Sennheiser HD 800 Redux

[postjack]

Like you need me to tell you, but the HD800 sounds stupendous on the KG Safetified Supra Killer Version.

 

What I love about the HD800 is you don't need to crank it up to ear splitting volume to get maximum resolution. But you are also free to crank it up and rock out, if the source material allows it. This is the opposite of my experience with the HD650, which always needed to be at "reference" volume level to let all the goodness come through.

 

one of my favorite things to test any hi fi component is listen to a soundboard recording of a show I was at. listening to a phish show from alpharetta this summer, and I can feel the venue. so awesome. the HD800 is the "rightest" sounding transducer I've heard this side of ESL-63s.

 

the dogs want me to quit paying attention to this new thing and pay more attention to them.

 

it is laughingly enormous though:

 

 

 

 

[blessingx]

That stand is sturdy, right? #protectthedogs

[Grand Enigma]

#screwthedogsprotecttheamp

#canalwaysgetnewdog

[postjack]

Yeah its much sturdier and heavier than it looks.

I could technically fit the amp on the rack if I slid it in sideways, but I like having it out in the open.

[shellylh]

That looks so awesome. It must sound fantastic!

Edited March 8, 2014 by shellylh

[guzziguy]

... it is laughingly enormous though:

 

 

Wall warts need a lot of room.

[skullguise]

Looks great, Jack, enjoy!  And I like the pup stairs to the bed.....we almost got those for our overweight cat (peaked at 31.6 lbs, but still managed to jump on our bed).

[Dusty Chalk]

31.6 lbs.?!?!?  That's a lotta cat.

[skullguise]

Yup....when he sat around the house, he sat AROUND the house....

 

But he was an awesome cat.  SOTA Moonbeam....a.k.a. The Rambo Bose Kitty

[xand1x]

Congrats on the purchase! How does it compare to the Beta?

[aardvark baguette]

i like

[Leonardo Drummond]

Damn, that's a gorgeous setup! Is that one of Naamanf's Buffalo builds, btw?

 

Also, I'm now officially a convert. Just got and HD800 to go (despite not having liked it the first time I had it) with my GS-X and Abrahamsen V6.0 and I'm loving it!

[postjack]

Congrats on the purchase! How does it compare to the Beta?

 

whats up dude? long time no talk on the internet.

 

on the whole a little juicier sounding in the bass then the beta. electric guitar tone (always important to me) a little richer, makes me play air guitar and pump my fist, etc.

 

in terms of absolute speed the beta still wins i think. the speed on certain tracks, hate to keep bringing up phish but whatever i know the music well so i use it to test equipment, but the Reba from the MSG 95 was ungodly with the beta. For those that don't know (meaning everyone but grawk) Reba is a rapid fire song, lots of super quick vocals. the hd800 + beta combo was blinding in its accurate reproduction of every detail, just flying at my ears. the supra falls a little short of that level of speed, but the tradeoff of overall richness of sound is worth it.

 

leonardo, yeah thats a buffalo dac i bought from todd/skullguise. beautiful piece, sounds awesome if you are into the sabre dac thing.

 

haven't done a lot of comparison between the apollo vs buffalo dac through the supra. probably the differences are pretty much like you think they would be.

[wink]

But, but......   the volume control only goes to 6......!

[postjack]

Looks great, Jack, enjoy! And I like the pup stairs to the bed.....we almost got those for our overweight cat (peaked at 31.6 lbs, but still managed to jump on our bed).

That is a gigantic kitty.

The stairs are for Neko, the small brown Chinese crested mix pictured. She hurt her back a few months ago, we think from trying to jump on the bed and failing. We think she is about 8 years old now. She is still pretty spry, but can't jump quite as high as she used to. The steps really help her.

Oh, and the volume control actually goes past the sixth dot, so that is like, extra volume. Its like moar louder than other amps.

Speaking of Christopher Guest just watched Best In Show because my wife had never seen it. Such a great movie.

Edited March 9, 2014 by postjack

[wink]

So, everything past the sixth dot is overdrive........  gotcha.

[nopants]

I've been spending small amounts of time with the hd800 on a balanced beta and single ended krell ksa, I'm leaning a bit toward the krell because of the way it slightly compresses the vocal imaging. otherwise I tend to experience a super stereo effect while listening.

I feel even with this level of amplification the treble still is a bit smeared. the bass is nice though, certainly one of the unique strengths of the headphone.

[K3cT]

I think that treble smearing is a weakness of dynamic driver in general. E-stats and planar magnetic headphones don't have this issue although they don't image as nicely as the HD800. 

[nopants]

well I've already complained about the shortcomings and this certainly isn't the place for headfi style impressions. suffice it to say I don't own dynamics anymore for a reason

I still really want to try these with a 6336c amp, I think the heat output would probably skew my bias positive

[Leonardo Drummond]

leonardo, yeah thats a buffalo dac i bought from todd/skullguise. beautiful piece, sounds awesome if you are into the sabre dac thing.

 

haven't done a lot of comparison between the apollo vs buffalo dac through the supra. probably the differences are pretty much like you think they would be.

 

I do like Sabre DACs, but I'm usually more into the more musical sounding chips. What amazes me is how this build looks so much better than many mass produced products!

[K3cT]

well I've already complained about the shortcomings and this certainly isn't the place for headfi style impressions. suffice it to say I don't own dynamics anymore for a reason

I still really want to try these with a 6336c amp, I think the heat output would probably skew my bias positive

By chance are your pair stock or modified?

[nopants]

They're stock, my friend owns them. Maybe I'll convince him to build a mig amp

[grawk]

I think it's reasonable to modify a $75 pair of headphones to make them world beaters.  If $1500 headphones aren't world beaters out of the box, they should be returned with prejudice.

[postjack]

I think it's reasonable to modify a $75 pair of headphones to make them world beaters.  If $1500 headphones aren't world beaters out of the box, they should be returned with prejudice.

I concur.

[nopants]

You guys are terrible. Sennheiser can't afford the toilet paper, it's not their fault that their 200% markup doesn't pay the bills