Sennheiser HD 700 Headphone

I have just brought the HD700 last week as my very fist HiFi headphone. Since it just have been burned-in like 50 hours, I can't really tell now. 


It sounds amazing out of box, but when play some certain type of music like "Sovngarde" in "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Original Game Soundtrack)", it sounds very "unstable". 


I will keep posting to see after couple hundred hours, will it be any difference 

These headphones need to be amped. If you choose to use them without doing so, they will sound weak and lifeless. The complaints I read about seem to me to be with people that haven't synergized them correctly with the right equipment. They are not as picky as the HD 800's to match up with the right dac/amps. They like nice files to listen to as they hear crap files like crap. Reading that they are bad??? is just absurd. Those folks are just trolls demonstrating their finest behavior. I respect opinions but only knowledge based ones.

Sennheiser HD700: Sennheiser with a Sledgehammer
 
Sennheisers of the HD6xx and HD8xx line have a tendency to be fantastic reference headphones with ample soundstage that generally share one (or both) of the following two tendencies: An expansive soundstage with exquisite detail reproduction, or the ability to find their ways into studios as reference headphones for listening, mixing, and editing recorded audio. They also have a tendency to sound veiled at the high frequencies regardless of their analytical nature. The HD700, one of Sennheiser’s high-end headphones, seems to buck this trend; eschewing reference quality for a more “Grado-esque” sound generation. This more “in-your-face” approach has made it one of the most polarizing high-end headphones on the market, and I’m going to write this review as a first impression; primarily focusing on the empirical, and about 20 to 25 hours of “break-in” having been done. (FULL DISCLOSURE: I KNOW THAT THIS IS NOT A FULLY BROKEN IN HEADPHONE.)
This review will focus on the HD700 as a headphone used in the PONO player, and in comparison to my Sennheiser HD598 that have been upgraded with a Moon Audio Blue Dragon cable. I’m going to, as applicable, compare the sound quality, portability, and even how the PONO’s battery life is affected between the two headphones. I will also go over less “audio-important” aspects such as the presentation of the headphones, the cost, and whether the price : performance ratio validates one, or both, headphones in one’s headphone arsenal. Before this review goes further, I’m going to lay out the specs of both headphones.
 
Sennheiser HD598

1. Color: BEIGE / Brown
2. Impedance: 50 Ω
3. Build: Plastic body, faux leather headrest, velour pads, steel ear-grilles
4. Driver Size: 40mm
5. Sound Range: 12hz – 38500hz
6. Weight: 270g
7. Jack: ¼ inch Jack included (Moon Audio Cable has 1/8 inch jack)
8. Head Connector: twist-in 2.5mm jack
9. THD: 0.1% (1khz / 100db sound pressure level)
10. Where’s it Made: China
11. Price and Where I bought it: $120 @ Amazon

 
Sennheiser HD700:

1. Color: Anthracite / Light Gray / Black
2. Impedance: 150 Ω
3. Build: Plastic body, metal earpiece adjusters, alcantara earpads (I think), stainless mesh ear-grilles with visible driver backside
4. Driver Size: 40mm
5. Sound Range: 15hz – 40000hz (-3db); 8hz – 44000hz (-10db)
6. Weight: 270g without cable
7. Jack: ¼ inch gold plated jack, I use a Grado ¼ inch to 1/8 inch converter for PONO use
8. Head Connector: 1 2.5mm click-in headphone connector per earpiece
9. THD: 0.03%
10. Where it’s Made: Ireland
11. Price and Where I bought it: $749.99 MSRP; $425 @ B&H (before coupons and gift cards)

 
With enough variables out of the way to give this review some semblance of science, let’s compare the initial handshake that the HD700 gives. The handshake is also known as the unboxing process.
 
UNBOXING AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The HD700 comes in a rather large box with a silhouette of the HD700 on the front, and the slogan “Truly Excite Your Ears” on it. I’m not sure if this means that Sennheiser is trying to make a more “in your face” headphone meant to entice those who feel other high-end Sennheisers are more “veiled,” or if this headphone was the beginning of a new direction for Sennheiser that accepts less “reference sounding” headphones. Anywho, opening the box reveals…. ANOTHER BOX! (albeit a very nice one) This box opens on a hinge to reveal the HD700 sitting inside, surrounded by super soft foam, and the 3m kevlar-wrapped cable is kept in its own separate compartment. It’s not the crushed velvet introduction of the HD800 / HD800s, but it’s also not a handmade-in-Germany, cost-be-damned headphone. It’s one step below, but Sennheiser is still letting you know that this is a serious headphone that’s more than capable of bringing world-class performance without the exorbitant prices of its German superiors. In contrast, the HD598s came in a basic box, with blister plastic around them, but otherwise very well presented for their price point.
 
