[Brooko]

   
I meant Distortion. like this:

 
That diagram (in it's own crude way) is describing clipping.
 
And I already posted power and distortion figures for the Magni.  It's not going to clip with the HD700.
 
I'm guessing what you're really trying to say (in your own peculiar way) is that for you, the HD700's treble can be a little hot / peaky - so you'd correct it with a "warm" amp with rolled off treble. What I'm saying is that you could do the exact same thing with the Magni (which you describe as the worst set-up), simply by giving it an EQ cut to compensate.  Cheap.  Tuneable.  Clean power.

 

[pdrm360]

   
That diagram (in it's own crude way) is describing clipping.
 
And I already posted power and distortion figures for the Magni.  It's not going to clip with the HD700.
 
I'm guessing what you're really trying to say (in your own peculiar way) is that for you, the HD700's treble can be a little hot / peaky - so you'd correct it with a "warm" amp with rolled off treble. What I'm saying is that you could do the exact same thing with the Magni (which you describe as the worst set-up), simply by giving it an EQ cut to compensate.  Cheap.  Tuneable.  Clean power.

 
You may like Magni/Modi for the HD700, but they were very unpleasant for me.  

 

[Brooko]

Thank you - now we are getting to the crux of the matter.  Did you every try EQ with it - as inherently the issue is actually more with the headphone than with the amp.

 

[pdrm360]

^^ You're welcome!   

    No, I didn't need that. 

 

[MLGrado]

   
two words: Chord Hugo.
I've been using it with the HD700 (and my bigger stereo) for about 6 months and it's absolutely amazing.
 
You can find SH around £900 or new 'B stock' at £1,200 in Nintronics.
 
You're wellcome,

 
Save a bunch and get an iFi IDSD Micro, especially if DSD is important to you.  Chord converts DSD directly to PCM.  

 

[caracara08]

  Is that phrase even allowed on this forum? 

 
Theyre probably discussing my ban now.  

 

[Sundown]

How is the midrange for you guys? I'm not sure if I received a defective pair last time but the mid range was recessed a lot. Much more than DT770's. No where near HD600's, X1/X2's. From reviews, I get mixed reviews when coming across the midrange. Some say they're recessed, some say they're clear and detailed. 

 I have another one coming straight from Sennheiser this time so hopefully the last ones were defective and the midrange is comparable to the fidelios and 600's.

 

[RoundRound]

   
Save a bunch and get an iFi IDSD Micro, especially if DSD is important to you.  Chord converts DSD directly to PCM.  

 
Don't worry about PCM, just listen to some redbook through the Hugo...
I'm using it with my HD700 when traveling or with my proper Hifi (Classe Cap2100, B&W CM10s2) and it's glorious!

 

[fallingreason]

  How is the midrange for you guys? I'm not sure if I received a defective pair last time but the mid range was recessed a lot. Much more than DT770's. No where near HD600's, X1/X2's. From reviews, I get mixed reviews when coming across the midrange. Some say they're recessed, some say they're clear and detailed. 

 I have another one coming straight from Sennheiser this time so hopefully the last ones were defective and the midrange is comparable to the fidelios and 600's.

very clear and detailed on mine. Better than my 650's

 

[HiFiGuy528]

in case you guys missed it, there's a HD700 and Woo Audio WA7 giveaway running right now.
 

 

[BouncingBall]

How hard would it be to damamge the HD700 with my amp? It outputs 330mW/30ohms and 60mW/300mW. I run it at a fairly high volume (nothing damaging though), but it was ran for a few seconds at max volume ("friend" is at fault) and one would assume the sound comming from the drivers was comming from speakers. I don't notice anything significant as far as sound quality goes; though I do seem to hear a bit of a difference. I am not sure wether it is all in my head, as my music sounds just a little "off" and I can't pick out what it is.(again, very slight and it could just be my imagination) What exactly should I be looking for as far a damaging induced by my amp goes? Would minor damage be possible, or would it just flat out fail?

