[Maximum3D]

Thanks for all the feedback. I like the idea of trying an alternative DAC to bring in some warmth. Any other DAC recommendations that would give a warmer feel to offset the bright amp?

 

[DavidA]

  Thanks for all the feedback. I like the idea of trying an alternative DAC to bring in some warmth. Any other DAC recommendations that would give a warmer feel to offset the bright amp?

The Fiio X3 is DAP, not a stand alone DAC.
 
If looking for a warm DAC then I would look at a R2R vs D-S, DACs that I know are on the warm side are MHDT Pagoda and AudioGD Master 7.  I know there are others out there don't have any experience with them.

 

[TasticBubble]

  I am looking very closely at buying the HD700. The hate for these cans certainly has no shortage (especially on reddit). However, I have also read a great deal of love. It seems at the current price range of 400-500 (depending on the deal) there is a lot of value to be found here.
 
I am a bit out of touch with buying headphones lately.
It's been a long time since I bought a high end pair of cans (not counting my Vmoda Crossfade Wireless which I use for mobile). 
 
I am a huge fan of comfort, which is why I am looking at the HD700 (I have heard good things about its comfort).
I loved my old Sony MDR F1's for comfort, one of the most comfortable cans I ever used (I still have them and recently refurbed them)
 
I have my eye on the HD700 which I am sure will run rings around the MDR F1 sonically, but comfort is extremely important to me (in equal measure, if not more important to me than audio quality). I tend to get wearing fatigue quickly and most of my life preferred speakers to cans for these reason. The only cans that ever got close to not bothering me are the Sony MDR F1 and while they are nice they lack in the audio department compared to audiophile grade gear.
 
Anyone here own the Sony MDR F1 back in the day and can cross compare them to the HD700 on comfort?
 
One other question, I own a Schiit Asgard 2 amp and Schiit Bifrost 4490 DAC.
 
I realize that treble is one weak point for these cans and it's only made worse by some amp setups. Will my setup cause this treble issue?

I'm using Schiit Asgard 2 to power my HD 700, though I don't have Bifrost. I personally don't have much issue with the pairing's treble. At the same time, I've never tried it with amps like the BH crack. Asgard, for a non-tube amp, is more on the warm side. As reference, I've listened to the HD 650 with the Modi Magni Schiit stack and thought the treble peaked a little too high. 

 

[DavidA]

  I'm using Schiit Asgard 2 to power my HD 700, though I don't have Bifrost. I personally don't have much issue with the pairing's treble. At the same time, I've never tried it with amps like the BH crack. Asgard, for a non-tube amp, is more on the warm side. As reference, I've listened to the HD 650 with the Modi Magni Schiit stack and thought the treble peaked a little too high. 

I agree that the original m/m stack was on the bright side and a poor pairing with either the HD-650 or HD-700.  However, I wouldn't consider the Asgard2 on the warm side, more neutral to a tad on the bright side, my base line for neutral is the O2, something that many would consider a fairly neutral amp.  The SS amp that I would consider on the warm side is the Gustard H-10

 

[Maximum3D]

  I'm using Schiit Asgard 2 to power my HD 700, though I don't have Bifrost. I personally don't have much issue with the pairing's treble. At the same time, I've never tried it with amps like the BH crack. Asgard, for a non-tube amp, is more on the warm side. As reference, I've listened to the HD 650 with the Modi Magni Schiit stack and thought the treble peaked a little too high. 

That is nice to hear another Asgard 2 user having a good experience with these cans. Are you using a DAC too, if so which one?
 
I really love the fit and finish of the HD700 and HD800 line. These headphones really speak to my design aesthetic. The fact that they are open and comfortable makes me love them even more. I really feel like any short comings it may have, at the 6k and 10k frequency range, can be offset with a 31 band EQ (at least I hope so). 
 
HD700 Price question:
At this point I think I am pretty much sold on these headphones. I just need to find a great deal. Best I can find online at the moment is $495. I saw on reddit some people picked these up "new" for $425. Was that just a holiday sale that made the HD700 so cheap or was there a lowering price trend that reverted back up over time? I know people sell them used all the time due to the disliked nature of these headphones, but I am weary of buying used headphones (never have) and I do not know what to look for to spot false advertising or faulty headphones.

 

[Me x3]

  That is nice to hear another Asgard 2 user having a good experience with these cans. Are you using a DAC too, if so which one?
 
I really love the fit and finish of the HD700 and HD800 line. These headphones really speak to my design aesthetic. The fact that they are open and comfortable makes me love them even more. I really feel like any short comings it may have, at the 6k and 10k frequency range, can be offset with a 31 band EQ (at least I hope so). 
 
