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Sennheiser HD 800 Redux


The Monkey

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Johnwmclean's B22 and HD800 were wonderful driven off his buffalo II Dac. One of the cleanest and detailed systems I've heard.

In clean, I don't mean it had the life sucked out of the music. Sparkling presentation.

Like a fresh morning view of the countryside on a clear frosty morning..... When the air almost sparkles, it's so clear.

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It's odd because I've heard the mids on the O2 have a sucked out, almost hollow sound when paired with the wrong amp. That also seems like a distant sound. But I don't think it's quite what is going on here with the HD800.

I also notice that I tend to listen to the HD 800 at lower volumes.

That's not what I've found to be honest and the number back this up since the midrange is the most benign load for any amp. Over blown bass, check. Distant and rolled off highs, check. Very compromised sound stage, check, but the midrange always shines through. Could just be me and the small issue of me falling hard for the 007 even off my old SRM-313... unsure.png

Birgir, I agree, the O2 Mk1 mids are pretty good regardless of amp and are never hollow sounding, while the bass and highs can be as you describe when under-driving the O2.

I think their upper mids are not as present or strong at times, but the lower and middle midrange always seems provide good body and weight/fullness to instruments in that region. I have heard some headphones that have a hole in the 250-500Hz range (Proline 2500, Darth Beyer) that just don't sound right in the mids and make pianos and saxophone sound hollow. The O2 never do that for me, but I have heard something like that in my SR-Lambda Pro both times I owned them.

Relatively speaking I found the O2 Mk2 (SZ2 series) are more forward sounding in the mids and less dark in the highs when underpowered, and sometimes too upfront or shouty for me until I did your recommended ear-pad spring mod. With my old Woo GES or a borrowed SRM-T1S I thought the modded O2 Mk2 were a little better match than my Mk1. I haven't heard the SZ3 series O2 yet.

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I've heard distant mids out of the O2 before as well, with some gear. I don't have too many inadequate amps to play around with but with some sources that's definitely been the case. With other sources though that's not the case at all. The O2 pairs particularly well with the Neko D100 IME precisely because the mids aren't distant or laid-back in the slightest. I'm guessing that has more to do with the source than the O2 though since looking at the FR the mids should be emphasized, if anything.

Also, the SR-X Mk3 Pro is the solution to all of your lifeless midrange problems.

Edited by catscratch
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No. Go back and read my posts. I have no problem with the O2 mk1. It's my favorite headphone and sounds great out of my KGSS DX. I think it sounds like it has hollow mids on some systems. Full stop. End of problem, end of analysis.

EDIT: But thank you for the recommendations.

Okay, I understand now. Until I misunderstand the next time.

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I'm tempted to go for a second run with them. Something about having tubes handy again this time. Seems there was a lot of variation in the FR of pairs going by the graphs people posted on HF. My pair had the nasty peak at 6.3k. They drew the short straw though with Stax, Magnums and LCD-2s present. I should finish building these damn 'stat amps though...

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I had a pair from one of the first batches, bought right after release, and found it too bright and fatiguing to comfortably live with. Ended up selling it within a few months. As such I'd be curious to hear one of the newer ones to see if they've toned this down a bit, although I seriously doubt it would supplant my O2 MK1.

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Wouldn't this supposed change show up on the FR graphs provided with each unit?

That's what people are commenting on. The FR charts provided by Sennheiser seem to indicate that the newer units don't have a peak around the 6khz area

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