Unboxing: Sennheiser HD800 Headphones
Sennheiser's new top-of-the-line HD800 arrived this week. I'll be checking them out as part of my Headphone Quest series. If you're in a hurry for an eval of the sound, Alan Sircom just did a review in HiFi+ Issue 65 which you can purchase for download here.
I took some shots of the unboxing procedure for those who are curious about the physical product.
Pretty standard retail box.
Inside you find an attractive, heavy cardboard box.
The heavy cardbox box is actually suitable as a storage system for the HD800s.
Instructions cover 12 languages.
These are definitely open back headphones. The light-colored material between the outer and inner frame pieces is a fine wire mesh.
The headband is lightly padded, though this seems thick enough to be comfortable.
You are looking here toward the back edge (the part behind your ear) of the earcup. There is a larger gap between pad and driver on this side than on the front edge. The drivers are thus aimed slightly toward the rear of your head, not straight at your ear canal. The idea is to generate some of the reflections off your outer ear that would happen in normal listening.
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Comments
How do they feel on?
Do you think you could wear them for awhile before your ears started to sweat?
Thanks!
I've worn them for most of the afternoon. Sweating doesn't seem to be a problem; the material that touches your head is some kind of fabric that I presume breathes a bit.
As for other aspects of comfort, I'd say they're pretty good. Clamping force is a little high (I wish this were adjustable on more headphones). The pads also press on your neck and head over a smaller area than on some other 'phones, so pressure is slightly uncomfortable for me. I had them on twice for 45 minutes (2 CDs) and didn't notice increasing discomfort though. The circumaural cups don't crush any part of my ear, BTW (i.e. they're truly circumaural).
AVGuide webmaster and general drudge
Just a simple request (that matters more on this post than others): Could images please be resized to smaller ones that let us click through to larger ones? As it is, loading all the images in full resolution on this page slows down the load time (as each image is 2 Megabytes and should be around 100Kb or so max for this view), and it destroys the responsiveness off older systems trying to view the page (or something like an iPhone, which would be fine with normal, resized images). With 1-2 images it's not as much of a problem, but with a page like this, it makes viewing harder and adds no extra detail.
Fixed. I forgot that I was shooting at medium resolution.
AVGuide webmaster and general drudge
What is the quality of sound compared to other headphones on the market?
That's what I'm working on now. But as a preliminary view, I'd say a few things. First, the quality of sound is very high, but there is a definite character to the HD800s. Right now I'd say they major in clarity, at the expense of a slightly dry texture. Bass is well defined, and goes deeper than many 'phones, but is very slightly on the light side. I am trying several amps and D/A converters to make sure I'm commenting on the HD800s not the sources.
AVGuide webmaster and general drudge
How many hours do they have on them so far? They may need a fair bit of time to break in fully.
Certainly. That's one reason for "preliminary" above.
AVGuide webmaster and general drudge
Three things stop me in your short comment:
- BUT there's a definite character to the 800s [Why the … but?]
- Dry, grainy texture [Worrisome !!]
- Bass on the light side [Most worrisome !!]
Three things stop me in your short comment:
- BUT there's a definite character to the 800s [Why the … but?]
- Dry, grainy texture [Worrisome !!]
- Bass on the light side [Most worrisome !!]
Which best USB D/A conv would you advise to match them on PC / laptop?
The reason for the "but" in my first comment is that saying a component is very high quality without commenting on its character is like saying that some food is good, but not telling you if it is raw fish or pasta or sweetbreads. Generalized quality comments don't tell you much, and as a result in the food example I'd bet most people would consider "good" to be an insufficient description (imagine a menu that just said "Very Good -- $24" and "Extremely Good -- $27" and "Other Very Good -- $29" -- I doubt you'd be comfortable ordering). That is especially true with speakers and headphones which pretty much all have an easy to identify character. Regardless of quality, the nature of the character will inevitably be a big factor in whether you enjoy the product. That's because different people place different priorities on different sonic attributes -- often because different elements of character subtract more of less for the essence of music for them.
My other comments are preliminary, so I have to stick with that until I have more time with these guys. Again, these are very good headphones.
I haven't tested USB DACs, but we've covered many of them. Are you looking for a portable or a desktop DAC?
AVGuide webmaster and general drudge
I'm about to purchase these. You don't sound to be very enthusiastic.
I haven't heard enough to be enthusiastic or unenthusiastic yet. That doesn't help you, of course. First, if you want enthusiasm, I suggest downloading Alan's review mentioned above. He says the HD800s are like $25k speakers.
I'd ask, most importantly, what are you looking for? I might be able to quickly confirm if that is an HD800 strength.
AVGuide webmaster and general drudge
I've had Senn HD 580 then 650 for years. Being mostly on the move, I take my classical music along on my laptop.
I have a high-end home Hi-Fi system (SACD, etc.). I need maximum fidelity on the go. Will the 800 provide such?
Two thoughts: I think you'll find the 800s to be similar ot the 650s, more refined in the treble, more articulate in the bass, but not a revolutionary change. If you like the 650s, that'll be great. If you have wholesale reservations with the 650s, you might find the 800s too much of the same thing.
Since you are mobile, I'd refer to the headphone forum here for suggestions:
http://www.avguide.com/forums/best-headphone-amp
AVGuide webmaster and general drudge
are they any thing near the BOSE QC-3`s just purchased a pair, and they sound great especially pairedup with Creative X-FI any comments........
I haven't heard the QC-3s, but I will say the Bose QC-2s are actually pretty decent, are a great value, and have the helpful (for some environments) noise cancelling feature. That said, the upper midrange transparency of the HD800s is in a different (and more exalted) league than the QC2s. But the Sennheisers need an amp, I feel, which is less convenient in a mobile setting. Oh, and the HD800s cost over $1000 more.
AVGuide webmaster and general drudge
Thanks ,for the info..i still have a pair of STAX.model #SR-5 as you refer to above they also still sound great,but they also need a amp.
do all in the HI-END line need this power to perform to there specs.Thanks,kevin
The question of whether all high end headphones need an amp is a complex one. The simple answer is "no" because there are some very good earphones/headphones with impedances suited to the very low power of many portable devices. Usually, these headphones or earphones have low impedance (say 30 ohms) rather than high impedance (say 100, or 300 or 600 ohms). They may also have higher sensitivity. A common limiting factor in portable devices is probably voltage swing, because of the batteries. Assuming no current limiting (hah!), and all other things being equal, cutting the impedance of the earphone/headphone by a factor of 10 reduces voltage swing needed by the square root of 10 (about 3.2).
But, and here comes the complexity, there are many problems with the above logic. First, it is harder to make a low distortion amp to drive low impedance headphones. Second, amps built in to portable devices are often not great. Third, headphones aren't purely resitive loads, so those not great amps might theoretically work but in practice sound bad because they can't really drive the presenting load. Fourth, the techniques used to make higher sensitivity 'phones may yield sonic degradation.
In summary, no matter what, if you care about high quality I would use an amp on passive 'phones.
On headphones with a built-in amp (e.g. the QC3), there may be no benefit to an amp (there shouldn't be, but reality often throws curveballs). Electrostatics are also different in that they need a separate device to create the stator charge that allows the headphones to work at all. So, what you have with you Stax 'phones is more than an amp.
AVGuide webmaster and general drudge
How long is the cord? What is the response window? How many ohms? What didn't I read before posting this..... ?sorry. paul
The cord is a little over 11 ft. long.
Frequency response is spec'd as 14-44.1k, -3db
These are 300 ohm 'phones
AVGuide webmaster and general drudge