[Marlowe]

FWIW, I tried the HD700 from my phone (a mid-level ZTE) and it can't begin to drive it; at max volume it is nowhere near a listenable volume level for me. Ditto for the HD6XX. The Hifiman 400i is marginally louder, but still not listenable. Since I've seen all three headphones described as driveable by mobile devices, I can only conclude that the ZTE (unsurprisingly) has a very sub-par amp/DAC. In any event, I listen to Tidal with IEMs from the phone at around 2/3 volume, which is very loud (while walking in a loud urban environment) and sounds OK.

My laptop (a last generation Dell gaming laptop) can drive the HD700 to thundering volume, but the sound quality is lacking: it doesn't sound awful (casual listeners would probably be quite pleased with it), but the soundstage is noticeably narrower, everything is a tiny bit muddier and has less impact, and while the background is not noticeably noisy, I don't feel the solid black background I get with Eitr>Mimby>Valhalla 2. (In order to connect to my phone and the laptop, I used a short, aftermarket cable that has a native 3.5mm connector. I replaced it with an Ursine Audio cable with a 3/4 inch connector that I think is probably better sounding by a small amount, though not nearly enough to account for the major differences when connected directly to my laptop. I primarily got the Ursine cable for aesthetic reasons, it looks and feels wonderful, and a similar cable for the HD6XX is en route to me ATM. Any improvement in sound is a bonus.)

 

[peter123]

The LG G5 with the Hifi Plus module is great with the HD700, more than enough power and great sound.

 

[hikaru12]

So I've been trying the 700s through my phone and I like the balance between clarity and warmth. I honestly like this pairing more than through the Valhalla because I believe the impedance mismatch coupled with how much it smoothed the sound of these cans had me over relying on equalization. Pretty sure I'm going to get the Mojo and call it a day.

Also just got the 650 and they pair really well with the Valhalla. Those things have me smiling and spooked in the amount of detail I've been missing because of all the recessed mid cans I've grown used to. Every bit of vocals from the quietest background singer to the main lead singer get great smooth vibrance. It's a really nice tuning and I can see why Sennheiser considered these a flagship for a while. They really knocked it out of the park with the 650s.

 

[Marlowe]

So I've been trying the 700s through my phone and I like the balance between clarity and warmth. I honestly like this pairing more than through the Valhalla because I believe the impedance mismatch coupled with how much it smoothed the sound of these cans had me over relying on equalization. Pretty sure I'm going to get the Mojo and call it a day.

Also just got the 650 and they pair really well with the Valhalla. Those things have me smiling and spooked in the amount of detail I've been missing because of all the recessed mid cans I've grown used to. Every bit of vocals from the quietest background singer to the main lead singer get great smooth vibrance. It's a really nice tuning and I can see why Sennheiser considered these a flagship for a while. They really knocked it out of the park with the 650s.

This is why this hobby is so subjective. I got the HD6XX about a month ago, and it sounds nice and I agree that vocals are extremely well presented. However, other than vocals I find that the HD700 outclasses it in every way. The 700 has a far wider soundstage with better separation of the instruments; the 6XX is a far more claustrophobic in-your-head experience, hardly if any wider than my IE80 IEMs. For this reason, I never use the 6XX for movies--the 700 is far, far better here; it almost at times mimics speakers, the 6XX never does. (I live in a small apartment that, aside from annoying my neighbors, lacks room for a decent speaker setup. I have a rudimentary 5.1 speaker system, but never use since all my headphones easily beat it on sound quality.)

Also, the 700 has much more bass. I'm not a basshead and never (ever, ever) listen to electronic, dance or hip hop. But I love listening to bass guitar and it is far easier to find bass lines on the 700 than the 6XX. (I've often heard the 650/6XX described as a bassier version of the HD600; I can only imagine how I'd hate the bass on the 600.) I have been using the 6XX for material that has particularly prominent vocals and enjoy it. For example, Joni Mitchell and Sandy Denny never sounded better. But generally I reach for the 700s.

 

[dobigstuff]

MrMan:

A good Replacement Cable for your HD 700's is a Moon Audio Black Dragon v2. It is not real expensive and I think it sounds better. The Darkvoice is another Good Amp to drive those HD 700. (I also use a Little Dot MK III)

There was a post a while back that mentions Upgraded Cables. Some people can hear an improvement or think they hear an improvement and some people don't hear an improvement at all........and that is OK. The people who don't hear a difference save lots of money. As long as everyone is content with their setup (as there are many types of DACS and Headphone Amps) its all good. Me. I'm dumb and always want to upgrade my cables.
Happy Listening!

