I received an HD 800 S yesterday, and these are my early impressions.
- It’s tone and timbre is roughly similar to the HD 600 rather than the mid-bass-boosted HD 6XX. I wouldn’t call the 800 S bright myself, and feel the 600 and Focal Clear are both neutral.
- The stage is expansively wide, as many people report. This seems to increase perceived detail as each point source stays away from other sources and thereby avoids overlap and mud.
- It’s technically superior to the Clear. When I evaluated the Utopia in detail, the Clear came across as constricted and hazy. It’s the audio equivalent of photo vignetting. The 800 S made me notice the same thing again. However, I still appreciate the Clear’s easy-on-the-ears treble treatment and easy-to-drive amp flexibility. If you start listening cold the Clear sounds fine.
- As with the Utopia, the 800 S treads close to the edge on presenting a lot of sharp details. I’m using it with the Bifrost 2 through OTL amps and avoiding treble-heavy tubes.
- The ear cups are so honking huge that one tends to run into chair headrests.
- Sennheiser uses stupid and stiff cable connectors on the 500/600 series and on the 800 series too.
- I’ll need to buy a shorter cable versus the 3 meter factory set.
- My wife loves the 800 S and asked if it’d work with her electric piano’s integrated amp with 3.5mm output…I gave her the HD 58X for its modest power requirements. Perhaps one could route the piano’s midi output to a DAC and amp?