The HD800 & HD800S thread

After going back and forth for a week with the hd800 and 800 S, I sold off the 800S. I'll be calling the hd800 part of my do not sell pile. I like the sound of the 800S but at the end of the day the original was more receptive to EQ, offered lower distortion (especially in the bass spectrum) and was considerably less expensive. The 800S was a little easier to listen to right out of the box (no tweaks) and looked nicer (relative).

I'm happy with my choice. With the money I saved I was able to put a posh copper cable from Norne Audio into the mix and still had cash left over for music.

 

Totally agree with all of that. Had a mini-meet at my place last week, two HD800 with various mods and a stock HD800S. The HD800S was preferable against stock HD800, and honestly for me even against HD800 with SBAF+cork+superdupont. With good use of EQ however, the modded HD800 I think has more potential, in part due to cleaner bass, but I also found the HD800S loses some of the magic in the highs that the HD800 has, even after EQing the latter. A mate brought his HD800 with superdupont & a wool (not felt) Anax type mod. Sounded fantastic, best of the three for me without EQ, being really effective at taming the harshness but retaining everything else with the HD800. He's sending me some of the wool so I can try it out.

 

I too must agree that 800's can respond very well to 'proper' EQ, assuming the rest of the chain is up to the task, which these days is WAY easier to achieve than ever before.

And as I have mentioned previously, the extreme low end bass (below 10Hz and all the way up) that 800's are capable of delivering is astounding.
And the only way I know of achieving this end result (of delivering this portion of the freq.) is by using EQ.

And once achieved is most satisfying.

JJ

 

What the hell have I done?

I bought the HD800's without listening to them, and a Jotunhiem on top of that!

I've been kind of bored with my other headphones, Elear, TH900, 1270 and T5P.2 so I decided to bite the bullet and buy the ultimate headphone of all time, according to some.

Not sure if it was the right decision, but I need something new in terms of audio frequency in my life, and the HD800 seem radically different from the bass heavy headphones I own.

I'm hoping that I can find an amp that is relatively cheap and can warm up these headphones so that I don't kill myself due to the high frequencies.

I kind of hope that my ~7k frequency slight hearing loss will help to lessen the severity of these headphones.

 

You should try sonarworks reference 3 headphone plugin. Free trial. Trust me

 

Your hearing loss and swapping amps might not be enough to save you from the 6kHz spike that they have- that will likely require modification. However, yes, I wouldn't try and pair those headphones with that amp- they both sound pretty much their absolute worst together. Actually I lie, HD700 or some Beyers might be more obnoxious, but you're still close

The thread you want is probably this one:

http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/best-amps-for-sennheiser-hd800.330/

Good luck!

 

I bought this yesterday as with the black Friday discount it was a lot more enticing. I'm planning to get the trial of Jriver or Audirvana to try Sonarworks with my HD650. Have you tried the 650 with this? Any suggestions?

 

The changes with the 650 are modest. Appreciable but modest. The changes with the HD 800 are pretty dramatic and where the real magic is.

 

If you like using it, save yourself a bundle over buying Jriver or Audirvana and get VOX instead (has full Audio Unit support).

 

Thanks for the suggestion, is there a Windows version?

 

Ah, sorry, I got the impression you were on Mac. If you are on Windows you can just use Foobar 2000 (free) which has a plugin to use VSTs.

 

Thanks.

I thought about getting the HD800s but the talk about the bass being a bit distorted kind of worried me. Plus the HD800 was $700 less than the HD800s. Hard to justify the price difference.

 

It's a gentle second harmonic on the 800S, so a slight "bloom". However, I suspect that an SDR mod (kills the 6kHz spike) and a bit of EQ will give you a better sound from the grey 800 anyway. Have a look at that amp thread, though- there are good ideas about amps that work well with the 800, not all of them cost more than the headphones.

I haven't tried it myself, but logically, I suspect that the 800S would be less amenable to an EQ lift of the bass, too, due to the added distortion.

 

That bass distortion would be problematic for you if the bass distortion of the HD650 is problematic for you.

 

I MUCH prefer the HD880SD to the HD800S, regardless of cost, for what that is worth.

 

i'm excited. i should be getting my hd800 in the mail later on today. it is already super dopunt modded as well. the hd800 has always been my dream headphone and always saw it as a true step-up from my old trusted akg 240DF's i had for years before they ended up dying on me. they should be getting here by end of the day supposedly from fedex and i defiantly be waiting. i haven't been excited bout anything audio for longest time like i am now. finally getting my dream headphones after all these years. can't wait for them to get here and get a chance to finally listen to these legendary status headphones.

 

Yay, Rex! Are you planning to plug it into a little Vali 2 or similar to take the edge off a bit?

 

Watch out for the fredex ninja. He is a slippery son of a bitch. I like to grease the sidewalk. That usually slows him down a little.

 

800SD mod > stock 800S?

That is rather unexpected but interesting none the less...

What about a modded 800S?