HD 800s vs 'the Rest' [HD 650, Abyss 1261, Diana, ZMf Atrium Open and Closed and HeddPhone1]

[AP@1992]

I enjoy HP listening. Its personal, intimate and very much an escape into the hifi without waiting for stars to align for listening to my stereo setup, which is sadly housed in my living room. My HP rig (as posted before) comprises of:

Wiim Ultra--Iris DDC—Ayon CD1s (with 6n6p tube. The stock 6H30 is a damm good but a tad shouty)---Feliks Euphoria Anniversary Edition [Tungsol 5998/RCA 6as7g/Tungsol 6080WA & Tungsol 6sn7 GTB.] [“My RIG”].

My RIG is centred around HD800s and under tube rolling advice received from various forum who use the aforesaid amp/HP combo. From tube to components to wires to power cables, all are picked to highlight the strength of HD800s and to hides its weakness.

In this setup I love the sound. It comfortable, airy, spacious and exhibits a gigantic sound stage. Warm but filled with details and I do not encounter the usual nit picks of HD800s. Save and except, a somewhat weak bass, which I realise in 10 percent of the songs. I can live with this. In this super synergistic setup I first tried the following

HD800s vs HD 650 vs Atrium Open vs Atrium Closed

My subjective conclusion (scale 1-10). Scores are relative.

HD800s

Soundstage- 9.5

Comfort - 9.5

Tone: 9

Bass: 6

Midrange (vocals): 9

Treble extension: 9

Atrium Open

Soundstage- 6

Comfort - 6

Tone: 8.5

Bass: 9

Midrange: 8

Treble extension: 7.5

Atrium closed

Soundstage- 6

Comfort - 6

Tone: 7 (much sharper than the open version.)

Bass: 9.5

Midrange: 7.5

Treble extension: 6 (treble is sharp and peaky and despite the chain being tuned to provide the maximum warmth)



HD650s

Soundstage- 6.5

Comfort – 8.5

Tone: 9.5

Bass: 8.5

Midrange (vocals): 9.5

Treble extension: 6.5


Remarks (Must Read):

1. This test was an eye opener for me. It made me realize that reviews mean nothing and sound is so very subjective

2. If you remove bass extension out of equations, both the Atrium sounded inferior to HD800s by a large margin. The relatively smaller sound stage and a sense of claustrophobic feeling due to its weight doesn't help their case either. I realized coming from stereo, comfort and sound stage take precedence.

3. Feliks Euphoria AE has a fucking great synergy with HD650/800s. Even HD650s sounded tad better than both the Atrium [both of which are 10 times the cost] . You just need the rights combination of tubes, wires, DAC to tame the treble peakiness. Tubes are the BEST form of EQ for me. Fully Analog.

4. The afore stated chain is built around HD800s, from wires to tubes and what not. The other two headphones could benefit from such permutations and combinations. But the sound stage and comfort and that feeling of sounding hifi without getting overboard (largely due to the chain) was absent in both the Atrium.

5.Anyone from stereo getting into hifi, must seriously try and wear headphones and test the waters before splurging. For stereo guys, sound is one thing, but you will feel weird and claustrophobic if its uncomfortable, sounds 2d, is not spatial enough and not adequate separation.

6. The other two planars, HED and Abys 1261, sounded very promising through NAD M66. No apparent issues, apart from one thing i.e. I can't wear them for more than 10 mins. IT SO DAMM HEAVY. I could see these sounding sublime through suitable gears.

**Had a beautiful last week with these beauties. Listening in your setup is the only true test. Rest all is noise.

 

[fLUX]

Never heard an Atrium but have owned an Auteur , HD650 & HD800. Per my listening experience with an Otomon 45 DHT & Soekris/Metrum as a dac w gustard ddc

For soundstage HD800 > Auteur > HD 650

Comfort - HD800 > HD650 ( extensively used) > Auteur

Tone - Auteur > HD650 > HD800

Bass - Auteur > HD 650 > HD800

Midrange ( Vocals) - Auteur > HD650 > HD800

Treble Extension & Details - HD800 > Auteur > HD650

Surprised the Atrium sounds different across , Auetur sounded like a BBC converted into a HP.

 

[reignofchaos]

Auteur is more neutral than Atrium is what I read. Atrium is extremely colored.

 

[AP@1992]

Never heard an Atrium but have owned an Auteur , HD650 & HD800. Per my listening experience with an Otomon 45 DHT & Soekris/Metrum as a dac w gustard ddc

For soundstage HD800 > Auteur > HD 650

Comfort - HD800 > HD650 ( extensively used) > Auteur

Tone - Auteur > HD650 > HD800

Bass - Auteur > HD 650 > HD800

Midrange ( Vocals) - Auteur > HD650 > HD800

Treble Extension & Details - HD800 > Auteur > HD650

Surprised the Atrium sounds different across , Auetur sounded like a BBC converted into a HP.

Guess the amp and synergy making a lot of difference.

 

[AP@1992]

Auteur is more neutral than Atrium is what I read. Atrium is extremely colored.

Atrium's tonality is very close to HD650 in my setup. Good warm tone.

Atrium close back is neither here nor there. May be closed back aren't for me.

 

[fLUX]

Guess the amp and synergy making a lot of difference.

I would believe so & maybe the HPs itself might be different. The Euphoria I have not tried , but the Elise was not exactly to my taste even with the HD650 ( but I read they are very different from Euphoria & don't tread along the same line of signature too)

 

[AP@1992]

I would believe so & maybe the HPs itself might be different. The Euphoria I have not tried , but the Elise was not exactly to my taste even with the HD650 ( but I read they are very different from Euphoria & don't tread along the same line of signature too)

Elise was an upgrade from Echo. If it sounded like Echo, even if an update, I think I would also not prefer it. Dense slow and lacking in dynamic punch.

