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Post by monkumonku on Jun 30, 2021 9:29:26 GMT -5
If you need EQ to like your headphones probably they are not your cup of tea. You should like them out of the box and fall in love as they open up. I had the same issue with some Hifiman that I had to sell right away. It was tough for me as I was coning from the HD600 that are really relaxed. True, that is like buying a pair of speakers and then trying to EQ them to make them sound the way you want them to sound. |
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KeithL
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Post by KeithL on Jun 30, 2021 10:21:26 GMT -5
I'm inclined to agree...
It is true that headphones vary wildly in sound... even more than speakers... and sometimes a little EQ can help... But you can't fix everything, or change everything, with just EQ either...
If I need a $300 amp, and a $200 EQ, to make my $100 headphones sound good... then I'm really buying a $600 pair of headphones.
And I'm going to be adding more boxes, and more wires, and more adjustments to fiddle with.
(I count the price of the special amplifier and wiring required for electrostatic headphones to be part of the price of admission... and I feel the same way about any other sort as well.)
On the one hand I wouldn't mind having to tweak the EQ a little bit on a $120 pair of headphones to get them to sound perfect... But, on the other hand, I want headphones to be simple... so extra boxes, and wires, and all that is a downside there...
And, if I'm going to spend more than a few hundred bucks for headphones, I really expect them to sound the way I want to begin with... (There are plenty of choices so you really should be able to find a pair that sounds decent to you out of the box.)
It just seems goofy to me to say (or even think).... "I'm going to spend over $1000 on a pair of really high end headphones..." "Then I'm going to start shopping around for ways to fix them so I actually like the way they sound..." (If you don't like the way they sound then exactly what justifies that exceptional price tag?)
To me part of the virtue of headphones is that you can just plug them in and listen to them... And I'm willing to put up with needing a headphone amp in some situations... But I'm not really interested in "putting together and fine tuning a system" - JUST to listen to headphones.
And, again, if you're going to put up with all that mess and aggravation, and extra boxes, then you might as well just get electrostatics....
(At least they have some cool technology, and some complicated design requirements, along with truly low distortion and excellent frequency response, to justify the ridiculous price tag.)
I still remember when "cheap headphones" cost $50 ... And "expensive" headphones were $250 ... And electrostatics were "ridiculously expensive" at $1000+ ... Now, all of a sudden (not really all that suddenly), $1000 is "a mid-priced dynamic headphone"... I just find that idea hard to swallow... If you need EQ to like your headphones probably they are not your cup of tea. You should like them out of the box and fall in love as they open up. I had the same issue with some Hifiman that I had to sell right away. It was tough for me as I was coning from the HD600 that are really relaxed. True, that is like buying a pair of speakers and then trying to EQ them to make them sound the way you want them to sound. |
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KeithL
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Post by KeithL on Jun 30, 2021 10:46:36 GMT -5
I realized my last post is a bit... wordy... so let me put it more succinctly. As far as I'm concerned $1000+ is a lot of money for a pair of headphones.
Therefore I wouldn't even consider spending that much unless I found a pair that I really really loved... And I certainly wouldn't consider spending that on a pair of headphones merely because I hoped that I could eventually get them to sound the way I like... (And, if they're not going to sound good unless I buy an expensive amp to run them, then that counts as part of the price tag.)
To be quite honest I think there are lots of good headphones out there in the $200 - $300 price range... I think that our GR1 model sounds really nice and I find them quite comfortable... And, if you like a slightly different sound, there are plenty of other excellent options out there in that price range...
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Post by garbulky on Jun 30, 2021 12:05:39 GMT -5
KeithL brutiarti monkumonkuI hear you guys and agree that a headphone this expensive needs to just be everything I want or it leaves. So a little background. I rarely listen to speakers anymore. Due to physical issues, my seating is no longer in the optimal spot among other things. So my purchase being expensive is due to I needed it to be the best at a price I could hit. $3k is out of my budget. But perhaps up to $2.3 k is not. So enter the HD800S – it was supposed to have that big outside the head soundstage plus better bass . And well it had the soundstage, and detail but lost on tonality and bass. Plus I found out the HD800S was about at the weight limit for my poor neck. What this means is lot of high end headphones are just out of the question as they are a LOT heavier than these. But... the HD800S definitely has some hints of greatness to it. So I'm willing to play around to see what it can do as I like the general Sennheiser sound. The Koss electrostats Keith mentioned are out. Can’t find it on Prime to try and I’m not drawn to the entry level looks of it. But my budget isn’t there for the higher end stats. So that’s where I’m at. The Kameleon eq will do will answer my question definitively whether I want it. If not, I will try the Ether 2 flow which is quite light. If that doesn’t work, unless I find something else, I will simply wait till Sennheiser releases the HD900.
