[Stillhart]

  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.

 
A lot of people can't hear the difference between lossless and 320k MP3.  Personally, if I'm buying an expensive setup, I'm going to use the best source files I can afford.  Is there a difference?  Dunno... but every little nuance adds up...

 

[Shox]

Alright, so I stumbled upon a new site with some interesting dacs available here as well. http://www.malaaudio.no/digital-analog-konverter---dacer/dachodetelefonforsterkere
 
About the same price range as NFB-15, slightly more expensive. Are these recommended with the 700? The specs tells me nothing as I'm clueless on this area but they do look better than the audio-gd's

 

[IYAshike]

Guys, in 'hearing a difference' between DACs and/or amps, there is something you need to take into account: your brain. What l mean is, if you like this hobby, then, with time, you will train your brain to hear more and more differences and nuances on your music. For example, whenever l used to read things like "This DAC is slower than this other", l was like "Oh, come on, music is music; a song only last x minutes". However, there was one day when l, suddenly, realised that my Fiio X3 is slower than my Xonar Phoebus (or other DACs). Back then, l would not perceive much differences on soundstage, imaging or dynamics. Now, l do. They are there and always were: l just was not aware of it (even though l always 'heard' it). 
 
ls my audition better today than a year ago: absolutely not. Do l hear more now than a year ago: certainly. My ears always perceived the auditive stimulation; however, my primary auditory cortex did not processed that stimulation to a great extent. l am still learning, training my brain to distinguish between DACs, amps, etc. That's a beautiful part of this hobby.
 
Will a NFB-15 be a great and notorious step up from your current set up? Chances are it won't... not the first day. Now, give yourself (your brain) time to learn and find out those differences, and then, you won't want to go back to your current Fiio setting.
 
Hope it helps  

 

[digitalzed]

Tone Audio ha a nice, concise recent review of the HD 700 here:

http://www.tonepublications.com/review/sennheiser-hd700-headphones/

 

[reiserFS]

Anyone paired the HD700 with a Marantz HD-DAC1 or Pioneer U-05 yet?

 

[Barra]

  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!

I'm not noticing a whole lot of change with burn-in on the HD700, but I do notice a huge change in character based on the pairing. Warmer pairings like my GO720 or the BH Crack Tube Amp will instantly take any treble harshness away not to mention the much more expensive Eddie Current amps that I have heard them on.
 

 
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.

I've had the HD595's for the last decade and love them, but the HD700 is a noticeable upgrade. Streaming has come a long way and sounds terrific so it is really about the quality of the mastering of the song. Poorly mastered songs will sound horrible in DSD too and the HD700 will be happy to point them out. However, all well mastered music benefits the most from using the highest quality HP you can afford with the HD700 actually being a true value at the discounted prices it is found today.

 

[Sundown]

I can't sleep. They'll be here today.

 

[pdrm360]

I can't sleep. They'll be here today.

I see!

 

[Sonido]

I'd like to give a little update. I'll update more as I notice things. So today the HD700 I got for $325 came in. This is the second time I've had them, only difference is that my ears are much more experienced and I got a better chain. I had them shipped to work where I had the Schiit Modi/Vali stack. On first listen, I quickly noticed a peaky treble of annoyance even at low volume. It was a lower treble, where it would kinda smear. Reminds me of nails on chalkboard sound. This also causes sibilance, which is less of a problem on the HD800. I don't recall having this problem the last time I had these, but perhaps it's just my ears being used to the HD800 sound. I was afraid because of this I would not be able to listen to them on louder volumes. When I brought them home to my better setup at home (Emotiva DC-1 -> Bottlehead Smash -> Questyle CMA800R), that lower treble smearing peak become much less apparent, which is good thing. Even on loud volumes it was less apparent than on low volume on the Schiit stack. In this respect, your chain matters a lot. It's a misconception that because these are only 150 ohms, it's easier to drive properly.
 
Overall initial impressions compared to the HD800 on my home setup are:
 
- HD700 are more intimate sounding (smaller soundstage)
- Bass on HD800 hits harder, but is also quicker so there seems to be less of of bass presence
- HD800 has more upper treble so sounds brighter and sparklier
- Overall the HD700 seems of lower resolution, with details not being as minute, especially the treble
- The mids for both are about the same to me
- Vocals are more forward on the HD700, probably because of the smaller soundstage

 

[Scorpion667]

- HD700 are more intimate sounding (smaller soundstage)
- Bass on HD800 hits harder, but is also quicker so there seems to be less of of bass presence
- HD800 has more upper treble so sounds brighter and sparklier
- Overall the HD700 seems of lower resolution, with details not being as minute, especially the treble
- The mids for both are about the same to me
- Vocals are more forward on the HD700, probably because of the smaller soundstage

 
If you were to quantify this when compared to HD800, what percentages would you use?
 
i.e sound stage 95% of HD800
 
I have tried HD800 before but it was a rather short listening session, from an average setup (AK240 + international, while amazing, is not ideal for HD800).