Removing the HD700s was a bit of a task at first. The foam surrounding the headphones themselves holds them very securely, but I was not expecting the headphone cables to be connected at the initial unboxing. Thankfully, the 2.5mm earpiece connectors were solidly in place, and the box itself was not compromised. I do wonder if this is how it came from the factory, or if it was a return… either way, they work, and they play nicely, so I’m content. The factory cable itself is a 3 meter (about 9.8 foot) long cable wrapped in a kevlar-like cloth. I’m not sure what the wires inside are, but they are extremely flexible and it is extremely high quality. So far, everything about this headphone seems to be up snuff for the $425 street / $750 MSRP. So I began clicking them to get them set up. Initially I tried to eyeball them to my HD598s, which I liked at 4 clicks short of maximum. I lined this up to 6 clicks past the smallest size on the HD700s. Over time, the HD700s broke in, and I found that reducing this to 5 clicks past the smallest size provided a better fit. Clamping force is light, but assured, and does not harm my glasses. Will they move? No, will they clamp? Yes. Will they clamp so hard that they’ll snap the arms off your eyeglasses? Thankfully, no. The HD598s, would clamp hard enough to bend the ear-pieces on one’s glasses, relegating a lot of its listening to glasses-less time. In contrast, the HD700s can be worn for hours with glasses with no ill effects on the glasses’ integrity.
 
My enthusiasm was dampened somewhat by the connector itself. Not due to an issue on the part of Sennheiser; they market this as a high-end, near-endgame headphone, so a long cord with a ¼ jack is justifiable, but why not throw in different cables as well? Quite a few HD700s are pressed into service on portable DAPs, so a 1.5m 1/8 termination, or an XLR balanced cable not unlike the HD800s that was released early in 2016, would be a welcome improvement for increasing its versatility out of the box. (Now ideally, I’d like a balanced cable for my PONO player, since this set of HD700s will see extensive use with it, but that’s such a niche request I can understand Sennheiser not going that route.) The HD598s come with a 3m cable, rubber coated, and also terminated into a ¼ inch jack, but presumably due to the lower impedance and subsequent greater likelihood of being used with a mobile DAP, a ¼ inch to 1/8 inch converter is included. A nice touch, but due to the length of connector that ensues with the HD598, it can put a LOT of torque on DAP connectors, and PC connectors. (NB: 2 of my sound connections were damaged by the HD598s ¼ to 1/8 inch converter mechanism that, when combined with a 10 foot cable, can easily yank connectors right off their solder points…. Be careful.)
 
However, the HD700 required a connection converter of its own, because it did not come with a 1/8 inch male jack. To this end, I put a GRADO ¼ inch to 1/8 inch converter on it. Whereas the 598’s included converter was a direct plug, the GRADO plug had a small amount of cable on it, which helped to relieve some of the torque-factor that was inherent in the 598. Unfortunately it would make the cable even more snag-prone, and only serves as a roundabout solution. OK, enough handshakes and empiricals, let’s get to the headphone behavior itself!
 
THE MUSIC EXPERIENCE
In Full Disclosure: Before I go further with this section, I do need to disclose that my music experience is based on using my HD700s in stock configuration through a PONO player. The PONO Player is a DAP that was designed by Ayre Acoustics, and much of it resembles a sort of cross-breeding between a traditional DAP (ie: iPod) and the Ayre Codex, which is a dedicated DAC / AMP that shares much of the PONO’s design, albeit in a larger and SUBSTANTIALLY more powerful form factor. The PONO has a balanced mode achieved with certain headphone / cable combinations that does allow for the player to send double the power up to the headphones, while effectively canceling out noise, but for the purpose of this review, I will limit my observations to single-ended (ie: plugging one 3.5mm jack into the player) experiences, with the volume at approximately 35 to 50% for the HD700s.
 
