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Sennheiser HD 800

Tiago

Member
Hi all,
Second post in this forum. I recently sold my amirons to upgrade to something a bit further down the line. After a bit of research I thought about getting some HD800 or HD8000s. I currently use a chord Mojo as my day-to-day DAC/AMP. Does anybody have experience with this combination.
Also in the UK, when looking for used headphones/audio is there any particular website of preference. Or is the classifieds here and ebay the go to?
 
I have HD800's which I bought off eBay last year. Made an offer ten percent less than the buy it now price which the seller accepted. Well pleased with them.
 
Good headphones and work well out of the Hugo 2 i had I would imagine the mojo would be ok too but they will scale with better amplification.
 
Done right the original 800’s are magical, the 800S’s don’t have the same magic to them. BUT they need to be with the right amp or you’ll just end up as another on the list who thinks they’re overly bright.
Can’t comment on the Mojo, I never heard it. But IME you need really top end amps to find out what they can actually do.
Good luck...800’s done right could be the best thing you’ll ever hear in Hifi...
 
I have HD800's which I bought off eBay last year. Made an offer ten percent less than the buy it now price which the seller accepted. Well pleased with them.
They are hard to come by nowadays. Price all over the place too. I recently bought some of ebay, but once they arrived they were far more dirtier than i could see in the pics. I returned them immediately.
 
The HD800s work well with the Mojo. I found that upgrading the headphone cable to Cardas worked wonders and tamed the peakiness of the headphones and use these daily without fatigue.
 
Have do disagree with a few of the posts above . I have a Mojo which i love (best bang per buck Dac for your money ) and purchased Hd800s not long after it. I was very very disappointed with the pairing after all the great reviews on the Hd800s. I read many posts on headfi and was advised to buy a separate headphone amp . I acquired an IFI pro ican headphone amp(fantastic amp - can be run solid state or valve, valve is just awesome) , running the Mojo as DAC only mode , audioquest cables and Puremusic software , the results were just staggering. Honestly 10 times better than Mojo alone ( i appreciate the extra cost but it really is worth it , if you want the very best out of what the Senns can achieve )
Listening to this combo tonight i can completely loose myself in the music , warmth , analogue , dynamic and massive soundstage - best headphones i have ever listened to . The HD800s arnt particularly bass heavy but they have a nice punch. Im not saying that the Mojo cant run the Senns , but you wont be able to hear what they can truly do without a better headphone amp
 
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Have do disagree with a few of the posts above . I have a Mojo which i love (best bang per buck Dac for your money ) and purchased Hd800s not long after it. I was very very disappointed with the pairing after all the great reviews on the Hd800s. I read many posts on headfi and was advised to buy a separate headphone amp . I acquired an IFI pro ican headphone amp(fantastic amp - can be run solid state or valve, valve is just awesome) , running the Mojo as DAC only mode , audioquest cables and Puremusic software , the results were just staggering. Honestly 10 times better than Mojo alone ( i appreciate the extra cost but it really is worth it , if you want the very best out of what the Senns can achieve )
Listening to this combo tonight i can completely loose myself in the music , warmth , analogue , dynamic and massive soundstage - best headphones i have ever listened to . The HD800s arnt particularly bass heavy but they have a nice punch. Im not saying that the Mojo cant run the Senns , but you wont be able to hear what they can truly do without a better headphone amp
It is posts like this which make me want a hd800 even more. I will keep looking for now.
 
Done right the original 800’s are magical, the 800S’s don’t have the same magic to them. BUT they need to be with the right amp or you’ll just end up as another on the list who thinks they’re overly bright.
Can’t comment on the Mojo, I never heard it. But IME you need really top end amps to find out what they can actually do.
Good luck...800’s done right could be the best thing you’ll ever hear in Hifi...

Which amp/s would you say for that?
 
Which amp/s would you say for that?

