[Click]

Just received my HD 700. Everything is pristine, mint condition, including the box. These weren't B grade, open box, like new condition. They're completely brand new and was sold for $325. What an amazing deal. If I had more money, I would've bought several more HD 700s. Now I gotta save up for a good amp/DAC and test these babies out. I don't think the E10 will do them justice. 

 

 

[Sundown]

Just received my HD 700. Everything is pristine, mint condition, including the box. These weren't B grade, open box, like new condition. They're completely brand new and was sold for $325. What an amazing deal. If I had more money, I would've bought several more HD 700s. Now I gotta save up for a good amp/DAC and test these babies out. I don't think the E10 will do them justice. :happy_face1:  

Good to hear. How do they compare to your other headphones?

 

[Click]

Good to hear. How do they compare to your other headphones?

Haven't tried them out yet. I'm waiting for a 1/4 to 1/8 inch adapter to arrive so I could plug them into the E10. It's kinda ridiculous how these super expensive headphones don't come with basic accessories that $50 headphones come with.
 
Again, the E10 won't do these things justice, but I'll try them out. I think I'm gonna save up for a Vali / Modi stack. Anyone know if that combo is a good fit for the HD 700?

 

[Shox]

This has probably been asked many times but how to these work with Fiio e10k dac/amp combo? The HD 700 recently dropped to $500 here and I'm really tempted to upgrade from my HD 595. The reason I'm looking at Fiio is because of the lack of amp options in Norway.

 

[IYAshike]

  This has probably been asked many times but how to these work with Fiio e10k dac/amp combo? The HD 700 recently dropped to $500 here and I'm really tempted to upgrade from my HD 595. The reason I'm looking at Fiio is because of the lack of amp options in Norway.

 
l live in Switzerland, and l always order in amazon.de (shipped home, taxes paid beforehand and still, at a better price than if l lived in Germany... don't ask me why...). Have you tried that? Who knows, maybe they also ship to Norway...
 
Can't you buy a DAC/amp in another country and have it shipped home (like many of us do)?

 

[Shox]

   
l live in Switzerland, and l always order in amazon.de (shipped home, taxes paid beforehand and still, at a better price than if l lived in Germany... don't ask me why...). Have you tried that? Who knows, maybe they also ship to Norway...
 
Can't you buy a DAC/amp in another country and have it shipped home (like many of us do)?

Sure I can, but it's usually pretty expensive to import to Norway. But I'm open for other suggestions but would prefer to stay under ~$300. Looked at O2+odac from JDS, do those pair well with HD 700?

 

[Stillhart]

  Sure I can, but it's usually pretty expensive to import to Norway. But I'm open for other suggestions but would prefer to stay under ~$300. Looked at O2+odac from JDS, do those pair well with HD 700?

Can you get Audio-GD in your country?  I'm not sure how well it pairs with the HD700 yet (mine arrive on Monday), but the NFB-15 and NFB-11 are an amazing value, considering the quality of what you get for the price.  IMO, the price is worth it for the DAC alone.  As a bonus, you also get a pretty solid amp thrown in for free.

 

[Shox]

  Can you get Audio-GD in your country?  I'm not sure how well it pairs with the HD700 yet (mine arrive on Monday), but the NFB-15 and NFB-11 are an amazing value, considering the quality of what you get for the price.  IMO, the price is worth it for the DAC alone.  As a bonus, you also get a pretty solid amp thrown in for free.

Turns out I can get both of those for respectively $200 and $350. If these work well with the HD 700 I'm strongly leaning towards the NFB-15. Anyone who have experienced these combos and got some input? And is the NFB-11 really worth the extra $150?

 

[Stillhart]

  Turns out I can get both of those for respectively $200 and $350. If these work well with the HD 700 I'm strongly leaning towards the NFB-15. Anyone who have experienced these combos and got some input? And is the NFB-11 really worth the extra $150?

$200 for a new NFB-15??  That's a steal!  They're normally about $300 here.  I got my used one for $225!  lol
 
I can tell you in two days how the combo sounds if you're not in a hurry.
 
My understanding on the difference between the NFB-11 (Sabre DAC) and the NFB-15 (Dual Wolfson DAC) is that the 15 is slightly warmer and the 11 is very clean.  I got the 15 because I tend to use a lot of bright headphones like the Q701 and the HE-4.  The HD700 is also supposed to be bright so it may be a good pairing.  The more cleanneutral NFB-11 might be better if you plan on just using it as a DAC at some point and want the most transparent sound possible so you can use the amp to shape the sound.
 
EDIT - Either my memory is going or they dropped the price of the NFB-15 since I last looked.  They're showing $250 before shipping on the A-GD site now. I recall them being more.  Such a good product for the price!

 

[dL.]

Hello guys,
 
I apologize if this question has been asked again. I am still searching within this thread to construct an answer for myself, but any additional help would be much appreciated.
 
I currently bought the HD700 at a great price, and my current setup is with a Fiio E9+E17 (AMP + DAC). I am thinking of upgrading that to the Schiit Bifrost with either the Asgard 2, Valhalla 2 or Lyr 2.
 
I have 3 questions:
 
1. Which one suits the HD700 best?
2. Would I notice an upgrade from my existing E9+E17?
3. I heard that the DAC isn't too big of a difference in terms of upgrade, so would it be okay to keep the E17 and just get an AMP first?
 
I am hoping to achieve the following:
 
- More detail, punch and soundstage
- Mellow the treble a bit and add more heft to the mid-bass
- More importantly, I want to make my money's worth, so if the difference is subtle, then I rather save the $1,000+ upgrade.
 
