Sennheiser HD 800 Review – Best Sounding Headphones in the World?

The Sennheiser HD 800 is the best sounding headphone I’ve listened to yet and I can understand why many are saying this is one of the best headphones in the world. Now whether these headphones will end your quest for the perfect sound experience or not will depend, and I’ll be talking more about that today as I get into the sound quality, comfort and features of these headhones.

These headphones are one of the best headphones in the world and personally, they brought me closer to the experience of speaker listening than any other headphones I’ve tried. But whether they’ll end your quest for the perfect sounding headphone once and for all will depend on a few factors which I’ll be discussing today as get into the sound quality, comfort and features of these headphones. “

Features

Now these headphone are actually hand-built at Sennheiser’s worldwide headquarters in Germany. And each driver is tested, measured, and given its own unique identifier which you can see at the top of the headband here. You can actually use this number to get a frequency graph to see how your particular headphone performed in a lab.

Headband

Now the headband that connects the earpieces is laminated from steel and plastic and is covered in more micro-fiber. The cushion on the headband is removable and then it just snaps back into place.  The headband is also designed to reduce vibration from the drivers by incorporating vibration dampening properties. The headband also has a slide adjustment both on the left and right side to help you get a perfect fit.

Ring-radiator Driver

The major technological advancement in the Sennheiser HD 800 is the 56mm “ring radiator” driver. I believe it’s still currently the largest dynamic driver currently in use in any headphones. This driver delivers a couple of advantages by reducing “cone breakup,” which causes distortion at high frequencies; and it providing better imaging by being angled back towards the ears from a slightly forward position. This gives you a more planar wavefront compared to a normal headphones driver.

Sennheiser HD 800 Review

When you normally listen to speakers, the wavefront is hitting the side of your head and ears at an angle. To mimic this effect, Sennheiser has positioned the HD 800 drivers slightly forward of your ears, and slightly angled back towards them. This produces a wavefront that arrives at your ears in a more natural way compared to traditional headphones and allows more of the normal reflections at the outer ear to occur.

This is what allows the brain to understand and localize the sound it’s hearing significantly better. So the HD 800 is able to mimic more closely what happens when you listen to live music or a conventional loudspeaker system. The end result is simply spectacular imaging.

This is what allows the brain to understand and localize the sound it’s hearing significantly better. So the HD 800 is able to mimic more closely what happens when you listen to live music or a conventional loudspeaker system. The end result is simply spectacular imaging.

Housing

A permanently installed synthetic mesh material covers and protects the driver from dirt and hair. The main earpiece housings are a framework cast of Leona plastic–which is a 60% glass fiber filled, specialized plastic. You then have a very fine acoustically transparent stainless steel mesh which is supported by the framework, as well. A bail and gimbal assembly attaches the headband to the rear of each earpiece, and has two pivot points that allow adequate freedom for the earpiece to tilt and swivel to align with the side of the head for a proper fit.

Earpad cushions

The earpad cushions are extremely large to easily accommodate the largest ears. The cushions are very pliable and made of a special alcantara micro-fiber which was inspired by the luxury auto industry (such as Maserati and Lamborghini). They feel very soft and luxurious to the touch and while wearing them. An easily removable and hand-washable cloth protector covers the inside of the earpieces.

Cable

The HD800’s Y-cable harness uses a  removable braided cable, with a Kevlar-reinforced oxygen free copper wire. The cable is 8ft long and is covered with a fabric sheath, making it flexible and non-microphonic. The cable is terminated to a substantial ¼” phono plug at one end, and two proprietary Sennheiser connectors at the earpieces. These new connectors—which provide far more substantial termination than Sennheiser’s old two-prong mini-connector is designed to eliminate the “jiggle effect” where you need to “jiggle” the cable to try and restore sound when it starts to cut out or reduce volume.  You can use aftermarket cables with these if you’d like to upgrade to something different. There is no ¼” to ⅛” adapter provided with these.

