[Pedro Oliveira]

Do understand the HD700 is a controversial headphone with an either love em or hate em attitude.

When I first got mine, I was ready to send them back, but after sticking with them they grew on me. 7 years later, I spent 480 bucks refurbing them, to include a balanced cable for from Moon Audio (Black Dragon). The new cable has changed the character of the sound by making them sound warmer, and less bright, and now I enjoy them even more. The OEM (original) cable has them sounding too bright at times depending on source material. The new cable tones that down

In the end I find these the be great headphones, and why I spent what I spent refurbing them, so in effect, I put my money where my mouth is when I say get them, but.... they are different from what you have, and not everyone loved them at first, me included.

Also be aware, these are NOT for bass heads. Not that the HD700 don't have bass, I actually like the bass response, but they aren't "bass" headphones. What you have is what you get. No "fake" bass.

All that said, for that asking price you can't go wrong - definitely worth it. Just ask about condition before buying. Also be aware OEM parts a near non-existent now, so for stuff like pads - headband, earpads, and cables, you'll need to go third party. That said, I did find some OEM pads and headbands at HiFi heaven, but I'm betting that's going to dry up as well.

Good luck.

Thank you very much for all your replys.
But the bass is much less present and less impactful on the HD700 when compared to the HD600?

I actually quite like the presentation and the overall bass and clarity of the HD600 when compared to the HD650(6xx). To me the 650 does not have many impact and sound muddier and veiled. The hd600 in comparison sounds much more natural, airy, vocals are much more lifelike and pronounced and the bass although not being much is more present and inpactfull. It may just be the tunning since the drivers are basically the same but to me the hd650 sounds more hifi-ish than hd650.

And I actually liked the original Sennheiser momentum Wich was supposed to be a baby 650.... damn small earpads....

 

[sygnus21]

That's interesting that the soundstage becomes smaller. I have a diy pure silver litz balanced modular cable with basic gold plated brass plugs throughout, which is admittedly far from optimal performancewise, but 1 main cable plus a few y-splits is rather convenient and cost effective. But with all my sennheisers, going to this cable the stage is bigger and I get more clarity, detail and extension. In the case of the hd800 the same cable helped to reduce, if not eliminate the sibilance.

Eventually I'm planning to make individual cables using occ silver ribbon wire and at least copper-based plugs, if I cant find silver-based ones, and rhodium plate instead of copper. I also intend to use the same wire to replace the internal wires in the HD700 that connect the plugs to the drivers. With the HD800, I'm aware that the plugs can just be pushed out of the plastic so I can directly solder to the drivers terminals, but I dont know if that's also the case with the HD700.

Unfortunately, this passion can get pricey if you let it

Silver and copper provide different sound qualities if you believe that sort of thing. Copper is said to provide a warmer more intimate sound. Silver provides more detail and resolution while opening the soundstage. That's also my limited experience going from the silver OEM cables to the Black Dragon copper cables, and one hinted at by Moon Audio themselves per this video...

You might also check this article - https://www.moon-audio.com/cables-matter.

And as noted, it's also a matter of matching components. Example with an already bright sounding headphone like the HD700, a Silver Dragan may not work for those. Additionally, you may also have to consider your amp... is it bright? Neutral? Warm?

Anyway, cable making isn't something I've gotten into so for now I just buy what I need. It's not that I can't do it, I'm very technical and handy with tools, but it's a matter of want and willingness. Neither of which I have at the moment for making cables. I'm also aware one can save money doing it themselves, as I practice that philosophy as I do my own maintenance on my cars - to include transmission rebuilds. Or when I build my own PCs. But yeah, at this point in time not interested in making cables. That's me.

 

[sygnus21]

Thank you very much for all your replys.
But the bass is much less present and less impactful on the HD700 when compared to the HD600?

I've never owned the HD600 (or any HD6xx phones) so I can't speak on those. I can only say don't believe the HD700 has no bass, cause that isn't true as noted by others owning them. They're just not bass monsters. Their bass is true, and uncolored. If it isn't there, it's not going to play it.

One thing I will say about these phones is they're very revealing so if you have a bad lifeless recording, that's what you're going to hear from them. With that, and this will probably upset some but personally I would not pair these with playing mp3 or lossy files. Those files are already light as is, so these are going to sound like crap with those files. That of course if my opinion, so... and like anything in the audio chain, your equipment is also going to play a role.

My two cents.