Well I ended up with an EARHP4 that I had heavily modded, but what I would say is that the 800’s got better with every step up the amp ladder....a built in headphone amp is just not going to get the best out of them.
Obviously nothing bright sounding, the next best I had was (surprisingly) that cross feed amp...Phonitor IIRC..

Senns own amp should be good, also there was a valve amp that piles used with the 800’s but can’t think of the name for the life of me...

Edit....it was Trilogy..

Good advice from Troika above too btw..
 
It’s be a generalisation but I’d say yes...I have no time for valve amps but out of the half dozen amps I tried, the top 3 were valves.

The other thing...first thing you do is change the cable, it’s crap. You don’t have to spend big money...set of Furutech connectors and Mogami cable (£150 all in) and £50 for someone to make it for you, it’s a big step up straight away..
 
A good rule of thumb: the more a certain headphone is recommended separate amplifiers and snake oil interconnects for, the more seriously it is flawed in some essential way. Fanboys never admit this - it is always the system synergy, lack of burn in, cables - you name it. The HD800 is reputed to have a nasty resonant treble peak. No piece of wire is going to make it disappear magically.
 
Good luck...800’s done right could be the best thing you’ll ever hear in Hifi...

Beg to differ. I have Benchmark DAC3 HGC > Phonitor 2 > HD800 and it's a great listen, but pales in comparison to what I used to get with my ATC SCM100ASLT's in a treated room. That was in a different class altogether.

Have do disagree with a few of the posts above . I have a Mojo which i love (best bang per buck Dac for your money ) and purchased Hd800s not long after it. I was very very disappointed with the pairing after all the great reviews on the Hd800s. I read many posts on headfi and was advised to buy a separate headphone amp . I acquired an IFI pro ican headphone amp(fantastic amp - can be run solid state or valve, valve is just awesome) , running the Mojo as DAC only mode , audioquest cables and Puremusic software , the results were just staggering. Honestly 10 times better than Mojo alone ( i appreciate the extra cost but it really is worth it , if you want the very best out of what the Senns can achieve )
Listening to this combo tonight i can completely loose myself in the music , warmth , analogue , dynamic and massive soundstage - best headphones i have ever listened to . The HD800s arnt particularly bass heavy but they have a nice punch. Im not saying that the Mojo cant run the Senns , but you wont be able to hear what they can truly do without a better headphone amp

100% re getting HD800 to sing. And ya, I owned a Mojo until I sold it a few months back.
 
The Mojo will drive anything darn well.

A good rule of thumb: the more a certain headphone is recommended separate amplifiers and snake oil interconnects for, the more seriously it is flawed in some essential way. Fanboys never admit this - it is always the system synergy, lack of burn in, cables - you name it. The HD800 is reputed to have a nasty resonant treble peak. No piece of wire is going to make it disappear magically.

I cant speak for the HD800 because i never auditioned them , however the treble & mids on the HD800s sound delightful with a punchy bass . Separation is excellent and you can pick out instrument clearly .Perhaps their best attribute is soundstage.

Are valve amps better for the hd800?

When running my amp solid state mode sounds a bit more clinical , more Hifi .When running it on Valve mode is sounds warm and lush . The amps heats up that much on Valve mode that after an hour you could fry an egg on top of it .

To my surprise the software can make a Big difference (having auditioned Amarra ,Audirvana & Pure music). Its all down to personal taste, but for me Puremusic just edged it due to the forward presentation on the vocals
The Mojo is the cheapest part of the headphone setup , yet plays a huge part of the presentation and i have no intention upgrading the DAC as im more that happy with what it delivers
 
Beg to differ. I have Benchmark DAC3 HGC > Phonitor 2 > HD800 and it's a great listen, but pales in comparison to what I used to get with my ATC SCM100ASLT's in a treated room. That was in a different class altogether.

Yes but the Phonitor was pretty good for the money, but not even close to what you can get from the 800’s with a really good amp...
 


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