[Ethan Groover]

I'm gonna be the owner of a Modi this Monday! Very excited! Gonna be using it with Hifiman He-560's I'll have a week after. I'm curious, how much of, and what kind of improvements should I hear coming away from the Asus Maximus VII's isolated output?

 

[reddog]

That's the problem with upgradeitis. If your gear sounds this great, you still keep wondering how much better that other gear could be...

Next step: Gungnir MB + Mjolnir 2 + balanced cable! 

The GMB and the MJ2 is a fantastic combo that can make your cans sing.

 

[JamesBr]

  hey all gonna buy the Schiit Valhalla 2 for the tubey goodness and for the Tesla T1s Im getting as well!

It's pay day? lucky you! good stuff

 

[Snodge]

Pay day was yesterday for me; the same day that Electromod in the UK added the Mjolnir 2 to their catalogue (but not in stock), and today it is in stock, and I am now awaiting my first dedicated headphone amp to use with my Beyerdynamic DT990 headphones... now I just need to wait (impatiently!) for it!

 

[jlbrach]

the differences as you move up the chain become more and more nuanced....they are there for sure but you have to be concentrating on the music to hear them......the casual and very large differences come earlier in the upgrade process

 

[scottcriswell]

  I'm gonna be the owner of a Modi this Monday! Very excited! Gonna be using it with Hifiman He-560's I'll have a week after. I'm curious, how much of, and what kind of improvements should I hear coming away from the Asus Maximus VII's isolated output?

You will probably notice a much lower noise floor immediately.  I have a Maximus VII Hero as well and there was a decent amount of noise when no audio was playing, and all of that disappeared when I got my first DAC.

 

[Ethan Groover]

 
You will probably notice a much lower noise floor immediately.  I have a Maximus VII Hero as well and there was a decent amount of noise when no audio was playing, and all of that disappeared when I got my first DAC.

Good to hear! Can't wait to be all set up. It'll be my first real high end pair of cans (definitely didn't consider my HD700s to be very good with all the fatigue I got from just minutes of listening)

 

[scottcriswell]

  Good to hear! Can't wait to be all set up. It'll be my first real high end pair of cans (definitely didn't consider my HD700s to be very good with all the fatigue I got from just minutes of listening)

I got them through a Massdrop Sale without having listened to them before.  Risky move but I'm overall happy with them.  When you say fatigue what do you mean exactly?  I'm curious if I've been experiencing it too and not been entirely aware of it.

 

[RCBinTN]

  Good to hear! Can't wait to be all set up. It'll be my first real high end pair of cans (definitely didn't consider my HD700s to be very good with all the fatigue I got from just minutes of listening)

 
I've heard the HD700's sing like the angels.  Must be the upstream equipment - what I heard would keep those cans on my head for a long time.  I believe the rig I heard was - UberFrost DAC & Cary HH-1 amp.  Heard this at the Nashville HP meet.  A sweet pairing.

 

[Billheiser]

I've heard the HD700's sing like the angels.  Must be the upstream equipment - what I heard would keep those cans on my head for a long time.  I believe the rig I heard was - UberFrost DAC & Cary HH-1 amp.  Heard this at the Nashville HP meet.  A sweet pairing.

I'm kinda interested in the HD700. Have heard them twice, not very long each time, but they sounded real good, and preferable to the hd800, for my taste. I assume my uberbihalla2 setup would be quite suitable..

 

[RCBinTN]

I'm kinda interested in the HD700. Have heard them twice, not very long each time, but they sounded real good, and preferable to the hd800, for my taste. I assume my uberbihalla2 setup would be quite suitable..

 
I'm not familiar with the uberbihalla2 setup, is that the Bifrost + Valhalla?, but the HD700 have a much warmer SQ than the HD800.  They are also easier to drive.  Please keep in mind that my friend's Cary HH-1 is a $1600 amp...

 

[raybone0566]

I'm kinda interested in the HD700. Have heard them twice, not very long each time, but they sounded real good, and preferable to the hd800, for my taste. I assume my uberbihalla2 setup would be quite suitable..

Music direct has a fall clearance sale on the hd700 for 499.00. That's a great deal for those. Very good phones.

 

[bretemm]

I just talked to someone at RMAF and they met the Schiit guys (I don't know who exactly) but they got to meet them and some announcement will be made around 10am

 

[Billheiser]

I'm not familiar with the uberbihalla2 setup, is that the Bifrost + Valhalla?

Yep!

 

[Ethan Groover]

 
I got them through a Massdrop Sale without having listened to them before.  Risky move but I'm overall happy with them.  When you say fatigue what do you mean exactly?  I'm curious if I've been experiencing it too and not been entirely aware of it.

Well it certainly isn't deal breaking for every owner of HD 700s, but with any sharp sounding tracks that sounded fantastic on neutral cans, the 700s gave me a headache. I started noticing it when I was comparing to the Oppo PM-3s, and a comfortable listening level sounded great on them, whereas on the 700s, if I got the midrange and bass to a comfortable level, the treble made things like drums hurt like pins poking my head, and peircing vocals like System of a Down were just impossible to handle. Some may call it super detailed, but I find that it is just treble boosted in the area adds to the sharpness of sounds. I looked in several places online, and every frequency graph I could find showed a peak in between 6 and 7 KHz. I had thought that the treble spike many people talked about wasn't gonna be a deal breaker for me, since I don't consider myself treble sensitive at all, but painfully detailed isn't a very enjoyable kind of detailing to me.
 
I love the Sennheiser sound, and certainly loved the HD 700s, but I need a headphone that is a good all rounder, and the 700s were only good for Jazz, Classical, Acoustic, and *perfectly mixed* stuff; 75% of the rest of the music I listen to was pretty uncomfortable. They are definitely fantastic headphones, but not for every music taste.