Beyer guy Posted March 29, 2015 Posted March 29, 2015 curiously for me ESL headphones were about mid journey so far...which following some mis adventures with Stax headphones had me swing tact back to dynamic headphones. having gone through many phones, and iterations of systems driving them over the years, I feel finally reached that point that I just listen and go wow not sure can get better. a chance meeting...a match made in heaven...and so the story goes... Yeah - EarMax Pro driving the Grado Reference RS1's Lovely set up - I think I'm at that point now also - at the point the internal critic is silenced you know you have reached your own audio nirvana :-)
Addicted to music Posted March 29, 2015 Posted March 29, 2015 Absolutely - but I think that's a conscious choice where you say 'i'm not going to get tempted by anything else' regardless of what it sounds like - otherwise for many (including me to a point) there is then never an end game, there's theoretically always something better that would (no doubt) give you that percentage point more clarity/definition/emotional attachment - i'm sure there are people out there who have tried stax and still aren't at the end of their journey......so yep the comment 'sounds good enough' is a great one - my rig sounds great but I know that I could better it with a SRM009 :-) - I can (now) live with that...... Being honest.....I've heard the 009 with a BHSE at the 2014 HiFI show thst was driven a Da Vinci USB 384k, via laptop Not sure why but that was almost a $50k setup, Couldn't see how the upstream digital was at fault because it was also driving the Woo amps to the Abyss, it was the most disappointing thing I heard thst day, hence my pursuit in owning a pair of 009 cease from thst point onwards. I have heard full Stax amp combo to be better, much better and far less in price. 1
Ray H Posted October 24, 2015 Posted October 24, 2015 Cool, Looks stealth in black. Hopefully it has a bit more bottom end than the first version !
Equaliser Posted October 24, 2015 Posted October 24, 2015 If this is the HD800 without treble peak flaws without the resort to modding, I'm up for 2 of these.
betty boop Posted October 24, 2015 Author Posted October 24, 2015 "And in the s version it's even better" he says.... HeheGoodness, there was much to like with the hd800.... But long term sold it off as the top end wore you down and bottom end too light on, a slightly too much on the light side.So now they have to bring this out...only going to tempt people ! Damn !What's with the black though... Don't they know silver is the new black ? 1
jeffreyw Posted October 24, 2015 Posted October 24, 2015 (edited) If they wasn't trying to hype this up, they'd just show us the action inside the cups without being all sneaky about it. Chances are that its a form fitting piece of material, like the HD800 dust covers or the HD600 foam sheet in front of the baffle. If this is what Sennheiser has done, you can probably buy it from Sennheiser's spare parts bin. Considering every current HD800 "acoustic absorber" modification requires a $3 Foamtastic sheet, some felt or some thick shelf liner, I'm not really surprised they're throwing in the balanced XLR cable to make the presumably higher price more palatable (even though you can just lop off the TRS jack at the end of the stock cable...). I'm probably being cynical here but this really seems like a cash grab in an environment where headphones costing more than the HD800 are now a dime a dozen. The fact that Axel Grell makes no real mention of any changes to the driver or enclosure combined with the fact that this product will sell alongside the original HD800 suggests to me that the only difference is this "acoustic absorber", whatever it might be. Edited October 24, 2015 by jeffreyw 1
Ray H Posted October 24, 2015 Posted October 24, 2015 i assumed this was the Hd800 replacement, the fact it is in addition to the standard version, wth some apparently fairly limited amendments does worry me a bit. Will be interested to see what the price is, I would guess at least $2500 potentially $3000 in Australia, one can hope they keep it realistic. 1
Equaliser Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 I think it will be $2-2.5k AUD. They can kiss a sale goodbye if they think they can get me to pay $3k for minor changes. I didn't see the acoustic absorber bit till I read the full Head-fi review and Axel's interview. 1
PleasantSounds Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 The strange thing is that they're keeping the original in the lineup as well as the 'facelift' edition. This may suggest that the price will be the differentiating factor, otherwise the HD800S sales would canibalise the HD800 to the point that production and distribution of the latter would hardly make sense.
