[roguegeek]

  Just got the 700's and wow I am impressed.  Definitely a different signature than the 650's.  I need to get these puppies broken in a little.   The Pan Am does a super job with these phones.
On the low gain setting i am running about 10 o'clock  on the amp.  I can't believe I am hearing stuff I wasn't hearing on my 650's.  That may be a bad thing on some lesser recordings but I think I have found my end game set of phones (for now lol).  

Congrats on your purchase! They are definitely more analytical than the HD 600 (and 650) which means you're going to spot more errors and artifacts on poorly mastered or encoded material. Still, it's nice raising the bar on part of your line because it forces you to improve all factors. After my purchase of the HD 700, I did a massive overhaul on my content, replacing all 320 kbps material with lossless material. When a headphone makes you want to be a better audiophile, that's a good headphone.

 

[Rob80b]

While waiting for my 700s to return from Sennheiser I ordered the ingredients to complete up my balanced cable, one Neutrik 4 pin gold xlr, Lunashops HD700 micro mini jacks and some quad core Canare mic cable, so basically similar to my HD580/600 cable.

 
Long story short I came across an original  Sennheiser HD700 OEM cable on ebay for a silly price while waiting for my jacks from China and just put the Neutrik on that one.
Now trying to decide if I should replace the jacks with the Lunashops or still make up the Canare seeing I cannot compare the stock or balanced cables until I get the 700s back.

Does anyone know off hand how Senn attach their wires, regular soldering, cold welded…?
The Lunashops jacks are nice but if the Senns are not soldered I’ll leave them to eliminate one more solder joint.

 

[jamesng45678]

Do not buy this they are over priced. Try the beyerdynamic T90! It is much better sounding with details so crisp and clear as if you are singing or playing to you in the room.

 

[HPiper]

  Do not buy this they are over priced. Try the beyerdynamic T90! It is much better sounding with details so crisp and clear as if you are singing or playing to you in the room.

Or you could get a Grado SR80i

 

[jamesng45678]

 
Or you could get a Grado SR80i

 
But grado are not as comfortable as beyerdynamic due to its size

 

[Jon-LF]

 
What the guy above me said pretty much. The HD700 has a more euphonic sound from the get go, but the HD800 has better technicalities. However, as a current owner of the HD800 and a previous HD700 owner, I want to add that with experimentation, you can tweak the HD800 to sound what you want it to sound like. It's much more malleable and flexible in its sound signature, and it all depends on your chain. Funny thing is I've read David Mahler's flagship headphones thread and the piece on the HD800 many times even before I owned it, but only recently upon reading it again I noticed him saying the exact thing:
 
NEUTRALITY KING: In my opinion, the HD800 is the neutrality king. Depending on the setup, the HD800 may sound warm or bright. Because of its finicky nature with regard to amplification, many have described the HD800 as bright, but I cannot get on board with this description. I have heard the same pair of HD800's sound both dark and bright when paired with different setups. It really is a very amp-dependent headphone.

 
I've finally had the pleasure of listening to the HD800 on a proper amp. We spent about 7 hours with the ADL Svetlana Amp, Naim DAC/ Amp, Benchmark DAC as well as the Smyth Realiser. I've always been skeptical of DACs affecting the sound signature, and I was absolutely surprised with what I found with this extended session. 
 
The Benchmark is a very analytical DAC, while the Naim is pacey and musical. With the Benchmark -> Svetlana or even worse, the Benchmark alone , the HD800 sounded flat and analytical. The music just sounded bad all around. It wasn't enjoyable at all. The HD700s, being more colored, sounded better on that combo. 
 
Once we switched to the Naim > Svetlana combo, the highs were tamed, bass was fuller, with the signature "paceyness" of the Naim. The soundstage is was amazing and it sounded incredibly transparent. UELover, who owned the Svetlana (I bought it on the spot), called it "The best combination he's heard since the Stax 009". 
 
At this point the HD700 with the same combo was ABSOLUTELY outclassed, there is just no competition. This however is an almost $4,000 amp dac combination, not something most will be willing to fork out. The HD800s have incredible ability to scale, I must say. Getting that magic combo however, is hard, or expensive, or both.  

 

[Sonido]

I've finally had the pleasure of listening to the HD800 on a proper amp. We spent about 7 hours with the ADL Svetlana Amp, Naim DAC/ Amp, Benchmark DAC as well as the Smyth Realiser. I've always been skeptical of DACs affecting the sound signature, and I was absolutely surprised with what I found with this extended session. 

