These headphones need no introduction.
Usually priced at AU$1,500, $999 is strangely cheap. I am not a store rep, nor can I ascertain that these are legit.
DWI has been on OZBargain before.
edit - price adjusted for -$10 with coupon, brought to attention by lyzfyre.
You and I both… and to make things worse, my Mrs is a fellow OZBer, so she's fully aware of my intentions. :S
Add me to the club as well…
Hmm, 50% off RS160 is $155. I got them for $99, as did many others.
Wouldn't be surprised. The only thing that really caught my eye was the HD800.
FYI, to be clear, if anybody is misled, "free metro shipping" sort of implies that this is domestic and DWI most definitely are not. The headphones will come to Australia from HK, I believe and at this price are right at the absolute maximum before import fees. You'd probably be okay, but as far as I know, the research I did (recently, when considering buying HD800 from DWI) seemed to suggest that they (the import fees mafia) will determine the value of your product, not necessarily heeding what it says on the stated value so there is a mild chance of paying big price.
On DWI I have ordered from them and had no issues.
They have had HD800 at $1100 for a long time. They have always been priced to tempt those who want to take a shot at avoiding import fees. So it is a discount, but not a huge margin.
I do own a pair and they are good. They are lot like moving to better coffee - you don't necessarily get blown away at the start, but the longer they are with you - the easier it is to hear the difference. That being said, I've Audio Technica AD900X to my left and a schiit audio lyr / HD800 to my right and there are plenty of times when I can't be bothered to flick the switch on the lyr and use the HD800 - so lower priced stuff still has its place.
That's a good point, but seeing as how it is an advertised price with a proper invoice, the tax hit can be easily challenged. Still an unpleasant experience though if it does happen…
I have the Lyr with 8800 tubes (pretty sure they are from Phillips). Was planning to put the HD800s in the Lyr for a while before getting cables for a balanced set up. HD800s truly shine as a balanced headphone… I've had a loan pair before and tried it on several non-balanced and a balanced set up… the difference is quite noticeable compared to the likes of the Audeze LCD 2 and 3 or the mid range AKGs.
I just have the stock tubes, right now - I did get some other ones but they were hideously microphonic and just way too much to handle. I have been meaning to follow the advice of the headfi lyr roller thread to get orange globes, though.
I would have to hear it to believe it (balanced differences), right now, I believe people who can hear differences in cables and whatnot to be either crackpots or possessing a disease that I'm not so sure I want to catch.
I haven't been able to tell the difference between stock and 99.9999999999999OFC cables, and more often than not, I can't tell the difference between balanced and not on mid-range and entry hi-end headphones, but on HD800s, it is quite profound (balanced and not, not the cables…).
Tubes are just preference really. I like the stock Lyr tubes too, but they didn't really sound too much different to my solid state amp.
I'm interested to hear the difference, but afraid for my wallet :-)
All copper leitz occ is the one to get for hd800. I use norne audio draug the lower frequency response, soundstage and imaging is noticeably better than the stock cable. Bottle head crack with speedball I use is also a great combo with it. Along with RSA intruder for balanced setup.
Back to the deal this is a good catch for anyone trying to get a hd800
I have the HD650, BD DT990 600ohm version, HD555, HD25, Sennheiser Momentum, Sony MDR-F1, and AKG Q701. I am tempted to get this one. Is it worth the trouble and money? Where is the HD800 (from DWI) made in?
As far as I know, all HD800s are made in the same factory in Hanover, Germany.
As far as anyone can advise you, whether it is worth the money, that's completely subjective.
Out of interest, why do you keep so many pairs of headphones anyway? I'd personally hang on to the 650s, the Q701 and the DT990… the rest are superseded.
momentum is superseded? dont think so. btw, i have hd650, T1, Momentum and some others. momentum is very good.
Objectively speaking - it's a shrug of the shoulders. Your results will vary. I would suggest you control your expectations. There is diminishing returns in this. I came from the perspective of a pretty okay speaker setup and I wasn't by any means blown away by the HD800.
It's black hole of cash. Right after I bought HD800, I then bought a $600 amp that I wasn't really intending to buy (but do not regret copping for).
Above you, you've got a guy replying to me who is basically telling me they'll sound even better if I add in very expensive cables and yet another (probably expensive amp) :-)
So bare that all in mind.
Still, at the end of the day , the amp is on and I'm currently on another planet listening to rinos prayer (leftfield) courtesy of a $1700 investment (1150 hd800 + 600 amp)
If I were you, I would sink the cash into decent monitors / hifi setup, if you're not covered on that side. I know a lot of people would disagree, but I absolutely LOVE being in the middle of studio monitors and I only LIKE the details I hear in HD800
Thank you for the honest run down. I guess you are right. I have the Harman Kardon in my BMW and wow it blown all my headphones away. The headphones unfortunately was not able to reproduced the ground shaking bass that a speaker would. The sound from the speaker seems to be less muddle up than the headphone. I will invest more on HIFI + Speakers in the future but a decent setup will costs 10x more.
can not believe a headphone at that price. my most expensive one is beat studio with too much bass. hope I can put this hd800 on ear one time :(
Try the AKG Q701 that was on OZB recently. One step at a time. If you rush to the HD800, there's so much in between you'll miss out on, and there's not much else upwards of that.
Think of the money you will saved by getting the HD800. All you need is just one after trying your method I have found no room to store my headphones :(.
I agree with this. If you know you're going to end up there (I did), you'll end up saving money just skipping a step and getting to the point.
+1 LordRichington.
the first pair of "serious" headphone i got was hd598 and soon hd650, then almost the same time T1. I sold hd598 after i got the hd650. the T1 price was too good to miss.(i can sell them for a profit,if i wish. but i wont:)
if you only want to invest one or two pairs of headphones, save up for a really good one at a (relatively) good price. (like under $800 for T1, $300 for HD650).
~$300 for the HD650 from amazon.fr was amazing. I would jump on that in heart beat if it was on again.
Beats…….. Say no more.
good deal. bought one 2 months ago for $1299
Oh dear… I have the T1… Do I buy this also?
just buy it ;P
Only thing stopping me is the newly released Oppo PM-1 which is now meant to be even better.
My dream headphones. Bloody good price for them too. If I was a rich man…
Would easily jump on this if I didn't just buy T1s for $700 on the eBay deal weeks ago.
Coupon code: rmn2014 $10 off for those spending over $200. :)
Thanks for the code. I'll edit the page.
This is so tempting. Must resist.
I just purchased a Fostex TH-900 Headphone on Massdrop using a shipping forwarder. Now thats a better bargain than the HD800. PM if u want a HD800 for a better price than this sale.
that one cost $1189. did you pay gst?
Real cheap. Fair price on the 650s as well. I'd be skinned if I bought new headphones at the moment, unfortunately.