I tried some refurb HD700, they were a bit better in some ways (thicker midbass and a bit more musical) but the K712 still did treble better and was clearer/more detailed throughout, and I had an easier sense of imaging and surround processing. It was heavier too, in the end it didn't justify the price increase (even though I got them at an INSANE price!)
Before that I tried HE-400, that was more of a fun can but the mids were too sucked out for me, and it was too heavy. MLE's velour pads and my tube amp did help, but it just wasn't for me.
The Oppo PM-3 was more detailed/crisper than the K712 sometimes, but I felt the bass was lacking deep extension and it would only have been a secondary headphone for me.
Right now, Stillhart loaned me his HE-560. I had some difficulty giving it a fair test as you'll read below, but based on my head-time so far I think it's also a strong contender for a post-K712 upgrade.
It's lighter than the HE-400, the new headbands are simple but comfortable, the earpads are leather-sided but velour where it touches the side of your head. It's decent velour, though the pads aren't
brand new and I can tell that my picky skin would be more comfortable if I shaved off my sideburns (and chinstrap). It's quite detailed and clear, becoming noticably more rich with my R2R DAC (a vintage Theta), with great vocals, separation, and probably my favourite part is the enhanced sub bass when a song calls for it or gets down with the funky. I've only listened for two/three days but I can tell it's a worthwhile/natural upgrade to the K712. ThurstonX went the same way after his Q701, and I bet Chicolom here would like it, but my friend I call "Tin Ears" will have to hear it to decide... the HE560 is an upgrade of the familiar AKG sound, but Tin Ears may prefer a more gooey warm sound that is different, like a ZMF Vibro MKII or LCD2, but then again he's less of a gamer and more into music.
The ZMF Vibro MKII was also great, taking the musical parts I liked best about the HD700 and doing it better and more clearly, with less brittle treble to boot. For a musical headphone, the imaging and clarity is very good. It's a bit heavier and doesn't have the soundstage of the AKGs, so not best in class for competitive gaming or marathon sessions sitting upright, but it is awesome for just jamming out to music or marathon sessions reclining on a couch. I also recently reviewed this headphone. I'll probably get one someday (with a burst finish on the wood cups!) as a secondary headphone for jamming out, it's pretty special.
The Oppo PM-2 was REALLY CLOSE for me! Thus the review (linked in signature). Nice bass extension, similar fundamentals as the AKG, had a very balanced signature with a touch less treble that I could listen to for hours and hours, and the super comfy velours really helped that. The sound had no gimmicks (except crisp response? Some people call this speed) to immediately grab your attention, no guilty pleasures, but it did please and I found myself almost always reaching for it and trying to take it with me to work to listen on my lunch break. Great imaging and sense of depth, even though the soundstage width wasn't as wide as the AKGs (few things are, like yo mamma! I'm kidding. Is she baking cookies soon?). The more transparent the DAC and amp, the better, but the PM-2 was amazingly easy to drive and sounded great from my iPhone, no Zeus-amps required. As a "next step," it was a toss-up for me between the PM-2 and HE-560, with the PM-2 more relaxed and the HE-560 more open. Why didn't I buy one after my time during the Oppo tour was up? Uh, well, I didn't have a lot of cash and my wedding planning was looking to be a lot more expensive, so I was waiting to catch an Oppo refurb, and I just never saw one in stock. The other reason was...
... I heard a Mr Speakers Ether and Ether C at RMAF 2015. Ooooooh my gosh. Gushing praise. Liked the weight, loved the headband and fit, surprisingly liked the leather (lambskin?) pads for hours.
I got to hear AxelCloris' Ether in a hotel room (I hope I didn't moan... too much), and I say hours because I listened to a bunch of Ethers on different rigs. Very musical headphone while also very detailed and distortion crushed down to imperceptible. I decided then that I was going to try to not mess around with other headphones and just save up for the open Ether, because of every headphone there and I'd ever heard, I decided it was my favorite. $1,400 didn't matter, I would save as long as it took to make that happen.
Boom.
... Life is funny though. RMAF was ALSO my first time hearing the HD800. Previously, I had been a bit "scared" because people said it was super amp and system picky, and they were forever chasing ways to get more bass and less treble out of it. After my DT880 experience, I was wary of any headphone people call too bright (funny since I had an ATH-AD700 for so long), and I had been so unimpressed with the HD700 the year before (based on Sennheiser's asking price... and IMO outperformed by the PM-2) that maybe Sennheiser as a brand was overrated.