The initial impression of these headphones was, to put it gently, BOXY. Sure, alcantara feels nice, the body and cable and connection reek of quality, but these headphones were BOXY… the soundspace was not developed, bass was dominant, with mids and highs nowhere to be found. I decided to give the headphone a bit of “break-in time” where I wouldn’t listen, and I would return to the same track in a week to see if any progress ensued. I performed about 20 to 25 hours of break-in by leaving the PONO player charged and leaving the PONO in “mix mode” so that it could randomly pick tunes while I was at work to feed the HD700s in the hopes of “opening them up.” The test song in this case was “Good Lava” by Esperanza Spalding off of her 2016 Album “Emily’s D+Evolution.” I bought the album in 96/24 WAV from HDTracks. The listening level on the PONO was approximately 35 to 40%, accounting for the lowish DR of the song. The initial listen was all bass, and there was not a great amount of fidelity in Ms. Spalding’s voice, and the soundstage was a bit more closed in than I would have expected. I knew these were 150 ohm headphones, so they may have been a bit hard to drive. So I looked at InnerFidelity’s headphone measurement compendium for the HD700’s page (see: http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SennheiserHD700.pdf) and found that only 0.15 volts was needed to get to a 90db listening level. A bit higher than ideal for running single-ended (it should be less than .1v RMS), but not as bad as I feared.
 
After the initial break-in with the aforementioned track, I found that Ms. Spalding’s voice opened up, there were more than just pile-driving bass and drums to be found, and that the various instruments (guitar, bass, drums, backing vocals) had begun to space themselves out to where the songs did not sound as “congested” as initially. I tried a different song, “Kodachrome / Maybelline” off of Simon and Garfunkel – The Concert in Central Park, in order to move away from the bass-heavy to something a bit more folk-rock in nature. (Format: 192/24 WAV, also from HDTracks.). Whereas the HD700s absolutely crushed it with the bass-heavy fusion-cum-funk-cum-jazz of Esperanza Spalding, they presented almost an excessively heavy-handed presentation to Kodachrome that gave a wide soundspace, but over-emphasis to the bass and drums. Other songs, such as “Mrs. Robinson” and “The Sound of Silence” had an exquisitely open, yet never brittle, presentation. In comparison, the HD598s, even with the improved Blue Dragon cable, gave a very bass-light presentation to “Good Lava,” but absolutely nailed it with Simon & Garfunkel. These HD700s weren’t your traditional Sennheisers, they were bringing me back to my days as a college DJ where I ran my show with Grado RS2s into a console…. Punchy, and in your face.
 
I decided to mix things up a bit and move away from folk-rock and modern-engineered fusion-pop and geared up to my reference albums; Bob Marley: Legend (192/24 WAV), Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue (192/24 WAV), and Claudio Abbado conducting the Berlin Philharmoniker through Beethoven’s 9^th symphony (96/24 WAV). Each one gave me a varied result. Bob Marley’s Legend was a bass-heavy experience on the HD700s. I never felt wanting for more bass, and the album hit the headphones hard. At this point, I realized that the HD700s were something that the 598s were not: FAST. These headphones never stumbled over passages that melded piledriving bass lines with delicate female background vocals, nor did they fail to pick up nuances when instruments peeked in (i.e.: Jammin’) out of nowhere. This trend of picking up nuances continued with Kind of Blue. On the HD598s, the opening of “So What” had a noticeable bassline, but the HD700s revealed a more analytical mindset, picking up the bass plucks, but the sound of fingers going onto the fingerboard right before the pluck itself. My fears that the lack of treble would hurt the listening experience (as it did somewhat in the Simon and Garfunkel Central Park concert) were unfounded, as even Bill Evans’ delicate piano work was brought to the forefront. Even in “All Blues” where the piano takes a backseat to Miles’ muted trumpet, the random progression of piano that sounded like one note being pushed constantly was in actuality many notes played rapidly in a progression. The HD598s stumbled here, seemingly having to choose between muted trumpet and rapid piano, and not asserting either one.
 
