[Rob80b]

Just thought I’d post some interesting observations, just sent my Bryston BCD-1 in for a service check, just a little random problem but in the interim hooked up my 14 year old (?) HHB CDR830.
Well the CDR830 may have been respected by some, but it just does not do the HD700 justice. 
Only shows that the 700s are fairly revealing of up stream components, the rich analogue sound I was getting from the Bryson is just not there, especially with regards to the bass and upper frequencies so that the sound from the 700s was just ok, sound staging and layering is also affected.
The main reason for posting this is that if for some the HD700 is only coming across as mediocre and strident it may be just be your associated equipment, with Bryston BCD-1 the 700 shine and show a higher end pedigree over the HD6xxs but not so with a lesser source.
 
My concentrated sojourn last week comparing the HD800s and 700s was fairly revealing and had me returning the 800s only because I knew for me which one would receive the most play-time.
Still haven’t dismissed the 800s and currently looking for a mint used pair as paying full pop, even on sale, doesn’t justify the expenditure for me but being the audio-fool that I am I’d still like to have a pair on hand.

 

[BruinAnteater]

I gotta say that after having my HD700s for a good long time, I am absolutely in love with them.
 
When I first got them, I thought they were a bit of a let down compared to my HD650s: the lack of bass compared to the HD650 astounded me, and I felt the detail, soundstage, imaging, etc were only marginally better than the HD650s, but I paid nearly twice the price for the 700s ($352 vs $650). Plus the highs tended to get on my nerves.
 
I slowly started to upgrade my equipment. I upgraded from a FiiO E9 to a Schiit Asgard 2. When I did this I noticed major difference in the soundstage. Going from closed cans like the Momentums or Amperiors to the open HD650s, the difference in soundstage width is night and day. What freaked me out was that there was nearly an equal difference in soundstage going from the HD650 to HD700.
 
I then got the Schiit Uberfrost and thats when the HD700s started to really sing! Suddenly the sound quality was there, it was now very obvious how great the HD700s truly were. I love my HD650s, I still have them, and I use them in my office when no one is around, but the HD700s are truly in the next tier.They are just so DAMN good!
 
I also absolutely love the way they look, they are absolutely beautiful! Not a huge fan of the plastics, but I know these plastics will hold up and they make these cans very light and very easy to have on for hours at a time.
 
I am not a huge believer in 'breaking in' headphone. My opinion is that what gets broken in is our ears to the sound of a particular headphone: basically we get used to and acclimate to the sound signature of a headphone the more we use it, so that sound signature then becomes the sound we expect to hear when we listen to something different. So I am sure that a bit of my ears 'breaking-in' also had to with my love of these cans.
 
In any case, I absolutely love these. The HD650s are still the better value for the money, especially considering how well they play together with just about all equipment (the just require enough power). The HD700s are a bit more testy: they require some power, but more than anything, they need to be properly matched. I think the Schiit A2+Uberfrost is a tremendous combo for these!

 

[Rob80b]

  I gotta say that after having my HD700s for a good long time, I am absolutely in love with them.
......................................

Maybe I was fortunate enough to have a descent source and amp to start with (Bryston BHA-1 and BCD-1) when I acquired my 700s so I never experienced any negatives with them except for the first day or so. I’m not a big believer in break-in either, but I noticed a big improvement “twice”, first when I got them and when Sennheiser replaced the drivers due to a frequency imbalance between the left and right, mostly what I noticed pertained to the bass, extension and impact and the staging. (I also noticed a similar occurrence with the HD800s).
 
Anyway, I’m finding the HD700 are “for me” a great all-rounder, so much so the I’ve decided to let a few of my phones go.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/730262/headphones-akg-k701s-k501s-240dfs-grado-325is-toronto#post_10789533

 

[iceman16221]

Would these be a good complement with MrSpeakers Alpha Dogs?  

 

[Mark-sf]

  Would these be a good complement with MrSpeakers Alpha Dogs?  

Interesting that you asked this question. At the SF Meetup I spent quite some time with the Alpha's and found that for a closed headphone their signature was very similar to the HD700's and actually had the best sound staging of any closed set that I have heard. On the other hand if by "complement" you mean you are looking for a different flavor, then I don't believe so. While I haven't had an in-home trial with the Alpha's I did bring my HD700's and the setup was a Lyr 2 that I also own, with my source. So things were as optimum as could be for an off-site comparison.

 

[iceman16221]

  Interesting that you asked this question. At the SF Meetup I spent quite some time with the Alpha's and found that for a closed headphone their signature was very similar to the HD700's and actually had the best sound staging of any closed set that I have heard. On the other hand if by "complement" you mean you are looking for a different flavor, then I don't believe so. While I haven't had an in-home trial with the Alpha's I did bring my HD700's and the setup was a Lyr 2 that I also own, with my source. So things were as optimum as could be for an off-site comparison.

Thanks for the information, especially because you have a similar setup to me, except mine is the original Lyr.  Decisions decisions ...  

 

[pdrm360]

  I gotta say that after having my HD700s for a good long time, I am absolutely in love with them.
 
When I first got them, I thought they were a bit of a let down compared to my HD650s: the lack of bass compared to the HD650 astounded me, and I felt the detail, soundstage, imaging, etc were only marginally better than the HD650s, but I paid nearly twice the price for the 700s ($352 vs $650). Plus the highs tended to get on my nerves.
 
I slowly started to upgrade my equipment. I upgraded from a FiiO E9 to a Schiit Asgard 2. When I did this I noticed major difference in the soundstage. Going from closed cans like the Momentums or Amperiors to the open HD650s, the difference in soundstage width is night and day. What freaked me out was that there was nearly an equal difference in soundstage going from the HD650 to HD700.
 
