[DavidA]

   
Thanks guys,
 
Yeah, I suppose it would help to list my previous phones...
 
Well first off, the 700's are my first foray into "high end" headphones. Prior to that I was using pretty much low grade phones until I got a pair of Audio Technica ATH M50's. They were a somewhat neutral sounding monitor headphone that weren't too bassy, but when they needed to thump the did. However, they didn't quite have the openness I was looking for and seemed to lack clarity in the mids. I did however, liked them a lot and if it weren't for the fact that they died, I might not have looked at the 700's. In fact, I ordered a pair of the M50X's to replace them and they'll be here this Friday.
 
I still plan on keeping the 700's but I also wanted to get a pair of phones that would allow me to enjoy my electronica and dance music a bit more, where I feel the 700's are better suited for my Jazz and old classic rock moods.
 
Anyway I was also using a pair of Bose QC 15, and 25's. The 25's sound much better and fuller than the 15's but really couldn't touch the Audio Technica's in overall sound, including the low end.  The Bose though where my "travel" headphones so...
 
Anyway I take the 700 are a bit airy and it's something I have to get used to, but I'm still wondering if these are somewhat defective because they really sound like there's no life there, and from all I've heard and read, I've not seen anyone say this, so.... 
 
With that, I'm gong to call the place where I got them from and see what they say. I'm seriously thinking about exchanging them for another set of 700's, since I'm now committed to them.  I ordered a custom made balanced cable from Surf Cables for use with my Teac UD-503 . Instead of the XLR connector at one end, they'll have two 1/4 jacks. They should be here sometime next week. So, yeah, I'm no committed to the 700's since custom made cables are a final sell item. 
 
At any rate I appreciate the tips and suggestions. Keep em coming.
 
Thanks.

I used borrow a QC-25 from a friend when I have to take on plane rides, it hard to beat the isolation but the sound was really disappointing, started to just use my MDR-7506 which gives enough sound isolation and sound a lot better.
 
Also have M50x and the HD-700 are really different sounding and I would say that if I was used to the M50x sound then the HD-700 might sound a little thin at first but it wouldn't sound like there is no life, if you can exchange it I would do it.

 

[sygnus21]

Oh, I forgot to add that most of my music listening comes from my PC using either JRiver Media Center or iTunes. My files in iTunes are encoded in AAC, and are also imported into JRiver, but I've also got a number of files encoded in Monkey (APE). Thus the Teac DAC is actually hooked up to my Windows 10 custom built PC.
 
One thing I notice it that iTunes is louder than JRiver in playing music, but distorts way more than JRiver. It almost seems as if iTunes is overpowering the DAC. The DAC is hooked up via both USB, and Optical (SPDIF).

 

[sygnus21]

  I used borrow a QC-25 from a friend when I have to take on plane rides, it hard to beat the isolation but the sound was really disappointing, started to just use my MDR-7506 which gives enough sound isolation and sound a lot better.
 
Also have M50x and the HD-700 are really different sounding and I would say that if I was used to the M50x sound then the HD-700 might sound a little thin at first but it wouldn't sound like there is no life, if you can exchange it I would do it.

Yeah I'm going to call Hi Fi Heaven and see what they say. This is where I got the 700's from. If I have to ship them back, I'll at least have my M50X's by then so I won't be without phones. Any yeah, I clearly get the 700's and M50X's are different beasts with completely different characters.
 
Anyway either way it goes, I can't wait to hear the 700's in balanced mode once my cable arrive. The other reason I can't wait for the cables is because the stock cable on the 700's is annoying as heck given its length. It's as though I'm entangled in cable here.

 

[DavidA]

The stock cable is very kinky indeed

 

[sygnus21]

Stupid me... I forgot to state the other reason I'm seriously thinking about sending these back is they also sound unbalanced; that is the right side constantly sounds louder, and "bassier" than the left side. You can clearly hear the channel separation, but the right side always seem to output a tad more sound.  I don't know, I just feel strongly that I got a bad set of phones.  Truly wish there was a merchant near me that had these in stock so I could compare them.
 
Thanks guys (gals?)...