 

[robo24]

Thank you very much for all your replys.
But the bass is much less present and less impactful on the HD700 when compared to the HD600?

I actually quite like the presentation and the overall bass and clarity of the HD600 when compared to the HD650(6xx). To me the 650 does not have many impact and sound muddier and veiled. The hd600 in comparison sounds much more natural, airy, vocals are much more lifelike and pronounced and the bass although not being much is more present and inpactfull. It may just be the tunning since the drivers are basically the same but to me the hd650 sounds more hifi-ish than hd650.

And I actually liked the original Sennheiser momentum Wich was supposed to be a baby 650.... damn small earpads....

6XX was my first audiophile headphone and got a used HD700 a few months later and realized, oh that's what they mean by veiled because the veil was gone with the 700. Bought the 800 SDR eventually but couldn't love it as much as the 700. I've never gotten sibilance though they're bright. Unlike the 800 I don't feel like they're going to come off my head with the slightest movement. No lack of bass for me. Virtually everything I use now is $2500-3500 and the 700 are still here unlike many other headphones which have come and gone. They love tubes.

I rarely use them but I'm always kind of shocked when I go back to them, best $200 I ever spent on audio. I've also yet to find a more comfortable headphone. I hope you don't miss out on this deal. Definitely let your brain adjust when listening. The brightness stops standing out as much, and the level of detail and wide soundstage are what get your attention.

 

[Backsplash7]

Thank you very much for all your replys.
But the bass is much less present and less impactful on the HD700 when compared to the HD600?

I actually quite like the presentation and the overall bass and clarity of the HD600 when compared to the HD650(6xx). To me the 650 does not have many impact and sound muddier and veiled. The hd600 in comparison sounds much more natural, airy, vocals are much more lifelike and pronounced and the bass although not being much is more present and inpactfull. It may just be the tunning since the drivers are basically the same but to me the hd650 sounds more hifi-ish than hd650.

And I actually liked the original Sennheiser momentum Wich was supposed to be a baby 650.... damn small earpads....

In my experience the HD600 bass is thumpy and undetailed, its more of a headache-inducing presence like being in a nightclub. The HD700 has a bit less impact, but it has far greater resolution; the midrange and bass aren't stuck together in a vague dull lump, they're clearly separated and you can actually hear the bass notes being played, and they're not fighting against guitars and drums to be heard anymore. For some people, even if the bass "amount" is the same, that lack of punch is perceived as a lack of bass; we all hear differently after all. For me personally, I'll always take speed and resolution over a migraine. The HD600 were my first audiophile headphone, and while I liked them at the time, being the best thing I'd heard until that point, they always left me wanting more. Like you, I was on the fence for a while because of all the comments online, but in the end I decided to ignore all the negative feedback about them and trust my gut instead, and I'm glad I did. I've not used my HD600 in 2 or 3 years now. Heck, even several of the older sennheiser models that were made before the HD600 are superior, in my experience/opinion. But the HD700 simply gives me everything the HD600 couldn't, it simply reveals so much more in the music that I didn't know was there before... if the equipment isn't capable of reproducing all of the sound, then you literally have no idea what you're missing out on, as unhelpful as that sounds. And just for context, I paid more for my HD600 than your HD700 would be.

 

[Backsplash7]

Silver and copper provide different sound qualities if you believe that sort of thing. Copper is said to provide a warmer more intimate sound. Silver provides more detail and resolution while opening the soundstage. That's also my limited experience going from the silver OEM cables to the Black Dragon copper cables, and one hinted at by Moon Audio themselves per this video...

You might also check this article - https://www.moon-audio.com/cables-matter.

And as noted, it's also a matter of matching components. Example with an already bright sounding headphone like the HD700, a Silver Dragan may not work for those. Additionally, you may also have to consider your amp... is it bright? Neutral? Warm?

Anyway, cable making isn't something I've gotten into so for now I just buy what I need. It's not that I can't do it, I'm very technical and handy with tools, but it's a matter of want and willingness. Neither of which I have at the moment for making cables. I'm also aware one can save money doing it themselves, as I practice that philosophy as I do my own maintenance on my cars - to include transmission rebuilds. Or when I build my own PCs. But yeah, at this point in time not interested in making cables. That's me.

