Sennheiser - HD 800 S

you have both of me dream headphones (atrium and HD800s) so very well

I love the HD600, but the HD800S is basically my perfect headphone since I’m the most sensitive in the midrange and bass. On top of that the fit of the HD800S is perfect for my head and ears. I’ll never sell my HD600 regardless of what  headphones I get in the future but they might be swapped out as my dailies for open backs.

I've tried the HD660S2, it did not impress me compared to the HD800s, I auditioned them back to back. My reaction to the HD660s2 was something along the lines of "Better bass better imaging version of the HD6XX (which are a third the price)." My reaction to the HD800s was... well I had no words I was blown away and moved to tears.

Now you gotta compare HD800 (newer and older production models) to HD800s

I’ve seen both between US Audio Mart and EBay in the past 2 months. Harder to find than HD800S but not impossible.

Now you gotta compare HD800 (newer and older production models) to HD800s

I’ve seen both between US Audio Mart and EBay in the past 2 months. Harder to find than HD800S but not impossible.

HD 800S. Sometimes I forget that I have them on. They never get uncomfortable. The soundstage is so great that sometimes I forget that I'm not listening to speakers.

Exactly that. I was wearing them daily for more than two years, and I find it extremely comfortable.

Now this is very good combo! The HD 660S2 are very often on my head and I honestly prefer them to the HD800. The K13 is very nice R2R-Dac/Amp which can make any good cans sing. This would be likely the one I'd buy if I needed a new setup.

Excellent set up my friend, really have enjoyed the organics and 800s for the fps space - how have you enjoyed the utopias in that area?

I use the Senheiser HD800s powered by an rme adi-2 for all these things and I'm very happy with them.

I have the older version of these and love them.

Listen to some binaural recordings on the 800S. Amber Rubarth - Sessions from the 17th ward is my fav binaural album, as it gives such a massively wide holographic effect, and the room (which is a church) sounds crazy.

There are no perfectly neutral headphones. Headphones bypass parts of your ear anatomy by shooting sound directly into your ear canal. Everyone has different ear anatomy, which means everyone's ear anatomy reshapes sound from the outside world differently. Since that is how you've always heard sounds from the world, your brain hears a neutral source from the outside world, after the way your particular ear anatomy changes it, as neutral. Headphones compensate for the bypassed ear anatomy by reshaping the sound for what an "average" ear might change, or what the manufacturer thinks will sound most pleasing to most people. It will not replicate your particular ear anatomy, and will not be perfectly neutral to your ears. Headphones with a large soundstage are very far from neutral. With headphones, soundstage is usually created by manipulating the frequency response to fool your brain into hearing some things as far away and other things as closer. This is often done by boosting the treble, and decreasing the upper midrange. Headphones known for a large sounstage are often very bright with a recessed upper midrange (e.g., Sennheiser HD800S and many HiFiMan headphones). They are very far off from "netural". For people who often listen to studio monitors in a properly treated room, the headphones they often consider "neutral" typically have a very narrow soundstage. That is just inherent to headphones that do not boost or decrease parts of the frequency range: everything sounds fairly even, but is very flat dimensionally. This works different with loudspeakers in a room, because the loudspeakers are interacting with the room. With headphones, they are shooting sound directly into your ear canal, so they manipulate the sound to create the illusion of soundstage. The HD800S lacks low bass, and is very bright. It is very far away from neutral. But its wide soundstage makes it pleasurable to use, and its detail and clarity makes it reference, in a sense. It has been around so long, people are very familiar with what it does, and still use it as a known standard to judge other headphones by. When my headphones enthusiast friends and I talk about new headphones, we often describe it compared to the HD800S, because we are all very familiar with the HD800S and can explain something with that as a reference point. If you are interested in headphones that do what studio monitors do, like for music production or mixing, YouTube channels like SonicScoop have videos that discuss their thoughts on this and recommendations. For mixing use, he strongly prefers planars over dynamic drivers, because they cover the lower bass and have faster transients.

Fair but even HD 600 at #1 got A- and HD 800s got an A Also at #10 HD 660s2 even after all the backlash from so called objectivist reviewers that are incentivized to have a negative or critical opinion and considering it's a much newer offering still got A- I think it says a lot

Super comfy, built like a tank and will last 40+ years easily if taken care of plus they kinda look rad

Everyone here knows it's still goated and arguably the best

But that's the thing: instrument separation, neutrality, sparkle. These don't sound that exciting on paper, but when all put together into one headphone, the experience speaks for itself more than any recount of the sound.