I recently got the HD800. I refrained from making any comparisons until now to give myself an adequate time with them. Had them for about a week now and at least 40 hours of head time. I used to have the HD700, and owned them for about 4 months before selling them. While I have no major gripes against the HD700 other the price I paid for them at the time ($1000, but that's more my own fault), I'm wondering, other than price, why some of you prefer the HD700 over the HD800. I guess I could not make a direct comparison with the HD700, as I didn't have the Quickie at the time, so the chain is different, and I've found the Quickie to really pull weight and improve upon the sound of the HD800, and be a significant improvement over HD800 + Crack alone. See my current chain in my sig. I was using the WA7 with HD700 mostly, as I slightly preferred the HD700 sound out of that over the Crack. I have sold my WA7 as well since I didn't have the HD700 anymore. For the context of this post, I will be talking about HD700 paired with WA7 when describing the HD700 sound, as it's the best sounding setup I experienced with the HD700. I will be comparing with setups mentioned in my sig.
At the time, the reason I bought the HD700 was because I read a lot about the difficult in finding a good amp pairing for the HD800, and also many people described the sound of the HD800 to be too analytical and sterile sounding. It was also said the HD800 was fatiguing to use for a long listening session. As a budding audiophile at the time and coming from HD598, I didn't even own an amp or DAC, so I chose the HD700 and got an O2/ODAC as well. I went on to WA7 and Crack before selling the HD700.
However, I've found none of this to be true. And my current amp setup for the HD800 is only around $400. I found myself getting almost exclusive head time to the HD800 this week, even over HE-500, when I should be spending the time comparing the two more. I've been losing sleep as I've been going to bed past 4AM for 5 nights in a row now because I just can't take these things off! I've progressed through many headphones in my journey (HD700, T90, HE-500, ESP950), but none have had this much addiction. The HE-500 was the closest, as I may have stayed up that late a night or two (I think only 3:30AM though). All the knocks against the HD800, I have not experienced yet. I can keep them on for hours, and I've found them to be quite musical and engaging with my chain, and I predominately listen to rock/pop music, which is supposedly a weakness for the HD800.
While I know sound is a very subjective thing, anyone with experience with both the HD700 and HD800, could you explain what you personally found better on the HD700? Because, from memory, I cannot think of anything the HD700 does better than the HD800, other than the amount of hurt your wallet takes. Actually for me, I paid less for the HD800 than HD700. I sold the HD700 because I found the HE-500 to do everything the HD700 did, but better. I think compared to the T90, the HD700 did bass and soundstaging better, but the HE-500 was better in bass, and also soundstaging after adding the Quickie to my chain. The soundstage of the HD800 is obviously better than the HD700, and the bass is at least about the same, but if I want bass, I'll switch to my HE-500. Other than the current price at the time, my only gripe against the HD700 would be its slight veiling and graininess compared to other headphones like T90, HE-500, and HD800. The ESP950 also has a transparency problem as well, probably worse than HD700, if memory serves.
So why do you prefer the HD700 over HD800?