Surround Sound Headphones & the HD800

Sennheiser's Research Facility in Palo Alto, CA - Trying out the super high-end HD 800 headphones and state-of-the-art Virtual Surround Sound Headphone technology.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• HD800
• HD 800
• headphone
• Sennheiser
• audio
• surround
• sound
• virtual
• research
• development
• new
• palo
• alto
• secret
• top
• r&d

[Boltfiger]

I just got my HD800 and have been using it with my Yamaha Surround Sound Receiver, it sounds amazing!

Playing PS3, Xbox games like Mass Effect 2 and watching efx movies on Blu-Ray.....awesome.... really awesome. Yes, I've tried it on ipod.....using a headphone amplifier and the sound is clear but doesn't have the boom boom effect. If you turn up the bass on the ipod....the headphones crackles, cus ipod not enuff power to output that much bass.

[wales2k4eva]

arnt these like.. 1500 pounds?

[JeffGraw]

@DoNultima Obviously speakers offer greater impact, comfort (no need to put something on your head) and sound-staging (with the possible exception of binaural recording), while headphones are able to give more detail and consistency (thanks to elimination of room sound)

It's true that most audiophiles are going to prefer the high end speaker setup. But we are talking about two completely different animals. Headphones and speakers excel at different things, it's not a competition.

[DoNultima]

still find it weird that I have two of the best pairs of headphones in the world yet my speakers are no where near the best like the Snell THX Reference, but its hard deciding if my speakers or headphones sound best.

[BigJackJohn]

@DoNultima You can't really say that.

Speakers and headphones are two different "disciplines", it's like comparing cars to motorcycles. While a good speaker system can produce an amazing soundstage, good headphones are able to reveal an enormous range of details speakers are simple unable to reproduce. This is why (predominantly) headphones are used for mastering processes.

[Kill0rbAg]

@DoNultima

Ok then I will just end up with the conclusion that we have different opinions in this case even though we both think that we are definitely right because of our experiences.

Anything else would lead us to nothing and both of us would still have the same opinion.

Is this Ok with you?

[Kill0rbAg]

@DoNultima

Speakers are almost never able to display the music as accurate as headphones no matter what, simply because of the way they are used.(btw. D5000 = just an overpriced D2000 with woodcups lol)

With a headphone you can hear the music exactly the way it was recorded, this is nearly impossible with speakers because they stand freely in the room and every fucking thing including the walls are distorting the sound.

And the DM685 is not even near to proper 300$ headphones xD.

[DoNultima]

@ytfmichaelxu While headphones offer great value for the money, and are the easiest way to cheap hi-fi, they just cannot be compared to speakers, ultimately. Sennheiser HD800's sound great, but their one of the best headphones in the world, yet there are plenty of speakers that offer better sound quality. I believe my Denon D5000's are equal to my B&W DM685s. And if you listen to the best of the best speakers like the Snell THX Reference system, you'll never be able to use headphones again!

[ytfmichaelxu]

@DoNultima yes... yes... I'm sure recording artists would crawl to a pair of midrange speakers for detail reference than high-end studio monitor headphones anyday.