Sennheiser HDV-820 USB DAC & Headphone Amp Review

[Schackmannen]

@amirm Not that it matters in the grand scheme of things, but did you test the linearity of DAC? Just curious

 

[KxDx]

Yes, that is a technical term. It is the opposite of not screwed up.

Classic.

 

[Cortes]

it's a tube amp so expect to be much worse than this. Still, it's designed around that specific headphone so I hope the combo will sound very well.
You know, there are two schools of thought, the measurement-and-precision one which is the one I like, and the euphonic pleasing distortion. The latter is quite difficult to rate through a graph.

Indeed, it sounds pretty well. I've heard this como, and other combos with other sennheiser amps, with the HD800/HD820 and the sound is very good. But I've heard with less expensive amps, and the sound is very good as well. That's because the high end Sennheisser HD are very good, and probably the amp plays a minor role.

 

[headwhacker]

The first time I saw the price tag of this amp I was shocked. I'm not surprised with the results.

There is niche market in the amp electrostatic sector with Stax , KGSS, headamp and others, and many models have sky level prices (>4000$).
In some cases promoting all the audiophile mythology. I hope Amir gets them some day, I expect some horror.

Likewise, I have a Stax SR-007 and 507. I only have the srm-353S for amplifier. For years, people keep telling me I need a better amp. But most recommendation are tube amps or custom amp that are assembled based on a design by some legendary designer. One thing in common about these custom amps beside the designer is it's peppered with hefty amount of audiophile terms (e.g. capacitor brand etc) and heavy dose of subjective sighted reviews.

The specs even does not show any improvement and sometimes lesser output power. But none has done any basic measurements. If you ask for one you get ignore.

So yeah I very much like one of these amps get measured ASR style.

 

[VintageFlanker]

This is my unit. While the test results are surprising all I can say is it still sounds good lol. I've had it for about six months and compared it side-by-side with a few other amps including the Benchmark HPA4, Aune S7 Pro, Sony TA-ZH1ES, THX 789, and a few others. Headphones have been Sony MDR-Z7M2, Sony MDR-Z1R, Focal Elegia, Focal Elear, Sennheiser HD820, and Meze Empyrean.

Regardless of measurements, it's been nothing but clear and powerful for me. But my setup hasn't been very complex. Just running laptop USB out to the internal DAC and plugging some headphones in and rocking out. I did briefly try some other headphones like the Audeze LCD4, Abyss Diana Phi, and Abyss 1266 TC. Granted those didn't sound their best with this amp.

I do have the Benchmark setup now and I'm sticking with that since it's a proven worry-free rig. But I haven't had any problems with the HDV-820. In fact, I prefer this unit to every other amp I tested except the Benchmark and THX 789, which do sound better.

First, thanks a lot for loaning this unit to @amirm!

This is a very informative review for anybody. Also, glad you subjectivly like yours (better be the case of that price!)

However I would be concerned about this:

Not to mention that is unacceptable for $2,4K...This looks clearly broken and I'm afraid it will go worse and worse overtime.

This reminds me my past Cambridge 851C. There were audible noise and distortion coming from one channel. After, say, one hour of warm-up, the noise went to be lower and the unit listenable. But months after months, the opposite happened progressively. At the end, the 851C became completely unusable after few minutes of warm-up.

In my book, your unit is defective and I would suggest you show these measurements to Sennheiser/retailer for a replacement. Hope they won't say "Warranty void if measured"...

 

[Nango]

Unexpected ...... @amirm you write they better had implemented Gain but it is a Gain button on the backside.

 

[Cortes]

Likewise, I have a Stax SR-007 and 507. I only have the srm-353S for amplifier. For years, people keep telling me I need a better amp. But most recommendation are tube amps or custom amp that are assembled based on a design by some legendary designer. One thing in common about these custom amps beside the designer is it's peppered with hefty amount of audiophile terms (e.g. capacitor brand etc) and heavy dose of subjective sighted reviews.

The specs even does not show any improvement and sometimes lesser output power. But none has done any basic measurements. If you ask for one you get ignore.

So yeah I very much like one of these amps get measured ASR style.

Exactly, no objective results, just mythology, narrative, prestige, cool names: all the ingredients for full rip-off.

I own some SR-007 MKII with 727A (with the Spritzer mod of two resistors), I have compared several times the 727A, the 007II and the uber-expensive SRM T8000 in some yodobashi stores. I prefer the hybrid 007II over the 727A, probably for the distorsions of the tubes which I like, being the differences small. The funny thing was how close were for me the 007II, with the SR-007 and SR-009s I, I didn't know what sounded better. The srm T8000 is above $5k, about 3 times the price of the 007II. I guess that happens with the rest of boutique electrostatic amps.

I've not listened the 353, but I'm almost sure that the differences between it and the uber-expensive ones promoted in the forums exist only in the first seconds of very high concentrated listenning. I guess most of the differences will be that, differences, not necessarily a better sound. There is a lot writting on dimishing returns, but I've the impression that with some gear paying more one does not get diminished return, but worse returns.

 

[Fluffy]

I would say one channel is defective for this amp and would send it in for service (under warranty) based on these measurements.

Furthermore I should mention that this DAC-Amp is specifically designed to drive 300 to 600 Ohm headphones and the output resistance is deliberately this high.
For this reason a 50mV is less important as the 300 Ohm headphones it is specifically designed for are not as voltage sensitive as IEM's and low impedance headphones.