Lastly, Abbado’s rendering of the 9^th symphony. I’m not going to ever say that the HD700s are the ideal “classical listening headphone,” as while they are analytical, they’re anything but reference (whereas the HD598s are not terribly analytical, but very neutral). They powerhouse through the album, and while they sacrifice some absolute top-end, they bring out the bass. On O Freunde nicht dise Tone”, the bass of the timpanis was highly emphasized, while vocals and violins somewhat subdued, although very existent. I’m not sure if this is because the DR of this album is 16, or if it’s because the glut of this album is outside of the HD700’s sweet spot. I consistently found myself having to raise the volume, only to be caught out by one of the more powerful sections (i.e.: Ode to Joy) of the movement. At the same time, it could be that the PONO is near its power limits in single-ended operation. The HD598s won out here, being grainier in delivery, but more consistent based on the available amount of power that could be sent to the headphones.
Listening to the HD700s is not like any other Sennheiser, and could be described as a cross between the analytical nature of the HD800s, and the in-yer-face nature of a Grado RS2e. It does reveal flaws and limitations in the playback media, the DAP, as well as even in the listener. At 150 ohms, it is right at the limit of what the PONO can do single-ended without any outside help. That being said, they have become my #1 go-to headphone for music listening, and won out over the HD800 and HD800s when I went to buy them.
 
SO WHERE FROM HERE?! (AND WHY OVER THE HD800?!)
I will wrap up this review by answering the second question first. To be blunt, the HD800 is a WONDERFUL headphone, analytical, and more than capable of bringing out the best of your DAP and DAC / AMP setups when configured right. However, with Rock Music, or any DAC / AMP combo, it becomes the headphone equivalent of Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory. Wickedly intelligent, yet incapable of not talking about quantum physics even at a beer bash. It is so open and revealing the sound almost appears distended. The HD700s, on the other hand, proved to be adept at classical music, providing enough soundspace to be enjoyable, yet not sounding distended when listening to rock and roll. It showed the limitations of low DR / poorly mastered albums, and still allowed the reference works plenty of space to show off why they are considered reference material.
 
The first question is not as easy to answer. The PONO is amazing with the HD700, but I feel is pushed to its limits powerwise. Additionally, in the brief attempts with my computer, the HD700s never felt fully powered. I may take two steps to rectify this: A balanced cable for the PONO to allow for more power to hit the HD700s (and possibly opening the sound up even more and getting rid of some fidelity issues), and getting a dac / amp setup to plug into my computer to allow for even more power than the PONO could ever provide to get to the HD700s. Whether I go with a combo such as the Ayre CODEX, or some sort of dac / amp combo remains to be seen, but the HD700 is a great headphone, isn’t terribly picky, but just needs some extra power to really make it shine.
 
9/10.
 

After building a very exotic valve headphone amp, with a Sophia Mesh Plate Rec. tube, I wanted to match this thermionic marvel with REAL quality phones. I have a pair of AT ATH700 Airs which I love and think excellent value for $160. I also have my "train" pair of Phiaton 400s with their closed back. The Phiatons are good but the ATs much better. I Googled for the "best headphones" the the answer came back "Sennheiser HD700s". Too many good reviews to ignore them and at around the $1K mark I must have a pair. RRP for these pro. phones is $1,100. Even on eBay they were going for $1,050. But shopping about I picked up an authentic new pair for $750. At $750 these are a steel. I'd pay $750 just for the foam padded box they came in. The HD700s are made in Germany and feel solid and very profession. And that's just how they sound. Rated 150ohms and 105db efficient these are easy to drive phones.
 
But lets talk about the sound. Firstly the bass is very extended but far from overblown like so many cheaper phones can be. Bass is very articulated and no problems following a slap bass (doubled bass) being played with gusto. You can hear inside the bass and the air around it. Mids are linear, clean and harmonically rich particularly through the valve HP amp. I could understand if some think them a little dry because they really add nothing to the mids where some might want extra weight here. Treble is balanced and not over bright and sibilance is controlled but not overly so. They may be a tough too much "sshhh" and not so much "S". Again a different amp may offer a different balance.
 
I would thoroughly recommend the Sennheiser HD700 even if you pay full price. These phones are keepers for the at home serious listener. To achieve the very best from them match them a high quality amp\driver and play REAL music through them not compressed mp3 sound files. These phones are why we listen to music the way we do.

 

 
 
Just adding a quick summary based on my time with the prototype version of the HD700. In my opinion this is a very good headphone, yet I know it won't be perfect for everybody. But no headphone ever is!
 
