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Advice for my HD 800S

OP
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I would love to try "oratory". But I don't understand at all how to enter all the values.

It's just like that ?

 
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OP
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After listening the sound is much bassier and warmer.
It freaks me out the first time. Because the sound was less powerful and less treble.

But I like it a lot. Thanks thanks :)

On the other hand, what are these "BW" values? I don't have that.

 

Zensō

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After listening the sound is much bassier and warmer.
It freaks me out the first time. Because the sound was less powerful and less treble.

But I like it a lot. Thanks thanks :)

On the other hand, what are these "BW" values? I don't have that.

You can ignore the BW (bandwidth) values. They’re just another way of expressing the Q factor.
 
OP
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Ok thank you.

One last thing. I have a Quloos A690 with elipson prestige 8B.

Is there the same thing for speakers and amps? thank you
 

Zensō

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Ok thank you.

One last thing. I have a Quloos A690 with elipson prestige 8B.

Is there the same thing for speakers and amps? thank you
Sort of, but not exactly. Correcting loudspeakers involves interaction with the room, which is more complicated. It requires taking measurements in the room and making EQ adjustments based upon those measurements. This is a good place to start:


There are many long threads on this forum discussing the above.
 

JamesRF

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I’d give yourself some time to mentally adjust. The treble peaks give the impression of more clarity but are inaccurate.

I’d also suggest trying these settings which I prefer over Amir’s (no offense):

I find the HD800S better able than any other phones on the market to convincingly recreate the sound of acoustic instruments. That's without EQ. Just another perspective.
 
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Zensō

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I find the HD800S better able than any other phones on the market to convincingly recreate the sound of acoustic instruments. That's without EQ. Just another perspective.
Have you tried EQ? The stock frequency response is pretty far from being accurate.
 

JamesRF

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Have you tried EQ? The stock frequency response is pretty far from being accurate.
Yes, I have. I have a few models: an early HD800, a late HD800 and and HD800S - all quite different. I like them all and have never seen any as benefitting from eq. I do think the HD800S is the most natural - not at all hyped. Very clear, clean and open. I agree with Keith Howard's recent review in Audio Critic that it's one of the most resonance-free phones available (and one of the most satisfying). I should say I listen only to classical music, so wouldn't venture an opinion on whether they're any good for amplified or electronic music. But I have played classical music for many years, and have some experience being recorded and recording others. I should also say I've always preferred dynamic transducers - I find planars have a synthetic quality (I've owned the SR-900S and Susvara). The only other phones I find competitive (and currently own) are the MySphere 3.2 - magnificent I think, but ultimately a little less convincing than the Senns. With dynamic drivers I find choice of amp can really make a difference too.
 

Zensō

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Yes, I have. I have a few models: an early HD800, a late HD800 and and HD800S - all quite different. I like them all and have never seen any as benefitting from eq. I do think the HD800S is the most natural - not at all hyped. Very clear, clean and open. I agree with Keith Howard's recent review in Audio Critic that it's one of the most resonance-free phones available (and one of the most satisfying). I should say I listen only to classical music, so wouldn't venture an opinion on whether they're any good for amplified or electronic music. But I have played classical music for many years, and have some experience being recorded and recording others. I should also say I've always preferred dynamic transducers - I find planars have a synthetic quality (I've owned the SR-900S and Susvara). The only other phones I find competitive (and currently own) are the MySphere 3.2 - magnificent I think, but ultimately a little less convincing than the Senns. With dynamic drivers I find choice of amp can really make a difference too.
That’s good that the 800S works well for the music you listen to. I listen to a wide variety of genres and find the spike at 5.5kHz grating on some material. They also lack weight/heft due to the early bass roll off. To my ear, when EQ’d to the Harman curve they sound much more natural and balanced and become one of my favorite headphones.
 

phoenixdogfan

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This is bullshit. The HD800S is a rather light load (150 Ohm impedance) and just needs more voltage than headphones with lower impedance for the same SPL. As long as the amp delivers it's fine. I think the reason SBAF recommends tube based amps is that they want to compensate the HD800s peak in the frequency response at 6 kHz by an amp with a "warm" (falling?) frequency response. This cannot and will not work. Our member @solderdude offers passive filters to fix it, on his website.

I own a HD800 and before I bought it I tested it with an expensive headphone amp. I bought it and expected that I might need to invest into such a headphone amp because I had read similar stories about it. Therefore I was very astonished when I found out that the HD800 sounded better than any of my other headphones (HD580, DT990) on every headphone output I tried it, including my smartphone (Samsung S5 neo). So I safely put those stories into the urban myths drawer.

There is only one headphone amp at this price point which makes sense to upgrade to, but only due to its vast range of capabilities (EQ, tone controls, adjustable cross feed, adjustable loudness, ...): the RME ADI-2 DAC. That this DAC/Amp is not even listed on the SBAF page tells enough.
That's the quackery of SBAF. It comes from an audiophile school where you were encouraged to find an amp which "matched" the transducer. Often that meant a tube amp because the output impedance of the tube amp would interact with the input impedance of the speaker/headphone in what was hopefully a synergistgic way to adjust the total frequency response of the output. It theoretically provided a way for the audiophile "purist" to adjust FR without compromising the "purity" of the signal with things like eq. So yeah, bullshit, especially since it relies on the haphazard interactions of two components to do a job neither was designed for rather than a proper solid state amp with a sufficiently low output impedance used together with parametric EQ device to do that same job with complete precision.
 

Rac1

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This is bullshit. The HD800S is a rather light load (150 Ohm impedance) and just needs more voltage than headphones with lower impedance for the same SPL. As long as the amp delivers it's fine. I think the reason SBAF recommends tube based amps is that they want to compensate the HD800s peak in the frequency response at 6 kHz by an amp with a "warm" (falling?) frequency response. This cannot and will not work. Our member @solderdude offers passive filters to fix it, on his website.

I own a HD800 and before I bought it I tested it with an expensive headphone amp. I bought it and expected that I might need to invest into such a headphone amp because I had read similar stories about it. Therefore I was very astonished when I found out that the HD800 sounded better than any of my other headphones (HD580, DT990) on every headphone output I tried it, including my smartphone (Samsung S5 neo). So I safely put those stories into the urban myths drawer.

There is only one headphone amp at this price point which makes sense to upgrade to, but only due to its vast range of capabilities (EQ, tone controls, adjustable cross feed, adjustable loudness, ...): the RME ADI-2 DAC. That this DAC/Amp is not even listed on the SBAF page tells enough.
Actually, the 800S is 300 ohms
 

Coverpage

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I'm rewriting my recommendation. Try these amps:

1) FiiO BTR-7: Filter setting "Hybrid F"
2) FiiO R7
3) Hifiman EF-400

I own the HD800S and have tried it with quite a lot of amps. For me, the BTR-7 is the most surprising, creating realistic reproduction for transparent recording. But I do realize everyone will have different preferences and ears. All three of the above sound good, and I'm sure you'll be impressed with one.

I know this might be surprising because the BTR-7 is indeed cheaper than many other amps, but it simply sounds amazing with the HD800s.
 

Leonm771

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Hi

according to sennheiser engineer ,
the differences of hdv820 and Iphone , is just the max volume.
 

solderdude

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He is right.
The difference in max. volume is substantial.
 
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