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HD800's or T1's?

walls

walls

Well-Known Member
Looking to buy a pair of endgame cans and am considering these two. I am not all that interested in planar cans as my current equipment isn't really geared for them so I have it narrowed down to these two.

I love my HD650's so I'm sure the HD800's would suit me but I have been reading how nicely the T1's play with the WA2 and Crack.

Any opinions?

Btw, I would post this over at HeadFi but that place seems (lately) to be filled with fanboys that push the product that they own without ever hearing any others. It gets old sifting through a 50 page thread and trying to figure out who has ever actually heard the products I am looking into. :laughing:
 
GreatDane has T1s, dunno if he's spent any time with HD800. But he's not around much anymore...

Yeah, those two are definitely on my want-to-hear list.

I propose you buy them both and do a detailed comparison and post your results here. :happy-smileygiantred:
 
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree and since the sound signiture of the HD-650's seem to trip your trigger...well do I need to say more?

Rope
 
Well shit, I think I may buy them both and give them a whirl. Gonna find a place with a great return policy and just keep the pair that suits me.

PaulyT, I will be sending the WA2 and the CRACK your way shortly, I think if you read a bunch over at HeadFi you will be surprised, IF your honest, at how the Crack competes with the others we have tried.
 
I purchased both but have yet to actually hear them, lol. I'm hoping to crack them open this weekend.
 
Help a dummy out here. What does a dedicated headphone amp bring to the party?
With the talk of the Oppo phones and amp here recently, I brought my AKG's upstairs and listened to them a bit over the last two days, plugged directly into my Yamaha AV receiver, and I'm still more fond of listening to speakers. I also noted Oppo will soon be releasing a cheaper (albeit still $700) phone next month, and buying their amp would double that for something my Yamaha already does... Does a dedicated 'phone amp really make them sound that much better? :shhh:
 
Botch said:
Does a dedicated 'phone amp really make them sound that much better?
Click to expand...

THAT is a loaded question. While I have zero experience with headphone amps I can tell you what those maniacs that DO will tell you. They will talk about how the amps built into receivers or portable devices are not of the same quality of a decdicated amp. They'll also tell you that specific amp designed can tailored to the specific headphone requirements ...X phone requires more power than Y phone which requires an amp with more better dampening than Z phone which requires amp with better impedance handling than Q phone.
 
Botch said:
Help a dummy out here. What does a dedicated headphone amp bring to the party?
With the talk of the Oppo phones and amp here recently, I brought my AKG's upstairs and listened to them a bit over the last two days, plugged directly into my Yamaha AV receiver, and I'm still more fond of listening to speakers. I also noted Oppo will soon be releasing a cheaper (albeit still $700) phone next month, and buying their amp would double that for something my Yamaha already does... Does a dedicated 'phone amp really make them sound that much better? :shhh:
Click to expand...

Considering the HPs you've chose, the HA-1 amp section will be of little benefit given their sensitive nature (32-Ohm, 102 dB@ 1mW). However the DAC section will be of some value, although if memory serves, you have the sabre chip set in your Oppo 103?

Rope
 
Botch, I think the short answer is more and cleaner power than you get with your basic cheapo headphone jack. But yeah there are complicating factors of headphone impedance which varies much (MUCH) more widely than with speakers.

And it's not really even a matter of preferring headphones to speakers. At least not for me. If I could set my home office up in the sweet spot of my HT, I wouldn't need headphones.

The experience and the practicality is different. One isn't better than the other. But I do believe that careful listening to headphones will teach you something about listening to speakers, and vise-versa.
 
Times like this I wish Botch lived closer so he could hear the HD650's out of my iPod or receiver compared to how they sound through my WOO.

I would compare it to listening to some Paradigm Studios through a $79 Sherwood receiver and a nice set of separates.
 
Botch,

Right now my Little Dot II++ is at Dirtmerchants so he could try it out, see if he can ship it to you for a couple weeks when he is done. Then try it for a few days and send it back to me. Then you may have a slightly better answer to your own question. :music-listening:
 
Thanks much, Walls, I'll keep that in mind! :handgestures-thumbup: :text-thankyoublue:
 
Where a good amp section will really shine is when you listen to your Denon D7000 (28-Ohm), then switch to Beyer T1s (600-Ohm). If the amp section has the nuts, connect your HiFiMan HE-6s. I guess I'm trying to convey versatility of a dedicated HP amp/DAC.

Rope
 
So Walls, what's your impression of these? Been anxiously awaiting your review and comparison.
 
I will do a full write up shortly but I will quickly say that I am keeping the T1's for sure but am debating the HD800's. The 800''s are really good but I am having a hard time justifying the price over the HD650's. Better? Yes. Over $1000 better? That's where I struggle.
 
So, something I still want to know - if price were no object, not a factor at all, would the T1 or the HD800 be better?
 
I would still go with the T1's. One of the drawbacks for me with the 800's was just how damn revealing they can be, so much so that IMO it takes away from just enjoying the music.

There is one part of the 800's that are FAR better then the T1's...... Comfort. The 800's (much like the 650's) are just so easy to wear all day. I listened to the T1's for almost three hours last night and my ears were a tad bothered when that was never an issue with the 800's. But even with that I still would rather keep the T1's.

One thing you have to remember is that I am a long time owner of the 650's so the Sennheiser sound is very familiar to me. Now if I had never heard the 650's and bought the 800's then maybe I would feel differently.
Like I said, they are better then the 650's but IMO they are not $1000 better.
Make sense??
 
Interesting, thanks. Yes, that makes sense. Now I'm itching even more to try my T1 - but I want to do it right, not just casually, so I may have to wait a day or two more until I get a block of free time.
 
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