[BobFiggins]

  Thanks for the answer David. You have a Ember and a Crack, wow very nice. Do you prefer the Crack for HD800's over the ember? I am craving a pair of HD800's and want to give myself a excuse to add a Crack to my setup

Also interested in an answer too!
 
Shopping for a new HD 800 amp, would love to hear David's thoughts on the Ember vs the Crack. The brightness of the HD 700 was too much for me, went with the HD 800 which has a lot less (well, less peaky to me), but still can't turn the volume up too high or it starts to hit the sharpness of the HD 700. Did either of those pairings help tame down the treble any, or boost the mids and bass to the point where I wouldn't need to bump up the volume to hear the low end better?
 
Thanks David!

 

[xSwifty]

  Hows the sound of the HD 700/800 compared with the EL-8 open-back?

The 700's are far less 'picky' then the 800's and the EL8's are a portable headphone, which I would imagine means that they would sound great out of your standard smartphone. If you already have a awesome DAC and Amp, then you should definitely consider the 800's. The 700's are much easier to listen to than the 800's, with the 800's being very analytical and the 700's being more 'fun' and bearable. I personally love the 800's and could see myself listening to them for hours on end, however, I have talked to some people who found them to be too analytical and harsh and therefore fatiguing. The EL8;s are brand spanking new and I doubt many people in this forum have heard them and I myself am not one of those people. Best thing to do is to go into your local headphones shop if you have one and have a examination of all your considerations with various setups. 

 

[rogerthatmand]

  Also interested in an answer too!
 
Shopping for a new HD 800 amp, would love to hear David's thoughts on the Ember vs the Crack. The brightness of the HD 700 was too much for me, went with the HD 800 which has a lot less (well, less peaky to me), but still can't turn the volume up too high or it starts to hit the sharpness of the HD 700. Did either of those pairings help tame down the treble any, or boost the mids and bass to the point where I wouldn't need to bump up the volume to hear the low end better?
 
Thanks David!

Interested as well!
 
I have the HD650 paired with the Crack + Speedball, and I really want to get the HD800.
I had the HD700 and couldn't stand the treble and those high peaks, so I sold them (back then I had O2+ODAC paired with the HD700).
Therefore, I'm really interested how's the HD800 and their brightness deal with the Crack! 

 

[xSwifty]

  Also interested in an answer too!
 
Shopping for a new HD 800 amp, would love to hear David's thoughts on the Ember vs the Crack. The brightness of the HD 700 was too much for me, went with the HD 800 which has a lot less (well, less peaky to me), but still can't turn the volume up too high or it starts to hit the sharpness of the HD 700. Did either of those pairings help tame down the treble any, or boost the mids and bass to the point where I wouldn't need to bump up the volume to hear the low end better?
 
Thanks David!

Hey Bob, I don't know how much help this information will be but I have listened to the HD700's both through my setup and a friend's setup. With my Meier Audio Classic and Daccord, the 700's do sound quiet phenomenal. Though I listen to electronic music, dubstep mostly and the Sennheiser sound signature doesn't really compliment that style of music. With my friend's Schiit Valhalla amplifier and Schiit Biforst dac the sound signature was slightly different (probably due to the tube amp) I personally preferred my setup compared to it, however, the Schiit stack sounded extremely good with more analytical style of electronic music such as house, progressive house and trance. Listening to the old Daft Punk albums and various other trance songs was spectacular for the price bracket. 
 
If you listen to more classical music and want a warmer sound, then I say go ahead with the Crack, as it not only sounds great but looks beautiful. Also you get to have the fun of building it and getting yours hands dirty with DIY, which to me is a advantage.  

 

[DavidA]

  Thanks for the answer David. You have a Ember and a Crack, wow very nice. Do you prefer the Crack for HD800's over the ember? I am craving a pair of HD800's and want to give myself a excuse to add a Crack to my setup

Crack over Ember any day, other amps I tried with HD-800 are Lyr2, WA7d, Valhalla 2, Emotiva Stealth DC-1 and CEntrance HiFi-M8.  I was about to give up on the HD-800 but they had a sale on the Crack + speedball so pulled the trigger and couldn't be happier.  Another reason of going with the Crack vs other OTL amps was it uses the same driver tube as the Ember which I already has a few on hand.
For what its worth, I still use the HD-700 more than the HD-800, its a much more versatile headphone IMO.

 

[rogerthatmand]

  Crack over Ember any day, other amps I tried with HD-800 are Lyr2, WA7d, Valhalla 2, Emotiva Stealth DC-1 and CEntrance HiFi-M8.  I was about to give up on the HD-800 but they had a sale on the Crack + speedball so pulled the trigger and couldn't be happier.  Another reason of going with the Crack vs other OTL amps was it uses the same driver tube as the Ember which I already has a few on hand.
For what its worth, I still use the HD-700 more than the HD-800, its a much more versatile headphone IMO.

Thank you very much for this useful info, David.
May you please relate to my question? 
 
"  I had the HD700 and couldn't stand the treble and those high peaks, so I sold them (back then I had O2+ODAC paired with the HD700).
Therefore, I'm really interested how's the HD800 and their brightness deal with the Crack!   "

 

[DavidA]

  Also interested in an answer too!
 
Shopping for a new HD 800 amp, would love to hear David's thoughts on the Ember vs the Crack. The brightness of the HD 700 was too much for me, went with the HD 800 which has a lot less (well, less peaky to me), but still can't turn the volume up too high or it starts to hit the sharpness of the HD 700. Did either of those pairings help tame down the treble any, or boost the mids and bass to the point where I wouldn't need to bump up the volume to hear the low end better?
 
