Sennheiser HD800S headphones

That's what it looks like to me also, what is the goal of this plugin? are they trying to adjust the sound to what they consider "ideal"?

 

I guess I'm 'no one'.


-M

 

Sorry I missed the mention at the end of your post. But in other related threads there seemed to be little mention or discussion of tubed amps and I would have thought that most people would be pairing them that way. Have you also tried SS head amps with the 800s?

 

I've downloaded the free trial of the Sonarworks headphone EQing plugin and from a quick look, this is how it works.

First, you need to tell it what headphones you're using. It can't do its job properly unless it has a standard profile for your particular headphones because it has no baseline to work from.

If it does have a profile for your make and model, it loads that and using it as a baseline, adjusts the EQ in such a way as to offer the following options:

You can choose a flat EQ (which as far as I know, no headphone manufacturer offers and which would surely sound horrible.)

You can choose their pre-defined EQ curve, which is the "B&K 1974 optimum Hi-Fi curve" - it's the red line in the screen grab below, and as you can see, it's a fairly straight line that just ups the bass and rolls off the treble.



Or, you can create a custom profile but the options look extremely limited - basically, you can either boost the bass or you can tilt the EQ in a straight line. As far as I can see, you can't choose to emphasise or de-emphasise any particular frequencies.

Finally, there also seem to be some toys to play with whereby you can simulate the sound of six different speaker or headphone types (eg "Studio headphones with Austrian heritage.")

Unfortunately I've no idea what it sounds like because my trial version doesn't work! It can't find any headphone profiles to upload so I've had to open a support ticket and I'm waiting for a reply.

Sorry for straying off-topic but two or three people have expressed curiosity.

 

Just a quick update to the post above. While waiting for a reply to my support ticket, I found the Sonarworks headphone profiles in my Documents folder. So I loaded the profile for the Audeze LCD-2, which is what I mainly use at the moment, and I must admit the flat EQ, although it definitely sounds very different from the manufacturer's EQ, doesn't sound terrible. It has the interesting effect of brightening up the overall LCD-2 sound while at the same time getting rid of a very annoying hotspot around the 8 kHz mark which causes unpleasant sibilance on my particular pair. The B&K profile is darker and bassier but also gets rid of the sibilance so I find that very interesting, too. I'm going to have some fun playing with this but I just thought I'd say, there is a free trial available for anyone who wants to dip in, it's interesting trying the different EQ curves, and if you can't find your headphone profiles, look in your Documents folder!

 

I've used a Violectric V200 with the HD800's - it was a very good match. I still prefer the Sound Quest to anything I've heard. The 6V6 is a wonderful tube and it has boatloads of power. It's good with the HD800, but when I heard it on the HD800S I thought it was a perfect combination.

I used a Woo WA7 for awhile and it was just ok. The Sound Quest is more extended, effortless, has better tone.

 

FWIW the only consistent positive comments I encountered with respect to a Woo Amp - HD800 pairing involved the 300B WA5. Of course that amp even in the LE is twice the cost of the headphones.

 

I am struck by the fact that no one (at least in this thread) has suggested that the Sennheiser HDVD 800 amp is a preferred amp with the 800S headphones. Anyone care to offer an opinion why that is the case? Color me curious.

 

I use a Headamp GS-X Mk 2, HD800 with Balanced Toxic cables, T&A DAC 8, and like the sound. I've never noticed an unpleasant sharpness to the sound but perhaps mine is a later serial number. It could also be because I'm 63 with some loss of high frequency hearing.

You can obtain a frequency response (FR) for the HD800 from Sennheisser by sending them your serial number. This suggests each HD800 has a slightly different FR so I don't see how such programmes as Sonarworks can give anyone an exact FR for their headphones, just some average for their model perhaps.

As for a flat FR versus some 'optimum Hi-Fi curve', there was a debate on the subject:

Treating uneven in-room bass response »

I aim for flat on my speaker system, with adjustments for my damaged hearing, and find that best generally. When I've tried the 2dB higher bass, or whatever it is, I've found the sound too bassy.

The Subjective and Objective Evaluation of Room Correction Products.pdf »

Audio Musings by Sean Olive: The Relationship between Perception and Measurement of Headphone Sound Quality »

 

I just bought a pair of HD800S phones and love them! So transparent and detailed, and they are vastly more comfortable than my Audeze LCD-XC phones. I listen primarily to classical and jazz--they are the perfect phones for those genres. My Audeze phones might be better for rock or on the occasion that I absolutely must sealed from external noise, but otherwise, I prefer the 800S.