[Sorrodje]

Yup. it"s been a while but I regret it sometimes. it does so many things right that no other headphone does as well.  My HD800SD suits better my musical tastes though. 
 
I'll probably get another one sooner or later. 

 

[DWbirdseye]

  After reading a lot of the recent posts regarding the HD 650's and their glory, I just gave them a several hour listen, following up with the HD 800 S's on the same tracks.
 
For some background, the HD 650's were my first "audiophile grade" headphones, purchased back in 2012 and were the only headphones used until I acquired the HD 800 S's. I've experienced them grow and scale with all the pieces of equipment I've bought over the years, truly amazing what they are capable of for the price.. and I would say I know them quite well.
 
As much as I loved them, as much as I praised them, recommended them (still do for the value) the HD 800 S's just absolutely crushes them. To the point where I don't even find them enjoyable anymore, and the only reason they will stay in my possession is for testing (DIY components, etc).
 
But hey, that's just my experience/opinion.

Yeah, I keep comparing my 650 to my 800S with hopes of being able to appreciate the 650 like I used to; it's just not happening. 

 

[Topspin70]

 After reading a lot of the recent posts regarding the HD 650's and their glory, I just gave them a several hour listen, following up with the HD 800 S's on the same tracks.
 
For some background, the HD 650's were my first "audiophile grade" headphones, purchased back in 2012 and were the only headphones used until I acquired the HD 800 S's. I've experienced them grow and scale with all the pieces of equipment I've bought over the years, truly amazing what they are capable of for the price.. and I would say I know them quite well.
 
As much as I loved them, as much as I praised them, recommended them (still do for the value) the HD 800 S's just absolutely crushes them. To the point where I don't even find them enjoyable anymore, and the only reason they will stay in my possession is for testing (DIY components, etc).
 
But hey, that's just my experience/opinion.

Yeah, I keep comparing my 650 to my 800S with hopes of being able to appreciate the 650 like I used to; it's just not happening. 

I had the same experience with my LCD3. The HD800S really swings things in its favour.

 

[DWbirdseye]

Similar experience with my LCD-2 F.

 

[ETanner]

   
Considering what you're listening to and what improvement you're looking to,  I think the HD800S will do the trick . 
 
 

Thanks Sorrodje. Putting together a whole new setup is exciting and frustratingly slow. I suppose just pulling the trigger on something is the key! I've been a long time Sennheiser user and have simply admitted to myself I'll live in this little bubble because it gives joy with relatively few demands, unlike other parts of my world. Ha. I've made a similar commitment it seems to Schiit gear. I have no fantasies about ultimate comparisons but for my budget and needs I find their line satisfying. 

 

[Topspin70]

Do justice to the HD800S. Pull the trigger on the yggy.

 

[rnros]

Do justice to the HD800S. Pull the trigger on the yggy.

That's exactly what I 'need,' the Yggy and the HD800S. Honest.

 

[audiokid]

This week I will be adding a Lehmann Black Cube Linear amp between my Chord Hugo and HD800 S. 
 
No idea whether it will offer improvements or not, but thought I would take a punt on it. I would prefer a normal volume control (like with the Lehmann) but it would also have to sound better for me to keep it. Hugo seems really good, but nothing to compare it to. 
 
Anyone else have any experience with the above set up? Tried it around 18 months ago with the HD800, but can't really remember the outcome, and was with the older headphone, obviously. 

 

[kendavis]

I just saw this on Twitter... http://www.colorware.com/p-626-sennheiser-hd-800-s.aspx

 

[Topspin70]

  I just saw this on Twitter... http://www.colorware.com/p-626-sennheiser-hd-800-s.aspx

 
Drool-worthy. But I dunno if I trust anyone other than the Sennehiser guys to fiddle with the HD800S.

 

[EuropeanEar]

   
Drool-worthy. But I dunno if I trust anyone other than the Sennehiser guys to fiddle with the HD800S.

Call me conservative but I definitely wouldn't let anyone fiddle with mine.

 

[nottheface]

Call me conservative but I definitely wouldn't let anyone fiddle with mine.

Honestly it sounds so nice that I feel messing with it is just kind of tinkering for the sake of tinkering.

 

[Jawed]

Since we're being unkind to HD 650, here's something I wrote back on the day I bought HD 800 S (9 January) as a PM:

The surprise with HD 800 S is how much more of the music I'm hearing and the increased dynamics (or quietness under the music) and lack of distortion. I'm hearing more in the mix, the transparency is on another level. The sounds of instruments also seem much clearer and there seems to be more of the real character of each instrument (or voice). The combination of transparency and "naturalness" seems to make the whole piece of music easier to understand.

The speed is also very surprising. Acoustic guitar strings each have more of their own sound and small drums played with the hands (like tablas) have more of that delightful "popping-tapping" percussive feel.

I find the music much more emotionally engaging. I'm a bit shocked by that, it's why I used the word "shock" in my very quick post. I was being drawn into music when I wasn't trying to pay attention to it.

The sound is much closer to neutral than HD 650. There is powerful and/or deep bass. The sound of bass instruments is ridiculously clearer, different kinds of drum sounds or synthetic bass noises seem to have much more of their own character.

Please bear in mind that I have always enjoyed how HD 650 has made pretty much all music enjoyable, because it de-emphasises the bad stuff and makes the nice stuff sound very nice. Of course this comes from the perspective of someone who doesn't want all of my music to sound edgy or like punk music. I prefer HD 650 to Grado GS1000, because GS1000 has a nasty tinniness and hyped edginess to it. The irony here is that I enjoy good Naim systems, which are well known for being "energetic" - but I don't like Naim systems that can only do energy. They also need to be heartfelt.