 

[teb1013]

Just got my HD700 from Massdrop. Playing from iPhone 8S through Woo WA7d, sounds good but I need to listen for a while before I can do a good comparison with my HD600s. Is there an accepted comparison in the community? Very comfortable though, my 600s needed a little breaking in before they became as comfortable.

 

[hikaru12]

This is why this hobby is so subjective. I got the HD6XX about a month ago, and it sounds nice and I agree that vocals are extremely well presented. However, other than vocals I find that the HD700 outclasses it in every way. The 700 has a far wider soundstage with better separation of the instruments; the 6XX is a far more claustrophobic in-your-head experience, hardly if any wider than my IE80 IEMs. For this reason, I never use the 6XX for movies--the 700 is far, far better here; it almost at times mimics speakers, the 6XX never does. (I live in a small apartment that, aside from annoying my neighbors, lacks room for a decent speaker setup. I have a rudimentary 5.1 speaker system, but never use since all my headphones easily beat it on sound quality.)

Also, the 700 has much more bass. I'm not a basshead and never (ever, ever) listen to electronic, dance or hip hop. But I love listening to bass guitar and it is far easier to find bass lines on the 700 than the 6XX. (I've often heard the 650/6XX described as a bassier version of the HD600; I can only imagine how I'd hate the bass on the 600.) I have been using the 6XX for material that has particularly prominent vocals and enjoy it. For example, Joni Mitchell and Sandy Denny never sounded better. But generally I reach for the 700s.

I've been going back and forth between the 650s and 700s all day today volume matching on the Vally. I definently notice the clarity in the entire spectrum but the midrange just sounds recessed - like it's just scooped out. Is it sharp? Yes, vocals can be heard very clearly but they don't have the wet nature of the 650s which sound almost liquidy smooth. That being said, since I've been used to the bright sound of the 700s for almost a month now going back to the 650s sounds really muffled by comparison. I know it's my mind getting used to it and them just only being a few days (will need extensive burn in from them). I'm hoping to get a Yggy and Hydra Z to finish out my main listening area. It's hard not hearing all this detail when you know guitars (including nylon string guitars) are supposed to sound sharp and clear, not smooth and soft. Will keep playing around with options.

 

[Anarion]

I tested HD 700 today and I must say that I find it superior to HD 660 S that I tested last week. The only "problem" with HD 700 is that the mids are a bit recessed BUT that might be just a matter of getting used to something slightly different. HD 660 S mids were a bit too in your face. But in any case I didn't find HD 700 overly bright nor fatiguing at all. The highs are quite similar to HD 595 (i.e. I like). And the soundstage? Well, it's just incredible. It's airy and spacious unlike HD 660 S.

I also did try AKG K712 Pro but the comfort isn't just as good and the build quality is somewhat meh. Sound quality wise I don't think it's better than HD 595. It's just similar and tiny bit different. Really close, zero wow factor.

If Sennheiser would release new HD 700 variant with boost to mids, I would definitely buy it. For now, I think HD 700 is closer to what I want. But I do have to say that HD 595 has pretty darn nice balance.


One thing though... If you are a gamer then HD 700 would be simply awesome for that. The positioning and sense of space would be really immersive.

 

[Matro5]

I tested HD 700 today and I must say that I find it superior to HD 660 S that I tested last week. The only "problem" with HD 700 is that the mids are a bit recessed BUT that might be just a matter of getting used to something slightly different. HD 660 S mids were a bit too in your face. But in any case I didn't find HD 700 overly bright nor fatiguing at all. The highs are quite similar to HD 595 (i.e. I like). And the soundstage? Well, it's just incredible. It's airy and spacious unlike HD 660 S.

I also did try AKG K712 Pro but the comfort isn't just as good and the build quality is somewhat meh. Sound quality wise I don't think it's better than HD 595. It's just similar and tiny bit different. Really close, zero wow factor.

If Sennheiser would release new HD 700 variant with boost to mids, I would definitely buy it. For now, I think HD 700 is closer to what I want. But I do have to say that HD 595 has pretty darn nice balance.


One thing though... If you are a gamer then HD 700 would be simply awesome for that. The positioning and sense of space would be really immersive.

This is a good description of why HD700 + tubes is such a delightful pairing.