Belief isn't the appropriate term here, I've heard the differences between different metals and different geometries, so I have to accept what I'm hearing. But wanting to understand why those differences are happening was important too. I also discovered the hard way that there is a wrong way to test cables too, so I spent nearly a year in the "cables make no difference" camp. Starting a listening session with 30-60 seconds of listening on one cable, then switching to the other, its next to impossible to tell. It was an accident that showed me that for the initial the 15-30 minutes of listening, my brain is very busy adjusting to the sound signature, and that if I swap a cable after that amount of time its much easier to tell them apart. If I listen for an hour first, that seems to be the point at which I'm fully acclimated.

Also, a lot of people describe the HD700 as bright. To me, they sound a little bit dark. The HD600 are intolerably dark to me, like the treble has simply been chopped off, I've always found it strange that people refer to them as neutral, I actually find them quite annoying because of it. Some more knowledgable headfiers explained to me that the size and shape of our ear canals affects the frequencies where we have resonance gain, so to some people an HD700 will be too bright, but to others it's the opposite. To me, the HD800 are a lot bright-ER than the HD700, but I don't find them to BE bright, they're just about neutral for me. So yeah, maybe thats part of why silver works well for me, I find I need it to really get the full treble experience. Some have suggested that maybe my high frequency acquity is poor, but I'm still bothered by the mosquito tone in shops. "Your mileage may vary" is something I need to get printed on a t-shirt

Actually, it now occurs to me that the only time I've heard copper in a non-basic stranded wire arrangement is when I got my QED XT5 power cables, which was the second of two "wow" moments I've had so far in this hobby. So maybe I'm missing out on something by not having a decent copper headphone cable

 

[sygnus21]

Reading some of the posts here makes me glad I invested in refurbing my HD700s instead of spending that money on a new pair of phones.

In all honestly, I was going the get the Sennheiser 660S2, but decided to use that money to refurb the 700s. Having still not heard the 660S2, I'm not sure that was a wise decision, but I do know my ears are happy

 

[Backsplash7]

Reading some of the posts here makes me glad I invested in refurbing my HD700s instead of spending that money on a new pair of phones.

In all honestly, I was going the get the Sennheiser 660S2, but decided to use that money to refurb the 700s. Having still not heard the 660S2, I'm not sure that was a wise decision, but I do know my ears are happy

You know, I contributed to that sennheiser thread where they were asking people what they would like in their dream headphones. I gave a list of things I'd love to see incorporated into a new HD700, and they took all of those suggestions and used it to make the 660S2 instead

 

[sygnus21]

Also, a lot of people describe the HD700 as bright. To me, they sound a little bit dark. The HD600 are intolerably dark to me, like the treble has simply been chopped off, I've always found it strange that people refer to them as neutral,

Sorry, but this gave me a laugh as you're the only person I've heard call the Sennheiser HD700s "dark". I'd be curious to know what "dark" means to you?

Actually, it now occurs to me that the only time I've heard copper in a non-basic stranded wire arrangement is when I got my QED XT5 power cables, which was the second of two "wow" moments I've had so far in this hobby. So maybe I'm missing out on something by not having a decent copper headphone cable

All I can and will say is I explained what my ears hear. And it just so happens that that's the way Moon Audio explains it. And why my review says, "Believe the Hype".

Oh, and "power cables" are not pushing audio signals, so the copper comparison there is like comparing apples to oranges... yeah, they're fruit, yeah, they grow on trees, but the taste is completely different.

At any rate do not think I'm pushing Moon Audio's cables, cause I'm not. I'm simply stating what I got and what they did for me. I have no experience with all the cables and materials in the market, so it could turn out that a 10-dollar cable bests these.

You also seemed to have missed my point as I never said or hinted copper was better than silver, nor did they do so in the video linked. I, like them, said they provide "different sound qualities.". That doesn't mean one is better than the other any more than chocolate being better than vanilla ice cream. It's simply a matter of what you like.

My two cents

 

[Backsplash7]

Sorry, but this gave me a laugh as you're the only person I've heard call the Sennheiser HD700s "dark". I'd be curious to know what "dark" means to you?


All I can and will say is I explained what my ears hear. And it just so happens that that's the way Moon Audio explains it. And why my review says, "Believe the Hype".

Oh, and "power cables" are not pushing audio signals, so the copper comparison there is like comparing apples to oranges... yeah, they're fruit, yeah, they grow on trees, but the taste is completely different.

At any rate do not think I'm pushing Moon Audio's cables, cause I'm not. I'm simply stating what I got and what they did for me. I have no experience with all the cables and materials in the market, so it could turn out that a 10-dollar cable bests these.