That said I would certainly not recommend this DAC-Amp combo, most certainly not for driving lower than 300 Ohm headphones.
The price is way too high for what it offers.

Wasn't this amp specifically designed to work with the HD800? The high output impedance should give them a more a bassy sound, which is generally a good idea because of their uber-trebelly nature.

 

[solderdude]

HD800 from 0.2 Ω and 120 Ω:

I expect about 0.5dB midbass boost on 45 Ω. Distortion and impulse response did not change measurably. FR just slightly.

Have heard the HE-1 on 2 occasions and in a quiet surrounding with a time on my hand and the possibility to compare directly to the HD800S and HD650 (driven from HDV820) with the same music.
The HE-1 is in a class on its own. Much more 'real' and 'effortless' than HD800S. Way too expensive though.
The HDV820 complies to my definition of transparent (>80 dB SINAD) and the ones I heard did not sound poor in any way.

I would have expected better measurement results than the 'good' channel.

 

[imagidominc]

When you buy an Audiophile headphone from Sennheiser, in the manual it’s says that in order to unlock the full potential of the headphone, you must pair it with an HDVD800.

What a joke.

 

[amirm]

Unexpected ...... @amirm you write they better had implemented Gain but it is a Gain button on the backside.

It is not a button but adjustment/pot. It only works on RCA and I used XLR for testing.

 

[Koeitje]

What a disappointment considering they have all the tools to measure and fix this themselves.

 

[dmac6419]

This is my unit. While the test results are surprising all I can say is it still sounds good lol. I've had it for about six months and compared it side-by-side with a few other amps including the Benchmark HPA4, Aune S7 Pro, Sony TA-ZH1ES, THX 789, and a few others. Headphones have been Sony MDR-Z7M2, Sony MDR-Z1R, Focal Elegia, Focal Elear, Sennheiser HD820, and Meze Empyrean.

Regardless of measurements, it's been nothing but clear and powerful for me. But my setup hasn't been very complex. Just running laptop USB out to the internal DAC and plugging some headphones in and rocking out. I did briefly try some other headphones like the Audeze LCD4, Abyss Diana Phi, and Abyss 1266 TC. Granted those didn't sound their best with this amp.

I do have the Benchmark setup now and I'm sticking with that since it's a proven worry-free rig. But I haven't had any problems with the HDV-820. In fact, I prefer this unit to every other amp I tested except the Benchmark and THX 789, which do sound better.

You should ask for some of your money back.

 

[Joachim Herbert]

Someone still calls it the "set" with hd820 as "unparalleled sound"

This may well be true. Does not talk bout excellence.

 

[Nango]

Likewise, I have a Stax SR-007 and 507. I only have the srm-353S for amplifier. For years, people keep telling me I need a better amp. But most recommendation are tube amps or custom amp that are assembled based on a design by some legendary designer. One thing in common about these custom amps beside the designer is it's peppered with hefty amount of audiophile terms (e.g. capacitor brand etc) and heavy dose of subjective sighted reviews.

The specs even does not show any improvement and sometimes lesser output power. But none has done any basic measurements. If you ask for one you get ignore.

So yeah I very much like one of these amps get measured ASR style.

YES .... wanna see more blood, blood from Astell and Accuphase for example .............

 

[Nango]

Decapitated panther enthroned above an HDVD 820 .... the pic of the decade ... everything I learnt over years destroyed !!!!

 

[Timbo2]

It would seem it uses an analog pot for volume. How was the L and R channel balance?

That said for this kind of money and this kind of fail I'm not sure it matters. Even assuming the one channel is actually broken.

 

[Doodski]

I can imagine the stern faces at the Sennheiser meeting this morning when they discuss the ASR review >@^_*@<

 

[headwhacker]

Exactly, no objective results, just mythology, narrative, prestige, cool names: all the ingredients for full rip-off.

I own some SR-007 MKII with 727A (with the Spritzer mod of two resistors), I have compared several times the 727A, the 007II and the uber-expensive SRM T8000 in some yodobashi stores. I prefer the hybrid 007II over the 727A, probably for the distorsions of the tubes which I like, being the differences small. The funny thing was how close were for me the 007II, with the SR-007 and SR-009s I, I didn't know what sounded better. The srm T8000 is above $5k, about 3 times the price of the 007II. I guess that happens with the rest of boutique electrostatic amps.

I've not listened the 353, but I'm almost sure that the differences between it and the uber-expensive ones promoted in the forums exist only in the first seconds of very high concentrated listenning. I guess most of the differences will be that, differences, not necessarily a better sound. There is a lot writting on dimishing returns, but I've the impression that with some gear paying more one does not get diminished return, but worse returns.

I did try the same sort of comparison in yodobashi akihabara, where I bought my SR-ore007MKII. I spent the whole dapy doing that before I decided to buy. At the time there was an in-house promo and compounded with tax free and Visa discount managed to get it at almost half the price of the usual local(japan) price.

I was tempted to buy the more expensive amp available there but decided not too because to me all sounded the same loudness-wise or sonic-wise. I am aware of a store in Singapore trying to get rid of a 353S they use as demo in prep for the incoming 353x. Hence, I opted for that so I don't have to deal with power transformer or warranty issues. The amp is bulky and heavy.

 

[Nango]

I can imagine the stern faces at the Sennheiser meeting this morning when they discuss the ASR review >@^_*@<

This one will escalate for sure .... @amirm be aware for Merkel calling you .... and Trump !!!!