Sennheiser HD 820

Yes but one isn’t going to use these in the same fashion they use their iPhone...these will sit on a stand, most likely, in an office. Handled with care, most likely. Even if one wants to use them out in public since they’re closed-back, I’m sure anyone who can afford to buy them will at least attempt to treat them with a modicum of care...I’ve never cracked a phone screen in my life, only ever had faint scratches a handful of times, not even really enough to see. I never use cases or screen protectors. Having kids changes the equation to be sure, but I guess my point is - these will likely be handled & treated differently than a smartphone. At least I would hope.

EDIT: Concave means curved away from you - like a bowl. Convex means curved towards you, like a dome. These are always how the terms are used. Simple as that. It certainly makes sense that it’s concave, which means it’s domed towards the driver, which means it will indeed reflect waves outward from the center and into whatever absorption they’ve devised.

I am endlessly entertained by the general idea on the internet that companies who for decades have built some of the finest products in the world in their respective categories are somehow always on the verge of building something completely incorrectly and but for some comments on a forum or blog or what have you, they might accidentally bring it to market without fixing it! I’m quite certain they know what they’re doing.

 

Sometimes I miss dislikes.

 

I don't understand this breaking the glass discussion. If you're dropping or bumping your headphones enough for gorilla glass to be shattered, you'd already have pretty dented cups/drivers on headphones with metal grills.

 

I can't help but feel that the discussion is drifting off topic. Could we please try and get it back round to McDonalds?

 

Dekoni sells new HD800 earpads that look a lot like the new one on the 820. No need to tape a HD650 earpad onto a HD800 earpad to get a better seal

 

Gorilla Glass main application is in disposable cell phones which people tend to outright throw away after their contracts are over and upgrade to another phone.

Headphones are a different beast (for most of us) and we tend to keep them for many years, sometimes decades.

I think concern over the long term viability and repair rate for these applications is justified. There aren't any out in the wild yet, and we don't have years of experience to look back on, so it seems natural that a skeptical attitude is justified here.

Cell phones develop micro scratches over the years, even if they are babied. Sure, part of that is an active life, but headphones also tend to move around your house, you put them down, you put them on and off your head. Scratches can impair the tensioning of gorilla glass over time. After 10 years of usage, will the HD 820 survive?

For the record, Gorilla Glass only started to be used in consumer electronics in 2005, so even if you want to study cell phone failure rates, you only have about 13 years of data (of which there are many failures, and 90% of the units are in a landfill).

 

Some impressions from /u/pridetwo on reddit:


"Only listened to a handful of songs in the Sennheiser listening booth. I've also never tried an hd800 before so I'm coming in a bit blind.

First impressions, it's an incredibly good looking headset in person. The promo images show the glass with a yellowish tint but the example they had was fully clear. This was a sample unit and since the full launch is months away, it's possible that this wasn't the final glass, but I think someone at Senn's marketing department just fell in love with the sepia filter.

Housing is all plastic except for the obvious metal parts like the headband and drivers, so it feels very light both in hand and on your head. Was a little iffy about all the plastic on a headphone at this price point, but it is high quality plastic and the weight savings are significant over an Audeze, though not so much to make it noticeably lighter than the Utopia I tried out a few weeks back. It just feels like it's a very low density headset.

Driving out of the hdv820, I'd probably listen to it at home around 11 o'clock but didn't push it too far since I didn't want to be the asshole to break the very first hd820 available to the public.

Quick sound impressions, excellent soundstage, very light on bass but the extension is insanely, you could call it bright but it doesn't reach harshness at all. Tried the star wars ep4 theme, ride of the Valkyries, the skyfall theme, around the world (daft punk) and a couple Joe satriani songs.

Classical music needs volume in this headset. Low volumes lose quite a bit for classical, though that could be the noisy environment. I can say these headphones absolutely came alive when I played Joe satriani. Anything missing in punch or impact from even daft punk immediately came alive with rock guitars.

