Limited edition HD800S with new gold colorway announced. A big meh from me if the changes are limited to just aesthetics.
What did Silver say when it saw Gold walking across the street?
āAu!ā
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Just an additional note to say (to those it may concern) that I tried switching back to stock pads, as I went with the Dekoni pads right away when I got these headphones. I actually prefer the stock pads. The Dekoni pads push the drivers further away from your ears due to their added thickness, and this shaped the headband in such a way that it created a hot spot on the top of my head, making for a bit of discomfort. I also personally find that bass is a little stronger with the stock pads. Othersā mileage may vary, of course.
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What equipment did you end up getting? I am sort of in the same dilemma right now 
Nothing because Iām waiting on soekris 2541 (the upgraded 1541) and will combine it with v280, that will be my combo for sure but if they delay 2541 into next year Iāll give up and get a 1541 with v280. Hopefully it releases by the end of the year.
I may copy that setupā¦ What headphones do you currently have?
beyer 1990
You never got the 800s and the arya?
No Iāll get amp dac and 800s together first, must experience that big soundstage.
Might not get the arya found a shop 2 hours away Iāll demo it there sometime, instead decide on something warm and bassy to accompany the 800s.
I want a DAC/AMP for my HD800s, budget 1000 euros. Please donāt recommend stuff from Schiit or anything else not available in Europe. Thanks.
HD800s will work well with any of these you can find in your price range. Many choices, just not sure about availability in EU. Good luck, there are more bu these were the ones i know have HP amps and maybe you can find some new or used at your price range or near it. Best of luckš
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So I tested out a modded HD800 powered by a JDS Atom and loved it. Iām considering buying a HD800S but am concerned about the amp pairing, as I have the Asgard 3, and am worried about how it would pair together. Would it be a good pairing or should I just get an Elex/ Auteur instead?
Iām assuming it had the super dupont resonator mod. If you liked the modded HD800, youād probably like S version also. The Asgard 3 should be a better pairing than the Atom as well.
Has anyone used them for casual single player games like witcher 3,rdr2,sekiro,god of war etc?Hows the experience and what amp would you recommend for these headphones. I plan to do both competitive and fun gaming in these
Their biggest advantage is competitive gaming. The exaggerated soundstage paired with great imaging make pinpointing where sounds are coming from very easy.
Single player games are hit or miss depending on how good the sound design is. Youāll notice sounds popping in and out from different directions in games with weak sound design much more than you would on other headphones. That tends to break the immersion for me sometimes.
Applying a generous EQ in the bass and sub bass dumbs down the soundstage and imaging a tad. For me, this makes single player games more immersive and enjoyable with these headphones. I use one of those cheap tube preamps with tone controls for this so I donāt have to mess around with software while playing.
Please tell me they donāt sound like ~K701, with a 10 foot radius of dead space at the center of the stage? That soundstage sucked.
Iāve never used the K701, but that dead space sounds like weak imaging. The HD800S has great imaging, so that effect wouldnāt happen unless itās the gameās fault.
We have a pretty awesome community here. Recently @Nick_Mimi offered to let me listen to his HD800s as Iād been wanting to try all things that synergized with the BHC/SB amp. Iāve been deep into it of late and have mentioned on occasion that IMO the BHC/SB and an HD600 is all that and audiophile would ever NEED in the hobby. But needs are baseline, we have wants and lusts and irrational desires at times.
So this is a great example of comparing a need to a want. I figured Iād write up some comments on the experience. I was off last week so I had time to do some intensive listening and I A/B about a dozen songs back to back as well as casual listening with the HD800s on songs that are part of my life.
The HD800s is firstly the most comfy headphone Iāve triedā¦ The earpads accommodate by big floppy listen holes without issue and theyāre just very light, feather light when compared to and LCD-2 and light when compared to my Eikons. I think their look may be polarizing but IMO the design in a breath of fresh air in the otherwise stoic conservative almost stick up ass that is most HP designs. The stock cable is pretty good too, itās long but since I was listening in my living room, it was perfect lunge listen length
There are aspects of the headphone that surprised me. Iām treble sensitive and Iāve heard some people describe these as bright. (I found the Beyer 177X unbearable just for reference) But the brightness in these was completely different. It was detailed and accurate and zero sibalence which I was afraid Iād hear. Maybe thatās just due to the BHC/SB pairing but at least here, it was very well controlledā¦ to the point of (GASP) enjoyment!
It was a new experience for me that I enjoyed, and I often mind bright, so kudos to Sennheiser on that. So far so good. Yes there is stage, yes there is accuracy, yes there is clarity. How much I canāt say. These however have presented me with the most of all stage width and imaging and clarity that that Iāve listened critically, certainly when compared to my other cans. Where it all falls apart though is when you put on a pair of HD600. Thatās when you first notice that thereās something missing in the HD800s. Itās not that they lack bass, or range because it is there. Itās that they lack authority and slam and you only notice it when you compare it to the HD600 pairing.
I liked this headset, and if I loved it, it would suck, because I would have become fixated on buying myself a pair. But I couldnāt love it. It was like dating two sisters, one a beautiful girl with a prep school education who could sing an opera and after she sang you felt as if you needed to clap. Compared to her cute sister whoād gotten her education backpacking through Europe living week to week and that every time she sang it sounded as if sheād taken a drag of a cigarette, and you found that sofa-king sexy. Just a completely different kind of experience when it came to having fun. That precision and that accuracy and that detail came at a price.
The one thing I know now is that the HD600 is not a perfect headphone, and Iād love it so much more if it had even 1/2 of the wow factor when it came to upper end detail and air and accuracy and stage of the 800s but it just doesnāt. However, when I listen to it and a great song comes on, I forget about all of that and just enjoy it for what it is. When I was listening to a great song on the HD800s, it just felt as if it was missing that fun aspect that only comes from slam and authority and lusciousness, the actual feeling of effortless power against your eardrums. It just didnāt satisfy me in the same way as the 600, despite it being a technically superior headphone.
In the end I felt frustrated that here are two products that are both flawed in their own way, great but flawed. I also have a much better understanding of whatās possible when going up budget. BTW, Iām not knocking the HD800s here, Iām just noting the intangible value to me that is āfunā in a listening session.
I had at one point $4500 dollars worth of headphones around me and the one I found most engaging on the BHC was the HD600 Iād paid $200 dollars for on Reddit. 
Cāest la vie.
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yeah pretty much, one trick pony great for soundstage not the best imaging but definitely really really goodā¦ casual gaming thoughā¦ ehhhh not so good
itās the biggest stage on the marketā¦ for the most part thereās dead space as you put it as long as you donāt have sound reaching out to those portions of the stageā¦ the headphone sounds practically endless like a giant open field of sound itās quite ridiculous. In competitive gaming the placement capability of this headphone is complete and utter overkill absurdity to the point the games canāt even make use of placing the sounds out that far on your audio. You will end up playing a game where sometimes you will notice you can hear further out in one game than you can another due to the games own constraintsā¦ This also happens on headphones like T1.2, Arya, and DT 1990 in some casesā¦ Itās something I started to realize more and more after using more spacious headphones like Sundaraās during gaming.
Can things sound close to youā¦? On the ~K702, it literally sounds like the nearest sounds are 10 feet away still. Then the soundstage begins, and spreads way out from there. I really hated that unnatural, center dead space.