Hi all,

Recently decided to get a great pair of headphones, and went down the rabbit hole reading everything I could for about a week. I wanted to get one set of headphones and be done with it - "endgame" I suppose.

My local shop has a quiet listening room and I was able to spend a few hours trying various headphones (HD 660s, Grado Reference RS1x, Dan Clark Aeon 2 Open, Meze 109 Pro, HD 800S), and a few amps (iFi Zen v2, iFi Gryphon, and some big fancy tube amp), I ended up with the Sennheiser HD 800 S with the iFi Gryphon amp.

Posting this because it’s the sort of thing I would have wanted to read when I was researching. This is not a thorough or detailed review of any of the headphones, more of a meta commentary on the process, and my conclusions based on my specific preferences.

(Brief about me - I’m a cinematographer, and have spent time in professional film mixing stages. So I have a peripheral knowledge of sound tech and have heard great sound, but am a beginner hobbyist “audiophile.” Because of my professional background I’m biased to seek out accuracy, fidelity to the artists’ intention, etc.)

My main takeaway:

Reading a ton of reviews was useful to familiarize me with the landscape, but in the end people’s preferences had little to do with my own. My impression of the 800S from reviews was "boring, lacks bass, too clinical, probably won't like it." It ended up being a very clear choice. Conversely I thought I'd like the Grados from what I was reading, but quickly dismissed them after side by side listening.

So essentially (and this has been said before) - reviews are cool, but close comparison was the only thing I found actually instructive. If you don’t have a shop where you can compare things, I’d consider finding somewhere with a good return policy, ordering several units, and returning the rest after you’ve made your choice.

And on the why of the choice:

The primary song I used to evaluate was “Catch Hold” by Jonny Greenwood, from the Phantom Thread soundtrack. While I love the song, I focused on it because it has nuanced strings that gently enter, swell, flourish, and disappear. All the headphones/speakers I have access to blur these strings together, but I knew there was more detail there than I was hearing, and I wanted to hear it. (I also tested a range of other songs and genres, all via Tidal.)

Of the headphones I tried, the 800 S was the only one that achieved my stated goal. I clearly heard individual instruments and could place them in physical space that felt outside the headphones. Other headphones muddied this or just felt wrong to varying degrees.

Bass sounds great on the Gryphon amp. With the iFi Zen Dac v2 I used the bass boost, and it sounded also good if not a little off. The Gryphon was better and has a nice form factor so I went for that. The big fancy tube amp lost some clarity and wasn't something I wanted to own so I didn't think about it too hard.

There seems to be a tendency to frame headphone performance as a binary between “critical analysis”, or “musical enjoyment,” from which one might conclude that you have to choose between hearing things accurately, and an enjoyable sound. I did not find this to be the case. Love how they sound on pop (Tame Impala), and modern well mastered bass heavy rap. With lower fi recordings (Runnin' by The Pharcyde) you can hear that they’re not super clean samples, but it’s still enjoyable. (I didn’t listen to anything compressed, I’m sure that wouldn’t sound great, didn’t buy these to listen to compressed music.)

Conceptually, I spent a while trying to appreciate why people enjoy different “colourations” in sound systems. This was hard for me to understand - when I’m selecting a video monitor at home or on set the only criteria are accuracy, dynamic range and colour gamut, so why wouldn’t sound be the same? The “everyone literally has different ears” statement is the reason I understand the best (followed by everyone has different preferences).

I listened to the 800S last because I didn't think I'd like them. Between the other headphones, I was having a hard time picking what sound I liked the best, some suited some songs better than others, it all felt very subjective. But upon hearing the 800S, and getting the sensation of discrete instruments surrounding me in a room, vs those instruments feeling smushed together in different ways on the other headphones, it was a clear choice. Plus I thought all the other music sounded great, and I trusted it was "correct," which is something I value - I like colour and funk and all that good stuff in the creation of art, and not in the display. There are many smart people who seem to disagree with that so I'm still interested in hearing things that will change my mind. Hasn't happened yet, but next step is figuring out a speaker system, so we'll see what happens on that journey...

If my budget were lower, given my preferences I probably would have gone with the 660S and iFi Zen Dac v2 (because that's what they had in the shop, not because I have some knowledge that it's truly the best at its pricepoint), and used the bass boost, sometimes.

That’s all!