šŸ”¶ Drop + Sennheiser HD8XX

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I joined the Drop. I think Crinacleā€™s video is funny but itā€™s nothing but entertainment value for me, and DMSā€™s ears arenā€™t the same as mine, so Iā€™m not the least bit worried about their searing reviews. :relaxed:

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You are right! I used to have a t1.3nd it was a really dark headphone like DMS said.
After I get used to it, I like how everything hits with authority. I sold it because I bought it used and was not in ā€œnewā€ shape

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You high roller you! Good luck on the purchase. :+1:

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I mean you donā€™t even need to trust DMS or crinacles ears, you can see the big hole in the FR graph lol

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I donā€™t care about holes detected by measurement rigs. Thereā€™s literally been zero times an FR graph has given me audio bliss or anxiety, lol. I will judge the headphones with my ears and determine if the graph hole corresponds to audio grief to my ears or merely a different tuning that I enjoy. :slight_smile:

I recall reading you have never lusted after the 800 series ā€“ but Iā€™m the opposite, itā€™s always been on my radar, so I decided to take the final plunge. :sweat_smile:

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Me too! I got an hd800s a few days ago

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The early reviews are scary and that is from Sennheiser fans. As I said Good Luck and I am curious to hear your thoughts.

And no, I am not a Senn fan.

When I could first hear the difference demonstratively passively listening through a phone, I knew it was significant.

I think history will look back on this and suggest that the criticism was based in ā€œwhat could have beenā€ and that it was ultimately a tuning mistake for most in the target audience. That said, theyā€™re offering an HD8__ for less than any other opportunity at present. When this first launched, I thought that number would be more inline with 6xx/58x where you might get this forā€¦ $800? Thatā€™s when I was excited.

If you are willing/able to EQ the 8xx, I can see people being very happy. Nobody that already owns an 8__ will consider them, and the vitriol of the audio intelligentsia will wear-off from this one. Enjoy your cans.

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looked at all the reviews finally, all I can say isā€¦ oof

Holy crap yā€™all. I have NOT been keeping up with the news and went. HOLY SHIT when these came today. I was shocked and amazed. I had no idea whatsoever that they would be here this early!!! About to listen right now!

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Current set up. I donā€™t have a cable for this headphone or something to connect it to. Iā€™m listening on m15 with a damn adapter. No balanced. Not getting enough power for sure. Lots of issues in this set up andā€¦

This is a damn good headphone. Havenā€™t seen any of the negative reviews yet but I gotta say this thing is intense and I canā€™t wait to try pad swapping and using a legit cable. Very impressed after a bit of brain burn in. Nowhere to go but up from here and itā€™s already a banger and it seems that they dropped the ugly blue ring so itā€™s a good looking headphone too.

Tldr: :ok_hand::ok_hand::smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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After watching the reviews and playing with eq Iā€™m actually concerned that getting a new cable or pads wonā€™t do as much as EQ

Tldr again as a current owner: Drop messed up the tuning, and if you use a set up that has a master EQ then you can save money over the 800S and get the cool soundstage and comfortable light headphones.

I have mixed feelings about these. Iā€™m no audio engineer, but after messing with the EQ it really seems like all these ever may have needed was a bass boost so idk whatā€™s up with the scooped midsā€¦ It makes me wonder if a certain someone who really likes v shaped sound screamed too loudly during the preliminary tuning sessionsā€¦ Cough z cough

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Yeah I hate to say it but vocals are weird.

Itā€™s like thereā€™s dampening ON the vocals

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after being advised to continue on with my posts on this thread i think it would be more appropriate to post here, so here is my quick take after a couple of hours with the 8xx

first off, if anyone are good with EQ and can prescrive and antidote based on the measurments for me that targets the gutted midrange that would be awesome

first off, for the first time it started making sense to me why they advertise and sell both the 800s and the 8xx because now customers have something to fall back on if they happen to make a return, if thats even a thing. anyhow!!

so listening to this i instantly realised that the 8xx is trying to be something it is not, what Drop has clearly done is to make a COMPLETELY new headphone outside the realm of the 800s. I think that when you actually go ahead with such an aggressive tuning revamp like what this has that you soon realise why it was originally tuned like this with the chassie and materials that it had, refering to the 800s, because you have to work with the chassie and the materials that you have, with the 8xx this aspect seem to have been disregarded completely

actuall impressions

  • the midrange is completely drowned out, vocals sound insanely muffled to the point where it doesnt sound like a headphone of the priceclass itā€™s being sold at at all! however i was able to remedy this somewhat with a simple and straighforward EQ adjustment directly targeting the 2k peak, i put an 11db bump in the vocals because thats as far as my limited knowledge could take me, but it did do something

iā€™d be more than happy answering any questions you may have. i think that it would be interesting to hear others viewpoints on this wheter you own the 8xx or not.

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my thoughts exactly. i was able to remedy this somewhat with an EQ adjustment directly aimed at the 2k dip, it did help some

here is my current adjustment


if i did not EQ my mind would already have been set on doing everything i can to somehow get these back. ill try to get back once iā€™ve familiarised myself with the new sound, because thats what it feels like right now after half an hour or so listening with the new adjustments

i think that if you are happy with the default sound of the 8xx that that is awesome, if youā€™re happy, keep them and keep enjoying them.

for me, i couldnt tell if the bass drowned out the vocals or it just being the vocals that are dipped. if i hadnā€™t seen the measurments id probably say its because of the bass because to me the default sound just made it sound like the bass was drowning out everything. EQ helped alleviating the clarity of the vocals A LOT

@luige06 do you know if Drop takes returns on these?

thats awesome man! glad you enjoy it!

i received a unit with the advertised blue ring, i wonder if there are different tunings for the same batch as there is headphones with different aesthetics in the same batchā€¦