The EQ'd kings.
Right after these were released in 2009, and were the most expensive outside of Stax electrostats, there was immediately a big rush to try to beat them, and money was no object. There was too much treble and a rolling off bass, but besides that, their soundstage, driver speed, comfort, and pretty much anything else you can mention regarding performance was unmatched. They were THE headphone to try to beat on top of with EQ. It sounds like reviewers say that some headphones >$3k make that, too. Some planars for $2k get good reviews also, but have to say "almost as good as the HD800's" for some points, usually soundstage size.
Sonarworks measured a whole bunch of pairs of 800's frequency response using a dummy head with little microphones in it's ears, and offers software that EQ's them using like 1000 points parametrically or something, to a perfectly flat line that goes all the way down. Now, they sound better than anything I have heard before EQ-wise, including not only playing more bass than my subwoofer, but also making it's bass sound cheap and flabby compared to the refinement of my HD800's. Every so often someone plays an electric bass alone, and it's strings sound way better than that lousy electronic bass does. For the extra 99Euros for the Sonarworks software, especially using only the plugin with Audirvana, my system truly becomes reference playback for everything. My most recent upgrade was a new IC, and while it made everything before my amp sound way better, and left me wondering if I should upgrade my amp too, I do not hear the need to upgrade my 800's yet. According to reviews, it sounds like only planar drivers could improve things, and it would have to be ones for considerably more money to not lose anything else.
So, in short, if you factor in paying an extra 99Euros for the Sonarworks EQ software, you will not beat these for less than $3k. When mine finally die for some reason, I will replace them with the exact same model, unless the 800S is almost the same price. The EQ software already negates the slight improvement given by the 800S's. After getting used to the EQ'd to super flat sound, everything else sounds wrong.Read full review
Verified purchase: No
