Official Denon AH-C700 Comparisons/Impressions

[ashxcore]

Originally Posted by bleach86

I am going to go against the grain and say that I am disappointed by these pair of earphones. I must admit I am not an audiophile and am very new to high end world of earphones however after receiving my pair of denons 2 wks ago I felt that the treble was too much for my ears and the sound was very hollow and unnatural. This is my first pair of in ear earphones so I have realised these sort of earphones are not for me with all the trouble of fitting the earbuds correctly and the discomfort. On a positive note the bass on these earphones is nicely tuned.

I have since tried the Sennheiser PX100 (white) even though they are cheaper and have some sound leakage...they sound extremely good and natural sounding. The bass is balanced and the treble is detailed and clear. For those who are uncomfortable using In ear earphones I recommend open headphones such as this for maximum comfort, natural sound quality but not suited for public transport perhaps consider the Sennheiser PX200 with it's closed design.

I'm truly perplexed at how you can prefer the sound of the PX100 over the C700... Did you put the earphones in backward or something? Haha.

[mr.doodle]

I just got my c700s today in the mail.

Brilliant.

I am going to hold off on any official review until after they've burnt in in a couple days. At first I was a bit dissapointed. But I changed my source.

Something I've noticed with these... They are almost too good. You hear everything... and you hear how bad your mp3s sound when they're only at 192kbps. You can really tell the difference when they're at a full 320kbps.

I'd likely be listening to these on a bus... so I probably wouldn't notice stuff like that much in that situation, but when I'm at home it'll be hard to be satisfied with most of my music library being encoded at such a low bitrate!

Not complaining with my purchase though. I just came from a pair of Creative EP-630. I liked those... but wanted an upgrade.

[chinesekiwi]

Originally Posted by vvanrij

I'm also interested in this, the normal tips keep getting pushed out by my ear, and I lose like 50% of the bass

Then use the smaller tips
The difference is immense bass wise for me anyway. The smaller tips are slightly more fatiguing but brings out the bass far more which negates the extra fatigue in my book.
This combined with the Mach3Bass found on the Cowon D2 firmware = oh drip, great accurate tight bass.

[mr.doodle]

Alright I have a little review to write about these... here goes:

They are good... under ideal situations

The sound isolation on these are not very effective. Maybe it's because they seem to be open at the back. But maybe not as covering these holes with my fingers does not seem to effect isolation much.

When I'm on the bus the great sound of these earphones is almost completely lost.. they sound almost like stock earphones. I never had this problem with my EP-630s. Sure, in ideal conditions they didn't sound as nice as earphones such as the c700s. But they isolated amazingly and worked well in a noisy environment such as the bus. The booming bass was also almost better for this situation. I didn't have to drive them so loud to hear all the details. Isn't that supposed to be one of the selling points of IEMs? Block out ambient sound? I was listening to the c700s on the plane and I wasn't too impressed. They are almost as effective at isolating sound as stock earbuds!

I will definitely keep these... but they are only really standouts in a quiet environment.

I've ordered some comply foam tips as a last attempt at being able to use these earphones on the bus or on the plane. I only really use earphones when I'm travelling so it's pretty important to me.

If the comply tips won't work then I'll probably just get some CX300 or CX400 or something I know isolates really really well. The ATH-CK7 also might be another option as I know they isolate pretty well.

If I were qualified to rate the isolation of the c700s on a scale of 10, they would be a 5.

I like the user interface of these. At first I was a bit annoyed with the Y-cord. I am probably one of the few who appreciate the J-cord. I like knowing the L and R without having to look at my earphones. But what's neat, and doesn't require too much searching... Denon's done a couple of things. the "Denon" always faces forward on the earphones when they are placed in right. So I just need to make sure the "Denon" branding faces forward... or if it is dark, the Left earpiece has a little nub on the piping of the cable. I also really appreciate the straight 3.5mm jack (not 90 degree).

They fit so well in my ear. I have always had troubles fitting IEMs in my ears. My EP-630s, though they isolated amazingly, were always popping out of my left ear. I think my ears are different sizes slightly. But the c700s fit well in both ears... never fall out unless I am sleeping on them or something.

