Lieven is living in Europe and he's the leader of the gang. He's running Headfonia as a side project next to his full time day job in Digital Marketing & Consultancy. He's a big fan of tube amps and custom inear monitors and has published hundreds of product reviews over the years.
Great to see HD800/S gets vidicated. The venerable HD800/S gets so much criticized by many reviewers. But, we have to remember many reviewers get a little something (like a free headphone) everytime they benchmark whatever-it-is against the reference – many times which is HD800/S.
Not really.
As long as you have more budget, you can build a much higher-level rig.
But most people who have this headphone are not interested in having something that costs many times more, or something that is newer and entered into that same category years after its introduction.
So it is easier to adapt to its sound as much as possible (which will happen with a headphone you own for years), declare it as “best” and enjoy.
Many headphones on this list are firmly at that top-level, but it does not matter, if most people won’t even listen to them once, let alone own them.
Not always the higher price will have a better sound.
This happens to me with the HD820. Another one that has also impressed me a lot when comparing it with others. I think it is on the same technical level as Hifiman HE1000se, Focal Utopia, Audeze LCD-4 etc.
The texture of the bass, the positioning of the musical instruments and the dynamics are excellent.
MhtLion
Great to see HD800/S gets vidicated. The venerable HD800/S gets so much criticized by many reviewers. But, we have to remember many reviewers get a little something (like a free headphone) everytime they benchmark whatever-it-is against the reference – many times which is HD800/S.
padam
Not really.
As long as you have more budget, you can build a much higher-level rig.
But most people who have this headphone are not interested in having something that costs many times more, or something that is newer and entered into that same category years after its introduction.
So it is easier to adapt to its sound as much as possible (which will happen with a headphone you own for years), declare it as “best” and enjoy.
Many headphones on this list are firmly at that top-level, but it does not matter, if most people won’t even listen to them once, let alone own them.
Steven Zore
And my Arya comes in at a whopping .7%
Udito
I totally agree
Not always the higher price will have a better sound.
This happens to me with the HD820. Another one that has also impressed me a lot when comparing it with others. I think it is on the same technical level as Hifiman HE1000se, Focal Utopia, Audeze LCD-4 etc.
The texture of the bass, the positioning of the musical instruments and the dynamics are excellent.
Very good buy for the money.