Ok...so here's my story.
Prior to procuring the HD700’s over a year and a half ago I had on hand the for almost a decade the AKG K701s, K501’s and K240DFs, Grado SR325is and the Sennheiser HD580/600s.
The AKG K240dfs were my preferred cans for mixing in the studio in the 80s and 90s but currently long in tooth to what is available today but probably still have their place.
The K501s were an nice were upgrade..a devil to drive and sorely lacking in base.
Next in line came the Senn HD580/600s…better extended base…nice balanced tonality and detail but way too polite…almost everything sounded ok…great for bad recordings but…. they put me to sleep.
Grados woke me up a bit, I liked the perceived clarity (brightness?) and went from the the 125s, 225s and then settled on the SR325is
Overall the sound was bit too immediate and deficient in sophistication.
AKG K701s…maintained the Grado crispness, cleaner sound and added air and stage width.
I did try Beyerdynamics and a few others along the way, haven’t been a great fan of planar magnetic but I should give them another try.
Anyway along come Sennheisers HD800s..audiontened them a few times but not totally convinced so didn’t immediately jump on them.
Mind you I was itching for something new..read a number of reviews on the HD700s and noticed they had a polarized reception. So the best thing to do is to source reviewers who appeared to have similar tastes to my own…coincidently they all seem to like these new Senns…some preferring them over the HD800s.
So figured why not give them a try, anyway I’m the first to admit my initial reception was lukewarm…nothing really stood out but after days of continual comparisons with all the above phones their strengths became more and more apparent.
The K701s became two dimensional, the Grados lost out on all accounts and the 700s were IMHO an all round improvement over the HD580/600s so that they sounded dated in comparison.
But there was something different in their presentation…up until this point I was ignoring my speakers but deciding to take a break after a few weeks I powered up my stereo..and then it hit me…I was aware the HD700s did come across more speaker like but not normally something I attribute to headphones…owing to the close proximity to the ear every little detail is placed on display and the overall physco-acoutics is completely different and have just grown to accept the fact.
So with some quick comparisons…alternating between the HD700s and the Dynaudio Special 25s
I had to admit their tonal presentation was the closest I had experienced with a set of cans…my previous headphones didn’t even come close..not only that but the staging in comparison was also very similar…still in a headphone sort of way …but laid out more horizontally (less concave and or convex) or wrapped around the head but also with adequate depth/layering and excellent stage width.
And then I got it…Sennheiser did indeed voice the HD700s.. so that the phones were less of a compromise when one is unable to listen to ones stereo set-up, I’m not sure that was their intention but at least for my ears and 40 years in this hobby the HD700s as I mentioned more than once are a step in the right direction.
Are they perfect…no…but they did manage to oust out all my previous phones so that I do not need a ½ dozen phones to accommodate my eclectic tastes in music and and I now enjoy spending a lot more time listening to headphones and to me that says a lot.
Should add that I did eventually add the HD800s....
and also the AKG K712s but those two also gone.
So what can one say to those that for whatever reason just do not like the HD700s or even seem to hate them...well this is an “impressions thread” and not an “appreciation thread” so I guess we just have to live with it... at least it’s not a thread about our wives or loved ones.