It basically takes the HD800 sound, reduces the treble energy to some degree, and possibly bumps up the bass impact a tad. Either that or it just seems that way due to the treble balance. Since mine was a prototype version, there is a chance that the final sound will change. Therefore I'll be speaking in generalities. I know for sure that there will be updates to the headband to offer more padding. Despite that, I already found the HD700 to be supremely comfortable. Maybe it is just my head being the perfect size for them, but I think these are the most comfy headphones I've ever worn. Revised padding shouldn't change that, and if anything will make it even better.
 
Sound:
 
As mentioned above, these have a similar overall tone to the HD800. If you despised the HD800 then the HD700 probably won't win you back. But for some people this might be perfect. Maybe you loved the HD800 but couldn't afford it. Or maybe you could afford the HD800 alone but not the quality amplification it requires. Or maybe you loved the HD800 clarity and soundstage but couldn't quite get over the lightness of the bass in relation to the treble. The HD700 addresses all of those issues to some degree:
 

1. At $999, it isn't cheap, but still quite a bit less than the $1500 HD800
2. It seems significantly easier to drive. Not only that, but it seems less "picky" about amplification, pairing fairly well with almost anything I threw at it. This might be partially due to the less tipped-up sound signature in general. 
3. It has a somewhat more "mainstream" ratio of bass to treble. By that I mean the treble is shelved down by a noticeable amount (though still prominent - this is no HD650). So while the best sound still comes by way of Diana Krall style "audiophile" tracks, you can comfortably play some Steve Miller Band and not feel like the bass is too shy. I know that many people find the HD800 perfect in this regard - but we have to recognize that many others do not. 

 
Is this headphone actually better than the HD800? Not exactly. The HD800 still has superior imaging and soundstage, though the HD700 comes rather close. The HD800 still has better details. And on the proper rig, I think the HD800 is just a more transparent window into the music. But the HD700 comes close in many ways, and doesn't take as much to get there in terms of source and amplification. I think it could be a better match for more people and more systems.
 
It isn't the perfect headphone. There is an issue with sibilance in some tracks. In other cases the highs can be peaky and sharp. The plastic construction, while extremely light weight and comfortable, will be fundamentally disappointing to some users. And in the end some folks will still find them too bass light. There is strong competition from planar models like the HE-500 and LCD-2, though in my opinion the HD700 is roughly as good as those (though obviously different). The HE-500 manages to undercut the HD700 by $300, which can't be ignored.
 
Take all this discussion with a huge grain of salt - these are not yet finalized, and could have some significant changes before they come to market in a few months. A big determining factor will be the manner in which Sennheiser handles their sales: if retailers are forced to strictly enforce the MSRP, I believe there will be less interest. But if the "street price" drops to around $800-something I believe they will become extremely popular. Either way I believe HeadFi will be buzzing about the HD700, for better or worse, for some time.
 
And now some eye candy:
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

The HD700 has been on the market for some time now, so most of its strengths and weaknesses have long since been covered. To my ears, this is one of the strangest headphones out there, and so I’ll try to explain why this product is so polarizing.


First off, Sennheiser is a giant in the world of HiFi headphones. There one of the older manufacturers, and they produce some of the most coveted headphones on the planet. Seriously, they make the benchmarks that all other headphones are measured by. Many of their products have been on the market for decades, and they’re still at the top of most people recommendation list. So why are the HD700s regarded so poorly?


The answer to that question is the subjective nature of our perception of sound. Our ear are all unique, and so are our taste. Some folks like cherry jelly beans, and others like those foul black ones. Some folks like Taylor Swift, and others Beethoven. While a few of us like one thing or the other, most of us are somewhere in between. Our tastes are broad. In my opinion the HD700 was not made for broad tastes. It serves a very limited slice of preference. If your likes fit into what it’s serving, you’re in for a treat, otherwise your going to despise the 700s.


After trying every type of genre, I feel fairly confident saying that the HD700 works best with instrumental music. Music made with real instruments that are not enhanced or synthetic. Genres like Classical and Jazz are a dream on these things. Genres where the vocals are the focus fall short.


All this comes from the sound signature Sennheiser has built into the 700s. The one thing that has confused me with 700s is they seem to shift in quality based on what genre or even song within a genre I’m listening to. One minute I’ll think these things are terrible, and then when the next song comes up, I think I’m hearing sonic greatness. It’s strange.



