 The Sennheiser HD8 DJs come with a fairly complete accessory package including a fantastic, if a little bit big, hard case, easily swappable pleather, and velour ear pads that use a cool snap-on, snap-off system, two locking, detachable Kevlar reinforced cables that have attractive connectors but are heavier and stiffer than I'd really like, and finally a quarter inch to three and a half millimeter adapter jack. The Cooler Master Glacier 240L CPU cooler delivers the convenience of an all-in-one and the performance of a custom water cooler. Click now to learn more. The HD8 DJs are a professional piece of equipment and the build quality reflects that. The ear cups don't seem to be made out of anything special, but I suspect the material choice here has more to do with acoustics than trying to build them out of leftover space shuttle components because we can, and everywhere else they use a combination of high quality plastics, metal, and this wonderful, dense, dense foam. The soft plastic on the outside of the headband makes it strong and very flexible with no danger of cracking, and the metal headband insert comes out into a metal front and plastic backed receptacle that offers about as much ear cup swivel as you could reasonably need. This piece is joined via a... doesn't know that... wonderful metal hinge that locks into any of its four positions with a very satisfying click to another metal-fronted and plastic-backed piece that supports the actual cans. The use of plastic is very sparing and it feels like it's only there to keep weight down rather than to save cost. Overall, A-plus for the build quality. I would never even consider tossing them around casually, but that's for fear of scratching them and ruining their perfection, not because I think they'd be damaged. The headband sits at an angle versus the, you know, normal up and down orientation relative to the ear cups, and I found myself referring to the inside R and L markings a few times before I memorized how they go on. But once I did, I really appreciated the design. The ear cups have four positions, three for listening with over the ear, half on the ear, and completely off the ear modes, and I mean, I guess this is a DJ feature or whatever, but it's also great for listening if the baby has woken up as well. And then a final one that allows the headphones to be folded up and put away into their case for easy transport. I found all the way on the ear and all the way off to be more comfortable than the halfway one, because my earlobes get sore from the pressure of having it just kind of sitting halfway onto my ear, but being able to hear some of the music and some of your surroundings is a trade-off some people will prefer. One other interesting note is that due to the unique headband design, casually popping one ear off is not very comfortable and makes the headband dig into my scalp. So I did find myself actually using the hinge mechanism more often than not. Anyway, once you figure out how to get them on your head, comfort is a strong point of the HD8 DJs. But the fact that they use slightly heavier metal construction and stronger than average clamping pressure on your head, they're rated at 6.3 Newtons, that means they're not the sort of headphones that you can put on and completely forget you're wearing. This clamping pressure, though, was a conscious design choice, and I'll talk about it a little bit more during the listening test portion of the video. Now, I tried both ear cup materials, the Pleather as well as the Velour, and I did all of my comparative listening tests with the Pleather ones, but I was actually surprised to discover that the Velour cups did not negatively impact isolation and base response nearly as much as I expected. Maybe the very dense foam helps. I'm not sure. The Velour felt a touch more breathable, but again, maybe due to the dense foam, it didn't make as much of a difference there as I thought either, and at the end of the day, they're both comfy and they both have the same cat-belly soft cloth over the drivers themselves, so while I ended up settling on the Pleather cups because I like the feel of them against my skin, either of them is a solid choice. So now for the listening tests. I listen to crappy Top 40 music and so do a lot of people, and I do all of my listening tests with a mix of whatever I'm listening to at the moment and some older songs that I've got more experience with. I'm using an Objective 2 and an ODAC as my source with a mixture of flax and high bitrate MP3 files, so with that out of the way... EEEEK! They're so tight! Now, I complain about bassy sound signature headphones a lot, to the point where regular viewers might be taken aback by the gushing that is about to occur about these headphones with their very bass-heavy sound signature, but I absolutely love them. The mids are strong, detailed, and well-controlled, but where these headphones absolutely destroy everything else I own, even my IE 80s, is when it comes to bass. Sennheiser says they're designed for precise beat matching by professional DJs, but between the drivers, the construction, and that higher-than-normal clamping force that gives them a wonderful seal against your head, honestly, I