Senhensier HD800

[weng]

yeah and so are w3000anv, d7000, lcd2/3.

i had quite a long listen to the hd800 with the o2 2 weeks ago. this round my focus is on brightness and Ssses. on the o2, it wasn't as nice, or forgiving. there's a certain level of brightness and harshness in the vocals.

this round i tried hd800, lcd 3, ad2000. w3000anv, d7000 and lcd 2 impressions were from previous rounds. previous round also tried d7100. it's a joke really, imo.

d7000 is too treble-centric. lcd2 very thick, very "heavy" and sounds muffled. finally had the chance to try lcd3. walao the vocals is very nice, very sweet, probably the sweetest, most intimate vocals i've heard, but somehow still sounded like cover mouth and sing. effect is generally like that except vocals. it's a better (less "covered") version of the lcd2 imo. w3000anv is generally ok except the top end somehow like kena chamfered off like that. machiam like your face kena punched. the change is just too abrupt. sounded a bit weird. i also tried the ad2000. much more natural but still a bit too treble-ish (the Ssses trails are quite piercing), and the stumbling block for me was that the earpad is too shallow. my ears actually pressing on the driver surface there already, very uncomfortable.

so the above phones i tried are quite/very different from one another, and all had some significant twist to the sound somewhere except the ad2000 and especially hd800 that sounded more natural. ad2000 already no go. so left with the hd800, the only gripe being potentially bright/harsh vocal. nevertheless, i took the leap of faith cos at home i won't be using it with the o2 in the first place, and knowing the differences between the o2 and my home MF setup. and i was well rewarded although it's a big hole burnt especially just after some recent purchases. but now if i had to restart again from nothing, i would have gone straight to hd800.

so... it really depends on your component matching. then again, ever since bringing it home, i've not listened with the o2 yet. so duno how different it will be compared to listening in the store where it's so much noisier. maybe feeling/effect different?

happy testing!

 

[weng]

btw, among all these 4-digit phones, allow me to suggest a 3-digit one to try. akg q701. stereo may not have the demo at the moment, but you can try its close cousin, k702.

i keep thinking of starting a new thread and write about the q701, but laziness just gets the better of me. i'm still running in the phones together with the hd800 now. it's almost hitting 400hrs for the akg. hd800 is into the 100s. every night i will have a listen to both. words still cannot describe how wtf i feel with the q701. recently i was so preoccupied with the Ssses and stuff, and out of all the phones i've heard, imo the q701 is one of the most near-perfect phones for it (or rather the lack of it), while remaining extremely natural, open, clear, detailed to the very minute pixel. how is that possible having such clarity and yet all the Ssses are so obvious yet natural... i really don't know. try singing some verses and pronounce the S words and hear your own "live" voice making the S sounds. they can be very pronounced, but they dun pierce your ears right? it is that accurate. i might even rate it over hd800. but run-in timings for the 2 phones is still not a fair deal so shan't conclude now.

bass is not alot. to me it's borderline adequate. certain genres may sound a bit thin. but with vocal/jazz genres, the bass just presents itself very well and is very articulate. despite the overall mid-high signature, it never sounded harsh with any genre i listen to. even the noisy maroon 5 was very comfortable with it. such genres sound great with hd650 probably due to the bolder signature with a slight attenuated treble. but you know it's not natural. with the q701, it's another story, but you compromise the bass weight.

with vocal based genres, it's simply outstanding. soundstaging is rivaling hd800, though not as deep. makes the hd700 sounds small when hd700 is already making the hd650 sounds abit small (though hd700 would be more intimate and warm compared to the akg, and more prone to ringing).

compared to the hd800, this akg is probably the most "proportionately different". what i mean is, eg hd800 is like overall warmer and has a little more bottom weight, and some +/- here and there, but with no significant twist in any particular frequency range between the 2. but the other phones, to me, have significant twists in their respective signatures that make them very different sounding.


disclaimer: all the above impressions are what i perceive with my ears. your ears may vary. so just take it with some salt and go audition for yourself.

 

[madcap386]

Nice review Weng..

 

[iAHBEE]

btw, among all these 4-digit phones, allow me to suggest a 3-digit one to try. akg q701. stereo may not have the demo at the moment, but you can try its close cousin, k702.

i keep thinking of starting a new thread and write about the q701, but laziness just gets the better of me. i'm still running in the phones together with the hd800 now. it's almost hitting 400hrs for the akg. hd800 is into the 100s. every night i will have a listen to both. words still cannot describe how wtf i feel with the q701. recently i was so preoccupied with the Ssses and stuff, and out of all the phones i've heard, imo the q701 is one of the most near-perfect phones for it (or rather the lack of it), while remaining extremely natural, open, clear, detailed to the very minute pixel. how is that possible having such clarity and yet all the Ssses are so obvious yet natural... i really don't know. try singing some verses and pronounce the S words and hear your own "live" voice making the S sounds. they can be very pronounced, but they dun pierce your ears right? it is that accurate. i might even rate it over hd800. but run-in timings for the 2 phones is still not a fair deal so shan't conclude now.