Before we dive into sound though, let’s talk about build and comfort. In this category the HD700 is in a league all by itself. Especially for the sub $500 price. All the material are high-quality. Much nicer than what’s found in the HD6xx line. The construction is primarily plastic, but it still feels premium. The weight is blissfully light, and it’s easy to forget you’re wearing them. The clamping pressure feel is almost non-existent. The ear pads are soft and plush, and the ear cups are enormous. Just about about any ear shape or size should be accommodated. About the only complaint I have is with the cord, which is well made and braided, but too stiff and thick. It feels very durable, but it often gets in the way, and I would probably replace it if I was going to own a pair of these.


Lows:

The low end is punchy, but it doesn’t dig deep into the sub bass frequencies. It rolls off like most dynamics. With the bass, the graphs all show a slight bass extension, but with the way the treble is presented, I hardly notice. I found it adequate to render instruments accurately, but nothing beyond that. It’s quick, and detailed, but it’s not full and rich.


Highs:

The treble on HD700 is superb! That is if you enjoy sharp treble, which I do. I want to hear all the detail of my music, and in this area HD700 does not disappoint. It’s a very capable headphone, and the driver provide holographic imagine. Seriously, it’s an experience. These things are very positional, and even though the sound stage is not enormous like the HD800, it’s still much larger then the HD6xx models. They’re so detailed that it actually works against them on some recordings. If a live recording as a little noise in the microphone you hear it. It’s not subtle, and sometimes it becomes so distracting it’s hard to appreciate the music you’re listening to. Still, it’s impressive how resolving these things are. They may lack all the attributes required for a complete HiFi package, but when it comes to detail they are very competitive at any price point. If unrelenting detail is what you’re after, you will be pleased with HD700.


So what’s wrong with it? The problem stems from dip( more like a hole) in the response from 1k to 4k. This makes vocals seem distant and thin. All the smooth vocal presence that the HD600 is famous for, is completely missing here. I suspect, when most people try to raise the volume in order to hear the vocals, they end up pushing the treble to uncomfortable levels. Like I said before though, if you’re listening to instrumental music, you’ll never notice what’s missing.




Can you fix them with EQ? I couldn’t. Nothing I did seemed to bring the sounds of HD700 back into balance. These things are an acquired taste




Comparisons


HD 600

Vocals on the 600 are much better than the 700. This is not because of a lack of clarity. It’s because the position of the vocals. They’re upfront with the 600s, and recessed with the 700s. From the graphs you might think that the 700s have more bass, and perhaps they do. I hear more with the 600s though, this is probably due to the excellent mid-bass of the 600s.


Audeze LCD2.2

There’s really no comparison between these two. LCD2 is a far superior headphone. The bass of the 700 is not even in the same league of the LCD2. The highs are much more pronounced on the 700s, but they’re sweeter and easier to listen to on the Audeze set. The two areas where you might prefer the 700s are in sound stage and comfort. In these areas the 700s are the winner.


Hifiman HE560


I would say that the HE560 is much more musical, and it definitely has deeper bass response. That said, I may prefer the 700, as its detail is so much better.

Let me begin by saying there is nothing special about these headphones.  My first impression of them made me smile because I fell in love with the oral shaped ear cups (I'm a sucker for "small" full ear headphones). Comfort is a highlight that sennheiser did not lose when they made these headphones. But when your paying $1000 dollars on headphones comfort shouldn't sway you from giving up large gapes of audio quality.  Which leads me to audio quality, if the only headphone drivers that existed were still dynamic drivers then this would have a great success for sennheiser. (Note I burned them in 6 hrs a day until roughly 250hrs) The best way to describe these headphones would be to call them average(neutral a good thing for studio) with plenty of warmth and a bit of harsh treble (not good for studio).  A big con is the pain it can create in your ears if you listen to songs with lots of T's and S's. Some characterizes of headphones in the 300-500 dollar beat these headphones.  And stiff competition such as the Audeze Lcd 2 and even hifiman he500 (that are hundreds less) make these headphones a rip off to some extent if your in the market of hifi headphones that are in the warm side.