You also seemed to have missed my point as I never said or hinted copper was better than silver, nor did they do so in the video linked. I, like them, said they provide "different sound qualities.". That doesn't mean one is better than the other any more than chocolate being better than vanilla ice cream. It's simply a matter of what you like.

My two cents

So, what I understand dark to mean is that the upper midrange and treble is rolled off, and quieter relative to the rest of the frequencies, but I could be wrong. Or maybe I'm using the term correctly, but my hearing is more of an outlier?

Yes, on the subject of power cables its a bit tricky to sell the idea that they can affect the audio signal, its not something that makes intuitive sense, and I was highly skeptical. Eventually I saw a selection of basic audio grade power cables by Supra Lorad going cheap, and I thought I'd try them just to see. Two of them were identical, apart from one being a thicker guage, so I compared the two. The normal one, surprisingly, did sound subtley different, but it was more of a tradeoff between more bass and wider stage vs slightly rolled off treble and a little distortion. The thicker cable was the same, but to a much greater degree, to the point where it sounded absolutely awful, wrong in a way I couldn't explain, but going back to the stock cable was a physical relief. After some digging, it seems that the the fluctuations in the power cable being pulled from an amplifier mimic the waveform that its generating, though don't ask me why that is, it was too techincal for me. But the bottom line was that the skin effect and proximity effect have just as much of an impact in a power cable, as any other power cable. And getting a power cable that has braided copper around a hollow core was the most significant impact on the sound since I first heard speakers that could create a 3D soundstage. If I hadn't heard it, I'd be reading comments like this with a big skeptical scowl on my face, so yeah, I doubt I'm going to convince anyone. Like you, I'm just stating what I've heard and adding to the general conversation, incase its useful for someone reading it, which also applies to the silver vs copper remarks. Personal taste is a fine thing, but it never hurts to be better informed

 

[sygnus21]

So, what I understand dark to mean is that the upper midrange and treble is rolled off, and quieter relative to the rest of the frequencies, but I could be wrong. Or maybe I'm using the term correctly, but my hearing is more of an outlier?

For clarity - "Dark/Darkness – A quality of sound defined by prominent bass and recessed treble." I think we all agree the HD700's are opposite of that definition

Yes, on the subject of power cables its a bit tricky to sell the idea that they can affect the audio signal,

I'm fully aware of the hype of power cables in the audiophile world. That said, my point was they had nothing to do with the makeup of headphone cables.

Thanks.

 

[harris4crna]

To date, my HD 700 are my best headphone. Not because it sounds the best, but because I use them the most for everything. I use this headphone daily. Matter of fact I am listening to it now as I write this. This is my blue collar HP. I spend hours playing Diablo 4 with it nightly. The fit and function is perfect for gaming, watching TV and the occasional music listening. Agree this is not a "dark" sounding headphone, but more so a laid back and not in your face sound. Perhaps this is what you mean by dark. I hate the HD800 unless I am listening to it with tubes. Just to bright for my liking. I most recently sold my Stax 009 because of the same reason. The HD fits all the boxes.

Now, the ugly is the headband went to crap shortly after buying them. This black goo stained my hands. I remember getting up late at night to finally peel the whole headband from the headphone to only the band itself. This was the first time I wanted to toss them in the garbage. Instead I purchased Dekoni nuggets and Dekoni pads. Shortly afterwards I purchased the Moon Black Dragon cable. The stock cable tangled, stiff and sounded like crap. I would say with the original purchase of $450 and upgrades the HD700 is a $1000 HP. I have now had this headphone for 8 years. My previous Sen HD was a 5 series that I bought in early 2000 and had it until I replaced it with the 700 in 2016. 15 years I had that $70 HP, haha. It was so worn I could not even tell you what model it was. I foresee the HD700 sticking around for another 8 years despite my desire to always want to replace it.......Yamaha 5000SE looks good.

 

[sygnus21]

Shortly afterwards I purchased the Moon Black Dragon cable. The stock cable tangled, stiff and sounded like crap.

Curious to hear your thoughts on Black Dragon cable?

 

[samandhi]

I bought a Hart Audio pure copper modular cable for mine for less than $100 and have never looked back. I have had mine since almost the beginning, and I paid full price for them. I have always thought them well worth it.

The headband and pads are still in great shape on mine. Not sure why, but maybe at some point they started using cheaper materials.

 

[sygnus21]

I bought a Hart Audio pure copper modular cable for mine for less than $100 and have never looked back.

That's nice. How do they compare to the Black Dragons?