[chimney189]

Good day,
I have an opportunity at a potential trade where I would be obtaining the AKG K812.
I'm wondering if anyone has done a side-by-side comparison?

If anything, what do you guys think of this trade-off?
Thanks!

 

[Me x3]

I have both. Your preferences and electronics always play an important role. I'm assuming you'll be using neutralish solidstate gear.
Main difference is that HD800 is leaner and more distant sounding, while K812 is much more upfront/immediate in its presentation.
It's not that K812 is closed in, it's really open indeed, but not distant. It's more like listening to what the mics captured than listening at the audience place.
K812 macrodetail (in the sense of being able to hear everything distinctively across the whole spectrum) and timing are unmatched by the HD800.
HD800 can be considered a tiny bit more microdetailed (the sound might have a tiny bit more texture to it) but after several A/bing it's quite hard to tell, frankly.

K812 is at the same time more balanced and more of a pro tool in terms of tuning.
Don't let the very slightly warmer/fuller response of K812 make you think you'll get a 'musical'/lusher, closer to HD650-LCD type of sound.
K812 is pretty much, as analytical as it gets. It won't hesitate to rule out good part of your recordings.

 

[chimney189]

I have both. Your preferences and electronics always play an important role. I'm assuming you'll be using neutralish solidstate gear.
Main difference is that HD800 is leaner and more distant sounding, while K812 is much more upfront/immediate in its presentation.
It's not that K812 is closed in, it's really open indeed, but not distant. It's more like listening to what the mics captured than listening at the audience place.
K812 macrodetail (in the sense of being able to hear everything distinctively across the whole spectrum) and timing are unmatched by the HD800.
HD800 can be considered a tiny bit more microdetailed (the sound might have a tiny bit more texture to it) but after several A/bing it's quite hard to tell, frankly.

K812 is at the same time more balanced and more of a pro tool in terms of tuning.
Don't let the very slightly warmer/fuller response of K812 make you think you'll get a 'musical'/lusher, closer to HD650-LCD type of sound.
K812 is pretty much, as analytical as it gets. It won't hesitate to rule out good part of your recordings.

Thank you for your in-depth response! I will be using solid-state amplification.
Can you chime in on a comparison of comfort?

Also, I'll mostly be listening to Videogame OST and Chamber music.
Is there one headphone that would be a better fit for these styles of music?
I have heard that the K812 has better depth in soundstage while the HD800 has more height and width. Is this your finding as well?

 

[Me x3]

Thank you for your in-depth response! I will be using solid-state amplification.
Can you chime in on a comparison of comfort?

Also, I'll mostly be listening to Videogame OST and Chamber music.
Is there one headphone that would be a better fit for these styles of music?
I have heard that the K812 has better depth in soundstage while the HD800 has more height and width. Is this your finding as well?

I think the K812 feels a bit less on the head/face, but both are very comfortable to me.
Slight edge to K812 unless you don't like pleather earpads.

The perception of soundstage is a very complex topic where the shape of your body and the way your brain works play an important role.
I wouldn't say K812 has more depth than HD800. To give you an idea of how I perceive them, HD800 might have 15% more depth and 40% more width.
This is recording dependent (for sure) so take those numbers for what they are.

K812 has sharper imaging.

Both work well with quality chamber music and both can get the job done with relatively good quality videogame OST.
Keep in mind videogame OST is (more often than not) just ok recording quality (compared with top class audiophile labels)

The Beyerdynamic T1 is a nice pick for chamber and videogame OST, but it should be noted that based on many reviews and some measurements, it's not that easy to predict what kind of T1 you'll get.
I have a warm sounding and not overly bright late T1 1st Generation that would work very well for the listed genres, but some other people have leaner and significantly brighter T1s.
Now there's also a 2nd Generation that's supposed to be even warmer and darker, but you'll find quite different opinions on how they actually sound, some people say they are still very bright, some other people say they lack the air and refinement of a good T1.1. So... yeah, despite owning a very enjoyable T1, it's a bit hard to recommend. I'll probably buy a 2nd gen T1 sometime down the road to measure and compare with my 1st gen.

My T1 is more punchy in the mid bass than both HD800 and K812. It's also slightly softer in the treble and less prone to emphasize sibilance. It's more forgiving of poorly recorded music, more compact and more organic sounding (opposed to the more ethereal kind of sound of HD800 and K812). It extremely good in terms of micro-detail/texture of the sound, it's a very vibrant headphone indeed. Just a tad behind K812 and HD800 in terms of macro-detail, so not that great as a tool.

