Official Denon AH-C700 Comparisons/Impressions

[HeadphoneAddict]

more from the link, in context

"Sound Signature

The sound signature on the LiveWires is very surprising, given their price. In fact, I found the sound signature to be nearly identical to the Sensaphonics 2X-S earphones, at less than half their price! Highs are silky and sparkle with extension out to 16kHz; mid-range is thick and accurate, but a little on the slow-response side. The low end is impressive, with great impact and quality extending to 20hz."

So, "thick and accurate" means full, and not thin or hollow or distant, etc...

"Recorded music stands out with vocals and warm instruments (acoustic guitars, for example) up front, framed by powerful bass. As I said earlier, the mid-range is a little slower in response; this takes away some of the accuracy, but definitely allows the LiveWires to have a "fun" factor; these 'phones are hardly analytical."

I am not sure how you hear the micro/millisecond delay in mids, except maybe by signs or phase distortion, which I think is not present because of the nice soundstage.

[HeadphoneAddict]

That review confirmed several points I made in my review.

The high end extension and brillance (i.e. sparkle)
The low end extension
The bass close to the E500 (they heard more than me, maybe my source?)
The sound stage
The fun factor
The efficiency
etc...

Now you know you want them, but you just can't say it ina Denon appreciation thread...

[HeadphoneAddict]

Changed my source from 3G iPod nano to iRiver H140 via headphone jack. I'm working my way up to then adding the iBasso D1 DAC/AMP via optical out, then going to lossless optical out via my Sony pcdp.

WOW!

The Livewires are impressive to say the least. I knew the iRiver was a better source via headphone jack from previous tests I've done - but I wanted to see how my "Most Portable" setup would work first. I should have just skipped right to the iRiver.

In regards to the source, with the LW's I can clearly hear the LACK OF HISS in the iRiver. The nano does have some hiss at first, which does quiet down when the program material begins. Also, if I play anything under 256kbps VBR I can tell more easily with the LW, just by listening to the imperfections in 192, 160 and easpecially in 128kbps. The 3G nano hides those, covers them up.

With the proper source the bass is now BASS and improved noticably, in volume level, impact and bass texture and not just amplitude.

Sound stage is improved noticably as well. Pianos are not a question mark anymore, they are clean and detailed and blend right in with the rest of the instruments. The nano just couldn't do them justice. I've documented this in iRiver vs the 5.5G ipod video on other threads before.

Going back to try the Denons, the LW do everything the Denon do, just better. Same with the SE500's, the E500's just hid the imperfections in the source, and the LW are now my favorite IEM's

Next up, I will do optical out into iBasso D1 (source iRiver or Sony pcd). But, I am off to bed now. You'll just have to wait

[soozieq]

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict

That review confirmed several points I made in my review.

The high end extension and brillance (i.e. sparkle)
The low end extension
The bass close to the E500 (they heard more than me, maybe my source?)
The sound stage
The fun factor
The efficiency
etc...
Now you know you want them, but you just can't say it ina Denon appreciation thread...

LOL! Good thing it's called 'comparisons/impressions' and not an 'appreciation' thread
I saw the points you made above, but I understand that description. . . it was the 'thick, slow, and flat' I didn't understand. Now I know 'thick' is 'full', that's good.

Anyway, I'll add your 'further' impressions to the first page.

On a side note, the Denons get my top vote in the canalphone category, since no other canalphone I've used comes close and they isolate so much more than the other ones I've had. Not 100% isolation, but good enough.

One last thing, I was one of the few that didn't care much for the E500s (gasp, shock, horror). . . would you say that someone who wasn't keen on the E500s might also feel the same way about the Livewires sound?

[Karma 23]

Originally Posted by tstarn06

Did you just buy the PK1s after reading my posts or did you own them before? Either way, they are great, no? I only wish they could get the PK1 ear bud SQ into a canalphone or IEM, without having to use an amp, too.

I bought the PK1's after reading Kramer's reviews. They're honestly the best earbuds I've ever heard. And am I crazy thinking that they sound even better than my SR60's?? Of course, the only bad thing about them is the fact that an amp is needed and that there's no isolation, so commuting with them just isn't efficient. I think I read that Yuin is working on an isolating version. I hope they lower the impendance, as well!

I'd like to thank everyone who chimed in on the bass. I now have all the information I need about the Denons but, of course, I won't REALLY know until I listen to them. Soozie, I'm in North London. I'll take you up on your offer to listen to your Denons if it's still up.

[soozieq]

Originally Posted by Karma 23

I'd like to thank everyone who chimed in on the bass. I now have all the information I need about the Denons but, of course, I won't REALLY know until I listen to them. Soozie, I'm in North London. I'll take you up on your offer to listen to your Denons if it's still up.

As long as your ears have been surgically cleaned and you provide a genuine certificate of proof from the ear-cleaning establishment, then of course the offer is still up

I'll send you a PM with more details.

[soozieq]

HeadphoneAddict, I think it's much more useful to have a 'comparison' thread rather than an 'appreciation' thread. An 'appreciation' thread is too restrictive, and since the Denons are still so new - it helps to be able to compare them with anything we can lay our hands on. . .

