Delightfully Disappointed by Famous $2k Headphones

[fattymeatysardine]

I am an audiophile; I care about my audio during music listening sessions.

Yesterday I got to visit the B&H superstore in New York City. There was a headphone demo station free to use. I brought my DAC/AMP combo for consistent comparisons.
I tried the well respected $2,000 HD800s and HD820c. My favorite genres are classical and new age, and these headphones are touted as masters for classical music and such. Surely I was in for an unbelievable listening experience.

However, I found the headphones to have no more clarity than my $600 Arya Stealth and more unnatural than the $300 HD600s. I already knew my current headphones were great but I didn't expect such a little difference. Makes me happy that I'm not missing out on much when it comes to high end headphones.

 

[velociraptor]

That's a pleasant surprise. I've got some Chinese headphones whose name escapes me, but they sound so much better than those horrible BEATS headphones.

 

[fattymeatysardine]

That's a pleasant surprise. I've got some Chinese headphones whose name escapes me, but they sound so much better than those horrible BEATS headphones.

I'm sure Beats are better than they used to be. I can't hear for myself because all of the headphone demos at the big box stores like Best Buy have the noise cancelling features turned on.