[DavidA]

For a Sennheiser flagship this forum is pretty quiet! I just got mine used as well off ebay. the pads were pretty disgusting, so i washed them along with the limp headband (I hoped there were no wires behind it). Only good was that it came with a 3.5mm 4 ft cable. Enjoy them way more than the 6XX, but.. yea that 6k peak is real. So many things about it are amazing, the lifelike presentation does wonders for properly recorded drums, listening to The Who's Young Man Blues Live at the Leeds I was mind ****ed by the greatness of Keith Moon, cymbals sing and the drums have plenty of air.

The speed of these DD's are pretty mind-blowing as well, I was overcome with detail and space. The bass is just right.. except when it's not? Sometimes it drowns out everything but other times is much less thick but perfectly balanced with it's vocal presentation. The highs are also great, except when they aren't. I need to listen to more classical with them.. but on a listening of the end Shostakovich's 7th Symphony with Chicago and Leonard Bernstein I could not hear the timpani AT ALL at the end, and it's the catalyst for the amazing climax! My Thinksound ON2 did a better job of taming the brass while still giving me a feeling of being on stage playing it. HD700 was sibilant with the brass, which was very weird and top-heavy for the ending of that symphony. That's a headphone comparison I never thought I would make.. so yea. (tl;dr, buy ON2 on massdrop if your broke).

So yea, I will do the modhouse mod soon and hopefully that'll help this bs lmao. The mids are perfect, but the other frequencies are the problem imo. The 660s went down in price recently though, maybe those really are the fixed version of these. For now I'll try to doctor this poor confused child.

I think you might want to try a new set of ear pads since they tend to affect the sound a bit. While the Magni3 is a pretty good amp its not an amp I'd suggest for the HD700 since its a touch on the bright side of neutral IMO. A hybrid or slightly warmer SS amp would be my choice or even a OTL with properly selected tubes would be my suggestion. I have a Lyr2, Ember, BH Crack, and the headphone output of my UD301 at my main listening station and prefer the BH Crack (slight mods + tubes) best with the HD700 followed by the headphone output of my UD301. FWIW the HD700 + Fiio X3 was the daily gear of my ex-GF, she used it almost everyday walking the dog but with daily use had to change the ear pads at least once a year since the sound changes quite a bit with worn pads when she compared her HD700 to mine which gets much less use.

 

[BrokeSkoolBoi]

I think you might want to try a new set of ear pads since they tend to affect the sound a bit. While the Magni3 is a pretty good amp its not an amp I'd suggest for the HD700 since its a touch on the bright side of neutral IMO. A hybrid or slightly warmer SS amp would be my choice or even a OTL with properly selected tubes would be my suggestion. I have a Lyr2, Ember, BH Crack, and the headphone output of my UD301 at my main listening station and prefer the BH Crack (slight mods + tubes) best with the HD700 followed by the headphone output of my UD301. FWIW the HD700 + Fiio X3 was the daily gear of my ex-GF, she used it almost everyday walking the dog but with daily use had to change the ear pads at least once a year since the sound changes quite a bit with worn pads when she compared her HD700 to mine which gets much less use.

I've always wanted to try a hybrid/tube, now I have an excuse but I think the Schiit Eitr may be higher on my priority list. Maybe I'll keep lurking Massdrop and spring on the Darkvoice. Whatever I do in the near future I'll keep this in mind.

Are you suggesting the sound gets more intolerable with worn pads? That would be quite hilarious considering how expensive Senn replacements are.

 

[rlisin]

Sound changes with worn pads in all headphones I know, not just HD700. Whether it's for the better or worse - that's subjective.
Check ebay, there are much cheaper alternatives to stock pads (around $10). Those who tested them say they are fine.

 

[DavidA]

I've always wanted to try a hybrid/tube, now I have an excuse but I think the Schiit Eitr may be higher on my priority list. Maybe I'll keep lurking Massdrop and spring on the Darkvoice. Whatever I do in the near future I'll keep this in mind.

Are you suggesting the sound gets more intolerable with worn pads? That would be quite hilarious considering how expensive Senn replacements are.

as @rlisin noted, check ebay since they run about $12-35 a pair versus the $65 from Senn. My ex-GF tried a few from ebay and for the most parts they were pretty good and didn't seem to alter the sound much, if any. The only thing we noticed is that they didn't seem to last as long as OEM pads from Senn, which to me were covered with material that was just a bit softer and more comfortable.

