Not required but probably the better option

Balanced Armature (BA) and Planar drivers have provided me the most clear, rich audio detail experience. I believe these type of setups will need the least EQ tinkering.

BA drivers require less energy so they sound more vibrant/powerful than a planar at the same EQ/gain settings. You need at least 5-6 BA’s per ear (personal opinion).

I have some hybrid Dynamic driver/ BA setups. The bass is more powerful on those.

I have yet to experience a reason to spend over $150 on a set unless they are gift for a woman and need to be pretty on top of sounding good.

Man :(( I don't have the luxury to have a dac/amp to test it right now. I don't have any local audio store.

100% true, I feel that I may have worded my sentences so that it looks like I think otherwise but that is not the case

I can’t tell you about this specific jump in quality/price, but about a similar experience.

I had an AKG K701, went into a store and tried a random headphone with a ludicrous price tag - 5500€.

This particular difference was so mindblowing that I stopped listening to music on headphones entirely for about 12 years, until I could afford my own hd800s, hoping it is „good enough“ compared to how I remembered this specific headphone. (Turned out to be a Stax, maybe SR 007 or 009)

The HD800S is worth it if you care about stage and natural timbre, it’s not as precise as some planars in its price range, but just smooth.

Ah-hahahahahaaaaaa... ..hmmm.. *lookingatmyheadphonestash*

​

*cough*

That's not a hobby anymore. This guy is tuning for things that will only be noticeable in the most extreme fringe of fringe cases possible and even then only if you have ultrasonic hearing.

And some parts he is just straight making up. "More organic natural warmth across the frequency range"? Sounds like what happens after getting baked and taking a quick trip to Taco Bell.

I noticed the DACs you mentioned are all dongles - try using a dac/amp with its own power cord, or a battery. Something that isnt powered by the laptop. Sounds like the motherboard on that laptop is super noisy.

If money is your concern, buy used headphones. Worst case that you don't like it. Sell it back with a small loss + shipping. I have 10 headphones right now, 8 of them are used, never had any problems with them. r/AVexchange is wonderful for this. Just do your due research, look at seller's reputation, posts history, check sold prices of similar items in recent months, etc...

I bought my HD800s used with all original accessories minus the box. No issue at all.

Since I don't have HD560s, I am not qualified to compare them with HD800s. However, I do own HD600, and HD6XX, I think I can give general answer to your questions:

• Are the HD800s better than the HD5** and HD6**? YES
• Are they $700 - $800 better? NO
• Will you ever touch your HD560s again if you bought the HD800s? YES, you should.

- I would like to elaborate this further: in my limited experience, the deeper I am into this hobby, the more I appreciate the differences in my headphones, I like to change them according to mood or music genres. It's always fun to discover something new in a song when you go back and forth on different set of headphones. Maybe one day I will finally find a perfect headphones that make me sell the rest of my collection, but HD800s ain't it.

• Are the HD800s worth the money? Only you can answer this question.

Hope this helps, happy hunting.

dude , get topping E30II , L30II stack, life will never be same again. Or E50 if you into MQA , it will open up your XS. No question. Hip dac has audible distortion.

Have you actually listened to the 650s vs 800S. They absolutely do not sound the same. You might not like or appreciate the 800S, but they are different and definitely deserve a listen.

I agree with what most other people here are saying, if it's that significant of saving for you to purchase an HD800S, don't, unless you can listen to them first.

I would recommend taking a look at the HD8XX, while being tuned pretty badly, it can easily be fixed with EQ or the sticker mod to sound basically identical to an HD800S for much cheaper, especially if bought used.

Thank you, you’re right. I mostly used the debt analogy as a hyperbole, I would never actually take out a loan or go into $1200 cc debt for headphones, but yeah - I definitely don’t have the money to buy them yet considering the other things I gotta pay for.

I think I’ll save up for ‘em and buy them somewhere where I can easily return them, worst case scenario.

If you went from 650’s to 800S’ and never want to go back, then I may be the same.

IMO we individually adapt to each headphones' sound signature. Headphones do seem to sound better as I get used to their musical presentation. The longer I listen to a pair of cans, the faster my brain is trained to recognize/adjust to its unique sound delivery.

yesnt https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/ending-the-windows-audio-quality-debate.19438/ but yeah the ways to fix it is different from what the headfi person is talking about

senn 6xx with OTL tube amp ideally bottlehead crack no speedball better than 800s imo musically

I use a dac (7hz 71, Faaeal KT4099, Jcally JA03) as well as just the 3.5mm female jack, it's all the same. So yeah, i think it's software issue. I mean, i manage to balance out the channel with APO turn on so it's definitely software related. I just don't know which ones

But isn't the whole purpose of trying them out is to see if you "fall in love" with them? The risk would be in buying them without listening to them first.

I have no experience with 560s, but I went from 650s to 800S without trying them out. I absolutely love the 800S and don't want to listen to the 650s anymore. I went from a speaker set-up to headphones, and I never really enjoyed the music again until I tried the 800S.

Wait until you can better afford them and then try them out. You don't want the anxiety of affordability to get in the way of your listening.

You must be very lucky. If it's still in warranty, I'd have that replaced/fixed. If not, just use a dac.

If your dac connected to pc still has the same problem, then that is software issue. Maybe there is still some effects/eq running somewhere.

I've heard some bad things about the HD8XX. You can try looking for used HD800.

I don't recomment to buy them without trying them before.

I did that mistake, and ended selling them after a year(with pretty low usage during that time) that i really tried to get used to them, but i allways swapped back to my other cans i had at the same time.

I would not mind buying them used. I’ll check this subreddit out, thanks!

I have been eyeing the 8XX actually. If the sound compared to an 800S is only a LITTLE “worse”, to the point where the differences are very slight, then I don’t mind saving $500 and buying an 8XX instead. Have you EQ’ed the 8XX at all? I keep hearing that EQ is “mandatory” on these.

And honestly? If these sound even just twice as good for 10x the price, I am more than willing to pay.

The "symptoms" like i describe like hearing 50hz mostly on the right side, happen even with out APO installed so the APO is not the reason why it happens. I don't use any audio effect. Just plug and play. The hardwares are fine. I tested all the dacs and iem in my possession with my phone, it doesn't have that imbalance. So yeah. It's makes me kinda crazy right now, not knowing what's the reason for this

I was hoping that recording companies sell both versions of the same album. One for speakers and one for headphones.

Your anecdote resonates with my understanding. The music we listened is enginereed to sound good and optimal. For pop/rock music, engineering is part of the creative process. As you mentioned that classical music recordings are supposed to adhere to source but they also get edited. Thanks for shari