The HD800 & HD800S thread

Sorrodje,I currently have the HE6 and HD600. The HE6 certainly has far more clarity, spaciousness, bass definition and depth than the 600. The HE6 gets almost all of my head time.
I'm curious about the HD800/800S. From descriptions I'm sure I'd prefer the sound of the 800S to 800, but in Australia the 800S is currently almost double the price of the heavily discounted HD800. Do you think the 800/800S would be a sideways move from the HE6?

 

Yes, it is costly to send things back. Look its even worse shipping from India where you have to deal with customs paperwork. I think Craig (certainly Marv) knows what issues I went through when I shipped the ZDS and the BW.

 

Bingo. Monsieur, I did just that last night when I went from HD 650 to HD 800 (on the ZDS) and ended up with the HE 6 on my stereo power amp. Emotional sound is the right phrase for the HE-6. Thanks to ohhgourami, I went from a JVC integrated receiver to a Mark Levinson amp for just the HE 6.

 

@drfindley, @velvetx and I briefly compared the SBAF modded HD800 with my stock HD800S this morning out of the EC Studio.

I preferred the sound of the stock HD800S to the SBAF modded HD800. While I think the SBAF modded HD800 would be better for longer listening sessions, I felt like the mods might have taken a little too much away from the detail and bite that makes the HD800/800S so special. The HD800S on the other hand sounded on the bright side of things but felt like the transients and detail were a little sharper. Doing the comparison made me wonder how the mod effects the impulse and 300hz square wave response vs an unmodded pair. I would bet both measure slightly worse modded vs stock.

Ultimately, I the ideal sound would be somewhere in between the two. A lesser version of the SBAF mod (or some clever EQ'ing) specifically for the 800S might be exactly what the doctor ordered.

 

To clarify, the modded HD800 doesn't have a resonator mod installed does it?

 

It did.

 

Oh okay. That makes me curious as to the SBAF/zdfx mod in the HD800S.. It could be that middleground you were describing?

 

Which version of the resonator mod?

 

I may be wrong but I think it was @zerodeefex's personal pair that @drfindley had on loan.

Once the resonator/SBAF mods are finalized I'm hoping someone will send in their pair to Tyll for measurement. Frequency response is no question improved by the mods but I'm worried they may be causing other unintended effects.

 

Highly doubt IR or SW's have deteriorated. I know my version of the mods (which is virtually the same) hasn't.

It sounds to me that you've gotten used the stock HD800's diffuse treble sound. It's almost like an oversharpened image filter effect. Can be mistaken for extra detail if you're not careful. I find overall clarity and resolution to improve with the mods, because there's less of that metal mesh coloration in the way of the music.

 

That is a definite possibility, but why guess when we can measure?

 

Well sure.

I found Tyll's measurements and discussion of Takato14's various HD700 mod permutations are interesting as you can very much see the tradeoffs in action. It'd be fun to do something similar with permutations of mods with the 800/800S.

Link: http://www.innerfidelity.com/conten...aper-filters-front-driver#9RyTOoiZd36tdTX2.97

 

Tak used front damping (as in putting crap in front of the driver) and probably other stuff that would slow down the driver response. SBAF mods do no such thing.

 

I myself preferred the HD800+SBAF+Olive. It was a little bit fuller, which I appreciated. I think detail retrieval can be harder to recognize when it's not the only thing present in the music. I like OJ's calling it oversharpened. It's like someone outlines the edges, of course you're going to notice the detail better, but it doesn't mean it's more detail.

That said, the HD800S had slightly tighter and pronounced bass and the black looks better.

 

I too feel a stock HD800S is superior to a modded HD800. A modded HD800S (with SuperBAF absorber) is of course the best "HD800" I've heard. Modded HD800S is less sibilant and fatiguing than TH-X00 in my honest opinion.

 

After much debate, I've decided to return my HD800 when it arrives this Friday, and placed an order last night for the HD800S. Thanks for tips earlier in the thread regarding ordering from Jan Meir! Great price and sounds like I should expect shipment sometime in the next week or so. Question, for those of you who have ordered from Jan from within the States (I'm in Montana) what shipping method does he use? Trying to get an idea of how long shipping with take.

Either way, very excited, and satisfied with my decision to try the 800S instead of keeping the original (for the second time)!