I was looking for a headphone that I could listen to continuously throughout the day and get me through college without any fatigue.

The Stax SR-L700 are being run by a Stax SRM-252II and a Schiit Modi 2 (with my eyes on a MHDT Lab Orchid DAC). The SRM-252II drives them more than loud enough, there isn’t any distortion at high volumes nor any channel imbalance. I also listen to pretty much every genre and they work well with it all (I actually appreciate rap producers alot more now with these headphones, as there is alot more going on in the background production-wise than I thought).

The build is not as bad as everybody makes it out to be. Just be careful as you should with any headphones and they’ll last you a lifetime.

Honestly I was unimpressed for the first two days that I had the SR-L700, but then as I got to listening to more and more music I realized that they are in fact amazing. You simply cannot imagine the treble; it is so different from any other headphone. It is so non-fatiguing as there is no resonance to excite the treble in music. The same occurs with the bass, there is no distortion to produce any form of resonance, so everything just comes off very smooth, non-fatiguing and clear. These headphones can seem a bit bass-light, lean, and lacking impact, but I honestly think it makes it more fatigue-free that way. Between the lack of air being forced into your ears, there being no ringing at all, and the sound being almost too fast, you simply don’t get auditory fatigue. Add the fact that they are very comfortable, and you have a headphone that you can listen to all day without any discomfort.

The smoothness and lack of impact will definately turn many off of these headphones, as they lack the slam and texture of other headphones. Even with my very basic amp/dac setup, these headphones are fatigue-free. I am simply looking towards the MHDT dac to give more body and dimensionality to the sound (essentially making digital more analog-sounding). They are also not forward, so everything gets pushed back just enough for you to stretch out, breathe, relax, and take in.

They are super clear and allowed me to hear ALOT of things I never heard before in my playlists, and the imaging and soundstage are pretty good. They remind me alot of my JBL LSR308’s; they are that smooth and natural sounding. The thing though, is that they are so revealing that I can hear all the errors in the music when it comes to the production side of things, like tape malfunctions, overloaded levels, off-centered vocals, etc, and that can get a little annoying (it makes you realize just how rare a genuinely well-produced and dynamic recording really is).

To sum this up, if you are looking for a pair of headphones that are fatigue-free, comfortable, super clear, and thus enjoyable, these are the way to go.

Hello!  Alrighty, so I decided to purchase these specific headphones for a number of reasons. First, I mainly listen to 60's rock (Beatles, Dylan, Creedence, Doors, Hendrix, Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Velvet Underground, Zeppelin, Stones, Pink Floyd) and these suit that music perfectly. The reason is because it is a dynamic type of headphone and no other headphone no matter how sophisticated and high tech can give you the slam, energy, impact, and just raw power of a dynamic headphone. Second Grado is already known for being the best headphones for rock music no matter the headphone. Third Grado has models ranging from about $80 to $1700 but I find these to be the best for rock music, the reasoning is because the plastic models just sound dull, the wooden ones sound too smooth and soft (you want some aggressiveness when you listen to rock) and because of the L-cush pads they bring in a more intimate soundstage as if you are right in front of the band rather than the G-cush which makes it like you are a couple of rows from the stage. I personally love that big bold aggressive sound that is in your face because you just want to crank it up and jam. Ok so now some recommendations, I paired these headphones with the Schiit Magni 2 amp and Modi 2 DAC (which by the way is great because the whole setup is made in USA and the silver tone colors of all three components just make it look so sleek and industrial grade, which by the way they are all built like tanks) and again the reasoning for this is because I find solid state to give more impact, energy, slam and aggressiveness that tubes just cant do as well. This setup is natural and less digital sounding, it is smooth but never soft, and never fatiguing.I highly recommend to break in this setup at a little higher than normal volume overnight for 10 hours a day until you get to 100 hours with the Schiit stack too because it makes the sound way smoother, it is real, absolutely for Grados, maybe not for other headphones but for these, 100% certain. The trebles extends higher but gets smooth, the bass extends deeper and gets tighter and smoother, the midrange gets more vivid and the soundstage opens up more.