Sennheiser HD 800

Comparing a large variety of music played on the Sennheiser 800 to the same music played on the Sennheiser 600 and 650, most tracks show the 800 to be somewhat "clearer", "sharper", or even "brighter".  One track that showed a huge difference (and this was just one example) was Sara by Fleetwood Mac.  I get the idea that the 800 has some high-frequence peaks or resonances that exaggerate certain percussion sounds.  The converse of this is that the 600/650's have a significant dip at those frequencies.

The notion that the Sennheiser 800 requires high-end ancillary equipment to perform at its best is true in the absolute, technical sense, however, the difference between plugging directly into an iPod Nano with the 800 and plugging into a top-end headphone amp is very slight if even noticeable, unless the source material is exceptional, and the listening area very quiet. In the more typical listening conditions (for me), both the positive and negative attributes of the 800 compared to other headphones outweighs the differences in the other gear.

Yeah, I agree,  I don't think I should have added it as a con really, it's a little stupid.

With most headphones this will always be the case, and the 800 - as far as I can tell - doesn't suffer any worse than any other headphone. Good amplification and a high end source (whatever that may be) really don't have a huge effect on the sound of a headphone. They can only slightly refine/redefine the minute differences in the music and the sound itself.

I guess in the end of the day I just don't want people to think they're getting the best by simply owning a nice pair of headphones. Listening to downright poor mp3s on an iPod simply won't cut it.