Yeah, I looked up the frequencies between both of them. The bass is definitely more present in the S version. The fact that Not only is it bright but it doesn’t appear too much to sibilance and the upper mids appear raised too alongside that large of a soundstage your only concern at that point would be the bass imaging and seperation but the imaging and seperation are said to be phenomenal on the 800 S so that just leaves the Bass. The issue is that if there is any rumble whatsoever it can cause some issues but it’s not like you couldn’t equalize it out the bass is just barily arcing over neutral on it’s frequency graph. Quite something. Not sure I would pay closer to 2 grand for it though lmfao.
I mean, yeah the bass is out of the way for the analytical pads. Not so much for balanced pads or dekoni elite velour which give 2 other signatures. Balanced pads are just too bassy they tend to drown out the mids for me on the 1990 which is why I ended up grabbing the elite velours as it makes it more of a subtle V or more of a U as the mids are more neutral with slightly increased bass and treble though on a bad amp pairing it can still become sibilant
Good analysis on the frequencies, though the 800S can be nasty sibilant with the wrong track. They’re basically extremely unforgiving of poor recordings, which is what makes them hit-and-miss for music. One of the guys on Zeos’s Telegram chat did a review of 800S (don’t think it’s available publicly or I’d share it here), and he used “More Than You Know” by Axwell /\ Ingrosso as an example of skull-splitting sibilance. That track can bite on a lot of heaphones, but it’s icepicks on 800S. But if sibilance is not in the recording then the 800S isn’t pushing treble too aggressively to create it.
Current rate on 800S is $1700, which is way too expensive, IMO. They ran a $300 off special recently, which dropped them down to still-too-expensive, but they’re something I wanted in my collection for a long time. They’d be a good buy at around $1000, IMO.
Is there a chart somewhere that tells you which are the balanced and which are analytical? Beyer uses that terminology, but if there was a piece of paper somewhere that says “velour = analytical” or something then I’ve overlooked it.
I hated doing the pad change on my 1770s (I had to call my wife to find our hairdryer, lol–I live in AZ where “wait a while” is a perfectly good substitute), but the fact that you can change the sound signature to suit different needs or tastes with pad swaps is more bonus points for 1990s.
Considering the signature and the fact that I love sennheisers house sound to death cause good lord they make vocals sound amazing? It would be my first $1000 purchased headphone and probably my last. I tend to never go over the $500 mark I have set for myself so I don’t cause financial crisis and so the lady of the house doesn’t want to beat me over the head lol.
Not so much a chart but the entire frequency response changes rather drastically look here
Dekoni in green, balanced in blue, analytical in purple
What’s even crazier though is if you look at the dekoni pad frequency not only is it the only pad that balances out the treble as well as bringing up the 4k-5k frequency but lets compare the analytical padded dt 1990 to the hd 800 s for a moment
HD800s in red other is analytical dt 1990. the treble surely doesn’t peak as hard. This is one of the reasons I use dekoni on mine provided you don’t pair it some a really stupid combo and make it horrifically sibilant, cause even with that drop in treble you sure as hell can manage that one I assure you, it sounds good.
One of the things I noticed immediately though is that the hd800 S dips later in the frequency and keeps the upper mids raised it starts dipping on the lower treble which is probably what makes it stand out even more in competitives. That plus it doesn’t appear to be as bassy as the dt 1990
Though heres something thats a bit more wild. While the dt 1990 may be different and quite a bit so look at this one
I didn’t even mean frequency response so much as, if I’m holding one of the pads in my hand, what’s it called? Lol. I think I’ve been able to map it out thanks to seeing FR graphs and correlating listening experiences, but otherwise I don’t properly know which one is on my headphones and which is in the box.
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Anyway, good details on the FR graphs and 800S, pads, etc. That stuff is all starting to click for me now, which is kinda funny to me. My very most recent acquisition is the Drop + JVC FDX01 Dual Carbon, which comes with 3 different tuning modules (white, blue, and green). I listened to them blind and found the white ones to have too much mid/upper-mid focus–they sounded very clear, but the bass was almost totally uninvolved. I really didn’t care for that signature. Meanwhile, the blue modules brought everything much more into balance at the cost of a little bit of grain in the fine details. Nevertheless, it was a very good trade.
Later I found the graphs and confirmed a big peak between maybe 2-5kHz? I’d need to look again, but the point is that the FR confirmed a very big peak in that region and the community mods on which the Drop collab are based attenuate that peak so you get a more balanced voicing overall.
Once upon a time it struck me as extremely pedantic for reviews to call out certain frequency regions in a headphone or IEM and discuss them. In my head I was thinking “what the hell? I’m listening to vocals, piano and guitar here, not scanning for peaks in the 6-8kHz region–who even knows what that means?!” Well, with enough repetition and correlation, that’s getting to be me, lol.
Out of the box they have the analytical pads on you will definitely know if you have the balanced on they tend to be softer and have quite a lot more bass presence its a definitely V signature with those.
I think the one time I was like the hell is going on with this sound?? Was when I bought my tygrs. It bugged the hell out of me… It has a weird sound that makes me think is that veil? Congestion? It couldnt possibly be darkness of the treble its a beyer!! Sure enough theres a damn portion of the lower treble that dips pretty big, -5 DB tops, under neutral within the 2k-6k region. Dark treble in a beyer
Beyer uses that terminology, but if there was a piece of paper somewhere that says “velour = analytical” or something then I’ve overlooked it. 