 

[rlisin]

Have you tried more than one ebay source? If yes, was there any difference between the cheapest and the more expensive aftermarket pads?

 

[DavidA]

While I've tried 5 different pairs I don't know which cost which since my ex-GF had ordered them and was trying them out before I got home and she didn't mark them as to which was which. Cost ranged from $12 to $35 IIRC and I had just gotten a new set from Senn ($65) so we had a good base line and unless you have access to a second HD700 to try them its going to be fairly hard to tell them apart since it takes a few minutes to switch pads over and audio memory isn't the greatest, for me at least. One thing I did notice was the material covering the foam varies very slightly and the ones that looked and felt good (like alcantara versus velour) are the ones that tended to sound a bit clearer but also made the HD700 a touch brighter to me.

 

[rlisin]

So that means that the $10 aftermarket pads are not the same as the, say, $25 aftermarket pads? The cheapest ones on ebay look like they're from the same material (they look more like alcantara than velour).
I actually used velour pads on HD700, but they were for different headphones (Sennheiser RS180) - same shape and size, but much thicker, less space for the ear inside.

 

[DavidA]

So that means that the $10 aftermarket pads are not the same as the, say, $25 aftermarket pads? The cheapest ones on ebay look like they're from the same material (they look more like alcantara than velour).
I actually used velour pads on HD700, but they were for different headphones (Sennheiser RS180) - same shape and size, but much thicker, less space for the ear inside.

As I noted above I didn't know which is which since my old GF didn't mark them so I wouldn't know which was $10 and which was $25 or $35 but yes the $10 pads was probably different from the $35 ones but it still might be that the $10 ones was the ones that sounded better. It might be a long time before I have to replace the ear pads of my HD700 since they don't get much use these days since I prefer the sound of ether my Ypsilon R1 or Nhoord Red V2 over quite a few of my other headphones since they sound great from the headphone jack of a computer, DAP or phone and are quite light and comfortable to me.

 

[rlisin]

I understand, just wanted to confirm that the aftermarket pads with different prices are not actually all the same - and if, for example, I buy the $10 pads and don't like them, it still makes sense to try the $25 pads.

 

[LikeABell]

I understand, just wanted to confirm that the aftermarket pads with different prices are not actually all the same - and if, for example, I buy the $10 pads and don't like them, it still makes sense to try the $25 pads.

I tried the $10 pads from Aliexpress.
To begin with, they don't fit perfectly. In my ordeal to make it fit, I have loosened the socket even for the original pads now.:/
And the sound took a turn for the worse imo, too much treble.

Just my 2 cents

 

[cjc]

I tried the $10 pads from Aliexpress.
To begin with, they don't fit perfectly. In my ordeal to make it fit, I have loosened the socket even for the original pads now.:/
And the sound took a turn for the worse imo, too much treble.

Just my 2 cents

I got the pads from Aliexpress last week and they look and sound fine to me.... installation was easy too.
I noticed they are a little thinner than OEM and maybe let your ears rest closer to the drivers.
I'm now waitng for some 2.5mm plugs to make a shorter cable.

 

[rlisin]

I tried the $10 pads from Aliexpress.
To begin with, they don't fit perfectly.

I got the pads from Aliexpress last week and they look and sound fine to me.... installation was easy too.

Huh. Can I ask you guys to send me the exact links to the pads you got via PM? There are many different offers on ali, just like on ebay, it's be good to know which should be avoided (LikeABell) and which should be a safe bet (cjc).

 

[LikeABell]

This is the one 1 bought
Maybe they have crappy QA cause 1 side fit fine but the other one was a huge pain.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1Pa...469.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.4d764c4dfFEPFf

 

[DavidA]

Yup, that's what I was trying to say.
Got in touch with my old GF and she said that this is what she's been using lately and its as close to the original ear pads that she has found:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Replac...029066?hash=item3f7a7e2d0a:g:ILcAAOSwD5ZZzg0m
not the cheapest but it seems to be a great substitute at half the price of OEM pads.

 

[rlisin]

Cool, thanks! So it's either stay away from the cheapest pads, or buy 2 pairs at once and hope to get 2 pads that will fit well.