The HD800 & HD800S thread

Would make a good gift at a gender reveal baby shower hosted by your audiophile friends.

 

"I've always gone a long way to customise many of my belongings so it was pretty much a no-brainer for me to paint my HD800S as well."

I wonder what the rest of his stereo looks like.

 

If this guy isn't loaded he's a moron

He's going to lose at least 50% on that headphone. More like 60% to 70% if you count the $300 for the paintjob.

Reminds me of the guy on Headfi who was trying to sell his Lawton Audio modded TH900s for $2000+. The ad was open for 3 years I think.

 

That better be 2200 pesos!! I paid $1870 CDN shipped including gst with a warranty for the S version.

 

Where'd you find that for?? Cheapest I can find brand new from Canadian retailers is $2,200 pre-tax.

 

If I remember correctly, Bay Bloor Radio was discounting them quite heavily.

 

I have a bit of experience in painting miniatures and working on actual cars in various ways (rims, vinyl wrapping, etc). I may try and find a irreparably busted pair of HD800s and try and figure out ways to get it a good even finish. This'll have to happen after my degree though, can't really paint in my apartment over there much.

(Obligatory 'Thin your paints' reference, if anybody else gets it)

Ooo, another website to add to my audio related bookmarks. Thanks!

 

Yep I just emailed Bay Bloor and asked what their best price was and bought them instantly. My local audio shop tried to sound nice offering me $100 off for being such a great customer lol. Lots of online stores will give you a 2-300 off coupon if you ask for the S version. Headphone Bar is really solid.

Bay Bloor also have a demo pair of regular hd800 that he said are scratched a bit but $1,000+gst and comes with warranty...I'm not interested in modding but those might be a good candidate for you also!

 

Yep, and ten minutes installing a pair of @sorrodje's resonators will make them into better headphones than the 800S too- as well as save money. It's mystifying why anyone would buy new HD800S.

 

People are lazy, and they like the latest and newest. Besides there's a new stock paint job.

 

Headphonebar is where I got my Asgard 2 from (before I let it go when I was moving), and where I got my GOV2 from. Really need to go in person sometime, but every experience I've had with them has been high quality so far.

And I'd jump over those HD800's in a second if I could justify further headphone expenses at this point. As is, I've already given my brother permission to slap me if he finds out I've spent more then $300 on audio stuff before graduating.

I've heard good things about performing the resonator and the SBAF mod together. My main concern is technically voiding the warranty with the resonator mod, so that's why I'd be keen on the 800S if it was discounted and kept warranty. I'm not clumsy by any means, but it's nice to have that insurance in case things happen.

I'm sure more than a few companies exist solely because of those two habits of humans haha. I'd really like to tie my undergrad and my masters together and study behavioural economics or behavioural marketing after I finish, but that'll probably wait until after I've gotten more experience in the workforce. Neat stuff for sure though!

 

If enjoying having a warranty on such an expensive item makes me lazy, then f**k it I guess I'm lazy.

 

Going for Sennheiser alone is your insurance already.

 

So buy used HD800 for $700 or so, there are lots of them about. It's one of the better bargains in headphone audio. It's ludicrous to pay the asking price for new HD800S, which don't even take EQ as well, having extra distortion in the bass. Paying that much more for ultimately worse headphones is a bit bonkers- the extra cable and obviously better paint job isn't worth that much.

(..and if you listen to classical, get some HD650 first, otherwise the HD8xx upper mid suckout will kill your strings, too.)

 

I agree that buying a new HD800S is foolhardy. If you have to or want to replace the headband and pads, buy Sonarworks, and pick up a balanced cable it lessens the gap between regular and the S (used vs. used).

 

If you can't take the slightly sparse sound of the 800, the 800S isn't much better. If you wanted Sonarworks for the grey, you'd want it for the black. They're not that different beyond the nasty 6kHz spike and the marginally fatter, slightly distorted bass. I'm not sure the 800S would sound as good, mind.

Essentially and very approximately, 800S sound a bit nicer out of the box than the greys, but not as nice as modded greys. You can get the 800 for a song from Head-Fiers who who don't know about the mod/are too scared.

(I'm OK without, though I do like the effect, it's very nice software.)

 

For some that treble spike is the main issue though.

 

Yeah, totally- it's quite obnoxious, even if you mess with different amps. It's a ten minute fix though- especially if you buy your pre-built resonators from the dashing @sorrodje.

 

My daily drivers are (some slightly modded) HD700's, I think I should be fine

 

This is like training at high altitudes for a race at sea level with the HD700 and HD800.