Sennheiser HD 820

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by iDesign, Apr 29, 2017.

  1. AMW1011

    AMW1011 Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2015
    Likes Received:
    322
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    Home Page:
    It changed, a lot. Don't underestimate the deafness of others. There is no way it could not have. Nearly everything that defines the hd800's sound has been altered.
     
  2. iFi audio

    iFi audio MOT iFi Audio

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2017
    Likes Received:
    1,284
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Many places.
    Home Page:
    I suspect that their goal was to have the same driver closed and not any worse. But then again, who knows? Maybe they imed at greatly different sound signature? Time will tell.
     
  3. Chris F

    Chris F Boyz 4 Now Fanatic - Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    805
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    IMO the driver is still world class. If all they did was fix the FR of the 800 by re-engineering the enclosure (without other compromises) it will be worth the money. (again IMO)
     
  4. TheBarnard

    TheBarnard Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    64
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Location:
    South Florida
    For the price increase, I'm assuming the only compromise should be soundstage, with all around tonal improvements.

    I only know of the Z1R as a more expensive closed back. I'm hoping the price reflects the performance, and isn't just a higher price for a newer model. This needs to be nuts to warrant a $700 increase over the 800S
     
  5. drgumbybrain

    drgumbybrain Science Nut

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2017
    Likes Received:
    2,219
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Lives in Fortaleza, Heart in Girona
    Oh, dat GL ASS
     
  6. AMW1011

    AMW1011 Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2015
    Likes Received:
    322
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    Home Page:
    The pads might be interesting to swap on to an HD800. I have difficulty getting a seal with the pancakes they include stock.
     
  7. HAL9000

    HAL9000 Almost "Made"

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2016
    Likes Received:
    233
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    Fairfield, IA
    I can't wait to see the CSDs... maybe they have discovered a truly magic method for damping the back wave:punk:
     
  8. Ray

    Ray Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,302
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    On the range
    Phones are do out until summer, find it a bit early for this speculation/ bash thread
     
  9. Ringingears

    Ringingears Honorary BFF

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,659
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Northern Californium Valley
    Agreed. Plenty of time to bash if need be. My problem and disappointment is the price. Sennheiser doesn’t need to charge this kind of money. Especially for a closed can. But hey, it might be a breakthrough.
     
  10. mac404

    mac404 Acquaintance

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2017
    Likes Received:
    111
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Location:
    Minnesota
    In the interest of efficiency for future posters, I have created options from which you can build your own post:
    • They finally announced it...and it's still not coming out for a long time
    • Dang it's expensive, Sennheiser you sellouts
    • Looks pretty though
    • But it's still a closed headphone, not like they can overcome that
    • ...But what if they can?
    • When do I get to see measurements?
    • The closed market isn't good anyway, should be easy to make the best right?
    • *Insert HD820 mod / HD800 meme here *
     
  11. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

    Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,999
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Tempe, Arizona
    Sennheiser should charge extra for this option, it was the first thing I thought off when seeing the HD820:
    [​IMG]
     
  12. HAL9000

    HAL9000 Almost "Made"

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2016
    Likes Received:
    233
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    Fairfield, IA
    I'm ROTFLOL! How about a matte rose gold frame with a sprinkling of swarovski crystals on the gorilla glass?
     
  13. PeteMullersKeyboard

    PeteMullersKeyboard New

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2017
    Likes Received:
    22
    Trophy Points:
    8
    Location:
    Midwest
    Given that glass is the perfect reflective surface, using it to perfectly reflect certain sound waves into absorption materials in order to basically create a “synthetic” open back of sorts might turn out to be...pretty damn cool.

    Also, I love the way it looks. Given that it’s Gorilla Glass, I really doubt breakage should be much of a concern.
     
  14. Dotard

    Dotard Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2017
    Likes Received:
    86
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Red Deer
    I have little ones and a slightly different take on gorilla glass. Every cell phone in the house with gorilla glass has visible scratches, and I've lost a few cell phones over the years to very mild impacts that just happened to smack at the wrong angle.

    I wonder if Sennheiser will sell "screen protectors" with these...
     
  15. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2017
    Likes Received:
    10,961
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Philippines, The
    1. Holy crap, those are beautiful headphones.

    2. Sweet fajitas that price is painful. Hope it's worth the extra over the 800S/vanilla 800.

    3. Glass is not the first material I'd have suspected they'd use for a then-rumoured closed back flagship. Looks great (see #1), but at the same time I wonder how they're going to address the issues the lack of venting will present.

    The mesh looks to be the same stuff as on the other 8-series variants, so a metal weave of some sort? Also, the glass back looks very slightly domed in the photos, which if I properly remember how sound waves act in an enclosure might just muck things up sonically.

    Also, I don't see anything that looks like it could absorb sound around the sides, just more plastic (?), but then again it's super early days yet.

    [​IMG]

    P.S.
    Gorilla Glass isn't completely impervious to mechanical wear, and it's surprisingly east to shatter once you get enough microscratches in. These would very much still need to be babied excessively, I think, but perhaps not to the same extent the rather fragile mesh on the OG HD800/S is.
     
  16. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

    Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,999
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Tempe, Arizona
    I thought it actually looked concave which would be good to disperse the sound waves outward and not reflect directly back on the driver causing cancellations.
     
  17. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,969
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Los Alamos, NM
    Home Page:
    I guess you never look at phones. Most phones I see are cracked. The glass on the 820 bulges out a bit, so it's likely to land on the glass when it drops, and you know it will.

    I suspect Zagg will come out with an invisible shield for it, and Otter will have a Defender for it at launch!
     
  18. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2017
    Likes Received:
    10,961
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Philippines, The
    Concave as in the highest point of the dome would be in the center? Yup, that's what I meant. Wouldn't the sound waves striking within the dome reflect almost straight back? If the cup were convex though (i.e. depressed inwards), then that would push waves to the sides of the enclosure and the baffle, where I'd have expected there to be dampening of a sort.

    Then again, I've only ever tinkered with a few beater cans and played around getting my cheap-ass desktop speakers to sound decent in my room. Fully admitting I could be wrong as hell :p

    (But yeah, it does look like the glass bulges outwards— could be wrong, my visual perception sucks)
     
  19. srkram

    srkram New

    Joined:
    Apr 16, 2017
    Likes Received:
    12
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Location:
    UK
    The glass is concave according to Sennheiser:
    https://en-us.sennheiser.com/high-end-headphones-audiophiles-hd-820

    I don't think that breakage should be much of an issue; the glass is somewhat protected as it's concave, and these won't be getting scratched in your pocket and dropped like a phone.

    Maybe we'll start seeing headphone drop tests on youtube :)
     
  20. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2016
    Likes Received:
    4,521
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    London, UK
    I think that particular ship has already sailed, with the famously fragile housings of some HFM cans...
     

Share This Page