The Benchmark is a very analytical DAC, while the Naim is pacey and musical. With the Benchmark -> Svetlana or even worse, the Benchmark alone , the HD800 sounded flat and analytical. The music just sounded bad all around. It wasn't enjoyable at all. The HD700s, being more colored, sounded better on that combo. 

Once we switched to the Naim > Svetlana combo, the highs were tamed, bass was fuller, with the signature "paceyness" of the Naim. The soundstage is was amazing and it sounded incredibly transparent. UELover, who owned the Svetlana (I bought it on the spot), called it "The best combination he's heard since the Stax 009". 

At this point the HD700 with the same combo was ABSOLUTELY outclassed, there is just no competition. This however is an almost $4,000 amp dac combination, not something most will be willing to fork out. The HD800s have incredible ability to scale, I must say. Getting that magic combo however, is hard, or expensive, or both.  

I still think you can easily surpass the HD700 in technicalities and have the euphony at the same time for not that much (<$1000) with the HD800. Now as far as having both euphony and the best technicalities out of the HD800, yeah, that probably costs a lot more. Case in point, my Bottlehead setup is less than $500 and sounds just as euphonic if not more so than when I had the HD700, and is better in details, but I can clearly tell that the mere $120 Schiit Vali brings out the details better for the HD800, but it lacks in euphony and musicality.

 

[Rob80b]

   
I've finally had the pleasure of listening to the HD800 on a proper amp............
At this point the HD700 with the same combo was ABSOLUTELY outclassed, there is just no competition. This however is an almost $4,000 amp dac combination, ........

And so it should be, the HD700 is a very different  phone but for me sits perfectly between the HD600s and HD800s.

 

 

[Madmollusk]

   
I've finally had the pleasure of listening to the HD800 on a proper amp. We spent about 7 hours with the ADL Svetlana Amp, Naim DAC/ Amp, Benchmark DAC as well as the Smyth Realiser. I've always been skeptical of DACs affecting the sound signature, and I was absolutely surprised with what I found with this extended session. 
 
The Benchmark is a very analytical DAC, while the Naim is pacey and musical. With the Benchmark -> Svetlana or even worse, the Benchmark alone , the HD800 sounded flat and analytical. The music just sounded bad all around. It wasn't enjoyable at all. The HD700s, being more colored, sounded better on that combo. 
 
Once we switched to the Naim > Svetlana combo, the highs were tamed, bass was fuller, with the signature "paceyness" of the Naim. The soundstage is was amazing and it sounded incredibly transparent. UELover, who owned the Svetlana (I bought it on the spot), called it "The best combination he's heard since the Stax 009". 
 
At this point the HD700 with the same combo was ABSOLUTELY outclassed, there is just no competition. This however is an almost $4,000 amp dac combination, not something most will be willing to fork out. The HD800s have incredible ability to scale, I must say. Getting that magic combo however, is hard, or expensive, or both.  

The above statement is absolutely true--but let me expand on that important point just a bit. The HD700 is tuned and built to sound great with most equipment, and this is one of the HD700's biggest virtues. You can acquire genuine high-fidelity for the price of just the headphones--that's right, you don't have to worry about buying an expensive amp. (Of course, proper amping is advised but not strictly necessary.)  I bought my HD700 for $649.00 and guess what? They sound sublime plugged directly into my Surface tablet.  By almost any audiophile standard this is a fantastic deal, especially for budget conscious folks.  
 
Now, in order to get the most out of the HD800 (which I also own), you're obliged to drop a cool $1,500.00 for the headphones and then another $2,000.00 (give or take) on a proper headphone amp--that's the price of the Sennheiser HDVD 800, btw. I've auditioned the HD800 with a dozen different amps, and can verify: they are freaking picky headphones.  I think some folks (not you, of course) expect the HD700 to match (or come close to matching) a properly amped HD800!  That’s downright crazy.  I know the market is super competitive nowadays, and I admit: I’m often reluctant to pay premium prices, and for that reason alone, I'm now inclined to think: the HD700 is  a fantastic value, especially if you can find yourself a pair for $649.

 

[pdrm360]

  Do not buy this they are over priced. Try the beyerdynamic T90! It is much better sounding with details so crisp and clear as if you are singing or playing to you in the room.