I then got the Schiit Uberfrost and thats when the HD700s started to really sing! Suddenly the sound quality was there, it was now very obvious how great the HD700s truly were. I love my HD650s, I still have them, and I use them in my office when no one is around, but the HD700s are truly in the next tier.They are just so DAMN good!
 
I also absolutely love the way they look, they are absolutely beautiful! Not a huge fan of the plastics, but I know these plastics will hold up and they make these cans very light and very easy to have on for hours at a time.
 
I am not a huge believer in 'breaking in' headphone. My opinion is that what gets broken in is our ears to the sound of a particular headphone: basically we get used to and acclimate to the sound signature of a headphone the more we use it, so that sound signature then becomes the sound we expect to hear when we listen to something different. So I am sure that a bit of my ears 'breaking-in' also had to with my love of these cans.
 
In any case, I absolutely love these. The HD650s are still the better value for the money, especially considering how well they play together with just about all equipment (the just require enough power). The HD700s are a bit more testy: they require some power, but more than anything, they need to be properly matched. I think the Schiit A2+Uberfrost is a tremendous combo for these!

 
The Lyr is still much better than the A2 for the HD700 , IMO.
 
Actually I had the HD700 for more than a year and I had tried them with several amps, the best amp was the BH Crack (without speedball). 

 

[Barra]

 

  I gotta say that after having my HD700s for a good long time, I am absolutely in love with them.
 
When I first got them, I thought they were a bit of a let down compared to my HD650s: the lack of bass compared to the HD650 astounded me, and I felt the detail, soundstage, imaging, etc were only marginally better than the HD650s, but I paid nearly twice the price for the 700s ($352 vs $650). Plus the highs tended to get on my nerves.
 
I slowly started to upgrade my equipment. I upgraded from a FiiO E9 to a Schiit Asgard 2. When I did this I noticed major difference in the soundstage. Going from closed cans like the Momentums or Amperiors to the open HD650s, the difference in soundstage width is night and day. What freaked me out was that there was nearly an equal difference in soundstage going from the HD650 to HD700.
 
I then got the Schiit Uberfrost and thats when the HD700s started to really sing! Suddenly the sound quality was there, it was now very obvious how great the HD700s truly were. I love my HD650s, I still have them, and I use them in my office when no one is around, but the HD700s are truly in the next tier.They are just so DAMN good!
 
I also absolutely love the way they look, they are absolutely beautiful! Not a huge fan of the plastics, but I know these plastics will hold up and they make these cans very light and very easy to have on for hours at a time.
 
I am not a huge believer in 'breaking in' headphone. My opinion is that what gets broken in is our ears to the sound of a particular headphone: basically we get used to and acclimate to the sound signature of a headphone the more we use it, so that sound signature then becomes the sound we expect to hear when we listen to something different. So I am sure that a bit of my ears 'breaking-in' also had to with my love of these cans.
 
In any case, I absolutely love these. The HD650s are still the better value for the money, especially considering how well they play together with just about all equipment (the just require enough power). The HD700s are a bit more testy: they require some power, but more than anything, they need to be properly matched. I think the Schiit A2+Uberfrost is a tremendous combo for these!

 
The Lyr is still much better than the A2 for the HD700 , IMO.
 
Actually I had the HD700 for more than a year and I had tried them with several amps, the best amp was the BH Crack (without speedball). 

I'm considering a BH Crack for mine. To be clear, are you suggesting to not get the Speedball upgrade or just stating that the one you listened to didn't have the upgrade? Did you compare it to other tube amps?

 

[pdrm360]

  I'm considering a BH Crack for mine. To be clear, are you suggesting to not get the Speedball upgrade or just stating that the one you listened to didn't have the upgrade? Did you compare it to other tube amps?

 
The one that I listened to didn't have the Speedball upgrade, though the original Crack has warmer sound and I guess it should be a better match with the HD700.  Yes, I did.

 

[pdrm360]

BH Crack is a great amp for all Sennheiser’s high impedance headphones. It looks like they made it for Senn’s. You cannot find any better amp for less than $500.

 

[Saoshyant]

I'm just glad the hd700 isn't all that hard to drive. Certainly loves it when you give it some rich food however.

 

[pdrm360]

Rich food sure but not the spicy ones. 

 

[Legi0n]

Can't wait for my HD700 to come

. Got them for a very good deal (under 500) new, will post impressions soon! FYI I'm not a spammer I just lost access to my old account. Btw, what amp do you guys recommend for the HD700? I have an EF-5 but I open to the possibility for a new, higher end amp (possibly the WA7). What do u guys think?

 

[Mark-sf]

  Can't wait for my HD700 to come

. Got them for a very good deal (under 500) new, will post impressions soon! FYI I'm not a spammer I just lost access to my old account. Btw, what amp do you guys recommend for the HD700? I have an EF-5 but I open to the possibility for a new, higher end amp (possibly the WA7). What do u guys think?

I have no experience with the EF-5 but can emphatically state that the HD700's work very well with the Lyr 2 and premium tubes. I wouldn't make any changes until you've had about 500 hours on your EF-5/HD700 pairing.   

 

[Legi0n]

  I have no experience with the EF-5 but can emphatically state that the HD700's work very well with the Lyr 2 and premium tubes. I wouldn't make any changes until you've had about 500 hours on your EF-5/HD700 pairing.   

 
I see.. Thanks for the suggestion! I will see how these two pair up for the time being. The HD700 left a very good impression on my ears when I first tried them out a year ago and I'm hoping it gets even better from here on out