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DYohn
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Post by DYohn on Jun 30, 2021 12:54:14 GMT -5
garbulky, your post comment "it was SUPPOSED to have" a big soundstage is why I refuse to comment on psychoacoustic effects like soundstage. It's subjective. You can't take what someone else says about such effects at face value, you must judge for yourself.
If the 800 is not to your taste then sell them. List it up on Head Fi and it will go.
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Post by garbulky on Jun 30, 2021 13:29:10 GMT -5
garbulky, your post comment "it was SUPPOSED to have" a big soundstage is why I refuse to comment on psychoacoustic effects like soundstage. It's subjective. You can't take what someone else says about such effects at face value, you must judge for yourself. If the 800 is not to your taste then sell them. List it up on Head Fi and it will go. I am able to return them if I don't like it. |
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Post by garbulky on Jun 30, 2021 13:52:44 GMT -5
Just an update. The Dekoni Pads are a true comfort upgrade from the HD800S. The HD800S lacks almost all clamping force and therefore a lot of the weight comes on the top of your head. The Dekoni Elite Hybrids are subtantially more cushy and push the headphones out a bit. This yields a better clamping force where some of the weight is also supported on the ears.
Are they better in sound quality? I can't tell yet. Only con is that they are a little warmer than the HD800S. Oh and they are a ridiculous $100 for a set of pads.
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Post by garbulky on Jul 1, 2021 8:25:57 GMT -5
Left the HD800S playing all night, tweaked some eq. Listened to some Wynton Marsalis, was pretty impressed at what I heard.
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Post by garbulky on Jul 3, 2021 2:35:48 GMT -5
Is it my imagination or my ears getting used to the tone? The HD800S has mellowed significantly. That treble peak that used to be genuinely uncomfortable has significantly reduced. Now the bass is significantly more balanced. With Schiit Loki eq it is also more punchy and feels more noticeably fuller. However, with eq comes the cons because the eq bands are a little too wide. So if you want maximum punch in the bass, you're also going to be getting mid-range intrusion giving female voices a little bit of chestiness where it's not there. So a trade-off and you have to pick carefully.
one standout of the HD800s is that it has the ability to turn on a dime with dynamics. Capable of quick very large dynamic swings, it is certainly better than the HD600 and even the HD700 at this.
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Post by garbulky on Jul 4, 2021 0:34:15 GMT -5
I knew I had to give Sennheiser a chance! At the beginning the headphones were a bit of a tonal mess.
The HD800S headphones appear to have turned a corner. It took substantially longer than the HD700 to "break in". Currently, with a mild amount of eq, the tonality is really quite nice. With it comes the fabulous detail and soundstage of the HD800S.
It really feels like this headphone leaves very little out. All the minor details come through.
With a small bump in the bass knob, these headphones are sounding nice, and full with a full-range sound that is on the slightly agressive side.
If I had to describe this, the HD700 and HD800 are siblings. The HD700 provides the lightweight and a substantially better fit that the HD800S does not have. The HD800S provides a larger scale sound which is a little more full range.
I am starting to see why this headphone is considered world class. Something tells me there is a little more working out in the treble before the headphone comes in to its own.
Now, the question has shifted from does it sound like a true upgrade (it does) to can my poor neck take the increased weight. The answer is no, so far. So it may still have to go back. I don't want to end up doing permanent damage.
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Post by garbulky on Jul 20, 2021 16:50:16 GMT -5
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Post by leonski on Aug 11, 2021 21:13:37 GMT -5
I spent 100$ on GRADO. SR80 (letter forgotten( they are now on the 3rd revision and list is 125$.
You can spend somewhere between 'obscene' and 'profane' amounts on Grado.......You CAN go over 2500$ easily.
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