They are pretty big though. They stick out of my ears and I can't really lay down on them, or even when I'm on the plane they get in the way a bit. I am thinking that maybe the Denon AH-c551 might have been a better choice for me for travelling, but I understand the isolation isn't really much better either, just that the form factor is smaller.

So if I were qualified to rate the design of these earphones on a scale of 10, they'd be a 9. 1 point off for being so huge.

Sound is really great... like I said, under ideal conditions. Those conditions being: Quiet.

Naturally this is ideal for all earphones, but due to the lack of isolation these earphones supply, I think they are more effected by ambient noise than any other IEM I've ever tried.

Bass is so tight on these, but really stand out. I am impressed with that. All the sound is so natural and so well balanced. Like I mentioned earlier... They can really make your low bitrate recordings stand out as sore thumbs more than anything, while they make good quality recordings sound the way they should.

I would say they don't necessarily add much flavour to the music like phones such as the CX300 (a lot of bass), but rather the c700 reproduces the music/recordings fairly naturally.

For sound, if I was qualified to rate on a scale of 10, these would probably be an 9... considering value and price point of course.

[soozieq]

Hey mr. doodle

I've worn my Denons (both of them, but not simultaneously!), on the tube and the plane. I found them acceptable on the train at around 19/30 on my Sony dap, but engine noise on the plane was a lot harder to knock out. Once the music started up though, I didn't find background noise much of a distraction at all.

About tips: I use my Sony medium tips, and find them more isolating than the stock Denon tips. And the Comply T-400's were useless to me, too big and they muffled the sound horribly. I'm not saying you're going to get 100% isolation from them, because you won't, but I've used the CX300's before, and definitely found the Denons more isolating.

Have a play with more tips. I think you can probably get more isolation that you're getting at present.

[mr.doodle]

I'll have to check out the Sony EX tips then. I'll try to find them ASAP.

I just ordered the Comply Tips! Frustrating. Going to try canceling my order now. heh.

[soozieq]

Originally Posted by mr.doodle

I'll have to check out the Sony EX tips then. I'll try to find them ASAP.

I just ordered the Comply Tips! Frustrating. Going to try canceling my order now. heh.

Dont' cancel, they might be fine for your ears. Lots of people think they're really good, but I found once they expanded, I had melons in my ear

Have you got any Sony tips? Don't get the 'Sony compatible' ones, they're a 'one-fits-all' jobbie. I bought replacement ones from eBay yonks ago, but they were 'genuine', and obviously came from the seller's numerous daps.

Still... you might find the Comply's are okay for you.

[mr.doodle]

agh make up your mind soozieq! (kidding, my fault... I jumped the gun)

This is a funny story, kind of getting off topic now:
So after writing that post, the first thing I did was order some Comply tips.
After reading your reply, the first thing I did was cancel my order. (in the span of about an hour)
But, the folks at Comply replied back: They had already shipped! Super fast service! Not only that but the girl handling my request was super friendly and even called back the order even though it was already in the post!!
I wrote back saying it was alright, and that they didn't have to cancel the order if it was going to be that much trouble.
But they got them back and the order is being cancelled.

So much hassle for them. But I really really think the Comply folks are amazing! Super service. It makes me want to deal with them again just because I know they are nice! hah

So anyway... I think I'll look for some Sony EX tips at a Sony Store near here.

If those don't work too well for me, I'll order up the Comply tips again! hah.

[soozieq]

Originally Posted by mr.doodle

agh make up your mind soozieq! (kidding, my fault... I jumped the gun)

Oh, sorry, I was really talking about the fit for my own ears. As for the Sony tips, I've collected a lot of mine through compulsively buying almost all the players

Sony sell 3 different sizes in a bag, which is crap if you know you're a medium, or small, etc.

If you can't get any, tell me, and I might consider parting with one of my precious collection that I've been hoarding for the future

[mr.doodle]

aw thanks soozieq! I'll take a look either today or tomorrow at the Sony Store. Kind of happy I at least got the refund for the Comply tips. It kind of feels like I'd be getting the sony tips for free. But something tells me I'll order the Comply tips in a couple weeks just because I'd still be curious