Sennheiser HD 820 Review (headphone)

[Robbo99999]

I know what changes are likely to make what kind of differences.

You might as well say that one could not infer anything useful about the HD650's soundstage from listening to an HD600.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but I don't like assumptions being made like that.

 

[ezra_s]

@amirm

Can you please tell us, with that frequency response and analysis and after you listened to it? Does it sound neutral at all with your usual listening tracks?

 

[chris719]

I look forward to buying one once they are on clearance after Sennheiser sells the consumer division. $2400 is ridiculous.

 

[Ralf Stocker]

These Sennheiser headphones cost ~$60 in Germany in the 80s. At some point someone at Sennheiser came up with the idea that you could also charge $500, $1,000 or even $2,400 for this. There are enough crazy people who will spend the money. Fortunately I still have 2 very good Sennheisers from back then.

 

[edahl]

These Sennheiser headphones cost ~$60 in Germany in the 80s. At some point someone at Sennheiser came up with the idea that you could also charge $500, $1,000 or even $2,400 for this. There are enough crazy people who will spend the money. Fortunately I still have 2 very good Sennheisers from back then.

You'd think they'd sell a lot more of these if they weren't so expensive, but perhaps their German factory is at capacity anyway and they fear saturating the market too quickly if they expand?

 

[andymok]

I know this is a chicken vs egg question,

but why certain headphones designed to have high / low impedance, or what makes headphones have high / low impedance?

 

[solderdude]

what makes headphones have high / low impedance?

resistance of the used voice coil wiring.

The high impedance headphones is a left-over something from the old days.
low impedance headphones are essential for low voltage portable applications.

 

[chris719]

resistance of the used voice coil wiring.

The high impedance headphones is a left-over something from the old days.
low impedance headphones are essential for low voltage portable applications.

I don't think I would call it "left-over", it's a design decision. HD8xx is not portable, so why should it have a low Z design?

 

[Deleted member 12642]

These look considerably worse than the HD558 I've been using for years, strange product indeed.

 

[2M2B]

"Loose thougt": A loudspeaker with this FR, would get the headless panther treatment... Why can't headphones have FR as good as speakers? Is it the diaphragm working full range?

Because Full size have to deal with your pinna & head shape, While IEM's don't have this Issue. The Beyer DT 770 has the issue under 300Hz as well.

 

[Francis Vaughan]

but why certain headphones designed to have high / low impedance, or what makes headphones have high / low impedance?

The final impedance is a balancing act. For a conventional magnetic design (with a wound voice coil) the designer needs to generate enough motive force to drive the transducer. In a headphone the mass of the coil may be a significant part of the moving mass, more mass means less efficient, and a host of other things to consider. A low impedance transducer may have thicker wire and fewer turns for the same mass as a high impedance design with thinner wire and more turns. But the force is the current times the number of turns. Inductance goes up with the square. So there is a non-linear relationship. A low resistance design will have more current flowing for a given voltage than a high resistance design, but the high resistance design can get better motive force from more turns. And so it goes. Planar designs don't get the advantage of multiple turns due to their geometry. They need lots of current flowing, so low resistance, but high currents is a given. There is a whole mess of non-linear competing trade-offs, and the designer has to navigate through them, constrained by the requirements of the product.

There is no right choice, and a designer will balance a whole range of options, including use case, into the design. A higher resistance design probably gets the designer more options and freedom than low resistance designs. But it may not be possible to hit the needed sensitivity targets, and so on. YMMV.

 

[frix]

looks like it's currently discounted at 1999€
Still damn expensive. Never understood why it's much higher priced than the open back HD800s

 

[tarikuz]

It has three very high quality cables 3m long (banaced XLR, single ended, balnaced 4.4mm), if you buy as spare the cost is like 200€ for each one.
Despite people hate this headphone, I'm very happy (I have a denon 7200, a focal elegia and a PSB M4U1 too).

 

[frix]

200€ for a cable is just as ridiculous.

 

[tarikuz]

200€ for a cable is just as ridiculous.

it depends by the points of view and quality matters, the Sennheiser HD800,HD800s and HD820 have an ODU connector which is very high quality and ensure huge capability to plug/unplug, the cost is roughly 15$ for each one and on three cables you have a total of 6 connectors. You have gold plated XLR 4 pin, Standard 6,3mm plug and balance 4,4mm plug.

Regardless of the sound quality matter, the cable is very well designed because are silver plated OFC shielded and para-aramid reinforced, sto they are sturdy and ensure long life...

That's the reason.

 

[odyo]

Wow unexpected. This looks like DT 770's freq response. I actually like DT 770.

 

[tanglewire]

@Amir HD820 came with FR Certificate. Manufacturer states that this measurement is performed to each particular unit, indicating serial number. This curve differs a lot from the one you got in your own measurments. So I'm wondering, either you got a broken unit to test or that certificate is scam. (I deleted the S/N of my unit on purpose). Or do I got the golden unit? LoL

measurement

 

[respice finem]

Probably "method related", same as the "very optimistic" distortion figures from HP manufacturers.

 

[pozz]

@Amir HD820 came with FR Certificate. Manufacturer states that this measurement is performed to each particular unit, indicating serial number. This curve differs a lot from the one you got in your own measurments. So I'm wondering, either you got a broken unit to test or that certificate is scam. (I deleted the S/N of my unit on purpose). Or do I got the golden unit? LoL


View attachment 153891measurement

Probably "method related", same as the "very optimistic" distortion figures from HP manufacturers.

This measurement is FR relative to their diffuse field target. Note the y axis. Flat means no deviation from the target.

 

[respice finem]

So, if I understand right, the relative linearity shown is achieved by adherence to a set (non-linear) target.
If so, the result is real, but their presentation is misleading IMHO.