The HD800 & HD800S thread

Yeah, not a bad point, given most of the reviews I've read have been from folks with some mod or another done in the case of OG 800 (or even 800S) -- usually at least SDR.

 

Agreed.

I tested, at least, 5 different pair of pads and my old stock were always better for me. Even when i bought new stock, i always preferred them after being used a while.

The closer the drive is to my ears the better as well. At least with my modded 800s and my setup.

 

I bought hd800 three times and sold them three times. I cannot tolerate the high frequency and makes my ear feels pain after about 1 hour listening.
What I like is the sound stage and clear position of every instrument. The low frequency is so so, not bad, not as good as planar. I also tried sdr mod in one of the hd800, it works, but I found sound stage is smaller and sound is not that natural, also tried black dragon cable to add warmth to the sound.
Anyway, it's a good headphone and many people like it much, for me, maybe I will buy it fourth time after some time....

 

It's a headphone that you have to build a system around. You have to find the correct synergy or it doesn't work as a main headphone.

Either that or get a JAR800 that has the 6K peak removed.

But if you build a system around the 800 it will reward you by being synergistic with the rest of the Sennheiser popular headphones as well, if you do it right.

 

@Erroneous is kind of the resident Sennheiser expert and knows what he’s talking about.

That has also been my experience - while I’m kind of a high frequency whore and am not bothered much by all its permutations, the more I’ve followed advice the more the 800’s midrange has filled out and its highs remained super well articulated but much less prickly and piercing. You can also squeeze better bass articulation and to some degree depth out of it, too, depending on DAC/amp. A TOTL tube amp like an EC does all that and manages to push its staging capabilities and resolution to greater heights. Don’t mean to suggest you’d need one, though - plenty of ways to tune. LIM also helped with bass articulation on mine.

Horses for courses/YMMV of course - keep in mind what I said about how little I’m bothered by high frequencies and/or fatigue. You can also push other headphones to get a little more 800-ish with staging and resolution depending on rig (JAR600/650 maybe? Idk I’d defer to others there, haven’t heard them).

 

Another solution, other than the forementioned ones, and the best imo (for that specific problem), solderdudes passive filter. @CEE TEE also used/s for other headphones and they are well built and work.

 

^Holy cow, I forgot about trying to get one for 800. Thank you!!

 

What is this?

 

Check out the ‘Passive Filter’ section on this page:

https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/brands-s-se/hd800/

 

Got an used HD800s and have been using it for a few days. Definitely has some special sauce going on compared to other headphones I've tried.

Spoiler: Millionth impression of Hd800s posted on the interwebs

The staging and imaging is spectacular, although I would say voices and many instruments lack a bit of heft/ body on their fundamental notes, tone/ timbre is a little plasticky, at least compared to Clears and the He-6.

Chain is Yggdrasil LIM -> Sago OG->First Watt F5

I also tried them with the Phonitor X but found certain piano notes, like the ones around 2 minutes into Song for the man by Beastie Boys, were a bit too emphasized compared to the F5. The Phonitor X seems to have a slight extra emphasis in the upper mids compared to the F5.

I find the Hd800s into the F5 overall very musical, great for stuff like the Beatles and Talking heads where there is a lot going on, but does not demand heavy slam for proper enjoyment.

Would not recommend for metal and electronic for the most part, but I think that is well known by now.

If I have anything new to add, it would be how important the positioning of the Headphones has been for the enhanced enjoyment of it's staging and imaging abilities.

At first I had the headband going up relatively vertically and had my ears pretty centered, maybe just a bit further back. This made the center image weak, and made things sound mainly coming from left and right, with a very diffuse in between. Up down staging was still pretty great.

I have messed around and positioned the Headband significantly further back and at a diagonal, and with my ears as far back and up into the cups as I could get while being comfortable. These are tricks I have used with the HE-6 as well with similar results.

