I'm a big fan of testing, but the one of the Q5s is sketchy. The device was tested with the DAC filter option set to super slow roll-off mode, which is not even the default it ships with. Then there are highly unusual dips in frequency response the tester could not be arsed to investigate with...

At least NwAvGuy put his money where his mouth was and created the ODAC, which measures superb for its price (but sounds a bit clinical). This Amir guy has twice the attitude but half the intelligence of NwAvGuy. As an engineer in an unrelated field I don’t even trust his measurements TBH, he...

The sound is only as good as the weakest link in your setup. I don't hear much benefit from plugging HD700 over HD598 into my portable rig, but my higher end desktop rig makes the HD700 sound amazing, with fantastic hard impact and detail on all frequencies.

I don't understand the question. Of course they are not worthy, you just can't get e.g a class A SS amp with linear PSU and high end opamps for 100$ or an OTL/hybrid counterpart with CCS, film caps etc. Yet that's the level of amplification to match the HD700 or even the HD6x0.  Anyone can...

  9/10 posts on head-fi are people recommending the gear they bought themselves. No prob, just know what to expect.   There's a lot of snake oil sold in the audio business, but as far as reputable vendors are concerned, you get what you pay for, but of course with diminishing returns. 100$ is...

DIY is certainly worth it if you're interested in learning how the circuit you're building works and take joy in building/modding/upgrading. Sounds like you!

Don't take this the wrong way but... Why bother buying a pair HD700 if you're going to pair them with a 100$ DAC/Amp like the Fiio A5? 

  Yeah, gear is hit and miss with the HD700, or rather vice versa. They can sound harsh on my AMB M3 SS amp, but they seem made for my fully modded Bottlehead Crack. 

So true. The reason why the WM8740 is still used a lot instead of the WM8741 is because the latter requires input on the sample rate which complicates the circuit. That's why most DACs with the WM8741 are upsampling: The DAC chip is set to a fixed rate (96 or 192Khz), an upsampling chip like...

Have you tried changing opamps in your M3? It changes the sound a bit. I usually have 3x OPA627 in, but sometimes change to OPA1641 for a while (on Browndog adapter) because they sound a bit warmer and have more forward mids.  I think there is an opamp thread on head-fi, you could ask around...

Your DAC/amps aren't getting enough power, resulting either in no or faulty operation. Use a USB Y-cable to provide power from a battery (or wall charger) to the DAC/amp:    

I use both, HD598 on my portable rig (AMB y1.5 with battery and phone) and HD700 (Mac + AMB y2 + Crack) on my desk. There's no question HD700 has more and lower bass, is pretty much more precise at every frequency, but as others have said they can get fatiguing after some time even with a tube...

iPhone --> lightning USB 3 adapter -->  1/ battery (via lightning) 2/ AMB y1.5 DAC (via USB) : Doesn't work   iPhone --> lightning USB 3 adapter --> 1/ USB Y-cable to battery and DAC 2/ battery (lightning) : Works like a charm :)    For those with DACs that do not work with direct solution...

I realise it's DIY (although there's a link to people who can solder it), but AMB's y1.5 DAC/amp sounds very very good with HD598. Black background, clean but warm thanks to Wolfson DAC chip, tight, a lot of resolution and a surprising big amount of bass. Excellent combo.  Compared to the...

Most amps can drive the HD598 just fine, but a powerful SS desktop amp will lift them to a higher level.  Be careful with tube amps, as some of them have output impedances higher than the HD598's nominal impedance, which would result in higher gain at the frequencies where the impedance of the...

  Yeah, some of my favorite renditions of Mussorgsky, Holst, ... are over 30 years old and I know what you mean.   A tube amp definitely helps to keep the HD700 from punishing noisy and/or lesser quality recordings.  I have come to terms with using 2 different amps (1 SS, 1 tube based) with...

Waiting to see if the rumour is true that Apple will be removing the headphone socket from iPhone 7 and later. Would prefer the PCX480 over the PCX550 if possible.

  Yeah sorry, I was indeed generalising too much there.  Interestingly, after having spent a few weeks with the Crack I went back to my AMB M^3 (w/30V linear PSU and OPA627) and really appreciated its crisp and hard but clean bass on many songs, its completely black noise floor (can't tell if...

It's not really an upgrade mod, just a precaution to avoid DC offset on your headphones in some situations, like when you plug them in right after turning the amp on.  Solder the three pins on the outside of the headphone jack (facing away from the 12AU7, the side where there are 2 unused...

I think the HD700 is best served with Wolfson based DACs (as opposed to Sabre) and tube amps (as DavidA said, also depends which), to offset its tendency of being a bit harsh and bright, and to add more bass. My 0.02$

  Even a lot of the people who do love them had to experiment for the right combination of gear to bring out the best (fantastic balance of strong bass, smoothness vs. detail, crisp) in the HD-700, which often seems to end up being a tube amp.  They are for sure more polarising cans than the...

  I've had the HD700 for over a year now and I completely agree with your impressions.  With my class A SS amp (AMB M^3) music sounds very crisp and clean with the HD700, but bass can at times be too controlled at the cost of impact, and some songs can sound a bit too harsh or have sibilance...

  Add a bag of salt to online audio reviews and trust your own ears. 

  Most Senns have an impedance peak around 100 Hz due to resonance, how does this impact control in the bass region by OTL amps (which need high impedance cans for best performance)? If we take the HD598 for example with a nominal impedance of 50ohm, but with an actual impedance of > 120ohm in...