Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am not a golden ear audiophile. I don't know what it means to hear "the air between the strings" and other such audiophile descriptions. More power to those that can -- I am simply not able to do so. I do however know that music is and always has been my greatest entertainment, and that as I have grown older, my ability to pay higher dollar for my equipment has also grown. No way could I have had these headphones in past times. No way could I have justified their cost. Other priorities would have always taken precedence over these. But now that I can afford them, I still debated and agonized over the cost, but in the end decided I would go for them. Am I glad? Absolutely. They are without question the best sounding headphones I have ever heard. I could hear the difference straight out of the box, I did not even do "A to B" comparisons to know how good they sounded. I did do comparisons with my HD600 to HS650 upgrade and was never sure I heard much difference. Not so with the HD800s. Here is the best way I can describe them. When I was young, I would listen to a lot of music particularly nice in headphones. I am talking Yes, King Crimson, Pink Floyd and many others. I am a child of the 60's/70's so I would often be a bit "altered' while listening. In those days a pair of Koss headphones, a little "substance", and the latest King Crimson album would lend to a headphone experience whereby I would believe I was literally dreaming the music. (A very nice state). But as time went on, the subtances went away, the latest King Crimson album I had in mind (Larks Tounge in Aspic) is almost 40 years old now, and my hearing ain't what it used to be. All that was said to lead up to this. With these headphones on (no substances), I am dreaming the music again. The above mentioned artists, and now with music such as Chick Corea and Miles Davis thrown in the mix, sounds like they are in and around my head like they have not been in those 40 gone by years. I would conclude that these headphones are worth the cost if you are in a position to put out that kind of money AND you really love your music. But be warned --- once you hear these, there's no going back to lesser headphones.