HD700 Price question:
At this point I think I am pretty much sold on these headphones. I just need to find a great deal. Best I can find online at the moment is $495. I saw on reddit some people picked these up "new" for $425. Was that just a holiday sale that made the HD700 so cheap or was there a lowering price trend that reverted back up over time? I know people sell them used all the time due to the disliked nature of these headphones, but I am weary of buying used headphones (never have) and I do not know what to look for to spot false advertising or faulty headphones.

I use them with Bifrost 4490 / Asgard 2 and they work very well.
Being very clear audiophile headphones on a SS amp, you should expect them to work best with top class recordings.
 
Both K712 and T90 are two headphones to consider as well.

 

[Maximum3D]

 
I use them with Bifrost 4490 / Asgard 2 and they work very well.
Being very clear audiophile headphones on a SS amp, you should expect them to work best with top class recordings.
 
Both K712 and T90 are two headphones to consider as well.

This is amazing hearing from someone with an identical stack as myself (thanks for feedback)!
 
I take it you never ran into this high frequency peak with our stack? Or are you using a software/TT EQ to dial back the top end. Do you get any high frequency listening fatigue at all?
 
I will be sure to scope out those others headphones too. Interestingly enough I have been looking at the AKG 7xx line up. I also love their design aesthetic (even more closer to the old Sony MDR F1 in look). My concern with that series of AKG's is I hear they are not ideal for any type of bass heavy music (EDM, Hiphop, Rock). I have an extremely wide range of musical taste preferences and while I know the muddy punchy bass tends to be a hallmark of low end cans, I still do not want to give up all my bass. Part of my desire to get HD700 is I heard they are a bit more bassy than the HD800 (not sure if true). I do know the HD800 S is supposed to improve on the bass quite a bit (again not sure if true). One other set of cans I was looking at in the 500 dollar range was the HIFIMAN HE-400I (but again I heard this type of headphone is not ideal for bassy anything)
 
Thank you everyone for this dialog. It is very edifying and being that I am just starting to get into this hobby I have a lot of things to learn about it still. 

 

[TasticBubble]

  That is nice to hear another Asgard 2 user having a good experience with these cans. Are you using a DAC too, if so which one?
 
I really love the fit and finish of the HD700 and HD800 line. These headphones really speak to my design aesthetic. The fact that they are open and comfortable makes me love them even more. I really feel like any short comings it may have, at the 6k and 10k frequency range, can be offset with a 31 band EQ (at least I hope so). 
 
HD700 Price question:
At this point I think I am pretty much sold on these headphones. I just need to find a great deal. Best I can find online at the moment is $495. I saw on reddit some people picked these up "new" for $425. Was that just a holiday sale that made the HD700 so cheap or was there a lowering price trend that reverted back up over time? I know people sell them used all the time due to the disliked nature of these headphones, but I am weary of buying used headphones (never have) and I do not know what to look for to spot false advertising or faulty headphones.

I'm using Cambridge Audio DacMagic Plus as my DAC. It's a very clean and neutral DAC that doesn't add much coloring to the music. 
 
Honestly, I feel that the HD700 get an undeserving amount of hate around online forums like Head-Fi and Reddit (especially Reddit). Even at $495, I think it's a deal hard to beat. I think I bought it at around $450? It's only a bit more expensive than HD650 on Amazon and it sounds better than HD650, which can get a bit muddy sometimes. 
 
With that said, try to see if you can get an opportunity to try for yourself before buying. There were many times where I tried a pair of headphones or earphones based on reviews and found the experience to be much less satisfying than described.  

 

[musiclife]

 
The Fiio X3 is DAP, not a stand alone DAC.
 
If looking for a warm DAC then I would look at a R2R vs D-S, DACs that I know are on the warm side are MHDT Pagoda and AudioGD Master 7.  I know there are others out there don't have any experience with them.

For warm also something SABRE related can do.

 

[lenroot77]

For warm also something SABRE related can do.

R2R as a warm Dac for sure.... I'm not sure I'd agree with Sabre Dac though. In my experience while they are excellent with detail the Sabre chip tends to bring the highs to the forefront.

Possibly the the dacs I used had poor implementation of the Dac chip?

Currently using a Dac 10 tenth Annie (r2r) with a liquid carbon. The highs of the hd700 are tamed a good bit by the combo.

 

[Me x3]

  This is amazing hearing from someone with an identical stack as myself (thanks for feedback)!
 