Sennheiser HD700: Mini Review



Build quality and comfort:

Just by the looks and holding one at your hand, one can guess that this is not a headphone designed for the price range it is now. HD700 has this same futuristic design as it's big brother HD800. It's just smaller in size but the family resemblance is there. Can't argue with the design. Ear cups are shaped like an ear, not round, triangle or oval.



I actually find hd 700 to be more comfortable than hd 800. HD800 is quite a bulky beast. It engulfes most of my head and feels quite intrusive even. Suede on HD 700 might not match luxury of alcantara on hd800 but it is very high quality and extremely pleasent against skin.



On some aspects I even find hd700 to be superior to hd800. HD800 has exotic lemo connectors where as hd700 uses more traditional 2.5mm X 2 to 6.3mm connection. HD700 cable is more common, so spares don't cost as much. And when you actually take a look, HD700 cable looks better. Plug has some design effort going on and the Y-splitter has some details too. Quite funny how they neglected this aspect with HD800. However I find HD800 cable to be more convenient, it just somehow rolls better into a circle and is easier to store.




For design and comfort HD700 is best in it's class. I can't find anything bad about it. It is light, it is comfortable and about equal to it's a lot more expensive big brother.





Sound Quality:

Let's take a listen. First thing that I pay attention with hd700 is the soundstage. Surely it can't match hd800 somewhat legendary soundstage. However among it's similarly priced peers hd700 soundstage is very good. Imaging is accurate but not to the level of Brainwavz alara or Hifiman Sundara in my opinion. HD700 does easily beat both when talking about the soundstage size though.



Bass on HD700 is tight and precise but it does roll of too early. I't starts rolling of after 100hz which is unaccebtable performance if compared to planars or better dynamics in this prize range. What bass is there, is tight and punchy but it just lacks presence.



With the midrange hd700 has some issues too. Gradyally downwards sloping response gives the mids some body but it does that to an extent it becomes a bit too dark.



Highs are notorius for their peakyness. And it is true. Treble peak around 7khz region makes these allmost unbearable with some recordings.

Here is hd700 frequency response measured with hd650 for comparison. That peak on hd650 measurement is not there in reality. It's a measurement glitch.




Conclusions:


I won't go into further detail because at this point it is clear, that Sennheiser dropped ball on this one. HD700 does not have the bass to please the bass crowd. Mids are quite laid back and have nice smoot tone to them which is killed by the treble peak. Someone said that HD700 is a combination of what is wrong with HD650 and HD800 and I have to agree. I't takes some effort to make a headphone that is bass light, dark and exceedingly bright. With it's original msrp of about $900 HD700 is a bad joke. Now that they cost about 1/3 of the original price, I still can't recommend them. Even if one wants a headphone with treble peak HD700 would not be my first choice. Beyerdynamic DT1990 has that traditional peaky beyer treble but it also is a better headphone than HD700. Only if build quality and comfort is an utmost priority only then HD700 is something to consider.

At the San Francisco Bay Area Head-Fi meet this afternoon I met one of the guys behind the Woo Audio tables, who encouraged me to try my old AKG K-340 on the Woo WA7 amp at the table. He said he owns several AKG models himself including the K-340 and assured me it would perform very well. He tuned the source to a piece from Prokofiev's ballet Romeo & Juliet that has BIG powerful deep bass passages. I have seen and heard this ballet live in San Francisco several times so I know the effect of the particular scene in the opera house. The whole orchestra from top to bottom sounded terrific on the K-340, even the high strings which are usually the weak link (they typically sound scratchy.on my home system, which apart from the phones is not very good (old Yamaha receiver instead of a proper amp).
 
Then out of casual curiosity I plugged in a set of other phones that was lying next to the amp, which turned out to be the Sennheiser HD 700. I was taken aback. The sound was completely different. The orchestral instruments did not sound faithful at all. Lots of distortion high and low, some instruments unrecognizable. I wondered why the Woo staff would lay out such a cheap headphone to test their sophisticated equipment. Then later I looked up the price -- MSP $1000 and street price around $500. 
 
This was not a rigorous test, just a side by side comparison impression of two very dissimilar headphones on the same music and amp. But the proof is in the hearing. Anybody considering a purchase of this phone (or any other serious one, for that matter), should do his own careful research first-hand.

Personally I don't like it, but I can see why other people may.
For a broader angle drier approach to these see: http://www.head-fi.org/t/614011/sennheiser-hd700-review