Design

The HD 800 does have a’ striking design which sets them apart from other headphones. But it’s not just a styling exercise; the large earcups are specifically designed to place the drivers farther away and slightly to the front of the your ears than what’s possible in smaller designs. And this is what contributes to the exceptional sound experience you get with these.

Comfort

Regarding the comfort and fit of these headphones, they do a nearly perfect job of distributing their weight on my head. Since you’re able to adjust not only the earcup position but also the headband length I found you’re able to get a perfect amount of pressure from the earcups. Also, since you’re able to adjust the headband it allows you to adjust how tight you want these to fit on your head.

The earcups are so large they fully and easily surround my ears. I was able to wear these with glasses without taking away from the comfort.  And these are also cool wearing headphones that breathe very easily.

Now there are two things I did notice comfort wise that took away from this being a perfectly comfortable experience. First, because of the extremely large size of the earcups, I do notice them pressing against my jaw. It’s more of an awareness than it causing any discomfort. Most of the time it fades away, but occasionally I found myself noticing that off and on.  Also, because of the weight of these headphones I found I did get a slight hot spot at the top of my head after wearing these for a while.

But given the size of the earpads and overall weight of these headphones I’m very impressed with how comfortable they are to wear. The cushion on the earpads and headband does give you a luxurious experience and with the adjustments you’re able to make to the size of the headband and to the earcups it’s easy to get a perfect fit.

Sound Quality

Next I’ll talk about the sound quality and there’s plenty to talk about when it comes to the HD 800.

Overall Impressions

Now the sound of these headphones is absolutely spectacular. When I first started to listen to these I was really struck by how intensely realistic and natural the sound is. It’s so real in fact that it feels like you’re hearing music straight from the source. You feel like you’re getting a direct connection to the music.

The other thing that hit me is the resolution at which the 800’s reproduce music. Every single detail is painstakingly portrayed without any coloration. Everything just comes together with the HD800s – the bass, midrange, and treble all are beautifully balanced and almost without faults. The frequency response across the board is excellent. These headphones also disappear more than any other dynamic headphones I’ve used. And they brought me closer to the experience of speaker listening than any other headphone I’ve tried.

And what further added to the thrill of the listening experience is the speed and impact of these. The HD 800’s are the first headphones I have listened to that reproduce the impact of drums and percussive qualities, such as acoustic guitars, flawlessly. It’s so exciting to listen to because every hit sounds so lifelike and vibrant. Even in immensely complex passages in music the drivers manage to keep up and maintain all the original qualities. It’s truly impressive.

Now something I wanted to share that I found interesting is that over and over, with all kinds of music, I’d set the volume where I thought it should be, only to reach over after a couple of minutes and turn it down a bit. Over time, I realized I was doing that because the HD800’s do everything so well that when you’re not missing anything, you realize you just don’t need the volume so loud.

Now I also want to talk about some of the specific aspects of the sound quality starting with the bass.

Bass

The bass is there and the amount is perfect to my ear, not too much and not too little. If you are a basshead these will probably not do it for you, but otherwise the intensity is just perfect. The bass is very present, well defined, and very fast and impactful. Extension is very good.

What’s especially fun about these is how the bass comes through with such great clarity, control and resolution that it especially puts the HD 650 to shame. I’ve never heard bass notes as clearly defined as through the HD800. Now other headphones with good bass response might feel like rubber mallets pounding on your eardrums. But lows on the HD800 are much more natural sounding and go very deep, with none of that pounding feeling. For really low notes the effect is much more apparent.

Overall the bass response is flat out excellent and just lovely to listen to.

Mids

The mids are also just fabulous. Overall the HD800 has more extended and detailed mids. There is incredible musicality. Honestly, every note just sounds perfect within the midrange.

Also, as a side note the HD 800s also have a special affinity for movie dialog; they’re the most natural sounding I’ve ever heard from a headphone.

Highs

For the highs, the treble has both great extension and detail without being fatiguing or excessively bright. The level of detail you get in the highs is just crazy.

