Ideal high end Headphone music, ( Sennheiser HD800) Suggestions Please

stereosteve

Well-Known Member
Sep 10, 2011
4
0
76
Hmm.... Ideal music suggestions for listening to through your Senn HD800s ,huh ? I use these also so I'll give you a few & tell you
about some things I ended up doing to my 800s so that they aren't as easily able to impose their "sound signature" on what I decide
to listen to .

First, there is no doubt these headphones are using fantastic drivers that are tremendously capable of resolving musical information.
So far, so good , but at some point during their design (maybe due to how extended these drivers are) they decided not to completely stop the resonances of these powerful drivers in their earcup seating but to use this energy to create "spaciousness"
regardless of what actual ambient information exists on the recorded music . Depending on your choice of listening material this
isn't always an objectionable thing,but it doesn't work very well with music that has distinct natural spatial balances in it & you can
hear if a resonance is from the sound of a musical note decay or it was mechanically generated.

I guess you can tell I wasn't a big fan of the HD800s "Wall of Sound" specifically due to the fact that almost all the music I listen to
is dynamically dense (Orchestral mostly) acoustic music. It was only after several months of not even plugging in these phones & trying a few non invasive mods to them that I discovered they could be quite enjoyable. I discovered that the biggest culprit in creating that "Sennheiser soundstage" was emanating from the rings that are sitting around the outside of each driver. The protective screens that sit behind the drivers are being held in place by the 4 screws that pass through the rings & the drivers mounting screw holes. I had originally thought that the inner surface of the earcups was were the excessive resonance was originating from , it's not. The ring & the screen are working together to create a "Ring Radiator". Both the rings & screens no longer
reside on my headphones . In their current state my HD800s sound very transparent & exceptional with my entire Classical (& other)
Library. I don't know how well they might work on recording that need help, but I don't seem to have more than a handful of those
among several hundred that I have .

Getting back to Musical suggestions. . Now that I've "Natualized" my headphones, the is an awful lot of music on Naxos (the Alsop,Slatkin, etc & material recorded by Peter McGrath, John Eargle (Albert Swanson was only the assistant engineer ),Tony Faulkner & other) show up on this label. I seem to like a good bit of what is on the Lyrita,Hyperion/Helios & Dutton Epoch labels
There's a Egon Wellesz series on CPO that I love that I think is also very well recorded
 

Kefas

Well-Known Member
May 21, 2014
179
25
248
I would not dare to experiment on mine but if possible would love to see some pictures of your mods.
Has more people done similar mods or is this your own idea?
 

APP

Well-Known Member
Oct 1, 2014
455
108
273
hi Steve
could you post some links or be a bit more specific;
Naxos (the Alsop,Slatkin, etc & material recorded by Peter McGrath, John Eargle (Albert Swanson was only the assistant engineer ),Tony Faulkner & other) show up on this label. I seem to like a good bit of what is on the Lyrita,Hyperion/Helios & Dutton Epoch labels
There's a Egon Wellesz series on CPO that I love that I think is also very well recorded
 

Kefas

Well-Known Member
May 21, 2014
179
25
248
the new Andre Heuvelman is really worth a listen, meditative music, with a gorgeous SQ.
View attachment 21130
Very interesting liner notes as well; link further reading;http://www.soundliaison.com/
and introduction price 11$ for the PCM copy of the studio master.
It is not your average music but still very captivating.

The SpaceMasterSilence download is no longer available for introduction price except for the FLAC which is still 11$, I think they forgot to change the price.

They now have a brand new piano trio released; Witmer trio ''En Azul'' for the introduction price of 10 €/11$.,

Great liner notes;
The real challenge for a musician
once he has mastered his instrument
learned all about harmony and rhythm
absorbed the music of the masters that came before him
and found his own voice
the real challenge is one that in itself sounds very simple
place yourself in complete service of the music at hand
and play only what the music is asking for
but as every musician will tell you this is the most difficult of all musical challenges.

So many musicians these days are emphasizing the improvisation at the cost of the melody, with the result that .....''you got no melody to remember, and no beat to dance to''...
(Louis Armstrong)
http://www.soundliaison.com/
Witmertrio300shadow.jpg
 

APP

Well-Known Member
Oct 1, 2014
455
108
273
Louis Armstrong

The SpaceMasterSilence download is no longer available for introduction price except for the FLAC which is still 11$, I think they forgot to change the price.

They now have a brand new piano trio released; Witmer trio ''En Azul'' for the introduction price of 10 €/11$.,

Great liner notes; http://www.soundliaison.com/
View attachment 22265

I love the quote.
I am afraid he was talking about BeBob which I love, but the quote does hit home with some later musical developments.
 

APP

Well-Known Member
Oct 1, 2014
455
108
273
I find this Rudy van Gelder blues recording excellent on headphones;

I have the CD.
 

dalethorn

Headphone user
Dec 9, 2012
476
7
18
63
Cleveland TN.
dalethorn.com
I find this Rudy van Gelder blues recording excellent on headphones;

I have the CD.

The hires download from hdtracks et al is very good. Percussion especially.
 

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