Sennheiser HD8 DJ Full Review
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2014-05-07
·
1,973 words · ~9 min read
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the Sennheiser hd8 DJs come with a fairly complete accessory package
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including a fantastic if a little bit
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big hard case easily swappable pleather
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and The Lure ear pads that use a cool
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Snap-on snap off system two locking
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detachable Kevlar reinforced cables that have attractive connectors but are
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heavier and stiffer than I'd really like and finally a/4 in to 3 and/ 12 mm
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adapter jack
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The Cooler Master glacer 240l CPU Cooler delivers the convenience of an
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all-in-one and the performance of a custom water cooler click now to learn
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more the ht8 DJs are a professional
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piece of equipment and the build quality reflects that the ear cups don't seem to
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be made out of anything special but I suspect the material Choice here has
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more to do with Acoustics than trying to build the mo of leftover space shuttle
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components because we can and everywhere else they use a combination of
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highquality plastics metal and this
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wonderful dense dense foam the soft
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plastic on the outside of the headband makes it strong and very flexible with
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no danger of cracking and the metal headband insert comes out into a metal
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front and plastic back recepticle that offers about as much ear cup swivel as
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you could reasonably need this piece is joined via a listen know
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that wonderful metal hinge that locks into any of its four positions with a
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very satisfying click to another metal fronted and plastic backed piece that
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supports the actual cans the use of plastic is very sparing and it feels
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like it's only there to keep weight down rather than to save cost overall A+ for
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the build quality I would never even consider tossing them around casually
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but that's for fear of scratching them and rooting their perfection not because
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I think they'd be damaged the headband sit at an angle versus the you know
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normal up and down orientation relative to the ear cups and I found myself
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referring to the inside R and L markings
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a few times before I memorized how they go on but once I did I really
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appreciated the design the ear Cups have four positions three for listening with
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over the ear half on the ear and completely off the ear modes and I mean
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I guess this is a DJ feature or whatever but it's also great for listening if the
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baby has woken up as well and then a final one that allows the headphones to
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be folded up and put away into their case for Easy Transport I found all the
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way on the air and all the way off to be more comfortable than the halfway one
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because my earlobes get sore from the pressure of having it just kind of
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sitting halfway onto my ear but being able to hear some of the music and some
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of your surroundings is a trade-off some people will prefer one other interesting
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note is that due to the unique headband design casually popping one ear off is
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not very comfortable and makes the headband dig into my scalp so I did find
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myself actually using the hinge mechanism more often than not anyway
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once you figure out how to get them on your head Comfort is a strong point of
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the hd8 DJs but the fact that they use
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slightly heavier metal construction and stronger than average clamping pressure
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on your head they're rated at 6.3 newtons that means they're not the sort
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of headphones that you can put on and completely forget you're wearing this
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clamping pressure though was a conscious design choice and I'll talk about it a
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little bit more during the listening test portion of the video now I tried
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both ear cup materials the pleather as well as the velour and I did all of my
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comparative listening tests with the plea ones but I was actually surprised
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to discover that the velour Cups did not negatively impact isolation and base
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response nearly as much as I expected maybe the very dense foam helps um I'm
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not sure the velour fell to touch more breathable but again maybe due to the
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dense foam it didn't make as much of a difference there as I thought either and
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at the end of the day they're both comfy and they both have the same cat belly
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soft cloth over the drivers themselves so while I ended up settling on the
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pleather cups because I like the feel of them against my skin either of them is a
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solid choice so now for the listening tests I listen to crappy top 40 music
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and so do a lot of people and I do all of my listening tests with a mix of
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whatever I'm listening to at the moment and some older songs that I've got more
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experience with I'm using an objective 2 and an odac as my source with a mixture
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of flax and high bit rate MP3 files so with that out of the
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way they're so tight now I complain
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about Bassy sound signature headphones a lot to the point where regular viewers
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might be taken aback by the gushing that is about to occur about these headphones
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with their very base heavy sound signature but I absolutely love them the
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mids are strong detailed and well controlled but where these headphones