As an example, for those of you who are gamers and play Battlefield, you’ll get the same piercing, high-pitched noise you hear firing an AR-15 as you would in real life. The HD 800 reproduces that perfectly and in a way that no other headphones I’ve used yet has been able to do. It’s just phenomenal how accurately these are able to reproduce high pitched sounds with such true-to-life detail.

Soundstage

Regarding the soundstage of these headphones, It’s extremely good. In fact, It’s almost like listening to speakers. You almost forget you’re wearing headphones. Even compared to the K701’s they just do not have the spatial soundstaging of the HD800s.

The open quality was definitely a plus for home theater testing as well. Because of the remarkable soundstage the sound almost appears to come from the screen. You soon forget you’re wearing headphones and just get lost in the film.

When listening to  Chicago Symphony’s recording of Mahler’s Symphony 4 (CD, JMCXR-0017) the orchestra spread from wall to wall and all the way back to the rear of the stage. The are amazingly convincing. Even compared to the K701’s which has a big and impressive soundstage, but it’s just not as real as the HD800.

The HD800 is clearly a spatial champion.

Amp

Since these are 300 ohm headphones, you will want an amp (and a good one) in order to experience the magic of these headphones.

These headphones scale well with different equipment. So the better your equipment, the more you’ll get out of them. You can also affect the sound by the amp you choose. For example a tube amp will warm these up a bit and make them a little smoother.

Keep in mind that the HD800 is very revealing of the component behind them, and so, make sure that your amplifier can produce good, clean signals. Because any kind of distortions will sound ugly on these headphones. But even more important than the amplifier you use is the source you’re using. The better your source is, the better these headphones will shine. For example,

You can check below in the description and I’ll include some different amp ideas to pair with these headphones.

Comparisons

Next I’d like to compare the HD800 a bit to Beyerdynamic’s T1. Overall you’ll find the T1 is still clearly within the Beyer house sound, whereas the HD800 is still clearly within the Sennheiser house sound.

Generally, there is more midrange and low end presence in the HD800, where the T1 has more presence in the trebles. As a result, the HD800 is warmer sounding and fuller bodied, while the T1 is more crisp and precise.

Many times vocal sounds warmer, smoother, and fuller bodied in the HD800. I also notice that the HD800 consistently give a more in-the-venue feel, whereas the T1 gives a sharper and clearer view of the music. For faster music, the T1 tends to carry the pace better. The HD800 tends to work better for medium to laid back music. It does seem that the HD800 works for a wider range of music, but it’s hard to generalize too much.

So if you listen to Hard Rock and Metal most of the time, you’ll probably find the HD800 just wouldn’t be able to keep up with the pace of that music.

Song Examples

My favorite test piece is the opening part of Henryk Gorecki’s Third Symphony, “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs,”  the Nonesuch recording with David Zinman, Dawn Upshaw, and the London Sinfonietta. The work starts out with the contrabasses and cellos playing in their bottom-most registers as softly as possible. Very slowly, they get louder, slowly moving up the scale and then start to split off. After a while, the violas join in (in their lowest register as well), then eventually the violins. Each section split into two or more sections playing different lines.

Now with an average set of headphones, you usually don’t hear anything until about two to five seconds into the work. But with the HD800, you can actually hear the start of the work. These headphones accurately deliver the extremely soft low tones of the opening bass line, and you can even hear when the section splits into two parts. You can hear the entrances of the cellos, and when they branch off into different melodies. It’s absolutely wonderful and moving. This is truly what high-end audio is all about.

As another example, Listening to I’m Confessin from Jazz at the Pawnshop: The HD800 puts you more inside the music, and instead of taking a back seat on the bar, now you’re sitting at the table area and very close to where the band is. Instruments are placed very wide, even wider than what is found on the T1, and they’re more present. The presentation you get with  HD800 is really special here.

Rolling Stones – Start Me Up: The HD800 is very balanced on this song. Vocals are good and engaging, electric guitar spot on. The tone and the mood is spot on, bass beats are plentiful and good. There’s nothing I would complain about, it’s a very satisfying performance overall.

