Anax: this might sound blasphemous to the HD800 owners here (like 110% of you guys? i signed up here when i was researching them) but K10 > HD800 is a common sentiment expressed by the majority of owners who have auditioned both



audiofrk: i love the Paradox, but i want a more 'open' sound/bigger soundstage and more details first and foremost. the Paradox bass is also not the best imo, it doesn't come effortlessly and i have to slightly strain my ears to notice it. HD800 was my main choice until i read about the K10. them being IEMs also give me much more options in terms of usage, but i'm focusing on the sound quality for now. and yeah the Hugo is out of the question

Lehmann...that's a noob. Yeah, 'auditioned' both. That's a laugh. Tossing the LCD3 in there is an even bigger joke. Sorry these are people with limited experience. I gather you are relatively new to this stuff so by all means listen to headfi or whoever makes you happy. Most of us here have been endgame for awhile and are too familiar with 007s,009s, Omegas, R10s, K1000s , Abyss and every LCD ever made under the sun to take that comparison seriously. HD800 is a long term commitment to endgame. If that's a problem, best to look at other easier and cheaper alternatives.

People who will say that have basic to mediocre hd800 upstrems (lehmann, grace, violectric, woo, etc., etc) and/or prefer euphonic colored sound like the lcd3. These are not resolution whores and have no clue what the 800 can do.

Nothing beat my HD800 + EC 445 setup for a long long time until I got a KGSSHV for my SR009 - even then HD800 kills the SR009 for orchestral pieces and anything which excels in stage depth.

Then there's the YMMV disclaimers of course. Maybe soundstage, imaging and timbre mean nothing to people.

That's it exactly and where we can begin to have serious conversation.

i have another question for the guys with megabucks HD800 rigs: would you trade it for a similarly priced speaker setup if given the chance?

No Sir. Really different experiences . Apples and oranges IMO.  I wouldn't trade my entry level Speaker system for any End game HD800 rig neither.

Anax: this might sound blasphemous to the HD800 owners here (like 110% of you guys? i signed up here when i was researching them) but K10 > HD800 is a common sentiment expressed by the majority of owners who have auditioned both


audiofrk: i love the Paradox, but i want a more 'open' sound/bigger soundstage and more details first and foremost. the Paradox bass is also not the best imo, it doesn't come effortlessly and i have to slightly strain my ears to notice it. HD800 was my main choice until i read about the K10. them being IEMs also give me much more options in terms of usage, but i'm focusing on the sound quality for now. and yeah the Hugo is out of the question

  sorry it's funny because out of the two twins you chose the wrong one. You should have gotten the slants they have more depth and more bass. When I auditioned the noble line as the numbers started to Go north Of 4 I noticed that the sound go more and more colored. If you like the tonality of the slants you might be disappointed by the syrupy sweet nature.  The comment you pasted is reminding me of a certain reviewer that loves Colored sound.

Don't take offense to being new I think some of us forget we are lucky enough to be at a place where we can audtion multiple setups. Colored sound is a sound that imparts the same tonality to any song played regardless of whether it should be there or not in most case it's a bloat in the bass (kind just like more boom not more detail) and thick mids (smeared mids were parts of one instrument rub into the next). This is good for some genres but not all.   A good rule of thumb to have is to not relate cost to performance jus because something is expensive doesn't mean it's good. 

Sorry dude You said soundstage and detail so I can only really recommend one headphone the hd800.  I heard a $10000 planner setup and and a $10000 electrostatic setup but neither had the soundstage of the hd800. The hd800 he a bad rep because you don't reAlly hear the hd800 they sound like whatever you plug them into.  Very few headphones do that so most listen to the there setup with hd800 they hear there equipment and don't like that (because there setup isn't that good, remember cost doesn't equal quality)The LCD 3 will always impart it's own sig to the chain.

Yes the ec 445 probably sounds amaze balls with the hd800, but you don't need it to like the hd800.  If only there was some way you could get to France to audition sorrodje setup. ( I'm volunteering  you sorrdje) setup you'd see what we mean about scalling and soundstage. If what I know about nos dacs and the DNA sonnet is true that setup you sound like an intimate venue.