 

[dxanex]

 

Spoiler

I'd like to give a little update. I'll update more as I notice things. So today the HD700 I got for $325 came in. This is the second time I've had them, only difference is that my ears are much more experienced and I got a better chain. I had them shipped to work where I had the Schiit Modi/Vali stack. On first listen, I quickly noticed a peaky treble of annoyance even at low volume. It was a lower treble, where it would kinda smear. Reminds me of nails on chalkboard sound. This also causes sibilance, which is less of a problem on the HD800. I don't recall having this problem the last time I had these, but perhaps it's just my ears being used to the HD800 sound. I was afraid because of this I would not be able to listen to them on louder volumes. When I brought them home to my better setup at home (Emotiva DC-1 -> Bottlehead Smash -> Questyle CMA800R), that lower treble smearing peak become much less apparent, which is good thing. Even on loud volumes it was less apparent than on low volume on the Schiit stack. In this respect, your chain matters a lot. It's a misconception that because these are only 150 ohms, it's easier to drive properly.
 
Overall initial impressions compared to the HD800 on my home setup are:
 
- HD700 are more intimate sounding (smaller soundstage)
- Bass on HD800 hits harder, but is also quicker so there seems to be less of of bass presence
- HD800 has more upper treble so sounds brighter and sparklier
- Overall the HD700 seems of lower resolution, with details not being as minute, especially the treble
- The mids for both are about the same to me
- Vocals are more forward on the HD700, probably because of the smaller soundstage

 

I've always been a HD 700 apologist, still one of my favorite headphones for IDM, but since I've had a lot more time the the HD 800 I've realized that the HD 700 really sounds more akin to a $300-$400 headphone. I could see why people that once paid closer to the original MSRP would have polarizing views of the HD 700. The HD800 really does run circles around it, no question...but the HD 700 does have great bass and I'd argue more comfortable (becuase of its smaller size). I'm happy to revisit them at a cheaper price point, but probably wont hang on to them too long.

 

[Scorpion667]

  I've always been a HD 700 apologist, still one of my favorite headphones for IDM, but since I've had a lot more time the the HD 800 I've realized that the HD 700 really sounds more akin to a $300-$400 headphone. I could see why people that once paid closer to the original MSRP would have polarizing views of the HD 700. The HD800 really does run circles around it, no question...but the HD 700 does have great bass and I'd argue more comfortable (becuase of its smaller size). I'm happy to revisit them at a cheaper price point, but probably wont hang on to them too long.

I'm starting to realize this as well. The HD700 have a pretty good sound stage that made me go "ehh this is awesome" I was stil blown away when I heard HD800's sound stage after (my first time with HD800). 
 
I have to say of every headphone I have ever auditioned/owned in my life, HD700 stock cable is my least favorite. And I'm the type of guy that will try a million fixes when there's a problem. You can't fix terrible.

 

[Sonido]

   
If you were to quantify this when compared to HD800, what percentages would you use?
 
i.e sound stage 95% of HD800

It's hard to quantify it like that, but I'll try to break it down. Only the bolded lines below to me are a direct measurement of quality, where higher would be better. The rest are more relative that is subjective to the listener whether they like more bass/treble/soundstage or not.

66% of HD800 in soundstaging
85% of HD800 in details
90% of HD800 in bass tightness
120% of HD800 in bass presence
0%* of HD800 in treble finesse and smoothness
70% of HD800 in treble presence
100% of HD800 in midrange presence
 
*The lower treble can cause that smearing that sounds unnatural to me, whereas the HD800 does it perfectly, so I can't really compare something broken to something that works perfectly so that's why I use 0% here.
 
Overall, the HD700 are 80-85% of the HD800 as is, which is pretty good. If it didn't have that treble problem, I'd put it at 90-95% of the HD800 in terms of sound quality. It's almost a shame they have this treble issue, or the HD700 would be a slightly lower sound quality version of the HD800, and pricing it at two thirds the price of the HD800 would be quite fair. As is though, I'd say a fair price would be 40% of the HD800. Given you can now get the HD800 for around $1000-1200, a fair price for these would be $400-450.

 

[HumdrumPenguin]

Got a pair of HD 700 today after auditioning them, the HD 800 and the Audeze LCD 2. Comfort normally is priority for me. After about 40 min using the LCD I was already feeling very weird by using potatoes on my head. After lifting them up it was a great relief actually. They sounded amazing, some of the effects that I saw with it were much more enthusiastic than in the Senns. But when I put the 700, oh God, it was a feather weight. For that already I already discarded the LCDs. Not paying 1100 canadian bucks for something I can't wear for more than an hour without feeling stressed. Then I started matching the 700 against the 800. At first I couldn't tell much of a difference, but then I started noticing a bit here and there. To my surprise, at every genre I would throw up at them I would get a better response to my taste from the 700. Decided to take the little brother then, and I can't stress how much I like them. I guess this just proves to myself I can't always trust others opinion about sound gear. I do need to get myself out there and try them out before deciding what to get. Btw, all of them were paired with a Peachtree nova65SE tube amp. 

 

[Sundown]

Are there ANY impressions of the hd700's without hd800's being mentioned. Jeez.