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Absol abolutely destroy everything else I own even my
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ie80s is when it comes to Bass Sennheiser says they're design for
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precise beat matching by professional DJs but between the drivers the
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construction and that higher than normal clamping force that gives them a
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wonderful seal against your head honestly I just found them exhilarating
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to listen to regardless of my profession stuff I hadn't really enjoyed in ages
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completely came back to life for me I sat down to do some listening tests with
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Hybrid Theory and an hour later I hadn't
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managed to take the hd8 off my head to compare them against anything else low
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frequency electronic background music and bass guitar is so detailed and easy
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to listen to and when apologized by timeland came on as I was just sitting
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at my computer working I just had to stop and wait for the song to be over I
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mean seriously I felt like I could feel the beat all the way down the back of my
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neck but that isn't to say it sounds loose and out of control like the Razer
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Kraken forged headset which I included in my comparative testing due to its
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price not due to its sound quality and even when I compared to my excellent den
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and ahd 600s the hd8 DJs had much more
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punch and much more clarity in the base while doing a better job of maintaining
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that Clarity in the mids and highs albeit at a higher price now I've seen
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criticism that they lack Sparkle a bit which is strength in the high frequency
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range but that's definitely a personal thing Sparkle is a headphone
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characteristic that I find harsh and fatiguing if it's overdone and I just
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don't feel like the hd8 DJs need more the mids and especially the lows are so
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well controlled that they don't overpower the slightly subdued highs and
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while they don't Pierce through the rest of the music I can easily hear anything
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at the high frequency ranges at reasonable listening levels speaking of
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reasonable listening volume levels Sennheiser rates these at a whopping
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115 DB Max but I never took them
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anywhere near that high and you probably shouldn't either unless you're using a
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proper external amp you won't even be able to drive them that hard due to
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their 95 ohm impedance rating but they are still not as hard to drive as some
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high-end headphones and with an iPhone 4 I was able to go louder than I'm really
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comfortable with without going you know completely over the top with that said a
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proper headphone amp does give them a noticeable extra kick so I would
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definitely recommend investing in one if you are picking these up for music
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listening ambient noise isolation is a very strong point for these headphones
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um the only things that I have access to that are better are Brandon's quiet
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Comfort 15s that have active noise cancellation honestly it makes the sound
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so immersive and makes it easy to get carried away to another world where it's
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just you and your headphones and I don't know maybe that's the only complaint I
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have about these with my hd600s the only other headphones I own
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that cost the same as these or more it's easy to forget that they're there
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they're light and comfortable they don't clamp my head that much and they sound
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so open and natural that my computer could have been moved to a concert hall
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while I wasn't looking where there's music playing around me and I'm not really wearing headphones at all the hd8
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DJs are for active listening they demand
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your undivided attention to the point where my wife already totally hates them
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because I'm in my own world completely when I'm wearing them all right so it's
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time for final thoughts after 10 minutes of positivity I'm sorry Sennheiser but
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the other shoe had to drop at some point the hd8 DJs are very very expensive the
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MSRP is $400 US and the cheapest I could
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find them was at B&H for 350 after a mail and rebate that puts them out of
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the range of what I would normally be shopping for when it comes to headphones
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I get it they're professional piece of equipment and they are both built and
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priced as such but I just I guess I just wish this level of performance was
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available able at a bit of a friendlier price point what I will say about them
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though is that while the law of diminishing returns is always present
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you know a $1 pair of earbuds offers infinitely more functionality than
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nothing at all while $400 headphones can never compare that favorably to less
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expensive options the hd8 DJs still
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offer a noticeable compelling Improvement in performance over $150
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$200 and $300 headphones that I listened
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to bottom line are they worth it jeez I
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don't know I mean are are you going to replace them right away then no are you
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going to keep them for 5 to 10 years actually taking advantage of the of the
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Fantastic build quality if so start
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saving your pennies because yeah they're they're worth it they sound absolutely
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out of this world guys like and share
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