Sennheiser HD800S Review (Headphone)

[gorman]

At $2–3k, the rumored Sennheiser would actually be one of the more affordable flagships... so, LOL?

Considering price and quality of the product this discussion was born for, yeah, LOL.

Then again, everyone is 100% free to spend their own money however they prefer.

For me, LOL. Better?

This is offtopic here, anyway.

 

[A Surfer]

All TOTL headphones are grossly overpriced, without exception. Saying that, if people are able to pay these prices, are willing to pay the price and feel that they are getting value for the investment, who am I to judge?

 

[Pearljam5000]

@$1K the HD800 is a bargain
It's the best transducer I've ever heard

 

[patoulol]

@$1K the HD800 is a bargain
It's the best transducer I've ever heard

What did you compare it to?

 

[Pearljam5000]

What did you compare it to?

Other studio monitors and headphones
Obviously I didn't hear everything on planet earth
But the details, instrument separation, layering etc are beyond everything else that I've tried.

 

[Robbo99999]

HD900 rumours are about. Very exciting if true.

Rumor: Sennheiser HD900S pode ser lançado daqui uma semana - Hi-fi Hub

Seu hub que reúne de informações sobre áudio, fones, streaming de música e mais: notícias, artigos, análises, guias e recomendações.

www.hifihub.com.br

Quite honestly, LOL at the expected price.

Utopia - $5000
Susvara Unveiled - $8000
Stealth/Expanse - $4000
LCD-5 - $5000

At $2–3k, the rumored Sennheiser would actually be one of the more affordable flagships... so, LOL?

If they can do something to end up with impactful detailed bass (after EQ if needs be) whilst retaining the other good properties of the HD800/HD800s, which I'd say are smoothness & completeness of treble above 8kHz and the soundstage/imaging then I think it would be a really good headphone. I mean I think they'd need to something about the general frequency response in the mids and low treble if relating it to the HD800/800s, in my eyes to make it more Harman, but that can be sorted with EQ, just you can't EQ good bass into the HD800/800s unfortunately and you can't really EQ smooth complete treble above 8kHz from measurements (not that the HD800/HD800s needs EQ'ing of that above 8kHz) so those last two points need to be built into the headphone design in my opinion. The fact they talk about reduced THD then this is a first encouraging sign that this headphone might be able to do good bass, but we'll see. If it does the things I mention then the price is high on a general level, but not crazy or outplaced in comparison to the other flagships on the market.

 

[Chagall]

If they can do something to end up with impactful detailed bass (after EQ if needs be) whilst retaining the other good properties of the HD800/HD800s, which I'd say are smoothness & completeness of treble above 8kHz and the soundstage/imaging then I think it would be a really good headphone. I mean I think they'd need to something about the general frequency response in the mids and low treble if relating it to the HD800/800s, in my eyes to make it more Harman, but that can be sorted with EQ, just you can't EQ good bass into the HD800/800s unfortunately and you can't really EQ smooth complete treble above 8kHz from measurements (not that the HD800/HD800s needs EQ'ing of that above 8kHz) so those last two points need to be built into the headphone design in my opinion. The fact they talk about reduced THD then this is a first encouraging sign that this headphone might be able to do good bass, but we'll see. If it does the things I mention then the price is high on a general level, but not crazy or outplaced in comparison to the other flagships on the market.

Agree, as long as they make treble smooth, positionally and cross-heads consistent, then EQ is easy.

The sub-bass rolls off smoothly down to 20 Hz, with no bumps or dips either.
The mid-high trough that plagued the 800S is gone; the treble shelf only sets in above 15 kHz.

It's interesting how this will turn out. It's been a while for Sennheiser - HD800 was released in 2009, and HD800s in 2015.

 

[Robbo99999]

Agree, as long as they make treble smooth, positionally and cross-heads consistent, then EQ is easy.

The sub-bass rolls off smoothly down to 20 Hz, with no bumps or dips either.
The mid-high trough that plagued the 800S is gone; the treble shelf only sets in above 15 kHz.

It's interesting how this will turn out. It's been a while for Sennheiser - HD800 was released in 2009, and HD800s in 2015.

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens, I'd like it to be true if only to see what they decide to do with the HD900s, and to see it measured & assessed on sites like ASR, Oratory, etc.

 

[Resolve]

Agree, as long as they make treble smooth, positionally and cross-heads consistent, then EQ is easy.