 

[buke9]

I would agree that the 800's sound more distant than the 812's . I have heard them and own the 800's but the tonality of the 812's is very close the the K872's that I do own. I can't speak on the soundstage as the closed back 872's are very different in that respect but for closed backs they are very good probably better than my Ether-C's on soundstage. As far as height and depth I've never heard anything that seems to come from higher or further away in anything I've listened to so don't know on that one.

 

[chimney189]

The T1 is a semi-closed headphone, so how does the soundstage compare to the HD800 and AKG K812?
Or is it one of those 'special' headphones that transcend universal limits of headphone structure.

 

[buke9]

I have heard a T1 that was the brightest headphone I have ever heard that was out of a A20 Beyer amp so that might have something to do with it though but man was it bright and I don't mind a bright headphone but it was just too much. Then heard a Gen 2 and it was much better and was listening from my Amps and Sound Kenzie so that helped but the tubes I have in it are not very warm. I would like to check out a later Gen 1 that was not a hundred nails across a chalkboard though.

 

[Me x3]

The T1 is a semi-closed headphone, so how does the soundstage compare to the HD800 and AKG K812?
Or is it one of those 'special' headphones that transcend universal limits of headphone structure.

My T1's soundstage is layered and open, with nicely focused imaging.
More open than many other fully open headphones, but still not as open as K812 or HD800, which are among the most open sounding headphones out there.

 

[Me x3]

I have heard a T1 that was the brightest headphone I have ever heard that was out of a A20 Beyer amp so that might have something to do with it though but man was it bright and I don't mind a bright headphone but it was just too much.

This is what I was talking about.

The Beyerdynamic T1 is a nice pick for chamber and videogame OST, but it should be noted that based on many reviews and some measurements, it's not that easy to predict what kind of T1 you'll get.

Beyerdynamic A20 is a relatively warm sounding amp (100 Ohm output impedance) so you get the idea.

 

[buke9]

Wow that is a warm sounding amp I would hated to hear them from a O2 or the like then.

 

[chimney189]

I believe that the HD800 leans towards the brighter side of neutral, but anything brighter would feel like overkill for me.

What do you guys think of this comparison video:

EDIT: I definitely see what you mean in terms of the HD800 sounding more distant.

 

[Me x3]

That comparison is not very useful in my view.

More often than not it's not as simple as which one is brighter.
HD800 is brighter in the 6kHz region where my Beyerdynamic T1 is clearly softer.
Then my T1 is brighter in the 8kHz region where the HD800 is softer.

The bass plays a role as well.
If you match the bass level on my T1 and HD800 then the HD800 will sound much brighter overall.
If you match 1kHz tone, then both will sound similarly bright but different types of bright (6kHz vs 8kHz) and my T1 will sound clearly warmer.

 

[buke9]

No one can tell you how you hear what you hear they can only tell you how they hear it. Sorry I will not watch a video that tells me what I think I hear. I hear what I hear. There is only one way to know listen to them. I totally understand that is not always a option but it is the best way. If you can not then you have to take into the account of the reviews and others impressions of what they hear given thier preferred sound signature. This is not easy I understand .

 

[obobskivich]

No one can tell you how you hear what you hear they can only tell you how they hear it. Sorry I will not watch a video that tells me what I think I hear. I hear what I hear. There is only one way to know listen to them. I totally understand that is not always a option but it is the best way. If you can not then you have to take into the account of the reviews and others impressions of what they hear given thier preferred sound signature. This is not easy I understand .

Was just lurking this thread (because the K812 are something I don't see mentioned often) but I have to reply because I agree with this so much. Those YouTube videos where they mic the headphones and then put the recordings up and somehow that lets you "know" what the headphone sounds like are just...bad methodology leading to useless data. All they're doing is letting you know what a piece of music run through gear, through a headphone, and then through their coupler, mic, its gear, etc, compressed and encoded for YouTube, and then out through your gear, headphones, and coupling to your head sounds like. It's not at all going to give you a good idea of what the cans sound like (and to further put the nails in that coffin - I own some of the headphones they've "reviewed" and it doesn't "stack up" in the least). +1 on having to go out and listen for yourself, or take an educated blind guess, and sorry for OT since I haven't got a good answer about the K812 for you.

 

[chimney189]

I guess I see where you guys are coming from, but I'm definitely going to have a hard time in finding a store nearby where I can audition an AKG K812.