Here is a picture: https://imgur.com/a/FNEmhih

The result is a very precisely defined continuous stage where sound moves freely, and things can be placed with pinpoint accuracy. In stead of a center that feels like it's diffuse and in my head, the center is now pinpoint precise, and clearly in front of me rather than inside my head.

It is like my ears are the microphone in the studio, and I am being given the precise positional information of where everything was during the recording, with a lot of it being placed in front of me. Depth/ proximity of how close something is to the microphone also comes across very clearly.

I have read some mentions of it on here before and would agree that this has to do with HRTF optimization based on ideal positioning of the cups with respect to your face and ears.

In real life, a lot of the sound waves you hear come as reflections from the floor that bounce back up and hit your ears.

This is part of the HRTF and surely is part of how we interpret things being in front of us.

Thus, I think what is happening is that by putting your ears back and up in the cup, and then angling the cups backwards as shown in the picture, you are angling the drivers in the direction sound waves bouncing off the floor would hit your ear, and thus helping feel like the sounds are coming from outside your head.

It really makes a huge difference in my opinion, and it is free to try, unlike so many things in this hobby, give it a shot!

The only downside is I can't happily listen to my headphones without first spending excessive amount of time making sure they're perfectly placed, hello new source of audio Nervosa

 

I’ve never been one to pass on something else to do some nervosaing around when it’s free or easy-ish, so I’ll report back since 800 is my daily driver. In my head (!) having the headband that far back with 800’s very minimal clamp force could result in a lot of slippage and sliding, but who knows. It is true that cup position forward or back makes a difference, IME, and with the 800’s angled driver that’s always made sense to me on some level.

 

Yes please definitely let me know how it goes for you!

You are absolutely correct that for me, when I found the perfect spot, it was also of course right at the edge of the crown of my skull begging to fall off backwards. Basically the most inconvenient spot it could be without falling off, I compensated with a bit of a forward lean, but it's definitely not an 8 hour listening session set up without some further tweaking being done.

 

Hello guys,
I just bought an HD800S and they sound a little imbalanced left vs right to my ears. I took out the pads and checked the drivers by eyes and they were in perfect condition. I tried to swap the cables and it seems one driver is indeed quieter than the other. May I ask what can cause the imbalance other than broken drivers? Can the jack port be loose or defective on my HD800S? Thanks for your replying,

 

If it's not the amp or cables connecting DAC and amp, it sounds to me like the drivers would sadly be the most likely.

The metal mesh could cause an imbalance, although that's easy to check visually.

There are tiny wires connecting the jack to the drivers, but it's unlikely something happened to them.

Have you tried it without the stock liner?

 

I'll have to check this out when I get home from vacation. Mine are heavily modded, don't know if that makes a difference.

Not sure if it makes sense to me regarding simulating the direction of sound waves bouncing off the floor. Having your ears high and to the back would put drivers lower, but the angle would mean the sound waves are directed downwards and to the back, rather than upwards like they would if bounced off the floor. There's probably much more going on so this simplistic view probably doesn't take everything going on into account.

I haven't been using my HD800s at all lately, so this is a good reason to dig them out.

 

So I checked this out. Putting ears in the upper back corner of the cups brings the stage more to the front and makes it less diffuse (though also less expansive), and creates a more clearly defined center image. I tried rotating it back on my head and while there may have been a slight improvement (i.e. increase in previously mentioned changes), the pressure point at the top of the back of my head is too uncomfortable. So I'll stick with ears in the back upper rear corner of the cups. Thanks for this @weicheheck

 

I'm glad you liked them that way! Pretty much exactly what I experienced, things sound like they're coming more from in front of you as compared to the other way of wearing them, and locating the position of certain sounds becomes much easier and well defined. I'm also glad to hear I'm not crazy with the rotating thing as well, although it is definitely inconvenient

 

HD800S + R2R + DHTs = win

(credit to @Erroneous @Joshvar and @yotacowboy for making a rough year more tolerable with gear loans)

 

Which moth amp is that?

 

Pretty sure it’s this Moth 6B4G prototype:

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/sold-moth-ec-6b4g-prototype.11297/