Stillhart was lending Cavalli his DAC-19, and before the show started he had an A&K DAP (or a laptop) digitally supplying music to the DAC-19, a Cavalli Liquid Carbon (prototype), a $400 headphone cable (awesome red color, lol!), aaaand an HD800. Friends, the headphone is so big, that it's funny. Earpads are covered in that same microfibre cloth as the HD700 which feel a bit weird at first (and kinda oily on the refurb HD700, but not at RMAF), but they go completely around the ear and have nice distribution of pressure on the head, which balances with the headband distribution. The headband also has a notch taken out of the top center, which is appreciated to prevent a hotspot on the crest of my head.
"Dan, what should I listen to?"
"Uuuuh, anything? Here, try this:"
Awaak Awaaak! Paul Simon's "Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes" burst forth and just shot shivers down my spine. One of two times that happened during RMAF. My fiancé laughed because my jaw just dropped! The bass, mids, so full and engaging, the treble was clean and extended. I had no neutrality boredom or sense of coldness, instead the (African?) backing vocals just sounded so rich and big, the guitar was so fun and detailed, brass trumpets were a joy, and the sound was so transparent like as if each instrument had it's own speaker (or simply was just an instrument). I had a huge conflict because I wanted to keep listening, but I took it off to make my fiancé listen because I thought it was so impressive and she would be able to see why I was audio enthusiastic (and stunned).
I tried the Ether for the first time right after that, with the same 3 songs I'd just demo'd on the HD800. My... earga... Uh, sexual innuendos aside, I was still riding the high from the HD800 and the Ether was equally musical (but no new shivers, because... yeah it probably would have if I'd listened to the Ether first, get me?), but side by side the Ether seemed to have less "air" or light haze between the instruments and my ear. The HD800 was incredibly clear and natural, but the Ether was just slightly more clear. I couldn't really identify why, but it also had something else different about it that made it my preference by a hair. At $1400 each, new, at the time, the Ether was my choice.
Outside that room, in the moderately noisy hubbub of the RMAF convention floor, it was cool to see the community headphone Ether popping up at the Schiit, Cavalli, and Creative Labs booths to use with their gear, but the HD800 (and HE1000) were EVERYWHERE a vendor had high-end amps and DACs for sale. Questyle proudly pointed out an advanced amp that was designed off of listening to the HD800 and perfecting it's sound, ALO audio talked about how their huge (studio six?) tubed amp
had power that was waaaay overkill but that kind of headroom was needed to unlock the HD800 and prevent the harshness they also saw in some people's HD800 reviews (I immediately thought of the current-mode amp and R2R DAC I'd heard in Stillhart's hotel room, maybe that was a little exotic but it sure seemed to also solve any treble "problems"), Moon Audio had a lot of cables to compare to the stock Sennheiser cable. Even after, what, 4 years? 8? The HD800 is a summit-fi headphone, clearly respected (except by some with old ones with a shocking amount of paint chips and ribbing, how do you treat a headphone that way?)
LOL, look at these accessory cables that were at the Questyle booth:
Headphone dreadlocks!
Aaaanyway, RMAF was super fun, but back home I had actually downsized to an AKG K612 because I felt it was a little more even than the K712 if amped decently (kinda like HD600 vs HD650), and the wedding looking like it was going to cost as much as a new car. I HAD ordered a Cavalli Liquid Carbon on last year's tax refund (and put the other half in savings) and that finally arrived in November, but otherwise I went back to enjoying my Mid-Fi values until "someday." Well, I got my tax-refund April, my wedding now looks like we'll hit a $7k-$8k budget, and suddenly the HD800 "s" hits and people start posting about fantastic used prices on the original HD800 on Amazon. I looked it up and saw one priced even lower – $812 shipped!! Whaaaat?! Jumped on that like a kitten pouncing on a laser dot. I'm still surprised to think I actually CAUGHT it. $812 is WRONG, just WRONG, and I feel so lucky. In my home, I appreciate it even more. The driver is so Big and Powerful that air actually tickles the surface of my ear (in a good way), and I get chills anytime I want to, and it sounds great with any song I feel like trying. Too bad it looks like literally strapping two speakers to the side of your head, because they sound awesome.
Stillhart loaned me his HE-560, and I found I actually had to put the HD800 in the box and put it out of sight so I could give the HE-560 a fair listen, haha!
