[391647]

I recently bought a sennheiser HD 700, and I am truly loving it, except for one thing: sibilance. Now I dont really blame this on these headphones, I had it with my Momentums too, which reportedly were sibilance free... Yeah... 
 
So I was wondering, is getting a dark sounding amp a way to get rid of this. If so, what amp would be suitable for this?

 

[benthughes]

I also own a pair of HD700s. They are indeed great but can make bad audio sound pretty awful. Get a versatile amp that'll cover your needs in terms of inputs/outputs , built in DAC ect. and don't be afraid of EQ. The HD700 has a couple of spikes that can be EQed out a bit or softened with a preset from an iPod for example.

I'm currently using an iPad, HRT istreamer into a fiio E9. It sounds pretty good but I'd like to upgrade my amp to a matrix m-stage, some flavor of Audio GD or Objective 2.

 

[391647]

Well, I tried to follow some advanced EQ tutorial here on this forum, but it is way too technical for me, and the software it uses is just out of date. Also I found EQ to degrade sound quality, so that's why I was hoping to get an amp to solve the problem. I don't see why headphone amps do not have trebble and bass knobs anyway.

 

[benthughes]

There's a good thread on here about the HD700 and details where those frequency spikes are. That'd be a good starting point.

As for why no EQ on most headphone amps. Generally if you have a treble/mid/bass EQ scheme the designer has to pick a center frequency and sweep which may not work for all headphones. Usually EQ would be don't from the source. I could be completely wrong here. Some of my headphones have a warmer tilt to them so EQ points that work for the HD70 may not be great for them. My Fiio E17 had bass and treble controls that seem to work pretty well as a one size fits all EQ solution although I do prefer full size desktop amps for general listening.

As for dark sounding amps, maybe go the tube route or look into a hybrid. They'll generally have a higher output impedance which will be fine with the HD700 but may not jive with more sensitive, lower impedance headphones depending on the build.

 

[sling5s]

V200 or tube amps

 

[391647]

V200 or tube amps

What's the thing with tube amps anyway? I don't quite get how they 'work'.

 

[Infoseeker]

Just know that tube amps will give a darker sound. And will give a better bass response.
 
 
Tube amps would be perfect as you solution.
 
If you are determined for a solid state amp. The Pico DAC/AMP is known for having a warm influence to its sound: http://www.headamp.com/pico/pico_dac_amp/index.htm
Specifically the original Pico DAC/Amp model, the newer slim model wouldn't fit your request.