[m0ofassa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Willett /img/forum/go_quote.gif Please can I correct this /snip

what if I had said no?

Thanks for the information though. Sennheisers have not been a favourite of mine for trance since I first heard them

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

I have a pair of silver plated copper cabled AD900 with internal dampening and they are very nice, but they lack the detail of the HD600 or AD2000, while the AD2000 have a more forward and aggressive soundstage than the AD900 or HD600. The AD900 are a musically pleasing headphone but not as accurate and refined as the HD600, but they are still a great mid-fi headphone (mine sound like Plaidplatypus's AD900 Ltd).

The HD600 are not slow, but with the wrong amp or no amp they CAN sound dull and flat or lifeless. But give them proper amplification and can rock out. Proper amplification does not always mean expensive if the amp and HD600 have good synergy - a $99 vividaudiotech V1 portable with trance and electronic music can crush your skull with the HD600 and power them better than some $500 portable amps. But it might take a $1000 balanced amp to transparently re-create a live jazz or classical performance for you with the HD600.

The cable definitely holds back the HD600 as well, and they have less transparency and sparkle and life with the stock cable vs an upgraded cable - even the HD650 cable is an upgrade. I did not feel the actual HD650 headphones were an upgrade though.

 

[mbd2884]

I think "upgrade" is the wrong word transitioning from AD700 to the HD600. Seems very apparent they are very different headphones with different SQ. It will be more a change or an addition to your headphone collection, won't replace the sound of the AD700s. Meaning you would still use the AD700s along with the HD600 depending on your mood.

At least that's my take. I like HeadphoneAddicts recent post here.

 

[donunus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have a pair of silver plated copper cabled AD900 with internal dampening and they are very nice, but they lack the detail of the HD600 or AD2000, while the AD2000 have a more forward and aggressive soundstage than the AD900 or HD600. The AD900 are a musically pleasing headphone but not as accurate and refined as the HD600, but they are still a great mid-fi headphone (mine sound like Plaidplatypus's AD900 Ltd). The HD600 are not slow, but with the wrong amp or no amp they CAN sound dull and flat or lifeless. But give them proper amplification and can rock out. Proper amplification does not always mean expensive if the amp and HD600 have good synergy - a $99 vividaudiotech V1 portable with trance and electronic music can crush your skull with the HD600 and power them better than some $500 portable amps. But it might take a $1000 balanced amp to transparently re-create a live jazz or classical performance for you with the HD600. The cable definitely holds back the HD600 as well, and they have less transparency and sparkle and life with the stock cable vs an upgraded cable - even the HD650 cable is an upgrade. I did not feel the actual HD650 headphones were an upgrade though.

Are you sure you are talking about the ad900 and not the a900 since you mention an ad900 ltd which doesn't exist

 

[nhat_thanh]

Hmm i think a pair Larry mentioned is A900 LTD as well

If you go to HD600 from AD700, that would be an upgrade (not significant) with very different flavor IMO. However, I do think that if you pair the HD600 with great amp, they will outperform the AD700. Actually I'm thinking of getting a pair of HD600 or 650 now, hehe, should pair nicely with my AD2000

Some previous posts have points out the different between them, now all is up to you OP

 

[scytheavatar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iareConfusE /img/forum/go_quote.gif Okay, I've searched google, searched multiple times on Head-Fi and I'm still unsure. I know that what sounds good to one person may sound not so pleasant to another, but I would just like to know, generally, how these two compare, or contrast. I currently own the AD700's as my first real pair of cans, and I don't have anything to compare them to except some HD280s. I've recently acquired some extra money, and the thought of upgrading to the HD600's have popped into my head a couple times. I don't want to go any higher than this, because thats just too much of a hit on my wallet. I'd like to know if the soundstage of the HD600's are as wide as the AD700's, and if the sound quality (in your opinions) of the 600's are significantly better than the AD700. I do realize that the HD600's will be much harder to drive, and I will be making an amp in the near future. I listen mostly to trance music, but occasionally listen to all other types of music as well. Most people have said that AD700's bass is too weak, but I found that with the right amp I can get some pretty heavy, non-distorted bass out of them. So, can anyone tell me if the HD600's are right for me?

If you are looking for an upgrade to the AD700 that's not as expensive as the AD2000, I'll recommend the SA5000. It's more similar to the AD700 than the HD600.

But if you found the AD700 to be everything you are looking for, save up for the AD2000. It's worth every single cent.

 

[sheep duck]

sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but this is the exact question ive been asking myself lately. i havent had my ad700's TOO long, only a couple of months, but ive been looking into possibly getting the hd600's. not necessarily because i'm unhappy with the ad700's, just because i'm looking for something more. i currently am using an e7/e9 combo right now, my take on it is that i can actually put the hd600's to use, whereas i think the ad700's get almost nothing out of my amp.
 
comments or input on my situation?

 

[Ze_Blitzkrieg]

Fairly big bump there. . .but just my two cents is that the AD700 would be getting much more juice from the E9 than the HD600's.  Also, from my own personal experience the HD600's gain absolutely nothing from the E9 in particular, mainly due to the fact that it is a solid state (SS) amp which they do not put out much power at the upper end of the impedance range (HD600 = 300Ω's).  The HD600's will work better with tube amps I am guessing since they are somewhat the inverse of SS amps from what I understand. (Someone correct me here if I am wrong)  Basically, beyond having additional volume, the E9 adds absolutely nothing to the HD600's. . .and proper amplification is not about being able to play your headphones loud enough, but rather letting them sing to their designed potential.
 
Now, having said all of that. . .the AD700's are one of the worst sounding headphones I have ever tried in basically every single department.  I found them absolutely worthless (not trying to make you feel bad here, sorry) and would say that with no amplification at all, the HD600's would blow the them out of the water in every way, shape, and form.  Sure the AD700's have a large soundstage, but it is very unnatural sounding to me with poor accuracy and lacking any sort of bass what so ever.  If you want to go the HD600 route, I would recommend buying them and trying them out if at all possible, and if you like them sell the AD700 and E9 as like I mentioned earlier, beyond additional volume the E9 brings nothing to the table for the HD600's.  I would recommend looking on the FS forum and purchasing a used pair, or buying from a dealer with a 30 day return policy. 

 

[rawrster]

I don't quite agree that just because it i SS doesn't mean it is bad for the HD600. I don't know about the E9 but my SS works just fine with the HD600.
 
As for the AD700 those were my most disappointed purchase on head-fi. I found that while it has some good qualities the extremely large sound stage was unnatural and distracted me from everything else. I find the HD600 to be on another level. The HD600 is quickly becoming one of my favorite headphones.

 

[Ze_Blitzkrieg]

My comment was primarily focused on the E9 itself. . .but on top of that, I was just speaking in generalities of how the output of a SS amp is compared to the impedance (load).  In general they are in the form of a power curve, where they drastically drop off until upper mid range of impedance (around 200Ω'ish) where the curve plateaus off at a certain output power.  Obviously the more powerful the amp, the higher this plateau is.  Let us just use the Shanling PH100 and Little Dot MKiii for example here, as I just happen to have these output numbers relatively available.  Below you will find a graph of which was generated based on these two amp's specifications.  As you can see the PH100 (SS amp) drops off very quickly with increasing Ω's, while the MKiii (tube amp) on the other hand picks up its output power with increasing Ω's.  Hope this helps explain my thought process a little bit better.
 
 

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1. Note:  Vertical axis is in mW, while the horizontal axis is in Ω.  I forgot to add this little bit to the graph before I saved it