Sennheiser HD800 headphone system in my office

the professor said:
Have you ever listened to the Cavailli Audio Liquid Gold head amp? Just curious how the Senheiser compares to it.
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Jock.......No, I have not listened to the Cavilli Audio Liquid Gold. To be perfectly honest, I am not a serious headphone guy like many I have chatted with over at Head-Fi. I listen in the office at my desk when I am in the mood. When I want to get serious about listening I move downstairs to the studio system. I know there are many amazing headphones on the market, as well as headphone amplifiers. What I like about this rig is it delivers a rich well tempered performance that is detailed and engrossing without exaggerating any portion of the audio spectrum. I usually listen at conversation levels. My head blasting days are behind me. I also appreciate the comfort. For the money I have invested I am satisfied with the performance the Sennheiser HD800 and HDVA 600 deliver. Headphones are a lot like speakers in that everyone has their favorite. Some even have four or five favorites. I'm good with one.
 
alrainbos.......I have not auditioned the Sennheiser HDVD800 headphone amp/DAC. I prefer my DAC's to be external. The same goes for preamplifiers. I can tell you the HDVA 600, the CH800 balanced cable, and the HD800 headphone make me happy every time I have them on my head. When I am happy I stop shopping so I have no desire to audition anything else. If I were a serious Head-Fi enthusiast things might be different, but I'm not.
 
Dan...have you auditioned the McIntosh MHP1000s yet? If so, your thoughts and if not, do you plan to audition them?
 
David........I have not auditioned the new McIntosh MHP1000 headphone. The next time I'm in Gainesville at my McIntosh dealer I will give them a listen, that is if he has them. I have heard some good comments from those who have auditioned them. At $2k McIntosh is pretty proud of them for sure. I have to admit I'm pretty partial to my HD880.


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Dan...as you know, I own a pair and love em! Though, I need to revisit the Sennheiser brand again.
 
This is the best sort of hanging solution as the muffs don't get compressed over time with storage.
 
Double-D said:
alrainbos.......I have not auditioned the Sennheiser HDVD800 headphone amp/DAC. I prefer my DAC's to be external. The same goes for preamplifiers. I can tell you the HDVA 600, the CH800 balanced cable, and the HD800 headphone make me happy every time I have them on my head. When I am happy I stop shopping so I have no desire to audition anything else. If I were a serious Head-Fi enthusiast things might be different, but I'm not.
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AL is a serious HP guy.

He has the Senn 800, HifiMan HE-6, Audeze LCD-3 (or X), some custom IEMs and Stax electrostatic phones as well. He does not have the Abyss, Alpha Dogs, BeyeDynamic Tesla T1, and the new much hyped Audeze EL-8 ( https://www.audeze.com/products/el-8-collection/el-8-open-back ).
He also has the Senn SS amp and 2 Woo Tube amps (I Believe) plus the Lampi B7 Headamp/Dac.

I heard all his HPs last year and I think the Senn was my favourite, but again, some are better for different genres. I am curious about the Audeze EL-8 based on previews I have read and the price is "reasonable" for a Mag planer design.
 
wisnon said:
AL is a serious HP guy.

He has the Senn 800, HifiMan HE-6, Audeze LCD-3 (or X), some custom IEMs and Stax electrostatic phones as well. He does not have the Abyss, Alpha Dogs, BeyeDynamic Tesla T1, and the new much hyped Audeze EL-8 ( https://www.audeze.com/products/el-8-collection/el-8-open-back ).
He also has the Senn SS amp and 2 Woo Tube amps (I Believe) plus the Lampi B7 Headamp/Dac.

I heard all his HPs last year and I think the Senn was my favourite, but again, some are better for different genres. I am curious about the Audeze EL-8 based on previews I have read and the price is "reasonable" for a Mag planer design.
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wisnon.......Thank you for your post. Yes, it is obvious member alrainbos is in an entirely different headphone league than me. I understand the driving force that leads to so many choices being owned at one time. I have the same weakness with preamps, amps, and tuners. I found it interesting that your preference was for the HD800 over the other headphone choices available.
 
MusicDirector said:
Dan, where I'm from that is called genius.:)
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MusicDirector.......The HD800 padded area of the headband has an indentation in the center that makes a perfect docking point for the headphone to hang on the banana hanger. Once I filed the top of the hanger flat and sanded it smooth the HD800 headband indentation securely parks the headphone without wear or abrasion and allows the ear cups to hang free. This allows air flow to dry the padding on the ear cups should they become moist from extended use. Heck, for $10.00 how can you loose? The headphone stand can always be returned to a banana hanger by screwing the hook back in.


