[frogmeat69]

What dac are you using with ican pro?

I find using a warmer dac to be more effective for taming brightness of hd700. But warmer dac paired with tubes is too much for me. Thats why I have settled on a solid state amp for it.

Mostly my TEAC NT503 and the iFi nano iOne, and it depends on my mood and/or the cans I am using. I also have a Topping D10 I picked up on the last Massdrop.

 

[Slashn77]

I am looking for a very comfortable headphone with great imaging and sound stage as well as a headphone good for vocals and some classic rock.

I am wondering what is a good price to get a used set for?
I see these are selling for $500 new nowadays but what would be a good deal for a used pair in pretty good condition

 

[DavidA]

@Slashn77, a friend got hers for $375 used a few weeks ago but another friend got it a new one for $422 from Amazon (IIRC) about a year ago.

 

[Marlowe]

Similarly, I got mine new for $420 at B&H about fourteen months ago (price on Amazon at the time was exactly the same; I'm impatient and picked them up physically at B&H even though taxes were a few dollars more plus $5 for PATH fare). I haven't checked in a while, but prices seemed to fluctuate a lot; about a week after I bought mine, they were briefly at $400 at Amazon and B&H.

 

[frogmeat69]

Massdrop had them last summer for $399, maybe due for another drop soon?? Go hit the request button, can't hurt.

 

[Oregonian]

You can find them on the classifieds for around $300 usually..................

 

[IkSak]

I am looking for a very comfortable headphone with great imaging and sound stage as well as a headphone good for vocals and some classic rock.

I am wondering what is a good price to get a used set for?
I see these are selling for $500 new nowadays but what would be a good deal for a used pair in pretty good condition

The HD700 may be a good option in terms of imaging and soundstage.

It is definitively a good idea to get one second hand, since they sell for about US$300 and offer a great value for the price. I got mine here in the sell forum for US$280 mainly for classical music and they're absolutely amazing for this genre.

 

[vaibhavp]

New one for 400 seems to be the best bet. Their ear pads are expensive and if you have to change them, it will cost nearly the same.

 

[DavidA]

New one for 400 seems to be the best bet. Their ear pads are expensive and if you have to change them, it will cost nearly the same.

I've found cheap replacement ear pads ($28 IIRC) from ebay and to me they are better quality (material feels softer and insert foam a bit sturdier) and don't have any effect on the sound

 

[Eggtuary]

The issue you have with the 700 more likely has to do with its frequency curve. It has a pretty significant dip, one that instead of you perceiving as 'openess' more will sound like lacking clarity.

The effects of amping headphones is vastly overrated in my opinion, and a higher impedance amp such as the Sennheiser isn't really going to do your HD700 any favours. Even the HD800 should sound good out of a modern iMac headphone out. I know shocking! But I'm doing that right now and it sounds great - if not excellent. Some headphones really need some serious power to drive them (Hifiman HE6, electrostats) but the 700 certainly is not one of them. I'm sure others might disagree, but I would pose that any additional bloom / warmth tube amps might add to the 700 is just a deviation from their natural sound.

So I tried out both the HD800 and HD800S. The HD800S is clearly superior, in my opinion, to the HD800, if you're listening to both right out of the box. But I read that the HD800 can sound exactly like the HD800S if you properly EQ them.

So I got a trial version of Sonarworks True-Fi and tested the theory. Both headphones benefited from this software. In fact, the HD800 became superior to the HD800S (again, in my opinion). The main difference for me was that the HD800S could not reproduce the lowest notes in some of my favorite music, even with the bass cranked.

So then that got me to wondering: what could True-Fi do for the HD700, and their rather wildly erratic frequency response curve? So I bought another pair of HD700 to find out. Let me tell you, the difference was HUGE. You're exactly right: that big dip at certain frequencies is what caused my perceived loss of detail. With True-Fi restoring that detail, and taming the harshness of that bizarre peak around 6 kHz, the HD700 sound amazing! In fact, I like them better than the HD800 and HD800S! Yes, the soundstage is a little less wide, but I've surprised myself by preferring it. The 800 and 800S make everything sound like you're listening in a big echo chamber. I'm sure that's the reverb that was deliberately added in the recording studio. But the 800 and 800S make you SO aware of every detail, it gets to be almost too much. (Again, this is very much just my opinion.)

I'll be honest, I'm surprised that anyone can like the HD700 straight out of the box. It is such a unique frequency response. But, hey, we all have our preferences. I just know that the combination of HD700 and Sonarworks True-Fi provides "reference flat" frequency response in a very comfortable and affordable package. I highly recommend that everyone who likes the Sennheiser open-back sound give it a shot. Especially older guys like myself, because the Sonarworks includes the ability to compensate for age-related hearing loss. Just punch in your age and gender, and it makes the adjustment. You can then use a slider to dial in just how much of that compensation you want. It's beautiful! Music sounds like it did in my younger years again.

Thanks for your help! Your advice got me on the right track.

 

[Eggtuary]

Focal Clear, HD660S.

I tried the HD660S. I see why people like it. But I didn't think it was nearly as comfortable as the HD700, especially for someone with a big fat melon like me.

 

[Malfunkt]

@Eggtuary very cool man. I have to say that is pretty dedicated picking up another HD700.

The only thing I don't really get is how Sonarworks can compensate for age-related hearing loss... I guess it occurs on a curve, but I know that personally anything after around 17.5kHz, I'm not hearing it (not bad for age 41)...

The 800 has easily become one of my favourites. I just love its expanse and wouldn't do anything to change it. I guess if I didn't have my 540/250, and wanted something more traditionally studio linear the Sonarworks plug would be handy.

Glad to hear you are enjoying both sets

 

[Krutsch]

...

So I got a trial version of Sonarworks True-Fi and tested the theory...

So then that got me to wondering: what could True-Fi do for the HD700, and their rather wildly erratic frequency response curve? So I bought another pair of HD700 to find out. Let me tell you, the difference was HUGE. You're exactly right: that big dip at certain frequencies is what caused my perceived loss of detail. With True-Fi restoring that detail, and taming the harshness of that bizarre peak around 6 kHz, the HD700 sound amazing!

...

Agreed. I've really enjoyed the Sonarworks plug-in with the HD-700; not as much with the HD-650 or the MDR-Z7. With classical and, especially jazz, I was blown away.

 

[Eggtuary]

@Eggtuary very cool man. I have to say that is pretty dedicated picking up another HD700.

The only thing I don't really get is how Sonarworks can compensate for age-related hearing loss... I guess it occurs on a curve, but I know that personally anything after around 17.5kHz, I'm not hearing it (not bad for age 41)...

The 800 has easily become one of my favourites. I just love its expanse and wouldn't do anything to change it. I guess if I didn't have my 540/250, and wanted something more traditionally studio linear the Sonarworks plug would be handy.

Glad to hear you are enjoying both sets

It was tough deciding between the HD700 and HD800, once I used True-Fi. Once they got that close in quality, then the $600 difference in price was hard to overlook, so I may be pickier about the HD800 than is really fair.

 

[Eggtuary]

Agreed. I've really enjoyed the Sonarworks plug-in with the HD-700; not as much with the HD-650 or the MDR-Z7. With classical and, especially jazz, I was blown away.

Yes, classical is remarkably improved on the HD700 with Sonarworks. Without the software, some instruments were hard to hear, and others were too prominent. It was horribly unbalanced, leading to my criticism of the HD700 as being not as clear as my much cheaper HD598.