Sennheiser HD 820

So closed back that isolate terribly!?

How about the sound leakage? Did you see anyone trying them on & seeing if you could hear all the music playing by just standing a few feet away?

 

I wonder if the dekoni HD800 (hybrid) pads produce the same results as the 820 pads. They look somewhat similar. I remember reading some impressions of the stratocaster mod (the very initial slapping on hm5 pads on one) not being able to retain the same soundstage or details as the stock on here. I'm certainly curious as to whether the dekoni/820 pads would produce the same spectacular results without the drawbacks.

 

I think it was kind of a brilliant marketing move. They had a choice of any number of materials to close off the back. Wood, carbon fiber, etc have all been done before but with glass they have something unique and distinctive. But it won't be for long. It's going to inspire cheap headphones with clear plastic windows in the earpods, even before the HD820 becomes available.

 

They changed the dust li

That dustliner looks different maybe it has some dampening ala the sbaf rug liner mod.

 

Yeah, pads certainly have spectacular effects. I think that is what Sennheiser really ought to do serious work on, because there is so much potential.
Just look at the effect that (just) piggybacked HD6x0pads (green curve) have on the FR, it literally flattens the response out. Changing the inner volume greatly alters the response. Now imagine what a company like Sennheiser can achieve using all their resources to work on that issue. Using a different color scheme, some glass and additional bling bling will make them a lot of money. But I guess it might be mostly the pads that will alter the sound.

 

Should be on the floor at an AES convention when the JBL, EAW, Meyer, etc. guys all try to outdo each other with their respective line arrays. Think battle of the multimegawatt sound systems. Hearing protection required.

 

This is what I got out of this:

"the main frame of the main body is changed from a special resin material Leona to a high-strength polyamide material."

Thats seems like positive news.
The frame looks more braced.

From what They mentioned I expect less diffused and slightly less soundstage but same tone as 800S.

 

I think @Marvey did try those Dekoni pads, and can make some comments... or maybe i'm to old and my memory it is controlled by Alzheimer. Hope not.

 

That is excellent results for Frequency response changing.
Do you have any CSD?
I cannot find your posts easily, as most probably not find my posts either as they are in my general 800 mod threads.

So far every mod incarnation has still had the dreaded 6k diffuse ringing on CSD as well as ringing above 10k, although tamed.

As far as I have seen, I am the only one who completely eliminated this issue on my CSD without muting treble air or destroying soundstage I posted here:
http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...asurements-by-serious.2518/page-3#post-173469

My point being that you can attain more focus with the total elimination of the resonance/ringing,
Which I believe this new HD820 model's new frame should also address in this area...

Although the glass was a questionable descision,
as they could have made the chamber more dampened inside.

 

re: concave/convex—

Most people seem to have been speaking from the perspective of seeing the cups from the outside, as seems to be intuitive. In that case, saying it's concave (i.e. depressed towards the center) is correct; I was speaking from the opposite perspective, that is to say, from the source of the sound waves striking the inner side of the cup, and having the cups be concave from that perspective wouldn't have helped prevent reflections back towards the driver at all.

In other words, Kevin thought it was opposite day. Sorry about that.

As far as these lacking sufficient isolation to block out ambient noise at the show, I have to concede I've never been to an audio show of that size before so have no idea how noisy it gets. Still, the fact that it was hard for zerodeefex to get a read on the HD820 in those conditions is probably not a great sign?

Also, hooray for comparisons!

 

No.



Go to 00:40* and imagine trying to listen for the sound of any headphone, while in the middle of that.

* don't forget to set your volume to "am I getting inner ear damage from this?"

 

*dons tin foil hat* the use of glass makes sense when you realise that the current chairman of senn (since 2014, when jorg stepped down) is also the owner of schott AG, one of EU's largest developer of industrial glass applications. *removes tin foil hat*

 

They're taking on Gorilla Glass head on: https://www.engadget.com/2012/06/06/schott-claims-xensation-glass-is-toughest-tells-corning-to-come/

 

The final tuning is probably what makes or breaks it, we´ll see... Wouldn´t be surprised if it misses its release date though (IE 800 S more or less did, production started really slow).

I´d say a lot of people would be happy to see the HD 820 retain the HD 800 S sound signature, but move it slightly more towards a tonally more balanced direction. In other words extend the bass somewhat if possible, bring up the mids a bit and take some edge off the treble emphasis. Something similar as they did to the IE 800 with the new S version. It wouldn´t necessarily have to be technically superior, but it would still be subjectively "better" for the majority even with a smaller soundstage (though for many this would also be a plus).

As for the closed design: if you´re using headphones next to a standard desktop PC, open headphones are a compromise (= unless your PC is specially built for silence you can expect a 30-40 dB or so ambient fan noise). Especially if you´re into gaming open headphones have a lot of drawbacks as most fast GPU´s spin their fans at 45 dB+ and that´s without the rest of the system included. That level of ambient noise definitely isn´t good for sound quality. If the HD 820 offers solid noise attenuation it´s a big deal for audiophile desktop PC users/gamers in particular. I´d be interested in "upgrading" from my current HD 800 S if they get this right.

 

Although I am happy to see Sennheiser's PR team is utilizing Axel Grell as a spokesperson more than ever before, he would benefit from more media training (e.g. his response at 6:45).

 

@Maxx134 Is this the mod(s) you were referring to?
And the pics are not showing by the way.
http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/hd800-supplemental-mods.1981/