 

[AlanU]

I tested HD 700 today and I must say that I find it superior to HD 660 S that I tested last week. The only "problem" with HD 700 is that the mids are a bit recessed BUT that might be just a matter of getting used to something slightly different. HD 660 S mids were a bit too in your face. But in any case I didn't find HD 700 overly bright nor fatiguing at all. The highs are quite similar to HD 595 (i.e. I like). And the soundstage? Well, it's just incredible. It's airy and spacious unlike HD 660 S.

I also did try AKG K712 Pro but the comfort isn't just as good and the build quality is somewhat meh. Sound quality wise I don't think it's better than HD 595. It's just similar and tiny bit different. Really close, zero wow factor.

If Sennheiser would release new HD 700 variant with boost to mids, I would definitely buy it. For now, I think HD 700 is closer to what I want. But I do have to say that HD 595 has pretty darn nice balance.


One thing though... If you are a gamer then HD 700 would be simply awesome for that. The positioning and sense of space would be really immersive.

Superior is kinda a description that is totally up to interpretation. I've auditioned the HD700 and I think both HD700 or HD800 all suffer from thinner mids. I'll admit I seldom ever use headphones to watch movies and I'll have to say the HD800 seems to be a great experience due to soundstage and adequate bass (I'm not a bass head).

The HD660 is just another Senn headphone with a different sound. The HD700 seemed to be the "in between" of the hazed veiled HD650 and HD800 detail HP. Now is just seems it's like an evolution of a blended sound of HD650 more older school analog sound that is not highly detailed to 660 - 700 - 800 (s)

The akg 712 is nothing like the more expensive K 812 that was substantially more musical. Even though I own an Hd800 modified I do wish I purchased the K812 instead.

The HD660 is still an incremental improvement over the HD650 as it's cleaner sounding with HD650 signature sound. Yes the 660 sound stage is minutely better than the Hd650 IMO.

Currently it seems Senn still has not filled the sound that is more balanced in planar organic rich sound in a dynamic driver. This is where I found the K812 is not perfect but it seems more balanced than hyper detailed Hd700/800.

I do enjoy the price of the current Hifiman HE560 for it's detail and analog sound. Vocals are so much more different to the dynamic thinner sound of the HD700/800.

 

[AlanU]

This is a good description of why HD700 + tubes is such a delightful pairing.

I think tube harmonics is really the "better" solution in creating a less digital hyper detail sound. Tubes certainly mellow out the listening fatigue with character sound of Hd700/800. Or I guess a warm pairing of some solid state devices too....

 

[Anarion]

Superior is kinda a description that is totally up to interpretation.

From my point of view of course.

Also those the fact that those mids aren't a boosted isn't necessarily a bad thing. It means that the vocals don't overpower the rest which may be rather good thing in some cases. I'm not quite sure whether or not I'm a fan of recessed mids - it makes the vocals sound maybe a bit more relaxing and easier to the ears.

This is a good description of why HD700 + tubes is such a delightful pairing.

While I don't know how tube amps sound but judging by how people describe their sound, I guess that might be the case indeed.

 

[_wednesday]

When i plug in to my LG V30+, office productivity drops quite a bit.

Is there a stock android phone that can power the HD700 and sound decent?

 

[hikaru12]

So a magical thing happened last night. I swapped out the 650s pads for the 700s and the sound transformed akin to the 600 mods people do to the 650s. The soundstage increased a lot, guitars became a lot more organic sounding with good crunch, bass decreased but with better speed, similar to stock HD700, treble extension got a lot better and the mids went back a little but still with good smoothness without a hint of harshness. I'm looking to add some ECC Gold Pins or Mullards to further tune the mid range but these sound quite good.

Didn't think a pad swap would make such a big change but that goes to show you how tightly coupled the pads are to at least dynamic drivers. I'm going to start experimenting with some pad types to fit in the click on adapters of the 700s to see if I can warm them up a bit since the felt mod seems to be doing it's job for them. I'm a happy camper so far and the comfort improvement is definently a plus for the 650s since the pad swap.

Only other place I'm looking for an upgrade for here is either a Stax L700 or 800S. If anyone has any suggestion on a headphone with forward warm mids but with great treble extension and clarity then that would be great. Don't really care much for the bass and that can always be tweaked later. Maybe the new Focal Clears?

 

[Anarion]

I ordered HD 700 today and I should receive it later this week. I just upgraded my sound card too to Sound BlasterX AE-5 the headphone amp in it is fantastic (let alone the dac). It should work really well with HD 700. The Objective 2 amp that I bought recently may actually be inferior to AE-5 so I'm not sure if I end up using it (my power adapter is still yet to arrive) but at least I can hook it to other sources.