I have tried many different headphones in the great quest to end the love hate relationship with my DT990s. The new ones needed to be open, absolute workhorses and I’d need to wear them for hours on end so comfort needs to be top notch. Owned about everything you can imagine, from Audezes (way too bulky) to the DT 900 X (way too muffled).

So I arrived at those. HD800s, I paid like 650 bucks with a really nice custom cable included. Now they look absolutely stunning and when I put them on I knew they had to sound really shit for me not to keep them. They disappeared on my head. Hands down the most comfortable headphones I’ve ever worn.

The only gripe is that the underside of the pad seems to dig into my jaw after I wore them for a couple hours. I suspect this might be partly because of the worn down pads but if someone knows a solution let me know.

I power them off the headphone output of my audio interface so that’s probably not the best option but still let me talk about sound.

They sound great. They didn’t immediately blow me away but they do everything very well. Technicalities are perfect, they are really resolving. The bass also punches quite a bit contrary to popular belief although I would’ve liked a little more extension. Nothing a little EQ magic can’t solve though. Treble is not as harsh as some people make it out to be but the lower mids seem extremely sterile, it makes it sound rather flat and clinical.

They are great for mixing which is what I’ll be using them for a lot, so that’s a huge plus. But where they blew my mind was gaming.

I played Satisfactory and it sounded so lifelike and huge. In rocket league I was able to locate everything so precisely, I legit felt like it had given me a competitive advantage. It also really handles the combination of playing a game, talking to friends and listening to music well. Something my Focal Radiance couldn’t do, it sounded really crowded and everything bled together.

I applied some sub bass boost (no treble reduction) and I think I found my forever headphones.

I’ll probably switch all pads since they’re pretty worn (seller sold them as „almost new“ 🙄) and there’s a dent in the mesh around the driver vent but I’ll give those babies a loving new home. I’ll get a lake people G103 to power them in the next couple days and maybe I’ll even repaint them some time since that seems like a cool project.

I was thinking about a slightly yellowish matte grey, like an old PS1. I think that could mesh well with the overall aesthetics.

Overall I’d say these are what I was looking for. Those are the first pair that really ticked all the boxes and a used HD800 is about one of the best deals you can get. The value is insane.