the Sennheiser hd8 DJs come with a fairly complete accessory package
including a fantastic if a little bit
big hard case easily swappable pleather
and The Lure ear pads that use a cool
Snap-on snap off system two locking
detachable Kevlar reinforced cables that have attractive connectors but are
heavier and stiffer than I'd really like and finally a/4 in to 3 and/ 12 mm
adapter jack
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all-in-one and the performance of a custom water cooler click now to learn
more the ht8 DJs are a professional
piece of equipment and the build quality reflects that the ear cups don't seem to
be made out of anything special but I suspect the material Choice here has
more to do with Acoustics than trying to build the mo of leftover space shuttle
components because we can and everywhere else they use a combination of
highquality plastics metal and this
wonderful dense dense foam the soft
plastic on the outside of the headband makes it strong and very flexible with
no danger of cracking and the metal headband insert comes out into a metal
front and plastic back recepticle that offers about as much ear cup swivel as
you could reasonably need this piece is joined via a listen know
that wonderful metal hinge that locks into any of its four positions with a
very satisfying click to another metal fronted and plastic backed piece that
supports the actual cans the use of plastic is very sparing and it feels
like it's only there to keep weight down rather than to save cost overall A+ for
the build quality I would never even consider tossing them around casually
but that's for fear of scratching them and rooting their perfection not because
I think they'd be damaged the headband sit at an angle versus the you know
normal up and down orientation relative to the ear cups and I found myself
referring to the inside R and L markings
a few times before I memorized how they go on but once I did I really
appreciated the design the ear Cups have four positions three for listening with
over the ear half on the ear and completely off the ear modes and I mean
I guess this is a DJ feature or whatever but it's also great for listening if the
baby has woken up as well and then a final one that allows the headphones to
be folded up and put away into their case for Easy Transport I found all the
way on the air and all the way off to be more comfortable than the halfway one
because my earlobes get sore from the pressure of having it just kind of
sitting halfway onto my ear but being able to hear some of the music and some
of your surroundings is a trade-off some people will prefer one other interesting
note is that due to the unique headband design casually popping one ear off is
not very comfortable and makes the headband dig into my scalp so I did find
myself actually using the hinge mechanism more often than not anyway
once you figure out how to get them on your head Comfort is a strong point of
the hd8 DJs but the fact that they use
slightly heavier metal construction and stronger than average clamping pressure
on your head they're rated at 6.3 newtons that means they're not the sort
of headphones that you can put on and completely forget you're wearing this
clamping pressure though was a conscious design choice and I'll talk about it a
little bit more during the listening test portion of the video now I tried
both ear cup materials the pleather as well as the velour and I did all of my
comparative listening tests with the plea ones but I was actually surprised
to discover that the velour Cups did not negatively impact isolation and base
response nearly as much as I expected maybe the very dense foam helps um I'm
not sure the velour fell to touch more breathable but again maybe due to the
dense foam it didn't make as much of a difference there as I thought either and
at the end of the day they're both comfy and they both have the same cat belly
soft cloth over the drivers themselves so while I ended up settling on the
pleather cups because I like the feel of them against my skin either of them is a
solid choice so now for the listening tests I listen to crappy top 40 music
and so do a lot of people and I do all of my listening tests with a mix of
whatever I'm listening to at the moment and some older songs that I've got more
experience with I'm using an objective 2 and an odac as my source with a mixture
of flax and high bit rate MP3 files so with that out of the
way they're so tight now I complain
about Bassy sound signature headphones a lot to the point where regular viewers
might be taken aback by the gushing that is about to occur about these headphones
with their very base heavy sound signature but I absolutely love them the
mids are strong detailed and well controlled but where these headphones
Absol abolutely destroy everything else I own even my
ie80s is when it comes to Bass Sennheiser says they're design for
precise beat matching by professional DJs but between the drivers the
construction and that higher than normal clamping force that gives them a
wonderful seal against your head honestly I just found them exhilarating
to listen to regardless of my profession stuff I hadn't really enjoyed in ages
completely came back to life for me I sat down to do some listening tests with
Hybrid Theory and an hour later I hadn't
managed to take the hd8 off my head to compare them against anything else low
frequency electronic background music and bass guitar is so detailed and easy
to listen to and when apologized by timeland came on as I was just sitting
at my computer working I just had to stop and wait for the song to be over I
mean seriously I felt like I could feel the beat all the way down the back of my
neck but that isn't to say it sounds loose and out of control like the Razer
Kraken forged headset which I included in my comparative testing due to its
price not due to its sound quality and even when I compared to my excellent den
and ahd 600s the hd8 DJs had much more
punch and much more clarity in the base while doing a better job of maintaining
that Clarity in the mids and highs albeit at a higher price now I've seen
criticism that they lack Sparkle a bit which is strength in the high frequency
range but that's definitely a personal thing Sparkle is a headphone
characteristic that I find harsh and fatiguing if it's overdone and I just
don't feel like the hd8 DJs need more the mids and especially the lows are so
well controlled that they don't overpower the slightly subdued highs and
while they don't Pierce through the rest of the music I can easily hear anything
at the high frequency ranges at reasonable listening levels speaking of
reasonable listening volume levels Sennheiser rates these at a whopping
115 DB Max but I never took them
anywhere near that high and you probably shouldn't either unless you're using a
proper external amp you won't even be able to drive them that hard due to
their 95 ohm impedance rating but they are still not as hard to drive as some
high-end headphones and with an iPhone 4 I was able to go louder than I'm really
comfortable with without going you know completely over the top with that said a
proper headphone amp does give them a noticeable extra kick so I would
definitely recommend investing in one if you are picking these up for music
listening ambient noise isolation is a very strong point for these headphones
um the only things that I have access to that are better are Brandon's quiet
Comfort 15s that have active noise cancellation honestly it makes the sound
so immersive and makes it easy to get carried away to another world where it's
just you and your headphones and I don't know maybe that's the only complaint I
have about these with my hd600s the only other headphones I own
that cost the same as these or more it's easy to forget that they're there
they're light and comfortable they don't clamp my head that much and they sound
so open and natural that my computer could have been moved to a concert hall
while I wasn't looking where there's music playing around me and I'm not really wearing headphones at all the hd8
DJs are for active listening they demand
your undivided attention to the point where my wife already totally hates them
because I'm in my own world completely when I'm wearing them all right so it's
time for final thoughts after 10 minutes of positivity I'm sorry Sennheiser but
the other shoe had to drop at some point the hd8 DJs are very very expensive the
MSRP is $400 US and the cheapest I could
find them was at B&H for 350 after a mail and rebate that puts them out of
the range of what I would normally be shopping for when it comes to headphones
I get it they're professional piece of equipment and they are both built and
priced as such but I just I guess I just wish this level of performance was
available able at a bit of a friendlier price point what I will say about them
though is that while the law of diminishing returns is always present
you know a $1 pair of earbuds offers infinitely more functionality than
nothing at all while $400 headphones can never compare that favorably to less
expensive options the hd8 DJs still
offer a noticeable compelling Improvement in performance over $150
$200 and $300 headphones that I listened
to bottom line are they worth it jeez I
don't know I mean are are you going to replace them right away then no are you
going to keep them for 5 to 10 years actually taking advantage of the of the
Fantastic build quality if so start
saving your pennies because yeah they're they're worth it they sound absolutely
out of this world guys like and share
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