Not including a balanced Sennheiser XLR and/or pentaconn cable is a huge miss IMHO. The "savings" here just mean you get cheaper packaging and miss out on the standard accessories normally packaged with the HD800S that this is based on. You are paying less mainly because you are simply getting less. Sure, you should be able to afford whatever balanced cables you prefer if you are buying this, but that is beside the point.
RiflemanFirstWhile it sucks that this doesn't include a balanced cable, I'm gonna be honest and say that I'd probably never use Sennheiser's cables even if they were included. They're 10 foot long cables. I'd still end up buying a custom cable from Hart Audio for home use because I wouldn't want the remaining 8 feet of cable to get caught under my chair or to be laying across my table.
JishengBy all means, get your custom cables. I just think it is a little ridiculous that this is being passed off as some sort of amazing deal compared to the HD800S when it doesn't even come with the balanced cables you need to use them as intended.
RiflemanFirstThey work just fine with 1/4 SE cable, and not many people have amps that accept pentaconn jacks. I don't really understand why people are so worked up about no balanced cable.
racheskiOf course it works with the 1/4 SE cable. You just won't be getting the full potential of the HD800 series of headphones without a balanced audio setup. Sennheiser knows that, which is why they include a balanced XLR cable with the HD800 and HD800S.
entreprenerdAmazon lists both the HD800S and HD820 with a 1/4" SE and 4.4mm Pentaconn balanced cable included. Either way, XLR or 4.4mm Pentaconn, they still should come with a balanced cable of some sort.
RiflemanFirstOf course, agreed. In fact Sennheiser used to provide all 3 cables in earlier retail versions (pre-2018, I think), did an XLR cable redeemable voucher for a bit and then dispensed with the third cable altogether!!