Thanks David!

Hi Bob,
Between the HD-700 and HD-800 the highs are "different" for lack of a better descriptive word.  I think the way that the HD-800 has that really wide sound stage vs the HD-700 not being as wide affects how I perceive the highs/treble and how it relates to music that I'm listening to.  I can't handle the highs on either the HD-700 or HD-800 with any of the SS amps I tried, and my girlfriend just yanked both of them off as soon as music started playing.
 
The Ember really helps tame the highs on the HD-700 for me, it also gives it solid bass and a pretty good mid range.  I've only used 12AX7 and 12AU7 tubes, haven't gotten the adapter yet for 6SN7.  As good as the Ember made the HD-700 sound it didn't do the trick for the HD-800, don't really know why but even adjusting the output resistance and different tubes the HD-800 still sounded thin and life less.
 
The BH Crack was on sale in Apr so got it as a last ditch amp for the HD-800 for putting it up for sale.  Wanted to get up and going as fast as I could, my girlfriend stayed up with me for most of the 12-14 hrs it took to build (a lot of time was the two of us talking and drinking wine) but after everything checked out the HD-800 was the first headphone I tried and it was like "YES" it finally sounds like what I thought it could sound like.  I've changed the stock tubes to 12AX7 Telefunken and TS-5998, with these the HD-800 had solid bass and the highs are extended and smooth.  The HD-700 however still sounds better on the Ember and as I said in previous post I think it has to do with the lower impedance not being as good a match for the BH Crack.  A friend and Headfier was over earlier tonight with his Alpha Prime and T1.  The T1 paired with the Crack was really good, I liked it better than the HD-800 for most genre of music that I listen to but for well mastered classical the HD-800 still rules.
 
Sorry for rambling on, how everyone is having a great weekend, cheers

 

[DavidA]

  Thank you very much for this useful info, David.
May you please relate to my question? 
 
"  I had the HD700 and couldn't stand the treble and those high peaks, so I sold them (back then I had O2+ODAC paired with the HD700).
Therefore, I'm really interested how's the HD800 and their brightness deal with the Crack!   "

Hi Roger,
I've never used/heard a 02+ODAC so I can't comment on it, but I could not stand the HD-700 on any SS amp that I tried (Asgard2, Magni, UD-301 headphone output, and Topping VX1).  I've just posted a response to Bob so hope that will also answer your question on the HD-800 and Crack pairing.  Let me know if you want more details.

 

[Click]

  Also interested in an answer too!
 
Shopping for a new HD 800 amp, would love to hear David's thoughts on the Ember vs the Crack. The brightness of the HD 700 was too much for me, went with the HD 800 which has a lot less (well, less peaky to me), but still can't turn the volume up too high or it starts to hit the sharpness of the HD 700. Did either of those pairings help tame down the treble any, or boost the mids and bass to the point where I wouldn't need to bump up the volume to hear the low end better?
 
Thanks David!

I think your problem with both HD700 and HD800 is the fact that you listen to them at too high of a volume. 
 
You shouldn't have to "bump up the volume" to the point where both headphones' treble start to hurt your ears in order to be satisfied with the lows. 

 

[rogerthatmand]

  Hi Roger,
I've never used/heard a 02+ODAC so I can't comment on it, but I could not stand the HD-700 on any SS amp that I tried (Asgard2, Magni, UD-301 headphone output, and Topping VX1).  I've just posted a response to Bob so hope that will also answer your question on the HD-800 and Crack pairing.  Let me know if you want more details.

 
And how is the HD800's treble comparing to the HD700's treble? Since I couldn't tolarate the HD700's treble but I do miss some of its features. (That's why I want to purchase the HD800)

 

[dazzerfong]

   
And how is the HD800's treble comparing to the HD700's treble? Since I couldn't tolarate the HD700's treble but I do miss some of its features. (That's why I want to purchase the HD800)

To sum it up, not as peaky, but it's still on the hot side.

 

[DavidA]

   
And how is the HD800's treble comparing to the HD700's treble? Since I couldn't tolarate the HD700's treble but I do miss some of its features. (That's why I want to purchase the HD800)

The HD-800 is on the bright side but with the right DAC/AMP the highs can be controlled, well extended and very detailed, the HD-700 doesn't have the same details in the highs but with the Ember is fairly well controlled, extened and not sibilant for me.  With that said, the HD-700 is a better all around headphone for me, its a much more "fun" to listen to, has a fairly wide sound stage and sounds better on a wider range of music genres.

 

[3083joe]

Have you use the hd700s with any woo audio lower end products like wa6, 7 or 2 ?
If so how do they sound?
TIA

 

[DavidA]

 
Have you use the hd700s with any woo audio lower end products like wa6, 7 or 2 ?
If so how do they sound?
TIA

Tried a WA7 when I first got the HD-700 and was looking for a amp, really didn't care for the pairing, it was thin sounding and the bass was even less than the lyr2.  I actually like the WA7 with my HE-400, the bass was really good and the highs tamed just right.  It was a used one and the person selling only had the stock tubes so don't know it that would be the best presentation of the WA7.

 

[rogerthatmand]

  The HD-800 is on the bright side but with the right DAC/AMP the highs can be controlled, well extended and very detailed, the HD-700 doesn't have the same details in the highs but with the Ember is fairly well controlled, extened and not sibilant for me.  With that said, the HD-700 is a better all around headphone for me, its a much more "fun" to listen to, has a fairly wide sound stage and sounds better on a wider range of music genres.

And the Crack + Speedball does for the HD800 what the Ember does for the HD700?