just found them exhilarating to listen to regardless of my profession. Stuff I hadn't really enjoyed in ages completely came back to life for me. I sat down to do some listening tests with hybrid theory, and an hour later, I hadn't managed to take the HD8s off my head to compare them against anything else. Low-frequency electronic background music and bass guitar is so detailed and easy to listen to, and when Apologize by Timbaland came on as I was just sitting at my computer working, I just had to stop and wait for the song to be over. I mean, seriously, I felt like I could feel the beat all the way down the back of my neck. But that isn't to say it sounds loose and out of control, like the Razer Kraken Forged headset, which I included in my comparative testing due to its price, not due to its sound quality, and even when I compared to my excellent Denon AHD 600s, the HD8 DJs had much more punch and much more clarity in the bass, while doing a better job of maintaining that clarity in the mids and highs, albeit at a higher price. Now, I've seen criticism that they lack Sparkle a bit, which is strength in the high-frequency range, but that's definitely a personal thing. Sparkle is a headphone characteristic that I find harsh and fatiguing if it's overdone, and I just don't feel like the HD8 DJs need more. The mids and especially the lows are so well controlled that they don't overpower the slightly subdued highs, and while they don't pierce through the rest of the music, I can easily hear anything at the high-frequency ranges at reasonable listening levels. Speaking of reasonable listening volume levels, Sennheiser rates these at a whopping 115 decibels max, but I never took them anywhere near that high, and you probably shouldn't either. Unless you're using a proper external amp, you won't even be able to drive them that hard due to their 95 ohm impedance rating, but they are still not as hard to drive as some high-end headphones, and with an iPhone 4, I was able to go louder than I'm really comfortable with without going, you know, completely over the top. With that said, a proper headphone amp does give them a noticeable extra kick, so I would definitely recommend investing in one if you are picking these up for music listening. Ambient noise isolation is a very strong point for these headphones. The only things that I have access to that are better are Brandon's QuietComfort 15s that have active noise cancellation. Honestly, it makes the sound so immersive and makes it easy to get carried away to another world where it's just you and your headphones, and I don't know, maybe that's the only complaint I have about these. With my HD 600s, the only other headphones I own that cost the same as these or more, it's easy to forget that they're there. They're light and comfortable, they don't clamp my head that much, and they sound so open and natural that my computer could have been moved to a concert hall while I wasn't looking where there's music playing around me, and I'm not really wearing headphones at all. The HD 8 DJs are for active listening. They demand your undivided attention to the point where my wife already totally hates them because I'm in my own world completely when I'm wearing them. Alright, so it's time for final thoughts. After 10 minutes of positivity, I'm sorry Sennheiser, but the other shoe had to drop at some point. The HD 8 DJs are very, very expensive. The MSRP is $400 US and the cheapest I could find them was at B&H for $350 after a mail-in rebate. That puts them out of the range of what I would normally be shopping for when it comes to headphones. I get it. They're a professional piece of equipment and they are both built and priced as such, but I guess I just wish this level of performance was available at a bit of a friendlier price point. What I will say about them though is that while the law of diminishing returns is always present, you know, a $1 pair of earbuds offers infinitely more functionality than nothing at all, while $400 headphones can never compare that favorably to less expensive options, the HD 8 DJs still offer a noticeable, compelling improvement in performance over $150, $200, and $300 headphones that I listened to. But bottom line, are they worth it? Jeez. I don't know. I mean, are you going to replace them right away? Then no. Are you going to keep them for five to ten years actually taking advantage of the fantastic build quality? If so, start saving your pennies because yeah, they're worth it. They sound absolutely out of this world. Guys, like and share this video if you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it, and leave a comment on the Linus Tech Tips for All linked in the video description if you want to discuss this product, or you have constructive criticism from me and my team. Also linked in the video description is our support link with options to buy t-shirts, give us a monthly contribution to help us keep making videos, or just change your Amazon link to give us a kickback whenever you buy random junk on like amazon.com or.co.uk or wherever the heck you live. Check it out. If you enjoy our videos, it helps us out a whole bunch. And as always, thank you for watching and don't forget to subscribe.