The 820 is one of the most hated headphones without a good reason. It's a worse than the 800s in some ways, better in others. In general, I'd say the 800s is better by a fair bit, but considering they were able to do what they were within the constraints of a closed back headphone is nothing short of incredible. There are fair complaints to make, but I wouldn't take advise from anyone saying that it's a bad sounding headphone. Bad for $2400? , fair enough. Bad outright? Nah. It's good.