The HD800 & HD800S thread

Damn, now I wish I hadn't sold them , I would have liked to try out these resonator mods.
Speaking of which, hi @frenchbat . I'm the guy who sold you the phones! Did you end up applying any mods?

 

If any mod is needed for the S, it should be to help open up the soundstage and improve instrument separation imo. Those two excellent qualities of the classic are noticeably diminished on the S, IME.

 

Hi Alex, nice to see you around. I ended up keeping your rugliner, it's been the best I've tried. I'm putting my money on the resonator mod with different materials, as it'd make it possible to keep the strengths of the hd800 without going as far as the hd800S. In one word, modularity.

 

@frenchbat I'm happy to hear that rug liner proved useful in different ways other than stuffing package!

What about Marvin's Z28 mod? Those resonators with three chambers were quite interesting

 

Didn't have the time to go through with the Z28 mod yet. And kinda waiting for the resonator too, but apparently it works great.

 

I am really enjoying my HD800S with any music I throw at it. Can't say the same for the HD800 that was only suitable to the highest quality recordings I have. I mainly listen to classical music.

My setup is Schiit Yggdrasil (fed via Wyrd / USB) with Ragnarok as my headphone and speaker amp, all balanced.

HD800 shined for recordings such as the Bach Cantata set by Suzuki. However whenever I listened to say Beethoven's Missa Solemnis by Klemperer the treble energy was literally painful!

With the HD800S it is a completely different story. It is a pleasure to listen even to Klemperer's Missa. His Mahler's second was also stunning with the bass being slightly more present than the HD800.

Going back to the higher quality recordings I have, the sound is still detailed, with similar soundstage but imaging is a tad less precise. Furthermore, I can now listen for hours and hours with no fatigue whatsoever with the intruments sounding more natural and realistic.

Finally I have an alternative to my Monitor Audio GX100 speaker setup...

 

@Muse Wanderer is the sibalance or ear hurt down /gone from going to the hd800S?

 

Absolutely, for my ears the sibilance is gone. Of course the Yggdrasil worked wonders when I got it but with the HD800 it was still impossible to listen to some records and other well recorded music had sparkly treble that was immersive but caused fatigue after an hour or so. That sparkle is also not much heard when listening to live orchestra, and I always wondered whether the HD800 sounded artificial in that respect.

As an example when I listen to Sibelius symphony recordings by BIS, the dynamics are so wide that the volume needs to be quite high to compensate. The high notes were too sharp at times. Now it feels a bit subdued, less bright but I can listen for a whole day with no issues at all.

Another example is George Crumb's Black Angels that starts with an avalanche of treble energy from the violins...



I can now enjoy this without being pierced in the eardrum by virtual treble ninjas.

 

I just got my HD800 in last night, will post impressions with my NFB28 + Valhalla 2 rig as I get more familiar with it.

 

Part of that could be that the separation isn't as great. The other part being that I was only running the S on some mid-fi rigs, and not a ZD. Airiness, separation, and ss are some of my favorite traits on the classic, and it just seemed to me like the S wasn't quite on par. I'll have to reevaluate down the line once the rest of my system is in order.

 

I can't remember if you already talked about this but how would you compare the treble on HD800S to HD650?

 

I think this is exactly right. My buddy and I both bought the S; he's now upgrading his amp (bought my Rag, lol) to see if that can bring back some of the sparkle that he misses. Otherwise methinks he's gonna sell it and buy the non-S.

I have both side by side, and am still undecided as well. On the songs where the classic nails it, it really nails it- both good and bad. But then that's what the mods are for, eh?

 

It's an interesting question about classical music om regards to the classic vs. youngster. I mostly think it is overall better with the S since timbres and decay are definitely more righter. S isless airy, but that also means less grain. Since a lot of modern recordings of classical are so well done it mostly isn't a problem... Until you listen to early digital brick walled filter stuff or any really big orchestra stuff with wide dynamic range. Then the grain or the sudden extra sharpness of the S can be too much of a good thing.

On solo piano, hands down, the S wins, but also solo flute, and violin. Cello maybe is better on the classic...

In chamber music the airiness and sharpening effect of the classic is unquestionably beguiling, but that also means on some older recordings you can hear too many artifacts of the tape (hiss for example).

So having said all this, I am still pulling out the classic on certain pieces. But..... I am probably gonna sell classic and keep the S. On the S you get 98% of the imaging, instrument separation of the classic, better tonality, realistic treble sibilants, better bass and just as wide a soundstage. You just have to let go of the airiness of the classic.

The S is just better on too many kinds of music and while I mostly listen to classical, I play pretty much everything.

 

A lot of the timbre comments on the classic can be mitigated with certain amps though. Specifically the ZDSE and P1u mitigated any timbre issues I had with the classic.

I bet we're gonna start seeing the same circular arguments regarding the S as we have the classic over the past 7 years or so-all basically hinging on the HD800x's chameleon-like characteristics, and people who outright refuse to admit that upstream gear plays a role.

So, another reason to quit Head-fi, as if there weren't enough.

 

Holy living heck. I had never fully appreciated the SNR issue over at head-fi until just now. I decided to bite the bullet and pick up a 800S. I was wading through the thread over there looking for impressions to psych myself up and there are entire pages where people are just having stream of conscious conversations about any and everything but the HD800S.

The prevailing thought here seems to be that one is a bit foolish for paying basically double the price for the S version when mods to the original have an audibly similar effect. That being said, this has always been a game of inches and if sorrodje's measurements are any indication, there has been a game changing progression made with these headphones. In my book, the Senn HD800 has always been a highly competent TOTL entry with just one unfortunate deal-breaker and it looks like they addressed it.

I couldn't resist and am now looking at a third run at the HD800 line. I tried stock. I tried mods. Hopefully the resonator is the magic bullet.

Rambling side note:
This release has really got me considering another attempt at the summit-fi thing. I keep coming back to the idea of a Studio Jr but the thought of powering my current stable of mid-fi level headphones with a used car priced headphone amp is a bit ludicrous, even within the context of this already questionable hobby.

 

Friends don't let friends research HD800s at Head-fi. It's an experiment in thoughtlessness, close-mindedness, inexperience, and redundancy. This could probably apply to 3,628 other subjects as well.

 

I suppose the S has its appeal in that you don't need to mod the headphone to deal with the treble--and that could be an attractive prospect from both a practical perspective, and a philosophical one (e.g. you just don't like the idea of modding something).
Anyhoo @raif you could try a more modest amp to start with: Valhalla 2 comes to mind. If you're happy with that, don't bother upgrading the amp.