Sennheiser HD 800

Design

The AH-NC732s definitely have a more reserved aesthetic. Wearing the AH-NC732s will make you look like someone who is wearing headphones and not necessarily operating the com station on a starship. Seriously, though, the AH-NC732s look a bit goofy on the head too; check out our HATS picture below. The band really arcs that far away from the noggin. It looks like you were a prize in a crane game that managed to sever the gripping appendage of your mechanical oppressor, but couldn’t dislodge it from your skull.

Neither set of headphones had any durability issues. The main decision here is if you prefer being the sentient toy from our convoluted narrative above, or if you’d rather open all hailing frequencies in your 30th century auraltronic spacephones.

Sennheiser HD 800	Denon AH-NC732

Frequency Response

The AH-NC732s’ weakest performance was on our frequency response test. They tend to get very erratic towards the high end.

Sennheiser HD 800	Denon AH-NC732

Distortion

Neither set of headphones had any distortion worth writing two sentences about.

Sennheiser HD 800	Denon AH-NC732

Tracking

The AH-NC732 had strangely erratic tracking. The only noticeable shift from 50Hz to 70kHz occurs towards the highest end, where the left channel gets loud.

Sennheiser HD 800	Denon AH-NC732

Isolation

If you’re looking for isolation, the AH-NC732s have it, thanks to their wonderful active-cancellation technology and closed backs.

Sennheiser HD 800	Denon AH-NC732

Comfort

The on-ear design isn’t the most comfortable one, but the AH-NC732s pull it off well. The HD 800s are far more comfortable, however.

Wear
Sennheiser HD 800	Denon AH-NC732

Verdict

This match-up is more about portability than any other factor. When the AH-NC732s’ active-cancellation feature is switched off, they offer some decent audio quality. When you need it on, you get significantly less, but they also help isolate you better than many closed-back headphones.