[Guidostrunk]

Vintage amps was a real eye opener for me. Nothing I've previously owned amp wise comes remotely close to my Sansui. The bass reproduction is astounding. Not to mention the soundstage and holography are ridiculously off the charts.
It took me a year to finally take the vintage plunge. I won't be returning to headphone amps. Lol

With BH CRACK and Pioneer SX-3700(speaker tap) not thin sounding at all at least to my ears.

 

[Guidostrunk]

Quick follow up. The crack is a fantastic headphone amp. I had one with the 700's about 2 years ago with speedball. Definitely preferred it to the Woo Wa6.

 

[i luvmusic 2]

To my ears the SX-3700 sound better than the Crack,The bass,mids and soundstage is way better with the SX-3700 for the treble i'd say the Crack has that covered.

NOTE i do not tap the headphone directly into the speaker without a resistor network.

 

[DavidA]

@Guidostrunk , like you I find my HD700 (UD-301 headphone output) has more bass punch than my HE560 (Lyr2 w/ Amperex SQ tubes), but the HE560 does go lower than the HD700 so it depends on the music in some ways which will appear to have more perceived bass to me.

@i luvmusic 2 , BH Crack & HD700 is a good pairing but I prefer the HD700 paired with either the UD-301 headphone output or Ember better. I've tried my SAE-X10a amp and my really old NAD 3020 integrated amp with a resistor box but to me the HD700, HE560 and LCD-2 were all better on the headphone amps to me.

 

[Guidostrunk]

I agree bro, that music is a big factor. A majority of people overlook the quality of a recording, regardless of bit and sample rate. Garbage in= Garbage out.
If I listened to rap , or 80's metal continuously for 10 minutes, I'd contemplate taking the nearest bridge. LOL

 

[GearMe]

Not thin on SS or tubes for me either...

Also have the Purplehearts (unmodded) as my 'basshead' cans. Great cans for this application. But, if I was going to put the player on shuffle, I'd grab the HD700s over the Fostex.

 

[peter123]

In my experience the HD700 (Anaxilus mod) has significantly more midbass impact (punch?) while the HE560 (leather pads) has equally more subbass impact (rumble). The HD700 is also all over quite a bit warmer sounding. This is from comparing them both on wide variety of sources over several months. As always YMMV etc.....

 

[peter123]

@Guidostrunk , like you I find my HD700 (UD-301 headphone output) has more bass punch than my HE560 (Lyr2 w/ Amperex SQ tubes), but the HE560 does go lower than the HD700 so it depends on the music in some ways which will appear to have more perceived bass to me.

@i luvmusic 2 , BH Crack & HD700 is a good pairing but I prefer the HD700 paired with either the UD-301 headphone output or Ember better. I've tried my SAE-X10a amp and my really old NAD 3020 integrated amp with a resistor box but to me the HD700, HE560 and LCD-2 were all better on the headphone amps to me.

I agree with the Ember/HD700 pairing being great, probably my favorite amp for them as well.

 

[GearMe]

Probably should've mentioned, out of the SS amps I've used for the HD700s, the iFi Audio iCan SE pairs nicely. It has bass boost as well...but I rarely use it.

 

[Malfunkt]

HD700 has a rather typical rolled off sub bass, as most dynamic open backs do. It is there, you just aren't going to get the presence of the linear planar like LCD2 or the yummy bass presentation as the bio-cellulose drivers (TH or Denon series).

Still, even for movies and games, I don't feel like they are lacking presentation in the low-end. definitely good to have a pair of cans that can reach lower to accompany them.

 

[Xamdou]

Probably should've mentioned, out of the SS amps I've used for the HD700s, the iFi Audio iCan SE pairs nicely. It has bass boost as well...but I rarely use it.

You should try it with the iTube2. Personally I find the HD700 to sound too boring with just the iCan SE but with the iTube2 it sounds so darn good.

 

[JimJames]

How would you rate the hd700 in comparison to ATH AD2000 or stax 300 in terms of soundstage and imaging? And if you feel like doing a more in depth comparison I'd be glad to read it, thanks!

 

[GearMe]

You should try it with the iTube2. Personally I find the HD700 to sound too boring with just the iCan SE but with the iTube2 it sounds so darn good.

I do have the original iTube but haven't connected it as I just listen through my Valhalla 2 if I'm looking for a more tubey sound.

 

[hikaru12]

Just got my pair and it's hard to place if I really like these cans or not. They definitely are way too treble-tastic on some rap songs and heavy treble modern music but the detail is just right. With a multibit DAC it sounds a bit too muffled but with a Aune T1 it actually sounds a bit too trebleish (with the stock tube that is, due to what I'm assuming if the Burr Brown DAC step ladder DAC causing it). It's really hard to say if Sennheiser was trying to do too much here by avoiding the detail levels of the 800 but still keeping the treble of it. Going to have to extended my listening sessions a lot more. One thing I can say is that basically everything sounds effortless through these cans and the bass is really good for open head cans. Very impressed with how fast it can pick apart detail.

 

[DavidA]

Just got my pair and it's hard to place if I really like these cans or not. They definitely are way too treble-tastic on some rap songs and heavy treble modern music but the detail is just right. With a multibit DAC it sounds a bit too muffled but with a Aune T1 it actually sounds a bit too trebleish (with the stock tube that is, due to what I'm assuming if the Burr Brown DAC step ladder DAC causing it). It's really hard to say if Sennheiser was trying to do too much here by avoiding the detail levels of the 800 but still keeping the treble of it. Going to have to extended my listening sessions a lot more. One thing I can say is that basically everything sounds effortless through these cans and the bass is really good for open head cans. Very impressed with how fast it can pick apart detail.

Which multibit DAC are you using? My Bimby seems to tame the highs/treble of the HD700 a little too much for me but I wouldn't call it muffled (more like someone using the SDR mod to me). I like the pairing of UD-301 > BH Crack or Bimby > Lyr2 for my HD700 but it depends on the genre that I'm listening to at the time.