Sennheiser HD 820 Review (headphone)

[Robbo99999]

On the Sennheiser store they have the Sennheiser days, ending today. These can be bought for €1328 online at the store, shipment included. I'm tempted to buy. They look comfortable and are light weight. I haven't tried them, though.

I don't think I'd bother with these, the frequency response is so chewed up, if you're gonna spend that much on a headphone why not pay a bit more and get the DCA E3.

 

[Jumbotron]

I don't think I'd bother with these, the frequency response is so chewed up, if you're gonna spend that much on a headphone why not pay a bit more and get the DCA E3.

Thank you. I got a similar response elsewhere. I'm definitely not buying these.

 

[evanft]

Looking at the positive reception the HD620 has gotten the HD820 doesn't seem to far off. I see a homologous change in response with closed capsules as opposed to the open open design. Instead of trailing bass it retains its low-end strength and the high-end is attenuated. Owing to varying fitment that absurd bass hump is probably reduced for most people as the large HD8-- cups are not known to seal perfectly for anyone except your hairless dummy head. So two "problems" of the HD800 are solved in one go with the HD820 - lack of bass to presence of bass and the shrill peaks become mellowed out.

There's two things to keep in mind here with the HD820 that explain its reception from reviewers:

• Cost. MSRP right now is around $2,000, and I believe it was even higher when it first came out. That's a very expensive headphone, even nowadays with all the kilobuck models that have been released.
• The tuning is, for lack of a better term, wonky as all hell. Here's Oratory's measurement That's clearly not and "HD800S but closed". It's tuned completely differently. It also doesn't have a particularly smooth response, which is immediately going to turn off a lot of people.

 

[Oldson]

This headphone measures 'better' with seal somewhat broken.

The dip around 60Hz is what Tyll called 'pad bounce' and the few times I looked into this showed you can change the depth and frequency of the dip when changing pads or compressing them. That's why it also is so prominent in the GD.
The pad likes to vibrate/absorb/delay frequencies around 60Hz. When the seal is changed you can also see the effect and frequency change.
The HD800(S) have very different pads so doesn't have this effect.
Ignore the dip between 1kHz and 5kHz it is caused by the lack of pinna gain.

gonna try one of these at home next week.
i feel the thin "rimmed glasses" option may suit my taste

 

[solderdude]

It didn't sound as bad as the plots would indicate. Bass did not sound as good as EQ'ed HD800 but other HD800 qualities were there (minus the sharpness)

Because I wear glasses my seal probably was not optimal making the response a bit more neutral.

This is one of the headphones that should be auditioned before buying... certainly for that price.
The looks and quality build is probably its biggest selling point.
Currently sells for € 2k which I think is a bit too much.

 

[Oldson]

£1250 at audioT currently

 

[Oldson]

currently have the 820 on home trial.
initially i thought they were'nt as bad as the FR suggests.
i tend to like a warmer sounding headphone.
these do take warmth a bit too far even for me.
tried Amir's eq and the oratory option, both of which improved things greatly.
the openness (for a closed back) is really good to my ear but,despite this, i find them tiring.

so they're back in their box after just 2 hours.
on to the next option.............

 

[Rob_Gordon]

hey!
just out of curiosity, if anyone can enlighten me as to why they rate it so bad?

I'm really just wondering: are they complete subjectivists? I'm not too familiar with this channel, but I thought they were grounding their reviews on measurements... the dude said that the HD820 is good for people who enjoy "listening to a bluetooth speaker in a kitchen sink"... that description doesn't not fit Amir's review...

 

[Chagall]

hey!
just out of curiosity, if anyone can enlighten me as to why they rate it so bad?

I'm really just wondering: are they complete subjectivists? I'm not too familiar with this channel, but I thought they were grounding their reviews on measurements... the dude said that the HD820 is good for people who enjoy "listening to a bluetooth speaker in a kitchen sink"... that description doesn't not fit Amir's review...

Objectively HD820's frequency response is bad - @amirm states this in his review. He recommended them post-EQ, maybe giving them a pass because of their spatial qualities. But without EQ, I'm sure he wouldn't.

DMS and Resolve are objective reviewers. Their tier lists are usually made based on headphone performance out of the box, without EQ, so in that respect, it fits with Amir's review.

Also, just because people are objective they might not rate headphones the same. We all have preferences and potentially hear headphones differently because of our head/ear and headphone coupling.

 

[Rob_Gordon]

Objectively HD820's frequency response is bad - @amirm states this in his review. He recommended them post-EQ, maybe giving them a pass because of their spatial qualities. But without EQ, I'm sure he wouldn't.

DMS and Resolve are objective reviewers. Their tier lists are usually made based on headphone performance out of the box, without EQ, so in that respect, it fits with Amir's review.

Also, just because people are objective they might not rate headphones the same. We all have preferences and potentially hear headphones differently because of our head/ear and headphone coupling.

Alright, thank you for the clarification.

 

[Oldson]

my Kennerton Magni blew the HD820 away to my ears.
just wish the Magni isolated, its almost like an open headphone to me. maybe thats why i preferred it