bharat2580
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2014
- Posts
- 414
- Likes
- 56
During Christmas holidays, I was wandering in Brno (CZ) and came across a store with a great collection of Headphones and Audio equipment, I was and still am in the market for a desktop amp to run my gear, well i am still looking for something which would complement the gear i own.
So i came across this store called Audiogo.cz. They have a wonderful website and amazing customer service, its a small store but i was welcomed by guys who know about what they are doing, i was precise with my intentions and asked for the amps i was interested in, sadly not everything was in stock,
well the good thing was that there were 100+ headphones for display and what better place to have everything at one place and finally i could compare the ones i always wanted to hear or buy to the ones i already own.
The collection is to my point good enough and no harm saying they stock almost 85% of the Headphones available on the market.
I was soon made comfortable on a nice comfy sofa accompanied by my girlfriend who had no interest in any of the stuff and wanted to get out as soon as possible, but well a man wants what he wants.
There test setup had a Burson Conductor and a DAC (no clue what) I was also provided a AK 100 II which i connected to the Conductor as Line in to do all my testing Since i know the character of the AK 100 II
Its a pity i left my DX90 home and was not carrying it that time.
Well i picked 2 tracks from the small collection the AK already had, one being 'get lucky daft punk' and the other a 'Classical orchestra' (don't really remember the name but there were lot of violins and bass)
1. To start with the amp the Conductor is a really good looking piece of equipment and i have very less experience or sonic memories of amps in general i have a O2 and a LD mk III and yes a Fiio E11 which i use at times with almost everything.
To me the Conductor dint have a taste of its own it just put everything the AK threw in the best possible way there was nothing special about the soundstage or separation or layering but i could not pick out something out of the place, it was clean with distinctive SS character and with plenty power. Loved the Numeric blue display.
2. HD700
I always wanted to hear the HD 700 as i dint see it at the Vienna meets which i regularly visit, and don't really come across it often in forums here, though deep down i always liked the design and that was the first headphone i wanted to try,
I just played what ever the AK had on it, sat down closed my eyes and just enjoyed the music, i was lucky it was extremely quiet in that part of the store.
The HD700 felt light, comfortable, modern and open thats what i will say coming from a HD650,
I always had this in mind that the 700 is bright and lacks bass but WOW the base had slam which the 650 can't replicate the treble maybe a point or two above what i might like. but spot on the mids spot on maybe better suited to female vocals.
I was really impressed and almost cursed my 650s for being so smooth and said back.
its a matured, technically better, comfortable, a bit cold/analytical, great separation and soundstage the hd650 does not have the tech to reproduce the sound the 700 can, though i also enjoy how the 650s sound they are sublime easy going and smooth.
the 700 cable looked and felt sturdy, durable and well made.
3.HD600
The next was the HD600 which was on my mind when i got the 650 and its still there, The 600 when plugged in was flat, neutral a bit bright then my 650, laid back, smoother and a class below the 700 but a great headphone to listen to for hours. The 700 had me alert its like flying shotgun in a mig29 doing loops and rolls and the 600 was like cruising at mach .8 in a 787 Dreamliner.
compared to my 650 it lacked the bass and the dark lushness, but it was neutral and not so warm as the 650 which is a good thing here when compared to the new generation the 600 is bit laid back and slow.
4.Hifiman HE400s
this was the fist planner which i actually spent a lot of time with and could listen to in a really quiet environment and use similar equipment to compare.
they were comfortable and i enjoyed the seal and the way they stayed on the ears not heavy at all.
as soon as i pressed play i was impressed, the thing has something which all the other cans i tested lacked its efficient, effortless and fast, the 400s were smooth, good treble a bit rolled off good bass but the 700 did better.
700 vs the 400s is like the 700 is matured, superior and does things in a special way the bass is spot on, comfort, style it has it all.
the 400s has something which the 700 do not, its like the same chassis but the 400s have a v12 and the 700 having a turbo 4 cylinder.
the 400s are effortless ,lush its so easy for them to do what the others have a hard time doing, it did not have the matured and technically superiority like the 700 but i would be happy with it if it was a bit open, bright and with some character and thats why i ordered the 400i 3 days after this.
the cable was impressive too nicely wrapped in fabric i guess it was white and black if i remember correct but a good change form the rubber ones.
5. Grado 325
the store guy recommended me the grados but i was not so interested and he said thats the best for the price, well i did listen to him,
first thing to notice was a hiss, i don't know if that was the cable or some defect,
the sound was to my ears not so matured, it was a tier or 2 down the rest i would compare it to the m50 or something similar rather then the 600,700 or the he400s
i just dint like the sound signature, bold mids and good mid bass but overall no finesse and not neutral to me, not comfortable and not happy with the way it sits on the ear.
6. HD650
Now time to hear what i already had and was familiar with, well it all looked familiar until i pressed play,
Shocked, yes the sound was dull no charm as if someone put a 1k resister between the headphone and the amp.
i checked the cable and the pressed play again, same thing, i was sad at first but then after putting everything on again there was something wrong, the unit might have been defective or it had something to do with the year it was built, from what i remember the unit i got somewhere in 2014-15 was amazing i loved the way the 650s sound.
I called it a day, could have spent all day putting on almost everything using the same tracks and AB ing them all, but my girlfriend was getting impatient had to leave.
Conclusion : i was really impressed by the HD700 and the Hifiman He400s, what the 400s are able to do at $299 is truly remarkable.
and i ordered the 400i following this review.
the 600 and the 650 are still there and compete head to head with the new guys but there is so much more in terms of tech which the new cans benefit from. One can easily listen to all genres with any of the cans and be happy all life,
If i had to choose ill get the HD700 from the bunch, it kept the 600/650 character and did things better, did things the 201x way and not the 199x. thats how i will put the change.