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Rick.......That's a fine looking headphone rig. The Bryston BHA-1 headphone amp has gotten lots of rave reviews. Bet it sounds superb with the HD800's. The Woo stand looks cool, too. Thanks for letting us see it.
 
back in 2011 I was very curious just how good headphones could sound. I wanted to know if at the very top of the headphone-amp food chain whether they could compete with my big speaker rig at that time. could headphones help me to push my system further by giving me a reference? could headphones offer more detail? I knew they could never compete on bass or imaging.

so I lurked over at Head-Fi for awhile and then acquired a higher end dynamic rig (HD-800's and Woo Audio 6SE amp), and then an Electrostat rig ( Stax 007 mK2's and Stax SRM-717 amp) to see what all the fuss was about. I preferred the Stax presentation overall to the dynamic set-up. after doing more research it seemed that very tip top performance was the Headamp Blue Hawaii Special Edition electrotstat amp along with the Orpheous clone the Headamp Aristaeus amp, and there was a new Stax model, the 009. I ended up acquiring all those in early 2012.....I had to wait 14 months for the BHSE to arrive. it's still back-ordered over a year. for anyone thinking about ordering the BHSE I can tell you that (1) it's well worth the wait, and (2) it's simple to sell for what you paid for it. and it's beautifully built. not cheap, but great value.

here are some pictures of those in my room. about that time I decided to jump into the deep end of the pool on amps and speakers so I ended up selling all the headphone gear I had acquired to partially fund that move. it was fun learning about how great headphones could sound compared to a state of the art full size speaker set-up.

009-BHSE is the best headphone set-up I've ever heard and came close to the detail I heard with my EA MM3--dart 108, but not close to the EA MM7-dart 458.

the 007-Aristaeus was sexy sounding and would likely be hard to beat if one loves warmth and tubey transparency. I see what people see in the Orpheus.

the Senn HD-800-Woo 6SE was also a sweet combination if not quite on the same level as the stat's.

with my dedicated room it's hard for me to rationalize serious headphone investment, but I'm glad I was able to investigate and enjoy that part of the hobby and do fully understand what people love about it. with my sources and signal path investments I think I heard what is possible with headphones.

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Double-D said:
Zero.......My pleasure. How do you like my banana hanger repurposed as a headphone stand? . :)
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Genius headphone stand. Will kook into it.

Glad you love the HD800 so much. Gorgeous photos.

I auditioned many headphones today including hd800 and hd650.

It was essentially nothing but a comfort test unfortunately, unbelievable comfort, because all I had was a galaxy phone to hear them with, they were barely audible, and a failing crackling 1/4" to 1/8 adapter.

I've always heard that the 650 is an inexpensive gem deemed a true classic that needs power and scales well. I've heard the hd800 scales even more and is even more power hungry.

Sent from my LGLS660 using Tapatalk
 
I'd second the Woo stands. They are heavy, finished well, and reasonably priced. I got mine from Jack / Woo at AXPONA where they were offering a few $ off.
RLL1 said:
Nice! Where did you get the headphone stand?




Its a Woo Audio stand. You can buy them directly from Woo.

Woo Audio Universal Adjustable Height Aluminum Headphone Stands
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rfan8312 said:
Genius headphone stand. Will kook into it.

Glad you love the HD800 so much. Gorgeous photos.

I auditioned many headphones today including hd800 and hd650.

It was essentially nothing but a comfort test unfortunately, unbelievable comfort, because all I had was a galaxy phone to hear them with, they were barely audible, and a failing crackling 1/4" to 1/8 adapter.

I've always heard that the 650 is an inexpensive gem deemed a true classic that needs power and scales well. I've heard the hd800 scales even more and is even more power hungry.

Sent from my LGLS660 using Tapatalk
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rfan8312.......It has not been my experience that the Sennheiser headphones are power hungry. I have owned the HD580, HD600, and now the HD800. All of them are able to play at substantial volume without raising the volume control past 11:00 o'clock on the dial. I have used these headphones with the headphone outputs on a McIntosh C2300 preamp, a McIntosh C1000C/P preamp, and a Music Fidelity X-Can V8P headphone amp. There were no issues with being able to drive any of them. Perhaps there may be issues if you wish to drive them using a portable device such as a phone, iPod or iPad. If one of those will be your source, I would consider buying top of the line Shure ear-buds instead of headphones in the HD800 class.
 
You may be right man.

I guess it was a bit of silly of me to state that theyvarevpower hungry, considering that I was trying to drive them out of a smartphone.

Thanks for the suggestion regarding the Shure earbuds.

Im hoping to hear the hd800 again sometime with a proper source.

Btw Ive heard that the hd800 sounds amazing with an amp called Teton.

For now though my next purchase will be Grado 325e. I liked that one quite a bit.
 
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