 

[DavidA]

Chanel imbalance is a reason to send anything back, but before you do, try and switch the cables around and see if the imbalance also switches sides

 

[sygnus21]

Yeah, I'll do that. Right now I'm listening to them through JRiver and things seem to sound a bit better, even in channel separation. I'm currently listening to Norah Jones' "All A Dream" from her Little Broken Hearts CD. This track features some really deep bass notes and the 700's are really bringing them out, and the channel separation issues don't appear to be there so I'm a bit confused as to my perceived issues since this track essentially erases any issues I perceived.  In the end it may be source material and the way I initially had JRiver configured. 
 
Now listening to the Doors' Riders on the Storm off their L.A. Woman CD has these phones singing through JRiver. I got Ray Manzarek's Fender Rhodes electric piano on my left, and Jerry Scheff's guitar on my right all equaled out with no unbalances.
 
Honestly I don't know what to say at this time. I'm going  try to find someone in my area who might have a pair of these to listen to so I can compare. I'll play with them a bit more before I call Hi Fi Heaven.
 
BTW I also have an AudioQuest Jitterbug arriving tomorrow as well as a new USB cable. I actually ordered these before I ordered the 700's so we'll see how that goes.
 
Thanks.

 

[DavidA]

I would still contact the store and let them know about the imbalance issue, they may say to just send it back anyway.

 

[sygnus21]

Yeah, I plan on doing that. I just hate to go through all of the hoops of sending them back just to have the same ones returned with a note saying they "couldn't find anything wrong".  I just need to make sure my reason is legit for sending them back and can get a replacement.

 

[astroid]

Spent a wonderful few hours at Richersounds testing headphones, nice cup of tea and some biccies, Beatles Hi-Res, Norah, Hot Chip, Beck and a few others and i started listening. 
I had chosen SRH1540, LCD 2, Open EL8 and Nighthawk.
Before i went i was very keen on getting the SRH1540 or Nighthawk both of which i had heard previously, i didnt though, i bought the HD700.
Now the HD700 has had a lot of stick, too sibilant, not as good as HD800, better off with HD650 etc etc etc.
I found the HD700 matched my musical preferences perfectly, they were also the most comfortable by a long shot.
The LCD 2 has awesome bass but the treble sucks, in fact it sounds a lot like the HD650 to me but costs twice as much! 
The SRH1540 was soooooo disappointing, it was almost as fatiguing as the HD25, i know i wouldnt be able to listen for more than 30 mins, they made the very mellow K&D sessions by Kruder and Doftmeister sound like techno.
The Nighthawk is good, second favourite, the smaller soundstage next to HD700 put me off though (i am a soundstage whore)
 EL8 was pretty average all round imo.
The HD700 has its faults, i could hear the hot treble on a few tracks but it was not as bad as the reviews would have you think.
The bass on the HD700 is lovely, it has a large bandwidth and isnt overdone. On Hot Chips new album it really gets your feet tapping.
I purchased a new shorter cable as the 3 meter monster it comes with whilst nice is far too long and fat.
The last bonus is that my AK Jr powers them fine, i mean really good actually. I knew they could be driven loud enough but the quality is not far off my desktop amp at all. 

 

[Dadracer]

  Spent a wonderful few hours at Richersounds testing headphones, nice cup of tea and some biccies, Beatles Hi-Res, Norah, Hot Chip, Beck and a few others and i started listening. 
I had chosen SRH1540, LCD 2, Open EL8 and Nighthawk.
Before i went i was very keen on getting the SRH1540 or Nighthawk both of which i had heard previously, i didnt though, i bought the HD700.
Now the HD700 has had a lot of stick, too sibilant, not as good as HD800, better off with HD650 etc etc etc.
I found the HD700 matched my musical preferences perfectly, they were also the most comfortable by a long shot.
The LCD 2 has awesome bass but the treble sucks, in fact it sounds a lot like the HD650 to me but costs twice as much! 
The SRH1540 was soooooo disappointing, it was almost as fatiguing as the HD25, i know i wouldnt be able to listen for more than 30 mins, they made the very mellow K&D sessions by Kruder and Doftmeister sound like techno.
The Nighthawk is good, second favourite, the smaller soundstage next to HD700 put me off though (i am a soundstage whore)
 EL8 was pretty average all round imo.
The HD700 has its faults, i could hear the hot treble on a few tracks but it was not as bad as the reviews would have you think.
The bass on the HD700 is lovely, it has a large bandwidth and isnt overdone. On Hot Chips new album it really gets your feet tapping.
I purchased a new shorter cable as the 3 meter monster it comes with whilst nice is far too long and fat.
The last bonus is that my AK Jr powers them fine, i mean really good actually. I knew they could be driven loud enough but the quality is not far off my desktop amp at all. 