I take it you never ran into this high frequency peak with our stack? Or are you using a software/TT EQ to dial back the top end. Do you get any high frequency listening fatigue at all?
 
I will be sure to scope out those others headphones too. Interestingly enough I have been looking at the AKG 7xx line up. I also love their design aesthetic (even more closer to the old Sony MDR F1 in look). My concern with that series of AKG's is I hear they are not ideal for any type of bass heavy music (EDM, Hiphop, Rock). I have an extremely wide range of musical taste preferences and while I know the muddy punchy bass tends to be a hallmark of low end cans, I still do not want to give up all my bass. Part of my desire to get HD700 is I heard they are a bit more bassy than the HD800 (not sure if true). I do know the HD800 S is supposed to improve on the bass quite a bit (again not sure if true). One other set of cans I was looking at in the 500 dollar range was the HIFIMAN HE-400I (but again I heard this type of headphone is not ideal for bassy anything)
 
Thank you everyone for this dialog. It is very edifying and being that I am just starting to get into this hobby I have a lot of things to learn about it still. 

 
HD700 is on the bright side, but (as usual) recordings play a huge role when it comes to the perceived tonal balance.
Feel free to share two or three names of your favourite recordings, or those you think could sound too bright on HD700.
I can try them here and share some words about the pairing.
 
Personal preferences play a role here as well, if you hate treble or listen to music at extreme levels then my impressions won't be that useful. Keep that in mind.
 
I have different headphones and normally try to pick the right one for the occasion, so I've never EQed the HD700 yet.
HD700 is pretty easy on the ears in my view, less treble than HD800, more bass than HD800 and even softer upper midrange. HD700 is never shouty and it's very clean across the board.
The only (worth mentioning) downfall to me is that the treble is not as refined as other headphones (HD800, T1 or DT880...)
The level is fine, but the tonality/quality is not as great as everything else on HD700.
 
K701/2 are very dry and analytical (skip these)
K712 is a good all rounder, a bit more balanced than HD700 but probably less fun.
 
T90 is more detailed than HD700 and more energetic as well, but it's even less forgiving of poorly recorded music.
 
If I recall correctly HD700 has more bass than HD800S
 
I think HE-400i might serve you well as an all rounder, but it won't provide HD700/T90/K712 kind of soundstage.

 

[DavidA]

  That is nice to hear another Asgard 2 user having a good experience with these cans. Are you using a DAC too, if so which one?
 
I really love the fit and finish of the HD700 and HD800 line. These headphones really speak to my design aesthetic. The fact that they are open and comfortable makes me love them even more. I really feel like any short comings it may have, at the 6k and 10k frequency range, can be offset with a 31 band EQ (at least I hope so). 
 
HD700 Price question:
At this point I think I am pretty much sold on these headphones. I just need to find a great deal. Best I can find online at the moment is $495. I saw on reddit some people picked these up "new" for $425. Was that just a holiday sale that made the HD700 so cheap or was there a lowering price trend that reverted back up over time? I know people sell them used all the time due to the disliked nature of these headphones, but I am weary of buying used headphones (never have) and I do not know what to look for to spot false advertising or faulty headphones.

The price of $495 is pretty good, I think the $425 was during the black Friday sales.
 
DACs used: Bifrost MB and Uber, Teac UD-301
Amps: Ember, Lryr2, BH Crack, Asgard2
 
FWIW I never had a problem with the spikes since I sold the original m/m stack and I don't use the Asgard2 with the HD-700 since the other amps do a far better job.

 

[Jazic]

  The price of $495 is pretty good, I think the $425 was during the black Friday sales.
 
DACs used: Bifrost MB and Uber, Teac UD-301
Amps: Ember, Lryr2, BH Crack, Asgard2
 
FWIW I never had a problem with the spikes since I sold the original m/m stack and I don't use the Asgard2 with the HD-700 since the other amps do a far better job.

 
HD700 + Lyr 2 is what I have pushed from a Chord Hugo. I often EQ out some of the 2Khz spike and add a bit of sub bass but these are a perfect detailed setup.
 
My fav!

 

[migasson]

Ha.

Just buy this No one really talks about this because it's more then 9 years old ... and it's not flavour of the month. Cayin HA-1A. It's really cheap these days as well

 

[dazzerfong]

I strongly do not recommend that you rely on amping or swapping DAC's to get rid of the HD700's peak. If EQ will not cut it for you, you most likely will not enjoy the headphones. The effect of an amp in attenuating the highs is minimal at best (and DAC's much, MUCH less) so unless you're willing to go Stockholm syndrome like I have here, just go with a warmer pair of headphones.