I prefer hi-fi to be soft rather than hard, if it's going to have a fault.

I don't think HD 800 S is going to have the fullness that you like though. In the end I find the fullness of HD 650 gets in the way and I used EQ to try to reduce some of that fullness (though I also pushed up the frequencies around 30Hz and lower to compensate for the roll-off in the "slam" part of the bass).

HD 650 makes its own sounds (resonances, warmth, chestiness) while you are listening to music and, again, it's shocking how much less of these other sounds I'm hearing with HD 800 S.

I hear some edginess in some voices and sometimes there are pieces of rock music (e.g. Radiohead's Airbag) that have almost no power in the drum sounds and sound a bit crap. But the sound with HD 650 was often too creamy or treacly with a dose of thud (even with my EQ). Some of the crap stuff I'm hearing on HD 800 S might be due to them being so new. But some of it is just the recording. Stuff that sounds lush still sounds lush. Though not necessarily lush with a woolly jumper on top.

I will probably use EQ on the HD 800 S. But I'm not going to play around with that until I've been using them for a few hundred hours. HD 650 took weeks to run in. I am not going to do detailed listening comparisons of HD 650 and HD 800 S until the run in is complete.

I should also point out that I've only had my Hugo TT DAC/amp for about 2 months and there's still some element of "wow" associated with that. I keep hearing new stuff in my music. Weirdly, I also keep on hearing new stuff in my portable setup (Final Audio Heaven VIII headphones running from my phone). It's as if being "surprised" by music on one piece of equipment makes me sensitive to surprise on other pieces of equipment.

But after all that, the big deal with HD 800 S is how much less of "it" I'm hearing. HD 650 does tend to get in the way, the fullness in the sound of HD 650 tends to dominate and it tends to reduce the differences in the sound of music. I strongly value the differences in the way music sounds.

I knew that by buying HD 800 S I was risking a sound that could be cold or harsh, but I am happy to use EQ and will explore that in a few weeks. After the freshness of this new sound has worn off, I'll find out what kind of balance I prefer. A key thing for me is hearing further into the music and no amount of EQ on HD 650 will produce this kind of experience. At the same time, no amount of EQ is going to make HD 800 S have the cosy sound of HD 650.

In the end, I've been listening to music for about 4 hours now and about 1/3 of the music sounds like a different piece of music. Not "oh I can hear that cymbal" or other things about the new details I'm hearing, but "that feels like a remix or a cover version or a different master". HD 650 got in the way and HD 800 S stays out of the way.

To be honest my first impression remains as true now as it did back in early January. I had thought, in the days after I wrote that message that I might have been a little over-enthusiastic about HD 800 S. But no, on reflection, I think that posting perfectly captures what I feel right now. Hugo TT and HD 800 S, together, have become a revolution in music for me. I'm still being surprised all the time by music I thought I knew.

Listening to HD 650 the other day was a case of "whoa, way too much has just disappeared!" I didn't do much of a comparison, it seems pointless.

I haven't felt like using equalisation so far.

I suspect it is less sibilant than it was for the first couple of hundred hours, but perhaps I've just adjusted to that fault? That was my original complaint about the sound.

I still find them pretty uncomfortable and heavy. Back in January, wearing them for 14 hours over the course of a day gave me a headache and muscles in my face were really unhappy after all that clamping force (I can easily wear HD 650 for 14 hours every day). HD 800 S is less uncomfortable now. I remember my HD 650 being unpleasant due to the clamping force, when new (back in 2003), so I'm hoping that this will eventually stop being any kind of problem.

 

[Whazzzup]

Agree TT just keeps giving. And hd800s fits like a glove.

 

[Filleri]

I recently entered a competition in my local hifi store and as luck would have it, won the HD 800 S.
 
I previously had the original HD800 as my reference set, so i was very eager to try the new one. Now as great as the 800 is, in all honesty i felt the spike in the treble killed it for me. I could hear how finely textured the treble was, but it never sounded right to me. It ended up being distracting and causing fatigue.
 
Enter the S. Good lord. I literally can´t stop smiling. This thing is absolutely fantastic. It takes everything that made the hd800 world class and fixes the problems i had. 
 
BASS
I felt the original lacked somewhat in slam. The quality of the bass was fantastic, but kick drums in particular sounded a bit dull. Now the S has been beefed up in that area. Kick drums sound fabulous now. The bass actually reminds a bit of Beyer T1, which i liked very much (the treble was unbearable to me and ruins otherwise a good headphone). The quality of the bass has remained pretty much the same. 
 
MIDRANGE
As you would expect, it´s highly detailed and resolving. I actually think the HD800 S mids are more resolving than the older silver brother. I might be alone in this, but that´s what i hear. Honest truth! 
 
TREBLE
Now i had troubles with the original 800s treble, as i mentioned before. How would the S fair. I have to raise my hat to the folks at Sennheiser. They have done the unimaginable and made the spike disappear, leaving all the finely textured detail there. The treble is what first caught my eyes (or ears). It´s absolutely spot on! No more annoying peaks, just pure detail. I feel the treble is really the star of the show here. Well done Sennheiser!
 
SOUNDSTAGE / IMAGING
Pretty much the same as before, which is to say bloody fantastic!
 
This is my take on the HD800 S. I have been using for the last few years Lehmann BCL as an amp, and Hegel HD12 as a dac. Flac files mostly. Music styles included are rock, metal, indie, classical, pop and some folk music.
 
Lastly.