I'm listening to them right now, and still I can't imagine hearing a better match, or sound with my Sony. Plus the quest to find the 'right' headphone got quite tiring after a while with all the whingeing I did about every pair. The 808 has proved to be hard to find a match with and I think some players are more fussy about which headphones they get lumbered with.

Having got exactly the match I was looking for, I'm going to get a second pair for backup and relax safe in the knowledge I won't be 'headphoneless' for even a second. . .

EDIT: As the Denons are still so new, it will be interesting to see if any of us have issues further down the line. The E500 have the cable issue for example (for which a special thread was set up). . . so if we start experiencing anything untowards in the next few months, we can stick all that on the front page too, sort of a one-stop thread to anything and everything related to them.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Originally Posted by soozieq

...
One last thing, I was one of the few that didn't care much for the E500s (gasp, shock, horror). . . would you say that someone who wasn't keen on the E500s might also feel the same way about the Livewires sound?

They (LW vs E500) sound completely differen't, as I said above. It takes a person with wide tastes in sound signature to like both. Not everyone appreciates the wide variety of sound signatures, whereas I like many. I like my Senn HD600's and Ultrasone HFI700's both, and they sound totally different, etc.

I'm like the guy who likes cashews and peanuts, but another person wont eat anything but cashews (and they have to be whole, not pieces, etc) and rants and raves about the flaws of peanuts (allergies, peanut skin, shell or no shell, too little or too much salt, ball park vs circus peanuts, blah blah blah).

So, there will be people who don't like the Livewires, but I'd guess that they will typically be the people who ONLY like the SE500's (or Atrios or Bose) - But, for the most part, I think the LW sound signature is what most people at head-fi are looking for and haven't found yet. They have definitely curbed my interest in hearing the triple.fi 10 pro and ER4p (I know how the UE fit my ears, and I know I like's me bass). The crazy thing is, I want a second pair of LW's in clear now.

(PS: I also have in my music library some country, jazz, new age, trance, hip hop, pop, classical, rock, acoustic and folk, dianna krall and nora jones, ani di franco and jack johnson, plus metalica and beatles, rolling stones and kelly clarkson, and all the other opposites you can think of)

[HeadphoneAddict]

In regards to the "thick, slow and flat" comment:

I don't recall him using "thick and slow" together in that review, which together can carry an entirely different meaning.

I think we can agree that he was meaning full and rich in one part, and the comment about slow mids just doesn't strike me as being accurate like the rest of his interview. I have listened to "fast" instruments with mids, including piano/bells/xylophone/vibraphone, and certain types of drums, and I don't hear slow - if anything, the LW are faster than the C700's.

The C700 have a more relaxed sound signature, smooth without grating details, but inserting the highs that the E500's are missing. With the C700 the sound stage is more up front than as wide like the E500's, while the LW manage to achieve more forward mids and wide sound stage at the same time.

THEY ARE ALSO MORE SENSITIVE TO THE SOURCE THAN C700 or E500's too. A poor source or recording will be revealed more easily. I still haven't gotten around to amping them with the D1, as my out of town guests only just left, and I am relaxing and listening to the LW with the iRiver headphone out right now and loving them. Before it was the C700 I was reaching for first.

-------

PS: First I want to re-rip all my music as 320kbps VBR. If I want lossless I'll use my Sony CD player optical out into D1. Besides, for me 320kbps is MUCH much harder to tell from the original than some of my older and lower fixed rate (128-192kbps).

Right now I have about 2-3gb of music as 320kbps VBR, another 8gb as 256kbps fixed rate iTunes plus, and about 12gb as 160-224 kbps VBR from eMusic. Anything at or below 192 fixed bit rate isn't pleasing me when listening with the LW's (like my kids 128kbps music).

I still have another 200 CD's that aren't even ripped into my DAP library yet, and only 50gb of free space left on my iTunes external hard drive (298 formatted). That includes 31gb music, 163gb of movies and TV shows, 40gb of video podcasts, and 4gb music videos. I do plan to move everything over to the new 500gb drive I got last month, but I just can't spare the disc space to go lossless while I still have the CD's in a large CD changer player.

[soozieq]

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict

In regards to the "thick, slow and flat" comment:
I don't recall him using "thick and slow" together in that review, which together can carry an entirely different meaning.

Sorry, I didn't mean the words were used together, I just picked out the ones I didn't understand

Now you've explained all the different meanings, it's much clearer. I'll go stick your new 'further' impressions on the front page since it contains more relevant info between the 3 headphones.

[antonyfirst]

You guys are making me interested in the Livewires.

[PeterDLai]

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict

But, for the most part, I think the LW sound signature is what most people at head-fi are looking for and haven't found yet.

That sounds like me.

You should consider consolidating all your impressions into one thread.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Originally Posted by PeterDLai

That sounds like me.

You should consider consolidating all your impressions into one thread.

I like making you follow me around head-fi more.

Actually, by having this in "the" Denon thread, a Shure is yucky Thread and a Livewires review thread (that were already there and popular), then people can ask questions particular to their phone of interest vs Livewires.

I always post a new thread and it is great and all, then dies after a few days, and I update it and have no idea if anyone is still following it.

[arevalo]

Would you guys say the c700's pair up well with alternative/indie music?

[kikkomang]

Originally Posted by arevalo

Would you guys say the c700's pair up well with alternative/indie music?

indie is not a genre. it specifies whether the band is under an independant label.