Quick Take: Sennheiser HD800s Review (finally)

Well I finally made it around to trying the universally applauded HD 800 S.

[@jblesser]

Very articulate and well thought out and balanced presentation. Thank you

[@l67swap1]

As someone who loves hifi and also a gamer on pc , these headphones does both very well ... Super comfortable and do everything quite well , except bass

[@starkid9736]

EQ they (able to) have very good bass i produce DUB / ambient (im kinda basshead) i have them fired with zen CAN or DAC my ears tap out 1st- no distortion

[@Mark-fs7ok]

I couldn't agree more - they pair best with OTL tube amps. All the supposed shortcomings disappear and they sound balanced, detailed, with great timbre, and of course they have that fantastic sound stage. Great for jazz, acoustic and orchestral music. And they're light, comfortable and very well built.

[@Jamie-666]

Yes, the 'thwack' you get off drums (and heavy bass) is impressive. You can certainly feel the pressure moving against your ears. Good microphone you've got there ;)

[@glenbaxter7815]

Hi there I like the way you review products. I have had the HD 800s since they came out. Watched you videos of the Chord Mojo, Qutest and TT2. If you still own the TT2 try driving the 800s out of the XLR outputs. 👍 Also please try the New Chord Mojo2. Big upgrade from OG Mojo. Please also try the IFI Go Blu as well. Stupidly good sounding little unit. It also drives the 800s . All the best and please keep up the good work.

[@SineCraftAudio]

Do you already have a Mojo2 in hand? Would love to know what you think. I'm looking forward to trying one.

[@canonlon311]

Tube swapping (OTL amp) can make significant changes to sound of the HD800s. Some of the typical 'cons' associated with the HD800s disappear with the right tube. I'm still searching for the endgame tube. I think this headphone is underrated if not correctly paired.

[@kentbergstrom3020]

It's cheeper to just EQ them.

[@nikolaygramchev]

Just pair the HD800s with the Burson Soloist 3X Performance and you will be experiencing a bliss. The Soloist 3X is slightly warm, spacious, detailed and fluent, powerful monster, and drives the HD800s to max. In a way that the set up competes with Stax. Infront I have a Denafrips Ares 2.

[@dontron810]

Honestly this. They can contend with an un eqed stax 900s

[@nikolaygramchev]

@@dontron810 well, I did an A-B-C test b/n stax 007 mk2 and 009s driven by srm-009 tII and the HD800s driven by the Soloist. I got the 007 mk2 - it has same detail richness, or a bit more, better mids and vocals, better lows and better timber. The 009s has more details but mids and especially vocals were quite drawn back for me, lows were tight and detailed but not more than from HD800s, but the timber was not natural as with the 007 mk2. For the 009s things might improve with a different driver (which I do not believe since they are easier to drive than the 007 mk2) but means spending a fortune.

[@krisrudecki9477]

Drive them from a good tube amp in high impedance mode and you get a lot more liquidity and romance 🤔Cayin HA6a is great with these

[@ForSynthsSake]

Did you keep them?

[@SineCraftAudio]

nope :)

[@fastguitars4380]

You offered exactly No commentary regarding the Bass response, and this is the 'X" Factor, regarding these Headphones, that is universal debate. You should have . Perhaps the fact that you didn't say....>"well they are great but they have no bass"..........is revealing, as i assume you would have landed on this situation, if it was , in your opinion.... THE significant 800S flaw that so many reviewers of this set of headphones lament about......endlessly.

[@azsampako2266]

It’s significant only if you care about lower frequencies.

[@TerrifyiN_]

This is why I refuse to buy these headphones, 1800$ currently and yet you need a dac/amp. Pretty stupid imo.