Euphoria has very different Signature. It can get fatiguing with wrong pairing. Blurring the boundaries between the traditional tube and SS sound.

Moved on to AE. AE is a solid 9. Euphoria was a sold 8.5.

But this amp, really benefit for tube rolling. Takes 5-6 types of well respected power tubes.

I would certainly want to try a OPT based tube HP amp in days to come.

 

[reignofchaos]

I find the hd800 gen1 bright. Bought it and sold it. Didn't like one bit. Heard 800s is darker but apparently bass is still a bit on the leaner side.

Yet to try any of the ZMF cans. Would like to try some day.

 

[AP@1992]

Elise was an upgrade from Echo. If it sounded like Echo, even if an update, I think I would also not prefer it. Dense slow and lacking in dynamic punch.

Euphoria has very different Signature. It can get fatiguing with wrong pairing. Blurring the boundaries between the traditional tube and SS sound.

Moved on to AE. AE is a solid 9. Euphoria was a sold 8.5.

But this amp, really benefit for tube rolling. Takes 5-6 types of well respected power tubes.

I would certainly want to try a OPT based tube HP amp in days to come.

I find the hd800 gen1 bright. Bought it and sold it. Didn't like one bit. Heard 800s is darker but apparently bass is still a bit on the leaner side.

Yet to try any of the ZMF cans. Would like to try some day.

HD800s has decent bass. But after you listen to these 650, ZMF and Abyss, it sounds lean.

HD800s is still unlistenable through my NAD M66 output. Absolutely unlistenable. No other way to put it.

It is so fincky that is should come with a manual.

 

[captainsubtext]

adding in my 2 cents here having owned the HD 800 / 6x0 series for close to 10 years.

Firstly, the HD 800 has a ghastly peak at 6 kHz. I would consider them nigh unlistenable if you're treble sensitive unless modded. I would highly recommend the SDR / anax mod to sort this out for an even response. Tubes with slightly rolled off treble/warmish ss amps are also great here.

Coming to the chain, it's possible to maximise for either of HD 800 or the 6 series with tubes. My chain for these headphones for many years has been a schist Yggdrasil > EC Zana Deux Super with an RCA 5691 for the HD 800 and a Sylvania JAN6SL7GT for the other headphones). I also use these with the Apex Teton which in my setup is optimised for the HD 650.

Early in my journey I used to prioritise soundstage over most things and my preferences leaned strongly towards the HD 800 - as I listened to more headphones and amp combos along the way, I now find the soundstage over exaggerated and not very speaker like - theres a bit of a loss in image coherence since things sound a bit far apart.

In terms of timbre and a speaker like sound, I'd rate the auteur very high amongst dynamic headphones (I have the OG ones). The soundstage is fairly intimate on these but it's not as claustrophobic as the focal utopias. Agree with Sukant @fLUX - it's like a harbeth p3esr on your head

A headphone with all the strengths of the HD 800 and none of the weaknesses is the Audio Technica ADX 5000 - to my mind this is the logical step up from the HD 800. I sold mine to fund electrostats and I have some regrets about that!

In my current setup for dynamics nothing comes within striking distance of a HD650 running on the Teton. It's like putting a 2L turbo charged engine in a Maruti 800 but it's unrecognisable as the same headphone - I guess has to be heard to be believed. Planars are a different story altogether and need a somewhat different approach to building your system - for the harder to drive ones high current amps are the way to go.

I haven't heard the atrium myself so no comments there.

 

[AP@1992]

adding in my 2 cents here having owned the HD 800 / 6x0 series for close to 10 years.

Firstly, the HD 800 has a ghastly peak at 6 kHz. I would consider them nigh unlistenable if you're treble sensitive unless modded. I would highly recommend the SDR / anax mod to sort this out for an even response. Tubes with slightly rolled off treble/warmish ss amps are also great here.

Coming to the chain, it's possible to maximise for either of HD 800 or the 6 series with tubes. My chain for these headphones for many years has been a schist Yggdrasil > EC Zana Deux Super with an RCA 5691 for the HD 800 and a Sylvania JAN6SL7GT for the other headphones). I also use these with the Apex Teton which in my setup is optimised for the HD 650.

Early in my journey I used to prioritise soundstage over most things and my preferences leaned strongly towards the HD 800 - as I listened to more headphones and amp combos along the way, I now find the soundstage over exaggerated and not very speaker like - theres a bit of a loss in image coherence since things sound a bit far apart.

In terms of timbre and a speaker like sound, I'd rate the auteur very high amongst dynamic headphones (I have the OG ones). The soundstage is fairly intimate on these but it's not as claustrophobic as the focal utopias. Agree with Sukant @fLUX - it's like a harbeth p3esr on your head

A headphone with all the strengths of the HD 800 and none of the weaknesses is the Audio Technica ADX 5000 - to my mind this is the logical step up from the HD 800. I sold mine to fund electrostats and I have some regrets about that!

In my current setup for dynamics nothing comes within striking distance of a HD650 running on the Teton. It's like putting a 2L turbo charged engine in a Maruti 800 but it's unrecognisable as the same headphone - I guess has to be heard to be believed. Planars are a different story altogether and need a somewhat different approach to building your system - for the harder to drive ones high current amps are the way to go.

I haven't heard the atrium myself so no comments there.

I like HD650, it easy to live with. In the above chain, and amongst the HP tested, I feel it's the most balanced.

And when you factor the cost of that HP, I feel it's the OG hifi bargain.

 

[captainsubtext]

Yeah though to be honest I prefer the HD 600 on most chains. Second hand HD650/600 go for about 16k so I consider that to be fairly reasonable!