Sennheiser HDVD 800 Headphone Amplifier with DAC (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

This DAC/Amp is an amazing combination with the HD 800 headset, your laptop and Spotify premium or Qobuz. It will help you convert your laptop to an audiophile grade system and if you work from home or spend any time in front of your computer at home or office, you will get access to a huge amount of music at audiophile quality.I recently got the HD 800 headset, the HDVD 800 DAC/Amp and even the connection cable. I connected the DAC via USB 2.0 to my Windows 10 laptop equipped with Spotify Premium (high quality lossy 320 Kbps) and Qobuz (CD quality lossless FLAC 16 bits 44KHz).I downloaded and installed the ASIO driver for the HDVD DAC which performed well even at 128 and even 64 buffer size. While you get an ASIO player with the DAC, this can only be used for your own music on your PC. For HD steaming services, to really take advantage of the headset and the amp, you need to run a streaming client that can load a WASAPI driver or ideally the ASIO driver. This is not possible with the default Spotify client nor with the Windows Media Player or even the new Microsoft Groove Music player in Windows. You can however use the Fidelity client for Spotify Premium which allows the selection of the ASIO or WASAPI audio driver. The Qobuz client allows you to natively select the output device and you can easily select ASIO for the HDVD USB device. I had to try a couple of times, restarting the app to get the ASIO driver to correctly load for the HDVD. There is an icon in the system tray that let you set parameters for the driver and you have to select the right device there. After a couple of small tweaks, it worked well.The outcome is amazing. I was able to finally appreciate the huge high quality audio library available both with Spotify and Qobuz. I played the pieces that I listen on my high end audio system and speakers and the experience with the headset was nothing less than breathtaking. I could clearly hear the breathing of the violinists, I could hear minute sounds that I had never noticed before. So my laptop + Qobuz or Spotify Premium + HD 800 + HDVD 800 gave me the musical equivalent of a very expensive audio system and music library. Simply amazing.The HDVD amp is high quality but the main thing for me is the integrated DAC. This let's me setup music streaming through my PC using the USB connection bypassing Digital to Analog Conversion in the PC and having this done in the high grade HDVD device. This is key for high quality audio through your PC. I did try an expensive USB cable with silver wires etc for the connection but did not notice much difference with the standard USB A-B cable left over from an old printer.As for the headset, the HD 800 is really comfortable, my ears fit inside comfortably and they don't get hot or sweaty. The downside is that the audio is clearly audible by others in the same silent room. So privacy is a bit compromised. But I would rather have that than compromise on comfort and audio quality. My kids also say that the set looks big and a bit ridiculous. However I don't care. It sounds amazing and I use it in the privacy of my home office anyway. It is not something your would go around with like a kid wearing a set of beats.My verdict: the HD 800+HDVD 800 is an amazing instrument. However, like any instrument it is useless without the right content. Only when you couple it with Qobuz or Spotify premium and you configure it with the ASIO or WASAPI drivers your will be able to get the magic out of it. Suddenly you get an amazing music library with amazing audio quality. I don't see why anyone would buy the HD 800 standalone unless to connect to a high grade HiFi, but then, you would still need a music library. Using your PC and this DAC/Amp together with the headset and HD music streaming is really amazing value despite the high price of these items.

I own this now since 7 month or so and have had plenty of time to listen to it after having used another for the time before. When the 800 headphone was announced and I place a preorder. I now own 3 HD 800s. It is a sonic marvel. It took me too long to order this after it finally was showing up for sale I procrastinated on this purchase. Well don't! I missed a lot of valuable listening time this way. This amp is outstanding. It has a beautiful classic large volume control and a nice solid selector switch. It runs cool compared to just about any other high end DAC (Digital Audio Converter) I have used and the sonic clarity of this unit is stunning. One will have to compare to $10k DAC units and even then it is questionable whether anything is actually better that this DAC . The headphone amp is likely carefully designed to match the HD800 headphone and when a company offered an amp headphone combination this one should run out and purchase the combo. My experience of 30 years. The last time I purchased a combo like this was in 89 with the Stax ED-1/MK1/Stax Pro electrostatic combination which is long out of production (It beats the Omega series phones) and the first headphone to actually beat it is the HDCD800 DAC with the HD800 Headphone. It took 25 years short of some seriously esoteric gear! Stax discontinued ED-1 combination and never made another quite like it. It cost $4k in 89 and would cost close to 10k today. I hope the HDCD800 amp will be around much longer to but the debate what sounds best to rest. Litterally I am considering purchasing a backup to put in my safe next to the spare brand new HD800. While I wear out the current one never to be sold ever. This is literally unparalleled cost no object perfect headphone sound. It is also absolutely stunning for binaural recordings and stereo live recordings.

Sorry Sennheiser. I've loved the HD600 and now the HD800S, but the only thing I found particularly impressive about this amp/DAC was the price - and it was not a positive impression. Oh this unit sounds fabulous; the problem is that it sounds no better than the $279 O2/ODAC combo by JDS Labs. Someone else left a review here claiming that there was no significant audible difference between the two units, and I found the same thing. In case anyone doubts that I have actually compared the two side by side, I have included a picture with this review.I evaluated both units using the HD800S and a variety of flac files - mainly classical music. I also bypassed the DACs and used an NAD C 545BEE CD player. The results were virtually indistinguishable, and I doubt I could have recognized any difference in a blind test. I'm not saying that the difference in sound wasn't worth the price disparity - I'm saying I had to keep asking myself whether I was hearing any difference at all. Maybe I didn't use the right cables? LOLIt also seems to me that the balanced outputs are a gimic - switching back and forth between balanced and 6.25mm I believe I possibly... maybe... noticed some difference, but no benefit.I would say that the HDVD 800 might be useful if you need to drive 4 headphones, but you can get 4 02/ODACs for a lot less than this. I suppose if you are interested in hooking up these two units to other equipment and measuring millivolts and hertz, then perhaps you will detect some benefit to the HDVD800. But if you're looking for better sound, I imagine you will be disappointed - unless you've got ears like Bat Boy. I wonder how many audiophiles believe in him too.But if you want to try this thing out, the pictured unit will be available as an "open box" deal very soon. You can't have my O2 though!

great sound with the hd800 headphones connected with cardas grave digger cable

Schnelle LieferungUmfangreiche Anschlussmöglichkeiten (kann jetzt im Gegensatz zu früher alle Audiogeräte einschl. PC anschließen)Zusammen mit dem Sennheiser Kopfhörer HD 800 ein spitzen KlangFazit: Bestellung und Lieferung 5 SterneSennheiser HDVD erfüllt absolut die Erwartungen