Beethoven Symphony No. 9 – Claudio Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic: Movement 1 – Allegro ma non troppo e un poco maestoso

This symphony is a difficult piece of music to reproduce, the music is very complex, with 13 different groups of instruments in total. The HD800 is actually more three-dimensional sounding here than the T1, but it has a longer decay and a more prominent midrange and bass presence that leads to a slightly less clear cut presentation than what you’d hear on the T1.

For example, if you take the complex timpani beats around the middle of the movement. The HD800 wonderfully presents these on a separate layer than the other bass notes. Each of the bass layer is presented with full vigor that the result is layers of thunderous bass. The T1 doesn’t exactly have that three dimensionality, but it’s very articulate, mostly due to the faster transients, and so overall you hear a better sense of clarity. Although the HD800 can maintain the stormy and thunderous mood of the movement very well, but the longer decay result in overlaps on the complex passages. They’re not muddy, but they are less clear than the T1.

Emotionally, I think the HD800 is more spot on to the overall tone of the music. The T1 is better if you want to spot a certain instrument in the orchestra, but for feeling the music, the T1 doesn’t nearly have the rumble and the three dimensionality of the HD800. So the clarity of the T1 is superb, but if I have to choose, the HD800 lets me feel the music better.

Considerations

They are so brutally honest that they can be tiresome to listen to for long periods of time. They are extremely articulate and will show any flaws in the recording. This definitely makes these the best headphone for professional use. You’ll hear everything on a recording.

To make a generalization for the HD800 I’d say it does best with medium to slow-paced music, in this regard the HD800 is almost always better than the T1. The warmer sound, the fuller body, the spectacular feel of being in a live music venue, and the layered, thunderous bass, is unique to the HD800.

Sound Quality Summary

The HD800 is a headphone with a lot of potential, yet at the same time it is a hard headphone to please. There is nothing polished or boosted about the HD800. Your music better be well recorded, your source better be a good quality source, and your amplifier better deliver some clean power. But if you feed a good signal into it, it will spit out one of the best sound you’ll ever get from a headphone. When everything on the chain is done right, it’s like the stars aligning themselves together, and music listening finally becomes perfect.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Reasons to consider something else:

  1. These are open headphones
  1. Cost, not only for the headphones but possibly an amp, etc.
  1. VERY picky about the amp and source. For example, if you’re driving these with a portable amp then it probably won’t make sense to get these. Sure it will still have killer instrument separation and soundstage compared to cheaper headphones, but the magic just won’t be there. You’re more likely to get much better, and more musical results with less expensive headphones such as the HD 650.
  1. Might be to neutral sounding for some

The HD800 is a very neutral headphone, free from coloration. And this much neutrality isn’t something you may immediately appreciate. If you’re listening to the HD650 and you’re loving its laid back and dark sound, realize that on the HD800, though a lot of things will be improved, you’ll lose that laid back and dark HD650 sound. You’ll have to ask yourself if that’s a trade off that you’re willing to make?

it has become clear to me that the HD800 is an all-around stellar performing headset, every single performance aspect is just so close to perfect. What amazes me the most is that Sennheiser have been able to push the envelope so much with these headphones. They are not a single step up from the HD600/650 headphones but in an entirely different league (both in terms of performance and price!),

Bottom Line

Are these worth the money? If you have the money, and you need a pair of high-quality headphones that will reveal all, if you’re a recording engineer or producer and you have to hear what’s on the master, you not only should, you must get these. Or if you’re the type of audiophile who’s not content with less than the best then you need to hear the HD800s and, probably, own them.

The Sennheiser HD800 headphones are about as close to perfect as it gets. They are the best sounding headphones I’ve heard to date. Sennheiser has managed the difficult balancing act of making an interesting sounding headphone that is still very neutral. They have an ultra wide and deep soundstage that envelops you in a sonic oasis. Every note sounds perfect from the deep bass up to the trebles.

They are smooth, focused, and effortlessly natural sounding. They have pitch perfect accuracy and neutrality. You’re getting near perfect all around performance in one set of headphones. If you truly want to hear your music the way that it was intended to sound, then you will be extremely happy with Sennheiser HD800.