Good choice and why not, after all you are sir like the lead singer of the Rezillos........Fay Fife    

 

[DavidA]

@astroid, welcome to the HD-700 family

 

[Skyfall]

Stupid me... I forgot to state the other reason I'm seriously thinking about sending these back is they also sound unbalanced; that is the right side constantly sounds louder, and "bassier" than the left side. You can clearly hear the channel separation, but the right side always seem to output a tad more sound.  I don't know, I just feel strongly that I got a bad set of phones.  Truly wish there was a merchant near me that had these in stock so I could compare them.

Thanks guys (gals?)...

If you live in LA area I'll be more than happy to benchmark your hd700. I'm really satisfy with my new portable setups.

 

[moonbogg]

I am wanting to pull the trigger on these.  I am replacing Fidelio X2's because they are falling apart.  I am getting a refund and looking to replace them.  I use them for about 80% gaming, 15% movies and the rest for occasional music.  I will be using the new headphones with a sounsblaster ZxR.
I am attracted to the HD700's because they used to be $1,000 and are now $520.  With my refund of $330, the additional cost is easily manageable.  I like the idea of getting a headphone that used to cost $1,000 for less than half the price basically. 
I like the way the HD700's look.  They look awesome.  They seem to be well built and I don't see any weak points on them like the Fidelio's have.  The 700's are reported to be very comfortable and that's important.  They are said to have a large sound stage and good imaging and for gaming that's something I want.  I wonder how they would compare to the Fidelio's as far as the openness and positioning is concerned from a gaming standpoint.  I feel the Fidelio's do pretty good here and are much better than the DT770's that I used to use (those broke on me too).  I am interested in the 700's because I expect they will last longer than the Beyer's and Philips did (less than a year each, not abused).
I like the bass of the Fidelio's, but I can live with less.  I always considered myself a big bass lover, but I recently asked myself when the last time I was jamming out to music with a lot of bass...I couldn't remember.  I really spend most of my time playing games and watching movies.  I think the HD700's have less bass but I am prepared to live with that if the sound stage or openness of the headphones is at least improved compared to the X2.
I am about to just buy them but if you guys have any input I'd appreciate it.  Thanks.

 

[sygnus21]

Well I'm on the east coast, in Virginia so... but hey, if you want to mail me yours to test, I'd be happy

 
All kidding aside, I did call Hi Fi Heaven this morning and spoke to a salesperson who suggested I burn them in some more over the weekend and see how it goes from there. He kind of reminded me that these are mid ohm speakers so it'll take a bit of power to run them. Contrast that with my Audio Techinca M50X's that just arrived today with an impedance of only 38 Ohms and doesn't take much volume to push them.
 
Anyway given all the tweaks and stuff I did with JRiver and stuff, I'd say my perceived issues with the 700's are rapidly disappearing and I may wind up keeping the current pair.
 
On a side note, I also received AudioQuest's Jitterbug and their Pearl USB cable and am currently running tests to see if I notice a difference in sound quality. With that I will say that while I can't really distinguish any sonic differences between the AudioQuest Pearl and Belkin USB Gold cable, there does appear to be a rolling off of lows with the Jitterbug connected. That is where the bass seems to extend deeper without the Jitterbug, they seem to cut short with it connected.  I'm not to only one to notice this as I've seen other reviewers note the same.  This is with both the HD 700's and AT's M50X.  In the end, I'll keep the cable, but return the Jitterbug as I don't seem to be gaining anything with it.
 
As for my original issue posted here, things seem to be getting better as I spend more time getting use to the HD 700's.  BTW I was just notified that Surf Cables have finished my balanced cable and it's on the way. They also said they hooked me up by doing some soft sleeving above the "Y" breakout which they normally don't do and would like my thoughts on it. Cool, can't wait.
 
Peace