My initial Impressions of the HD700, are positive.
Quite possibly all the hate that is cast towards this unique gear is a case of supply that didnt exceed expectations, or even fall into alignment with what was expected.
This is not a bad sounding set of headphones.
I was going to review it, but, as someone said....."its the HD650 meets the HD800"..... i think that this is pretty much a very good generalization.
And This is a bit of a conflict. As on one hand you have the HD 650s lower mids and midrange that makes up the body of the HD700s sound.
So, that is a bit of a step away from the HD600's sound which has much less low mid bumb and offers a more forward midrange presence.
So, that is the HD700's sound. And where it becomes unique, or somewhat interesting is that the 6kHz bump that exists, does not make it more resolving or detailed, it just adds to the extra air on top and also exhibits a bit of glare.
You listen to this gear and you notice smooth mids, good bass, nice soundstage, but you dont get anything in the way of a super analytical sound unless you crank up the volume.
So, similar to the Arya, you can't really enjoy these at what i would describe as a low volume.
Sure, it quite detailed, but its not over-cooked analytical, and its certainly not a clinical sound.
Is possible that this headphone is that bridge between warm and resolving, warm and detailed, as there is a lot of warmth.
So, if you are the one who needs warmth the most, but you have not found quite enough detail retrieval in all your warm headphones, then this one might be your sonic recipe.
This is probably what most buyer were not expecting, as they felt that this gear's sound would produce a set of detail seeking microscopes on your ears, that just lived to pull all the details out and expose them.....and in fact, that is not this headphone.
This headphone is the one that was the real "what comes next after the HD650"......Its that sound, but tweeked.
Senn took the HD650, kept the basic sound/ tone, added some 6Khz, and a bit more "airy" Treble above that, and widened the soundstage.
I bet they thought they had created the perfect sonic concoction.. the final answer to the "warm + detail"....puzzle.
Thing is tho, there is also a sprinkle of of dryness involved in the presentation.
Im hearing the HD700 as a tweeked HD650, and some dont like the tweeking, but, its certainly not a bad listen, and its nothing like what i expected to hear.
I expected to hear 2 microscopes on my ears, with a horrible 6hHz blast.
And its not that at all......Its the HD650's body of warmth, slightly dry, tweeked in the Treble, and given beautifully designed Cups, and a wider soundstage.
