Sennheiser HD 800 Dynamic Open-Back Stereo Headphones

Comments about Sennheiser HD 800 Dynamic Open-Back Stereo Headphones:

Packaged to perfection. It lives up to the hype. First pair of headphones that I actually do not want to remove. I coupled this purchase with a portable amp. Makes the mids and lows glow like I have never heard. Highs are easy on the ears.

Comments about Sennheiser HD 800 Dynamic Open-Back Stereo Headphones:

Very Confortable!

Comments about Sennheiser HD 800 Dynamic Open-Back Stereo Headphones:

I'm mostly listening Classical, Choir, and some "classical pop" music.

After getting Schiit's Headphone Amp and DAC (which boosted the vintage Sennheiser HD425 I'm using to a really nice sound) I decided to get serious. For several month I did my research in order to find THE headphone for me.

Listening to several headphones in the 500$ plus category, this one convinced me within seconds.

The sound is absolutely clean and faithful to the source over the full range.

What turned me over immediately is the separation of all musical aspects of your piece. Even with the full orchestra playing, not only you can hear the individual sections, you can separate the Cello from the Bass, and even hear that a section has several players.

No need to mention the great soundstage, the best I've ever heard, and others mentioned that before.

For me the tonal balance, including bass, is exactly where it should be. More bass would be exaggeration, less would leave something out.
The highs are brilliant but never even close to annoying, the mids are just out of this world.

This leads to my second point. Listening to great Cello or voice recordings, it gives me the shiver every time. I fell in love with some of my most favorite performers for the second time.

Last but not least, these headphones are absolutely mercyless with sub-par recordings. They deserve, and require, only the best recordings and will give you an experience as close to live as you can get these days in my mind.
Never try using compressed files 128k or less, you'll hear the artifacts created from compression.
On the flip side, some artfully remastered older, even historic, recordings will come to new life, including the oh-so-familiar swooshy noise.

Comments about Sennheiser HD 800 Dynamic Open-Back Stereo Headphones:

I use this product with my headroom desk top amp and bose wave sound machine stereo in a brookstone ucomfort chair. It's a pleasant experience for me.I also use a go vibe vulcan+ and fii0 e11 for equalizer and gain. The sound is beyond amazing!

Comments about Sennheiser HD 800 Dynamic Open-Back Stereo Headphones:

I use these for travel and listening to music while doing homework. Their sound quality is great, but if you are in a quiet setting, the open back design plays music for those who do not necessarily want to be listening along. On airplanes, however, there is so much background noise that the headphones are usable without disturbing fellow travellers.

Comments about Sennheiser HD 800 Dynamic Open-Back Stereo Headphones:

When I first listened to the HD 800, my mouth dropped open at the great soundstage. Bass is best I have heard in headphones. Treble excellent. Midrange orchestra instruments accurately presented.

Comments about Sennheiser HD 800 Dynamic Open-Back Stereo Headphones:

When I first listened to the HD800, my mouth dropped open in amazement at the fantastic sound stage. It presents a symphony orchestra magnificently.
Good bass, great high frequency response, accurate presentation of midrange instruments.

Comments about Sennheiser HD 800 Dynamic Open-Back Stereo Headphones:

I've never owned a pair of full-sized headphones. I own the Shure SE530 and Westone 3- which are great earphones. With the HD800s I can finally say I am satisfied with my collection of listening devices. I use the HD800 when I want to really indulge in listening to my lossless files on Foobar with plugins. I just plug in the beefy headphone plug into a beefy extension cable and into the Sound Blaster XFI Titanium HD sound card. The headphones go silent in between tracks which really makes the music crystal clear. The bass is really nice. It doesn't get in the way of higher frequencies. The HD800 looks like they will last forever (I hope). I will definitely be putting a strain on my finances but I get alot of enjoyment out of these great headphones. I like that it came with a high quality storage case that protects them nicely and provides a way to hide them from curious visitors when I am not around (I put it in the closet). I don't know that the performance difference compared to lesser models is worth the huge price tag, but they are my first headphones and I expect to never buy a pair again as they seem to be really well made.

Comments about Sennheiser HD 800 Dynamic Open-Back Stereo Headphones:

These headphones sound great in the mids and highs, probably the best I've ever heard, but they lack bass unless you amp them carefully. The fact is, you can get 90% there and achieve better bass with other cheaper headphones that are like 50% cheaper, so I do not feel that these are worth the high price. I have to say it's not what I thought it would be. I was expecting to be absolutely blown away by the detail and quality of the sound and...well, I just wasn't.

Yes, they are very comfortable and they look cool and have a great build quality, etc, but when doing direct comparisons to my Denon AHD-7000 headphones for example, I got more enjoyment out of the Denons each and every time. And, the Denons are much less expensive! Why spend so much money if you can get right up near to this quality and get more enjoyment for less money in another headphone?

Comments about Sennheiser HD 800 Dynamic Open-Back Stereo Headphones:

If you thought you had hearing loss when listening to other 'phones such as the Sennheiser 600/650, try these and you'll hear things you haven't heard before. When you get this kind of clarity without adding extra "brilliance", that's really remarkable. What else can I say? They aren't as big or bulky as reviewers have said, and they don't clamp your head like the 600/650's do. Not a bad deal, even for [$].