Jensway Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 (edited) I think it will be $2-2.5k AUD. Agreed. That's already a high premium, asking for any more than that would be ridiculous. Edited October 25, 2015 by White Lotus
jeffreyw Posted October 25, 2015 Posted October 25, 2015 (edited) Alright, looks like I'm 100% wrong here. Sennheiser's "mod" is a little more complicated than just some felt. Sennheiser seems to have stuffed a tube that goes inbetween the voice coil, meaning they've essentially reworked the driver. Edited October 25, 2015 by jeffreyw
firefly0071 Posted October 26, 2015 Posted October 26, 2015 (edited) Hope to do a demo. Edited October 26, 2015 by firefly0071
firefly0071 Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 Agreed. That's already a high premium, asking for any more than that would be ridiculous. There are a small number of headphones that cost more than HD800 and apart from price, the market for headphones is significantly larger than sya 10 years ago. I blame the Ipod.
drez Posted October 31, 2015 Posted October 31, 2015 If they wasn't trying to hype this up, they'd just show us the action inside the cups without being all sneaky about it. Chances are that its a form fitting piece of material, like the HD800 dust covers or the HD600 foam sheet in front of the baffle. If this is what Sennheiser has done, you can probably buy it from Sennheiser's spare parts bin. Considering every current HD800 "acoustic absorber" modification requires a $3 Foamtastic sheet, some felt or some thick shelf liner, I'm not really surprised they're throwing in the balanced XLR cable to make the presumably higher price more palatable (even though you can just lop off the TRS jack at the end of the stock cable...). I'm probably being cynical here but this really seems like a cash grab in an environment where headphones costing more than the HD800 are now a dime a dozen. The fact that Axel Grell makes no real mention of any changes to the driver or enclosure combined with the fact that this product will sell alongside the original HD800 suggests to me that the only difference is this "acoustic absorber", whatever it might be. Its basically a small felt ring under the baffle, but the tuning is everything. Unfortunately it sems they are trying to package an extra cable to justify a bit more price increase. This is great for people just now buying the HD 800S but for existing owners who jave already fine tuned modifications or synergy my bet is money would be better spent elsewhere. There will always be something new and better to come along.
soundfan Posted October 31, 2015 Posted October 31, 2015 These type of threads make me laugh.So many criticizing a product before it has even hit the streets. WTF. @@drez..... Maybe this is that "there will always be something new and better to come along"? 3
firefly0071 Posted October 31, 2015 Posted October 31, 2015 I like these threads - it reduces the price, in this case, of a second hand HD800 for people like me to buy. Keep on bashing the product!!
Equaliser Posted November 1, 2015 Posted November 1, 2015 These type of threads make me laugh.So many criticizing a product before it has even hit the streets. WTF. @@drez..... Maybe this is that "there will always be something new and better to come along"? Because it usually ends up being true.
soundfan Posted November 1, 2015 Posted November 1, 2015 Because it usually ends up being true. Maybe, but look at this way; would you skip the next model (insert any brand here) thinking that the following model to that item WILL be better. If so, sell me one of your crystal balls.
migasson Posted November 1, 2015 Posted November 1, 2015 I've always said thus- listen to it, if you hate it, move on....
Equaliser Posted November 1, 2015 Posted November 1, 2015 Maybe, but look at this way; would you skip the next model (insert any brand here) thinking that the following model to that item WILL be better. If so, sell me one of your crystal balls. Yes and I have done so with this approach with certain brands many times in the headphone and the dac world before. The history of the discontinued products is usually a good indicator of whether there next release will be good or not.Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
jeffreyw Posted November 1, 2015 Posted November 1, 2015 We know what it'll probably sound like considering some folks have already emulated Sennheiser's implementation. I dunno about his sub-bass claims but it'll push down the 6khz spike considerably and push up the 1-4khz dip. I think its pretty safe to say that the stock HD800S will sound considerably better than the stock HD800 since we know that the HD800's sound related issues are 100% enclosure related and their resonator should do a lot to make the headphone less excruciatingly bright and more balanced sounding.
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