.

Huh, that's interesting. I have the CMA600i and the HD600...and they happen to sound great together!

 

[Tachyon88]

I listen to the HD800s with ot1990 EQ and I think the bass sounds great. I also have a +8db 40hz shelf for the V2 and still think the HD800s sounds better in every aspect.

 

[FYFL]

It’s definitely got me interested. Hopefully the build quality is good, but I guess you get what you pay for

If they were selling them for 900, I would consider it. Actually, you get 200 point towards future purchase which equates to $200. Problem is, I already own similar sound signature hp.

 

[Benny-x]

Huh, that's interesting. I have the CMA600i and the HD600...and they happen to sound great together!

Haha, I'm not sure for those ones. But I remember the 800 series being the case as there were a handful of review articles about the Golden Reference stack back in the day. Certainly enough to really plant the seed that made me finally grab the amps 5 years later.

That's cool to know the 600i+HD600 are a nice pairing. I actually wonder how the CMA800R Goldens compare to the newer gear in Questyle's lineup, like your 600i and the newer Twelve. For sure the 600i+HD600 represent a great cost/performance offering if it's like you say.

 

[Benny-x]

Even the Questyle Gold stack couldn't make the HD800S palatable for me due to that headphone's lack of bass and peaky highs. I really wanted to like the Sennheiser based on its looks and comfort and relatively affordable price, but it was not to be. For someone who likes the sonic profile of the HD800(S), the Gold stack may well be worth auditioning. BTW, when I auditioned and purchased the Focal Utopia at a Canjam several years back, Focal were running it through that stack, which showed it off to fantastic effect. I ended up purchasing the DAC, which I felt was the most distinguished of the components and a steal at its price point, and still absolutely love it to this day.

Yeah, I didn't buy them for the Sennheiser heritage behind them either. I asked about how they'd pair with Audezes As far as my take on them so far, they are extremely transparent and have great PRaT, and the best pairings are with slightly darker/warmer headphones that already have a full bottom end. None of which aligns with experience with the HD800/S, haha.

As for the DAC, I never got to hear it, but there were very solid reviews and owner feedback on it. You now being another. I've toyed with the idea, but can't quite commit to trying it. I don't know about you, but I am still surprised by how relatively compact those components are. And the f&f is great.

Now about that Drop HD8xx... I wonder if it might be like a souped up HD650¿

 

[BassicScience]

Yeah, I didn't buy them for the Sennheiser heritage behind them either. I asked about how they'd pair with Audezes As far as my take on them so far, they are extremely transparent and have great PRaT, and the best pairings are with slightly darker/warmer headphones that already have a full bottom end. None of which aligns with experience with the HD800/S, haha.

As for the DAC, I never got to hear it, but there were very solid reviews and owner feedback on it. You now being another. I've toyed with the idea, but can't quite commit to trying it. I don't know about you, but I am still surprised by how relatively compact those components are. And the f&f is great.

Now about that Drop HD8xx... I wonder if it might be like a souped up HD650¿

Extreme transparency and great PRaT is a good description of the Questyle "house sound". The DAC provides outstanding resolution and insight into the music and is agnostic across genres. The ambience retrieval and soundstaging is spectacular. I'd recommend checking it out if you ever get the opportunity. That said, it has a few ergonomic issues:

1. The display can't be dimmed. I solved this by putting a layer of dark translucent film, designed to dim LED clocks and such, over it.
2. It takes at least five seconds to lock onto the signal when changing inputs.
3. It requires a driver for Windows, and as of Win 10, DSD and PCM have to be configured separately. I solved this by using JRiver for DSD and Roon for PCM, but before I got Roon, it was a PITA to have to reconfigure JRiver when switching between DSD and PCM. (The Questyle does true DSD, not DSD via DoP.)
4. The (super cheap) remote occasionally gets wonky, and needs to be re-paired with the DAC, a fairly trivial process.

On the plus side, the unit barely gets warm, and is compact and nicely-finished, as you pointed out. On the whole, just a tremendous piece of audio gear and a genuine bargain. Every time I think about auditioning the Mola Mola Tambaqui, I end up thinking "why spend another $10k when you're completely satisfied now"?