bass is not alot. to me it's borderline adequate. certain genres may sound a bit thin. but with vocal/jazz genres, the bass just presents itself very well and is very articulate. despite the overall mid-high signature, it never sounded harsh with any genre i listen to. even the noisy maroon 5 was very comfortable with it. such genres sound great with hd650 probably due to the bolder signature with a slight attenuated treble. but you know it's not natural. with the q701, it's another story, but you compromise the bass weight.

with vocal based genres, it's simply outstanding. soundstaging is rivaling hd800, though not as deep. makes the hd700 sounds small when hd700 is already making the hd650 sounds abit small (though hd700 would be more intimate and warm compared to the akg, and more prone to ringing).

compared to the hd800, this akg is probably the most "proportionately different". what i mean is, eg hd800 is like overall warmer and has a little more bottom weight, and some +/- here and there, but with no significant twist in any particular frequency range between the 2. but the other phones, to me, have significant twists in their respective signatures that make them very different sounding.


disclaimer: all the above impressions are what i perceive with my ears. your ears may vary. so just take it with some salt and go audition for yourself.

heh moi haz the older bro k701, liking it so far too

 

[NikonD4]

HD800

Amazon US selling usd$1,499.99 excl freight. This work out to be around S$ 1,850.00 exchange 1.233. Savings around S$549.00...... anybody doing mo ?

 

[kazzzam]

Plus tax and shipping almost close to $2.1k

Is around this price in sg

 

[NikonD4]

HD800

Finally managed to get the HD800 for test drive. Tks to a very patient person at Stereo - Rong Zu. Tks Rong Zu. Compared against the d7100 and w3000. The d7100 felt hollow in the mid range whereas the W3000 came close the the signature of the hd800. However still sitting on the fence and trying to find a compelling reason to take the deep dive........

 

[NikonD4]

Finally managed to get the HD800 for test drive. Tks to a very patient person at Stereo - Rong Zu. Tks Rong Zu. Compared against the d7100 and w3000. The d7100 felt hollow in the mid range whereas the W3000 came close the the signature of the hd800. However still sitting on the fence and trying to find a compelling reason to take the deep dive........

Oops, "patience" instead of patient......sorry again. Must really spelling teacher this time.

 

[TeamStereo]

Glad that we managed to help =) Do take your time and compare them again sometime but I would say that the W3000 is a very choice as well and what's more - its limited to 2000 sets in the whole world.

 

[LemonT]

Did you try HD700 and LCD-2?
Should try LCD-2 with Dark Star at Stereo, damn nice.

I spend more time on my LCD-2 than HD800 nowadays.

 

[hentaixp1985]

yeah and so are w3000anv, d7000, lcd2/3.

i had quite a long listen to the hd800 with the o2 2 weeks ago. this round my focus is on brightness and Ssses. on the o2, it wasn't as nice, or forgiving. there's a certain level of brightness and harshness in the vocals.

this round i tried hd800, lcd 3, ad2000. w3000anv, d7000 and lcd 2 impressions were from previous rounds. previous round also tried d7100. it's a joke really, imo.

d7000 is too treble-centric. lcd2 very thick, very "heavy" and sounds muffled. finally had the chance to try lcd3. walao the vocals is very nice, very sweet, probably the sweetest, most intimate vocals i've heard, but somehow still sounded like cover mouth and sing. effect is generally like that except vocals. it's a better (less "covered") version of the lcd2 imo. w3000anv is generally ok except the top end somehow like kena chamfered off like that. machiam like your face kena punched. the change is just too abrupt. sounded a bit weird. i also tried the ad2000. much more natural but still a bit too treble-ish (the Ssses trails are quite piercing), and the stumbling block for me was that the earpad is too shallow. my ears actually pressing on the driver surface there already, very uncomfortable.

so the above phones i tried are quite/very different from one another, and all had some significant twist to the sound somewhere except the ad2000 and especially hd800 that sounded more natural. ad2000 already no go. so left with the hd800, the only gripe being potentially bright/harsh vocal. nevertheless, i took the leap of faith cos at home i won't be using it with the o2 in the first place, and knowing the differences between the o2 and my home MF setup. and i was well rewarded although it's a big hole burnt especially just after some recent purchases. but now if i had to restart again from nothing, i would have gone straight to hd800.

so... it really depends on your component matching. then again, ever since bringing it home, i've not listened with the o2 yet. so duno how different it will be compared to listening in the store where it's so much noisier. maybe feeling/effect different?

happy testing!

SR009 rules them all

 

[wind30]

Did you try HD700 and LCD-2?
Should try LCD-2 with Dark Star at Stereo, damn nice.

I spend more time on my LCD-2 than HD800 nowadays.

I tried the HD700 with the darkstar and I thought it is just horrible to me.

The treble is so harsh. I really wanted to get the HD700 because it was so comfortable but I did not after listening it with the darkstar.