That's about all I could glean from my quick listening session, but I can say the Sennheiser team at the booth was really nice and very happy to help me demo the headset. Great team out there. "

 

Extremely fair point, but out of the hundreds of products they’ve made over the last few decades, this is one of maybe a handful that are even close to a failure. I own a pair, and yes, they have a....strange sound signature. But, they’re not unlistenable. They’re not quite to my taste, and I might end up selling them, but if fed well they aren’t half bad. I do always forget that they originally retailed for a full thousand bucks, certainly not worth that kind of money. But the 400 I paid for mine brand new...sure. Hell, some people even love them.

By the way, if I offended anyone with my comment re: “if only they read my post, all their problems will be solved” - I didn’t mean to. Just an observation from nearly 20 years on the internet - wherever 2 or 3 gather in the name of discussion, there criticism is to be found. Pretty sure that’s in the Bible somewhere....

I realize my status as a rando entitles me to extra scrutiny, and I expect that. Not trying to be an asshole, just obersvations, that’s all.

I still don’t see how anyone would treat their HD820s in such a rough manner that they might be breaking the glass, but....I’m sure some will manage. And that’s about the last I have to offer on that, not going to attempt to argue with anyone.

 

They have changed the driver mounting scheme, as evidenced by the 4 torx screws shown behind the glass. Which implies, if not a completely different driver mounting structure, then perhaps a whole new driver.

$2400 is surprising, considering.
But then perhaps this will 'stimulate' sales for the lower priced 800/800S.

JJ

 

Guess they were overly confident in the new design's ability to isolate from ambient noise. Ah well, impressions all in good time. Grazie!

Speaking of, @zerodeefex , how well did they isolate?

 

A video that shows the actual heaphone without the dreamy filters:



I wish they would have interviewed grandmaster Grell himself but oh well.
They also mention that the glass is purely for a e s t h e t i c s.

Of course hopelessly overpriced. In 3 years you can pick these up used for half the price.

 

The 2 for $5 menu is back! Also if @zerodeefex can’t get a good read on these, the noise level must not be healthy. Ironic. Needing earplugs at CES to prevent hearing damage.

 

https://www.phileweb.com/sp/interview/article/201801/10/524.html

interview with axel in japanese

 

Read the Axel interview linked above. He says what the announcement says: the curved glass is designed to diffuse/attenuate sound from the back of the driver and is both an acoustic and cosmetic choice.

Also worth noting in that interview is this quote:

 

Still not much to go on, but these seem like the most pertinent tidbits from the Google translation.



Hopefully putting this part of the discusion to rest: "the glass cover on the back of the driver you can see it, but it has undergone curved surface processing towards the inside.”

I think the use of the word equivalent may be a translation artifact, if so then it’s claimed that the HD800S driver is in there: “transducer of 56 mm diameter equivalent to the open model "HD 800 S" which added a sound absorbing material to suppress the distortion of high frequency sound.“

 

Sennheiser website now has plenty of pics of what looks to me of a larger hd800S..
https://en-us.sennheiser.com/high-end-headphones-audiophiles-hd-820

You guys bickering about the glass can just go buy some screen protectors.
They actually make round ones for the Audio Technica es7 that should fit these perfectly..

This proves to me the original designers are long gone..
My bet is same driver and of course it having a glass covering that far away will not affect performance like some hifimam models when you hold your hand close to the rear..

I predict same exact sound as an hd800S ..

The only saving grace is if they increased the structure rigidity in the process, to solve some of the 6k resonance.

Well lets hope its good.
Maybe a contender if had bass...

Ok, dream of bass increase dashed.

 

You´re missing that the initial impressions posted on Reddit starts with: "Only listened to a handful of songs in the Sennheiser listening booth. I've also never tried an hd800 before so I'm coming in a bit blind."

Doesn´t mean much without prior experience of what normal HD 800 bass sounds like. Time will tell...