I woke up this morning sleepy from the wonderful, exciting, chaotic, and thrilling energy present at Can Jam NYC 2018. All weekend I was vigorously running from booth to booth to try some of the new and exciting products on the floor.

If you must have closed-back headphones and can stretch to the HD 820s, you won't be disappointed. They're comfortable and obviously engineered to last.Most of all they're hugely talented and rarely sound less than entertaining, almost regardless of source material. Highly recommended.

Robust; full-bodied and detailed sound; Powerful; agile bass; Solidly made; Cleverly engineered

Huge price jump from the £1400 800S; Closed back design still limits absolute performance

I ordered these from Crutchfield as soon as they were in stock, and after an extended period of daily use, I can now say I really love and enjoy these headphones. The bring a solid and detailed soundstage to all genres of music I have tried the with.

Superb; wide soundstage; loads of acoustic detail and deep bass response

In the imagination of every audiophile, there's a pair of "endgame" headphones that finally ease our worried minds. Headphones that transcend technical nitpicking and just make us want to listen. Call them zero-FOMO headphones.

Expansive soundstage; Extremely articulate and distortion-free sound; Exemplary build quality

Mid-centric sound is unexciting; Despite light weight; they create pressure hot spot at top of head; Lacks the advantages that make closed-back cans attractive

The Sennheiser HD 820 are part of one of the most illustrious lines in the entire headphone world. These are top-end Sennheiser cans, outside the limited-run series, which at €30,000 or more are the preserve of oligarchs and famous rappers.

Extra large soundstage; Deep; controlled bass; Better isolation than open-back peers

Mid-range tone is at odds with their stature; Cost a lot more than their open-back siblings

General Now that I've descended into the rabbit hole that is high-end headphones, I picked up a pair of HD820s to A/B against my others (Sony Z7M2, Focal Elear, Focal Elegia). Sound-wise, the HD820 are clear winners.

Punchy lowend

Horrible fit (for my head

For as long as I've been reading and writing about headphones, one thing has remained true: the very best cans have an open back. They leak music out to the world and let noise in, a necessary compromise to reduce reflections and resonances that could distort the sound.

When Sennheiser release a new high end headphone, everyone in the audio world takes notice. It was therefore with great interest when they announced and subsequently released the HD820 that we have here for review today.

Built to the highest standards; Insanely comfortable; intimate and warm presentation – not clinical at all; very detailed; no hint of grain or sibilance; three quality cables included; storage box is great; they offer greater noise isolation than the HD800/S; Two Year warranty

Much more expensive than the HD800S (£600); HD800 purists may not like the reduced soundstage; will expose poor recordings for what they are; Need a decent amplifier for the best performance

The HD 820 deliver exactly what you'd expect from a closed-back variant of the HD 800S. They're supremely comfortable, produce an impressively neutral sound and offer better isolation than their open-backed siblings.

Incredibly wide soundstage; Excellent sound reproduction; Supremely comfortable

Very expensive; Lack the openness of the HD 800S; Need to be paired with the right amp

Sennheiser, the German manufacturer, is one of the most accomplished and widely known audio gear companies. The German company has been engaged in audio activities for 70 years and is still quite innovative.