Also, assuming all is well, am looking to buy a new amp/dac next year. Should I go with a schiit bifrost/lyr stack, something similar, or ditch the dac and invest all of the money I was going to spend on it into a better amp? My current setup isn't doing the hd700 any favors.

 

[DACattack]

First post on Head-Fi, although I've been lurking quite a long time, reading, learning, absorbing. If you will indulge me a little backstory before my first question for the participants in this thread ...
 
I have a large and very eclectic music collection, and have spent much of the past 10 years happily listening to it on iPods of various flavors with the included earbuds. (Sacrilegious, I now know.) Never had the space nor resources for a home stereo and was content as a clam with my little convenient, portable setup.
 
This past April I happened to drop over to a neighbor's house one afternoon to pick up my son, started talking to his friend's father whom I hadn't really met before. I noticed he was holding some large, interesting-looking headphones, which turned out to be Sennheiser 598s. I asked if he liked them, and suddenly he started enthusiastically raving about them using terms I'd never heard before -- expansive sound stage, low impedance and super easy to drive, and in seconds I was lost.
 
When I admitted I listened my music on my iPod on the buds, he looked at me as if I had just sprouted an antler -- and that earbuds were the only headphones I owned -- he recoiled in mock horror. He immediately brought me downstairs to where he kept his Mac.
 
He sat me down in front of it, put his 598s on my head, plugged them into one of two little silver boxes on the desk (I noticed the names Modi and Magni on the front) and hit the play button on his keyboard ... Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4" in glorious high def audio was suddenly all inside my head and around me ... and if it were physically possible for a jaw to drop indefinitely mine would still be falling. Holy Schitt and Sennheiser, what in the world have I been missing all these years?
 
Since then -- to atone for my long years in the earbud wilderness -- I've tried to make up for all those years of wasted listening time. I've purchased Sennheiser Momentums for my iPod, and a Schiit Wyrd, Bifrost Uber, Asgard 2 stack for my Sennheiser HD 600 headphones, running Audirvana 2+ from my iMac and loving musical minute of it. (Well, loving it except for the fact that I've been frantically re-ripping all my music into ALAC which is a colossal PITA, and, of course, worth it.)
 
Yep, you could say I'm well and truly hooked. I love my Bifrost Uber/Asgard 2 and HD 600 combo -- seems to work well with most any genre of music -- but I'm very curious what else is out there.
 
Specifically, I'm really interested in hearing what the tube side of the amp world is like, since I've only dabbled in solid state amps thus far.
 
Consequently, I have a Valhalla 2 ordered (on backorder, sadly) and after reading the first third of this thread, I'm **this** close to pulling the trigger on HD 700s, especially since the price point has dropped to $750. I'm holding off just a few more days to see if I can find a Black Friday special on them -- last price is now $742 on Amazon -- which seems really attractive.
 
Finally to my question, if anyone's still reading: Advice? Are the HD 700s a good pairing for Bifrost Uber / Valhalla 2?
 
Thanks ...

 

[kenshinhimura]

@DACattack i cant answer your question, but you should be able to find them for closer to $500 if you are in the US. some people were lucky enough to get them for about $325 just a day or two ago, but i dont see that deal coming again anytime soon.

 

[DACattack]

@kenshinhimura Oh, my, really? I'm in the US. I'd better take a closer look. Oh, if I'd only known about the $325 deals!!

 

[Asr]

^ The $325 deal was only for like-new b-stock units in Sennheiser's Outlet store, not for new unopened units.
 
I just got mine yesterday (I ordered a new one, not a b-stock) and it doesn't sound too bad. I was expecting worse from all of the criticism but it's not that terrible. The first thing I noticed was a hot mess in the treble but aside from that, it's actually sort of decent. It sounds just about how I'd expect a $300-$500 headphone to sound.