 
The HD700 is not nearly as disappointing as the T90 to me. 

 

[Jon-LF]

The above statement is absolutely true--but let me expand on that important point just a bit. The HD700 is tuned and built to sound great with most equipment, and this is one of the HD700's biggest virtues. You can acquire genuine high-fidelity for the price of just the headphones--that's right, you don't have to worry about buying an expensive amp. (Of course, proper amping is advised but not strictly necessary.)  I bought my HD700 for $649.00 and guess what? They sound sublime plugged directly into my Surface tablet.  By almost any audiophile standard this is a fantastic deal, especially for budget conscious folks.  

Now, in order to get the most out of the HD800 (which I also own), you're obliged to drop a cool $1,500.00 for the headphones and then another $2,000.00 (give or take) on a proper headphone amp--that's the price of the Sennheiser HDVD 800, btw. I've auditioned the HD800 with a dozen different amps, and can verify: they are freaking picky headphones.  I think some folks (not you, of course) expect the HD700 to match (or come close to matching) a properly amped HD800!  That’s downright crazy.  I know the market is super competitive nowadays, and I admit: I’m often reluctant to pay premium prices, and for that reason alone, I'm now inclined to think: the HD700 is  a fantastic value, especially if you can find yourself a pair for $649.

I think the 700s does benefit from amping, just that it's far less picky on the amping. It sounds great out of my Naim, better than I've heard anywhere before. You'll need power for dynamic music especially (Batman comes to mind) and it's an amazing headphone in many ways.

It's only downside is it can only scale to an extent before "maxing out". The 800 has a higher limit however. I still maintain the 700s are more euphonic (with most combos), but the 800s with a euphonic amp and source is heavenly. Huge soundstage, total transparency, and euphonic? Never thought I'd hear that.

 

[Sonido]

I think the 700s does benefit from amping, just that it's far less picky on the amping. It sounds great out of my Naim, better than I've heard anywhere before. You'll need power for dynamic music especially (Batman comes to mind) and it's an amazing headphone in many ways.

It's only downside is it can only scale to an extent before "maxing out". The 800 has a higher limit however. I still maintain the 700s are more euphonic (with most combos), but the 800s with a euphonic amp and source is heavenly. Huge soundstage, total transparency, and euphonic? Never thought I'd hear that.

So you have that $4000 Naim and Svetlana combo now? Why not spend a little more and get the HD800 if you really find it to be noticeably better?

 

[Jon-LF]

So you have that $4000 Naim and Svetlana combo now? Why not spend a little more and get the HD800 if you really find it to be noticeably better?

Trust me, that's a matter of time man. "Welcome to head Fi, sorry about your wallet!"

 

[Madmollusk]

I think the 700s does benefit from amping, just that it's far less picky on the amping. It sounds great out of my Naim, better than I've heard anywhere before. You'll need power for dynamic music especially (Batman comes to mind) and it's an amazing headphone in many ways.

It's only downside is it can only scale to an extent before "maxing out". The 800 has a higher limit however. I still maintain the 700s are more euphonic (with most combos), but the 800s with a euphonic amp and source is heavenly. Huge soundstage, total transparency, and euphonic? Never thought I'd hear that.

Yep, I agree with you 100%, Jon--with this post and your last actually. I was attempting to establish some realistic criteria for folks who actually except too much from the HD700, and grumble about these headphones, primarily because they "can't compete" with a properly amplified HD800.  Those folks (mostly on other threads, mind you, but sometimes here too) might as well exaggerate their grievances and say, "Don't buy the HD700, because the  STAX SR-009 blow them away." 

 

[Madmollusk]

  Do not buy this they are over priced. Try the beyerdynamic T90! It is much better sounding with details so crisp and clear as if you are singing or playing to you in the room.

 
 
I'm sure you are a seasoned audiophile, and not some ignominious thread crapper. So would you mind elucidating upon your views. Heck, even a sketchy comparison between these headphones would prove helpful for many prospective buyers. I owned the DT990 for awhile, and boy they were excruciatingly bright and downright bass heavy. Does the T90 improve upon the older model?  Also, the DT990 suffered from a seriously recessed mid-range. Is this the case with the T90? Or are they tuned to be more neutral like the HD700? I like dynamic or "fun" headphones too, so I'm genuinely interested in a comparison.