Justin S

As an indie pro artist, I feel optimistic about it. I have been incorporating it in my workflow for years as an effective but imperfect assistant (aren't they all). For the discerning reader, viewer, it will never replace the blood and guts of people making good things. But yah...there is a shit storm of lazy noise building.

Its fine, you just keep awareness. It can help get to some relevant conclusions faster. I am not benefiting more from a tech blog ran on ads and getting lost there insted of following the thought process. I can then fact check it with real articles and facts. It makes mistakes.. But I'd say most of the internet is realtively usless information. Its not like a well written book or an article

If AI can filter out relatively uselss information, then it would be great.

The stock pads are more balanced sounding with the kit.

Going back and forth between the HD800Ss and the modded DT770s, the limitations of the 770s are really in tone. This is not a fair fight really, but I like the 770s a bunch for what they are. The 800Ss are more mid forward, as well as having more spit, breath and spank (technically :-). The DT770s sound harmonically thinner to me. Everything is there with them - just less yummy.

I found the fake staging got old pretty quickly, and got in the way of binaural recordings. Now I do acoustics properly with DSP, not in a headphone.

I really like the HD800(S). I guess I understand that some people find them unnaturally wide, but, then, I find staging in all HPs a little artificial. I appreciate the wideness, b/c it lessens the kind of relentless, music beamed into my brain feeling that I find fatiguing with all HPs and IEMs. More speaker-like the better, IMO.

I have the ZMF lambskin pads on them which tighten the bass up and bring the stage in a bit. They sound very natural in this configuration. I went back and forth with the 600s last night and was really stuck by how much I like the 800Ss with the Lyr+ and new the ZMF pads.

is solid state mode tubier than tube?

Tube mode is not really "tube-y", per se. It brings out more staging effects, a focused sense of bloom and changes to dynamics. SS mode is actually a bit more phat, slamming and bloomy than many of the tubes I have - not sure I would associate this with "tubey", but it's a difference.

Hairy non deathstroking anime men haha

That guy used to be the “Budget Audiophile”. 2 words: Wing nut

Maybe he increased the budget and lost his shirt.

I'll leave it on until the weekend and then dig into a little comparison.

This chain is sick good...though currently the modest Tung Sol GTB is my favourite.

How is the fitment of the ZMF pads? Do they go on/off easily, securely?

They are a touch fussy to put on, but nothing too difficult. It took me a few minutes each to get them on. They fit the 800s like a glove and feel perfectly secure. A dumb and not sound related observation: they look nice and I like how beefy they make the HD800Ss feel.

Listening to The Books, Lemon of Pink 1. It feels like even more of a feast with the Lambskin ZMF pads. It's not subtle. Trying to figure out if I like the reduced, but tighter bass of if I want MOAR.

How do they affect the stage?

It makes it all feel a bit more open and convincing. It's a bit brighter, though. I like the different sound.

I wonder if these pads bring the 800S more in line with the HD800. Is anyone else running these pads?

@Justin S yes, did the SDR mod a number of years ago and never looked back. It preserves the HD800 character and kills the 6khz peak. The HD800S is overtweaked for me. The 8XX can also be fun on tubes if you let it, but it will make some things (like percussion) sound very wrong.

I run my 800 mod-less.

I guess SDR and 800S both sat poorly with me re: adding "stuff" above or around the driver to "fix" it, but I also am an air/treble/HF whore so I'm mostly unbothered by the naked 800. Also not very consistent logic on my part as I continue to consider a JAR800, though.

You will definitely not regret getting a JAR800 - quite the contrary

What was difficult? These new boards and cases seem to keep making things easier and easier.

Totally - It's a beauty board - I did this with the ASUS ProArt Creator. After building, the system was unresponsive. With the LED indicator report and some research I tracked if down to the RAM. I always use Crucial RAM and it turns out that the board needed a BIOS flash to add compatibility for the Crucial sticks. In the end: 128BG of ram, onboard 10GigE for my SAN, and a 3090. This thing is a dream.

Ahh - good 'ole BIOS needing flashed out the box. My system is over a decade and I haven't flashed probably 5 at least.

In my audiophile circles dt770 doesn’t seem that popular but with streamers and pros I see a ton of people use them. I wonder if I should revisit them

I agree they have a mixed reputation. I was hesitant, but needed reasonabley priced closed headphones for the office. The M50xs were objectionable, so I thought to try the DT770s. They were a bit rough out of the box, but with some time and lamb Ori pads, they revealed themselves as pretty good - granted I listen at medium to low levels. I am going to try the Custom Cans copper ring and mass loading mod on them, too.

I like my HD-25 but I modified it with 600Ω drivers so it’s essentially a desktop headphone. I need to find some sort of portable amp to go out with it. Or swap back the 70Ω drivers

@Cspirou , I looked that the HD25s as well. The mod sounds interesting. I am surprised at how decent the DT770s are. The ZMF pads make the balance agreeable, though the bass is a bit too intense, I am going to do the @jfunk Custom Cans mod to them and see if that swings things a bit better.

DON'T DO THAT!!!!
Noise Nuke is for smps DC output. Piety uses an AC step down transformer, output is AC. You may have blown the electrolytic capacitors in the Noise Nuke(s).

Gah! Copy that. I did NOT understand it was an AC device. Dumb me not reading the labels and assuming that it was DC. This explains the weirdo readings from my meter. These were quick-ish tests. Noise Nukes are functioning (supplying power, at least) with other devices. Thanks everyone. Mystery solved and disaster averted (I think).

Follow up. Is there a meter reading I can make without taking everything apart to determine if I destroyed the capacitors in the Noise Nukes?

Yay for Piety
Boo for MagPie

@gixxerwimp , ahah. Point taken. Day 2 Piety: it has settled in a bit, smoother and low volume listening has more fullness. It has a really engaging sound that gets me moving around and singing along which I do not often do with headphones.

just here to say i enjoy the piety is already getting an affectionate nickname like the y*g*g*y, g*u*m*b*y, etc.