Jupiter Audio Research JAR800

A month ago I met @ext1 in person who was kind enough to let me audition several prototypes of JAR800 for the first time. I gave him some feedback, and a week later he came back with updated prototypes which sounded remarkably better. It is still a work in progress, so I'm not allowed to upload any photos until the embargo's lifted, but all I can say is that like the JAR600/650, it uses 3D printed material which goes on top of the HD800's grills. My impressions are based on my personal best sounding one among the 5-6 units I got to listen to.

According to @ext1, stock HD800 sounds different by their serial no, so different mods should be applied for each unit. Despite my years of owning several HD800s, I was never able to confirm that S/N matters. He is particularly after early S/N units as they seem to result in the best sounding JAR800. At any rate, you will have provide @ext1 with your own HD800 for the mod, as the HD800 is currently discontinued.

I compared my HD800SDR, Drop HD8XX with JAR800. Among the three, the Drop HD8XX best addressed the HD800's inherent 7K peak. However, it comes at a tradeoff, especially with the mids that sound a bit off.

The JAR800 doesn't transform the HD800 into a completely different headphone. It is just as effective as the HD800SDR when it comes to taming the highs, but overall sounds airier with better layering. I wouldn't call it the HD850 everyone seems to be after (the HD8XX better fits the HD850 moniker), but just as I preferred JAR600 to JAR650, I think many will prefer JAR800 to HD8XX for the former's more balanced tuning.

I can say that JAR800 is by far the best sounding iteration of HD800 I've heard to date, but as I said, it's a work in progress and probably has room for improvement in the future.

P.S. While I cannot share any photos of JAR800 per @ext1's request, I had the pleasure of inviting him over for some decent K-BBQ in Seoul, along with @SoupRKnowva who also happened to be in town.