Anyone temped with the HD 800 Headphones

Things change I've changed

Things change I've changed

Things change I've changed

Soldato
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Coming in at a cool £1000 I'm not sure how many people will be picking these beauties up, anyone on here interested ?

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/accessories/0,39101000,49300537,00.htm


"proper" :p

They are not out yet but the few early impressions from people that have auditioned them sound quite positive,

http://www.avforums.com/forums/head...hd800-new-flagship-headphone.html#post8928748

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/sennheiser-hd-800-my-review-408938/#post5415086

Call me crazy but I'm actually temped by these :o, but the cost of a decent amp to power them puts me off.
 
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They are the kind of headphones I would have to borrow and listen to for a while before I laid down £1000 for them.

I think my Grado SR80s are good for now!

Rich
 
Bought a pair of these today. They're incredible.

7419400996_24d8150c42_z.jpg
 
They're not my favourite high-end headphone and getting the best out of them requires a SERIOUS amp. At the last Head-Fi meet I think only 1 guy had an HD800 set up that I'd be happy to take home. The problem with them, I think, is for their strengths, I'd rather spend a bit more on some Stax and get something that does the same thing better.
 
Very hard to justify spending more than £300 on a pair of headphones (and I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference from my HD600s aside from the 600s are rather old now and not as good as they used to be).
 
Rroff said:
the 600s are rather old now and not as good as they used to be).
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The HD600 and HD650 are still some of the best headphones you can buy. Dynamic headphone technology hasn't really improved much and planar magnetics have only really taken off fairly recently.

I was interested in the HD800, but ultimately went for a Beyerdynamic T1 as everything I had read indicated the HD800 would be lacking in bass for my taste.
 
SimonR said:
I think unless you are listening to studio masters or vinyl the media will be the limiting factor. Who really wants to hear how limiting CDs actually sound?
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There is plenty of high quality CD and FLAC material out there, not everything is recorded badly!

I'm more of a speaker guy though and IEMs are more convenient both for commuting in general and powering sufficiently with portable gear, so full size cans aren't really my thing. Probably for the best as it's already an expensive enough hobby for me already!
 
Couldn't help but notice that Unilet had a pair in when I visited recently. Was a bit too scared to actually try them. Already have a pair of HD600s with an LittleDot iv valve amp and they're seeing quite a lot of use at the moment on the backend of a NOS DAC from my flac collection. Was bit worried that the 800s might walk all over the 600s, and really don't have the reqd dosh, certainly so since blowing a fair chunk on the HD621 in the lounge.

Either way, do enjoy and keep us posted.
 
I can't understand how they can justify the price of high end speakers and headphones these days, the technology is old and simple, i own a pair of hd600s and while they sound good, i've taken them apart to clean them a few times over the years, the speaker is very simple, we're talking a magnet, coil and thin bit of clear plastic, how they can sell them for over £250 i don't know, i was lucky to get them for £140 8 years ago and even that was too much, we should have very high quality cheap headphones and speakers now.
 
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Radiation said:
I can't understand how they can justify the price of high end speakers and headphones these days, the technology is old and simple, i own a pair of hd600s and while they sound good, i've taken them apart to clean them a few times over the years, the speaker is very simple, we're talking a magnet, coil and thin bit of clear plastic, how they can sell them for over £250 i don't know, i was lucky to get them for £140 8 years ago and even that was too much, we should have very high quality cheap headphones and speakers now.
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People will pay for quality. Doesn't matter how much it costs them to manufacture it in the first place.
 
Radiation said:
I can't understand how they can justify the price of high end speakers and headphones these days, the technology is old and simple, i own a pair of hd600s and while they sound good, i've taken them apart to clean them a few times over the years, the speaker is very simple, we're talking a magnet, coil and thin bit of clear plastic, how they can sell them for over £250 i don't know, i was lucky to get them for £140 8 years ago and even that was too much, we should have very high quality cheap headphones and speakers now.
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I think you are over simplifying it....
 
lowrider007 said:
Coming in at a cool £1000 I'm not sure how many people will be picking these beauties up, anyone on here interested ?
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They're my favourite headphones. If i had the money then i would, they are slightly overpriced maybe, but they are their signature phones.
I've gone for demos of them quite a few times and not only are they damn comfortable and sounds so beautiful they're amazing crafted.

Still keep an eye out for them 2nd hand at a reasonable price. But for now i'll stick with the HD650 and keep the HD800 as my desktop wallpaper :( lol
 
NirK said:
I think you are over simplifying it....
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Im really not, sure quality materials and construction count for something but the technology is simple and i doubt it costs much to make a pair of hd600 headphones or similar with the same or better audio quality, it does look like the hd800 has a lot more to it but remove all the extras and slap the speaker coils into a cheap shell and it would sound the same.
 
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