Sennheiser HD800S £1,399
Chances are, if the thought of paying £1,000 for a pair of headphones doesn’t make your toes curl, you’re already familiar with the Sennheiser HD800. The legendary open-backed headphones have now been upgraded and still offer the sort of honest, hyper-accurate performance typically reserved for studio engineers.
Tested with the help of a Sennheiser HDVD 800 headphone amp (£1,699), my Macbook Pro and the latest Tidal Master highresolution music files (see below) I expected to be impressed, but the sense of timing and delivery is breathtaking. The neutral tuning on the HD800S (right) is perfectly suited for picking out the minutest of detail, while every instrument enjoys the space, detail and focus it deserves.
Mstislav Rostropovich’s classic EMI recording of Dvoπák and Saint-saëns cello concertos with the London Philharmonic under Carlo Maria Giulini deserves to be heard through these headphones. Immersive, intricate and flowing, the lyrical delivery and scale of the performances are astonishing.
It’s an eye-wateringly high price to pay for a pair of headphones, but to be honest, you’ll need a budget of at least five times that amount to find a pair of speakers as capable. It still doesn’t make them cheap, but I’m just trying to help you justify the investment. www.sennheiser.co.uk +++++