The sub-bass rolls off smoothly down to 20 Hz, with no bumps or dips either.
The mid-high trough that plagued the 800S is gone; the treble shelf only sets in above 15 kHz.

It's interesting how this will turn out. It's been a while for Sennheiser - HD800 was released in 2009, and HD800s in 2015.

It's fake, at least the quote attributed to me in some of this is fake. I've never been to a private Sennheiser listening session at an event, nor have I been to their headquarters. Moreover, it got the description of the HD 800 S wrong too, the issue was to do with the treble between like 6-8khz. Like it just doesn't make sense to describe upper mids as having "a roll off", so that seems like AI gen stuff gone wrong.

 

[Chagall]

It's fake, at least the quote attributed to me in some of this is fake. I've never been to a private Sennheiser listening session at an event, nor have I been to their headquarters. Moreover, it got the description of the HD 800 S wrong too, the issue was to do with the treble between like 6-8khz. Like it just doesn't make sense to describe upper mids as having "a roll off", so that seems like AI gen stuff gone wrong.

The article was translated from Portuguese, so I ignored the problems and just attributed them to the Chrome translation. Thanks for the heads-up!

 

[Resolve]

The article was translated from Portuguese, so I ignored the problems and just attributed them to the Chrome translation. Thanks for the heads-up!

Yeah I'm just basing it off what someone had compiled from this rumor in other places. There was an article circulating that had quotes from me and some other forum users giving impressions, and this seemed to propagate the rumor mill to a degree that it even reached Sennheiser and they also commented that it was fake. I did see the patent documents though, which is interesting. So just because this part of it is fake doesn't mean the concept of an HD 900S hasn't been considered.

 

[A Surfer]

And it absolutely makes sense that Sennheiser would be looking to release something in the TOTL to remain relevant. Seems perfectly reasonable that something is in the hopper.

 

[Somafunk]

HD900 rumours are about. Very exciting if true.

Rumor: Sennheiser HD900S pode ser lançado daqui uma semana - Hi-fi Hub

Seu hub que reúne de informações sobre áudio, fones, streaming de música e mais: notícias, artigos, análises, guias e recomendações.

www.hifihub.com.br

The Headphone show are discussing this for the first 50mins of video below, they’re not convinced it’s gonna happen

Edit : doh….i didnt read far enough into thread post to see resolve had already responded to HD900 rumour

 

[Tano]

Those rumours are fake. Confirmed by Sennheiser.

 

[A Surfer]

That is disappointing. Eventually there will be a new TOTL Sennheiser. Unless they cease operations.

 

[PenguinMusic]

Utopia - $5000
Susvara Unveiled - $8000
Stealth/Expanse - $4000
LCD-5 - $5000

At $2–3k, the rumored Sennheiser would actually be one of the more affordable flagships... so, LOL?

Sure,
But still 2x the price of current hd800s !
This battle for the most expensive thing is quite annoying...

 

[Deleted member 43924]

I finally got around to getting a pair of HD 800Ss and after applying Oratory1990's eq profile, I can say these live up to the hype. Comfort is great, build is great, sound is great. I wake up everyday excited to listen to these.

 

[Robbo99999]

I finally got around to getting a pair of HD 800Ss and after applying Oratory1990's eq profile, I can say these live up to the hype. Comfort is great, build is great, sound is great. I wake up everyday excited to listen to these.

Have you got other headphones you EQ'd to Harman, which ones?

 

[Deleted member 43924]

Have you got other headphones you EQ'd to Harman, which ones?

Right now I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 820s that I've been using with Oratory1990's eq profile and the sound is good, with the usual tradeoffs you'd expect to get from a closed back. Some past headphones that I eq'd to Harman were Mr. Speakers Ether C Flow 1.1s, DCA Aeon Noires, 1st gen Meze Lirics, and ZMF Eikons (I've spent a lot of time looking for a closed-back I like). I've also been eqing my in-ears, specifically a pair of Sennheiser IE 900s with Oratory1990's profile.

 

[Westsounds]

Right now I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 820s that I've been using with Oratory1990's eq profile and the sound is good, with the usual tradeoffs you'd expect to get from a closed back. Some past headphones that I eq'd to Harman were Mr. Speakers Ether C Flow 1.1s, DCA Aeon Noires, 1st gen Meze Lirics, and ZMF Eikons (I've spent a lot of time looking for a closed-back I like). I've also been eqing my in-ears, specifically a pair of Sennheiser IE 900s with Oratory1990's profile.

So what are the best closed backs youve tried?