So i came across this store called Audiogo.cz. They have a wonderful website and amazing customer service, its a small store but i was welcomed by guys who know about what they are doing, i was precise with my intentions and asked for the amps i was interested in, sadly not everything was in stock,
well the good thing was that there were 100+ headphones for display and what better place to have everything at one place and finally i could compare the ones i always wanted to hear or buy to the ones i already own.
The collection is to my point good enough and no harm saying they stock almost 85% of the Headphones available on the market.
I was soon made comfortable on a nice comfy sofa accompanied by my girlfriend who had no interest in any of the stuff and wanted to get out as soon as possible, but well a man wants what he wants.
There test setup had a Burson Conductor and a DAC (no clue what) I was also provided a AK 100 II which i connected to the Conductor as Line in to do all my testing Since i know the character of the AK 100 II
Its a pity i left my DX90 home and was not carrying it that time.
Well i picked 2 tracks from the small collection the AK already had, one being 'get lucky daft punk' and the other a 'Classical orchestra' (don't really remember the name but there were lot of violins and bass)
1. To start with the amp the Conductor is a really good looking piece of equipment and i have very less experience or sonic memories of amps in general i have a O2 and a LD mk III and yes a Fiio E11 which i use at times with almost everything.
To me the Conductor dint have a taste of its own it just put everything the AK threw in the best possible way there was nothing special about the soundstage or separation or layering but i could not pick out something out of the place, it was clean with distinctive SS character and with plenty power. Loved the Numeric blue display.
2. HD700
I always wanted to hear the HD 700 as i dint see it at the Vienna meets which i regularly visit, and don't really come across it often in forums here, though deep down i always liked the design and that was the first headphone i wanted to try,
I just played what ever the AK had on it, sat down closed my eyes and just enjoyed the music, i was lucky it was extremely quiet in that part of the store.
The HD700 felt light, comfortable, modern and open thats what i will say coming from a HD650,
I always had this in mind that the 700 is bright and lacks bass but WOW the base had slam which the 650 can't replicate the treble maybe a point or two above what i might like. but spot on the mids spot on maybe better suited to female vocals.
I was really impressed and almost cursed my 650s for being so smooth and said back.
its a matured, technically better, comfortable, a bit cold/analytical, great separation and soundstage the hd650 does not have the tech to reproduce the sound the 700 can, though i also enjoy how the 650s sound they are sublime easy going and smooth.
the 700 cable looked and felt sturdy, durable and well made.
3.HD600
The next was the HD600 which was on my mind when i got the 650 and its still there, The 600 when plugged in was flat, neutral a bit bright then my 650, laid back, smoother and a class below the 700 but a great headphone to listen to for hours. The 700 had me alert its like flying shotgun in a mig29 doing loops and rolls and the 600 was like cruising at mach .8 in a 787 Dreamliner.
compared to my 650 it lacked the bass and the dark lushness, but it was neutral and not so warm as the 650 which is a good thing here when compared to the new generation the 600 is bit laid back and slow.
4.Hifiman HE400s
this was the fist planner which i actually spent a lot of time with and could listen to in a really quiet environment and use similar equipment to compare.
they were comfortable and i enjoyed the seal and the way they stayed on the ears not heavy at all.
as soon as i pressed play i was impressed, the thing has something which all the other cans i tested lacked its efficient, effortless and fast, the 400s were smooth, good treble a bit rolled off good bass but the 700 did better.
700 vs the 400s is like the 700 is matured, superior and does things in a special way the bass is spot on, comfort, style it has it all.
the 400s has something which the 700 do not, its like the same chassis but the 400s have a v12 and the 700 having a turbo 4 cylinder.
the 400s are effortless ,lush its so easy for them to do what the others have a hard time doing, it did not have the matured and technically superiority like the 700 but i would be happy with it if it was a bit open, bright and with some character and thats why i ordered the 400i 3 days after this.
the cable was impressive too nicely wrapped in fabric i guess it was white and black if i remember correct but a good change form the rubber ones.
5. Grado 325
the store guy recommended me the grados but i was not so interested and he said thats the best for the price, well i did listen to him,
first thing to notice was a hiss, i don't know if that was the cable or some defect,
the sound was to my ears not so matured, it was a tier or 2 down the rest i would compare it to the m50 or something similar rather then the 600,700 or the he400s
i just dint like the sound signature, bold mids and good mid bass but overall no finesse and not neutral to me, not comfortable and not happy with the way it sits on the ear.
6. HD650
Now time to hear what i already had and was familiar with, well it all looked familiar until i pressed play,
Shocked, yes the sound was dull no charm as if someone put a 1k resister between the headphone and the amp.
i checked the cable and the pressed play again, same thing, i was sad at first but then after putting everything on again there was something wrong, the unit might have been defective or it had something to do with the year it was built, from what i remember the unit i got somewhere in 2014-15 was amazing i loved the way the 650s sound.
I called it a day, could have spent all day putting on almost everything using the same tracks and AB ing them all, but my girlfriend was getting impatient had to leave.
Conclusion : i was really impressed by the HD700 and the Hifiman He400s, what the 400s are able to do at $299 is truly remarkable.
and i ordered the 400i following this review.
the 600 and the 650 are still there and compete head to head with the new guys but there is so much more in terms of tech which the new cans benefit from. One can easily listen to all genres with any of the cans and be happy all life,
If i had to choose ill get the HD700 from the bunch, it kept the 600/650 character and did things better, did things the 201x way and not the 199x. thats how i will put the change.