The LCD-2 feels like a ton of brick on my head. The HD800 sounds nice to me on the darkstar but it is too big. The headphones seems to cover my face rather than my ears...

 

[weng]

I tried the HD700 with the darkstar and I thought it is just horrible to me.

The treble is so harsh. I really wanted to get the HD700 because it was so comfortable but I did not after listening it with the darkstar.

The LCD-2 feels like a ton of brick on my head. The HD800 sounds nice to me on the darkstar but it is too big. The headphones seems to cover my face rather than my ears...

maybe it's pairing + run-in. mine has ~300hrs and i would say most of the harshness has simmered. now left with the tings and zings

lcd2 indeed is seebeh heavy duty feel lol... what do you think of the sound?

at first i also thought the hd800 is too big. but after wearing for some time, now i think they are one of the most comfortable phones.

 

[LemonT]

I tried the HD700 with the darkstar and I thought it is just horrible to me.

The treble is so harsh. I really wanted to get the HD700 because it was so comfortable but I did not after listening it with the darkstar.

The LCD-2 feels like a ton of brick on my head. The HD800 sounds nice to me on the darkstar but it is too big. The headphones seems to cover my face rather than my ears...

I did not audition HD700 on Dark Star, tried it on my RSA SR71B and it sounds good. It's just different sounding from HD800.

LCD-2 is heavy, I can wear it 30mins at most before taking a break, but its a very musical sounding phone with an extra oomph at the bass compare to HD800.
HD800 is very detailed and extremely comfortable, can wear for 2hrs without feeling the strain.

 

[weng]

I'm not exactly a fan of silver plated copper so have always wanted to try all-copper for hd700. Cardas doesn't have them. Any idea which other maker has it? I've ordered the hd800 one though. Probably here in another week or 2.

 

[axl]

I'm not exactly a fan of silver plated copper so have always wanted to try all-copper for hd700. Cardas doesn't have them. Any idea which other maker has it? I've ordered the hd800 one though. Probably here in another week or 2.

I'm also looking for an all copper cable for my HD800. Was considering the Toxic Cable Venom. How is the Cardas one? How much and from where you ordered?

 

[weng]

I'm also looking for an all copper cable for my HD800. Was considering the Toxic Cable Venom. How is the Cardas one? How much and from where you ordered?

I have the cardas for my hd650. seemed to improve on overall depth and not as laidback but maybe because it's copper vs copper, the differences are probably subtle. i'm hoping to hear more noticeable differences against the silver plated copper.

can go coherence audio at adelphi. they are the distro for cardas. can opt for different length. his pricelist is in usd, so that time i bought the 3m for $360 after conversion iirc. hd800 gotta pay extra for the connector. this round it cost $400.

they have stock for hd650 but hd800 gotta order due to the connector. can also make the mini-xlr for akg but the connector top up is even more expensive than hd800's.

above is for the cardas standard cable. they also have the clear cable which is much more expensive. he said so far nobody has bought the clear cable haha...

if i had to choose again, i would not have bought the cardas for hd650. at about 50% of the headphone price, imo it's not worth it at all. but for hd800 the ratio is more acceptable so i decided to go ahead and try. but aiya i should have ask whether can send back my cardas to re-terminate with hd800 connector or not. if can then probably much cheaper.

 

[di_andrei]

As others have mentioned get STAX instead, I had a HD800 and was not impressed at all. By the way, if I remember correctly, Sennheiser here in Singapore has a unit they will loan out to you so you can test it at home in your own rig.

But the bottom line is that even an entry level stax setup (323s + 407) is so much better than the HD800 and it's probably cheaper as well. You can listen to a few stax rigs at Music by Design.

Don't get me wrong, I love Sennheiser and they make very competent headphones, but at the moment I don't think they really do a headphone I could recommend to anyone. In the lower $$$ segment I feel that Audio Technica beats them at any price level, and in the higher $$$ segment STAX wipes the floor with them.

 

[weng]

As others have mentioned get STAX instead, I had a HD800 and was not impressed at all. By the way, if I remember correctly, Sennheiser here in Singapore has a unit they will loan out to you so you can test it at home in your own rig.

But the bottom line is that even an entry level stax setup (323s + 407) is so much better than the HD800 and it's probably cheaper as well. You can listen to a few stax rigs at Music by Design.

Don't get me wrong, I love Sennheiser and they make very competent headphones, but at the moment I don't think they really do a headphone I could recommend to anyone. In the lower $$$ segment I feel that Audio Technica beats them at any price level, and in the higher $$$ segment STAX wipes the floor with them.

would be interested to have a listen to the stax. however i'm not sure if audio technica is definitively "better" as both brands have different sound signatures and some models from either side will be "good" and "not so good". the thing is all these are still down to individual preferences so sometimes technical superiority does not necessarily mean "better".

 

[wind30]

I think there is more important things than sound quality.

To me comfort is the most important and that is very subjective as people's head is different..

best if to go and audition the phones for yourself.