Your help would be much appreciated. Thanks!
 
dL

 

[SNSDluv]

I can only help with 3.; it's true, DAC doesn't really help much. I still have a Modi with my HD700 (I have bottlehead Crack) and it works just fine!
So I think you should be okay with keeping E17 if you are tight on budget.

  Hello guys,
 
I apologize if this question has been asked again. I am still searching within this thread to construct an answer for myself, but any additional help would be much appreciated.
 
I currently bought the HD700 at a great price, and my current setup is with a Fiio E9+E17 (AMP + DAC). I am thinking of upgrading that to the Schiit Bifrost with either the Asgard 2, Valhalla 2 or Lyr 2.
 
I have 3 questions:
 
1. Which one suits the HD700 best?
2. Would I notice an upgrade from my existing E9+E17?
3. I heard that the DAC isn't too big of a difference in terms of upgrade, so would it be okay to keep the E17 and just get an AMP first?
 
I am hoping to achieve the following:
 
- More detail, punch and soundstage
- Mellow the treble a bit and add more heft to the mid-bass
- More importantly, I want to make my money's worth, so if the difference is subtle, then I rather save the $1,000+ upgrade.
 
Your help would be much appreciated. Thanks!
 
dL

 

[Stillhart]

In my experience, you can tell the difference if you step up to a better DAC.  I couldn't hear any difference between my Sound Blaster and a Modi.  But the NFB-15 was a much crisper, cleaner sound with a blacker background.  Will getting an even better DAC make a difference?  Who knows.  There's always a point of diminishing returns and in such a subjective hobby, that point can be different for different people.

 

[dL.]

Burn-in at 4 hours, and here are my impressions:
 
Initial impression, based on my limited experience with Shure SRH840, 940, AKG Q701, KRK 8400 are:
 
- Near perfect soundstage. Wide enough for staging and sound separation, but not too wide to have a warm and forward presentation
 
- Bass is probably my most impressive part about this headphone. I am very picky about the bass because I hate the mid-bass hump on the 840, or the lack-of bass on the 940, Q701 and 8400. This one doesn't have mid-bass hump, yet the bass is strong and punchy when it's presented. But the most magical part is, it's not overwhelming. It's just the perfect amount imo. The most beautiful bass presentation I've tried so far, and I have auditioned Hifiman's and Beyer's in the past. Maybe it's just me but I can't stand the sound on Hifiman's as they are too dark. This HD700 is pretty much perfect to my ears!
 
- Mid is alright. I still think Shure has the best mid's. Nothing magical, but I think it's quite balanced and isn't too over-emphasized like Shures. I like a forward and at-your-face presentation with a decently-wide soundstage and I think the HD700 delivered.
 
- Treble. I hope the burn-in will solve this, but I find it a bit too bright, but thankfully it's not as tiring as the SRH940. I couldn't stand the sibilance presented on the SRH940 it hurts my ear. This one is pushing to the limit. It's not tiring, but I hope it can be bit more mellow, but not to the extent of the Q701 or SRH840 because those ones are too recessed but they are great for bad music files. Perhaps it could be the low-grade music files that I am listening to as some songs that I'm hearing are executed perfectly (the ones I personally rip to FLAC from CD's)
 
- Build quality? It's alright. One small chip around the corners and uneven edges when I look and inspect very closely but it's plastic. Careless assembly. Other than that, it's flawless.
 
I dialled down the 2K, 4K and 8K range a bit on the EQ and it sounded much better, but I hate using EQ so I'm really hoping the burn-in will improve this. Please tell me it's possible haha!
 
Am I happy with this purchase? It's getting there... almost perfect. I feel my E9+E17 may be the the limiting factor so I will reserve my final judgment until I upgrade those.
 
dL

 

[Shox]

  $200 for a new NFB-15??  That's a steal!  They're normally about $300 here.  I got my used one for $225!  lol
 
I can tell you in two days how the combo sounds if you're not in a hurry.
 
My understanding on the difference between the NFB-11 (Sabre DAC) and the NFB-15 (Dual Wolfson DAC) is that the 15 is slightly warmer and the 11 is very clean.  I got the 15 because I tend to use a lot of bright headphones like the Q701 and the HE-4.  The HD700 is also supposed to be bright so it may be a good pairing.  The more cleanneutral NFB-11 might be better if you plan on just using it as a DAC at some point and want the most transparent sound possible so you can use the amp to shape the sound.
 
EDIT - Either my memory is going or they dropped the price of the NFB-15 since I last looked.  They're showing $250 before shipping on the A-GD site now. I recall them being more.  Such a good product for the price!

Yea thats the impression I get as well reading up on it, the HD 700 benefiting from warmer dacs/amps. Anyway guess I'll wait a few more days before deciding.
 
One last question which might be a bit silly. Is it really worth it to get such high end headphones as HD 700 when mostly streaming 320 kbps music from spotify or is the source really important to benefit from them? Until now I've been using HD 595 for 4 years straight into the laptop.

 

[fallingreason]

  Yea thats the impression I get as well reading up on it, the HD 700 benefiting from warmer dacs/amps. Anyway guess I'll wait a few more days before deciding.
 
One last question which might be a bit silly. Is it really worth it to get such high end headphones as HD 700 when mostly streaming 320 kbps music from spotify or is the source really important to benefit from them? Until now I've been using HD 595 for 4 years straight into the laptop.

It will be worth it if streaming 320.  Moving to lossless will get you the last bit of transparency and airy nuances.  With a high end headphone the most important thing to me is having a great DAC.  The Amp of course has to be sufficient but the DAC will make or break your experience IMO.