[donlin]

Thornton!? I'm also a structural! But I'm juuuuuuuuust starting out. 

Yes, Thornton Tomasetti Chicago. Been there since 1988.

 

[KopaZ]

Well, my HD700 is sold for $329 on amazon.

Now im stuck with my denon's ah-d5000 until lord amazon sends me dispatch of money..

 

[Rob80b]

   
It was intentional by sennheiser to reproduce the sensation of listening to neutral speakers, which is not the same as listening to headphones with a flat frequency response. Speakers will give you gain in the high frequencies due to resonances with the ear and head, and you can see that in the raw measurements. The way the hd800, hd700, and akg k812 are equalized reflect the latest research into how neutral headphones are supposed to sound like afaik.

My... more food for thought.

 
Traditionally headphones were no more than small speakers clamped to the sides of our heads, they could be completely closed back or open design with multiple variations in between, the best drivers were designed to be as low in distortion as possible with the widest frequency range, depending on the shape and size of the ear pads treble and bass response could be somewhat tailored, in ear phones obviously bypass most if not all these design considerations.
But we now have generations of audiophile hobbyist whose only references to recorded music playback are headphones, I would take it as far as also implying that a lot of current music has also solely been produced and mastered on headphones.
But headphone and speaker listening are completely different, where headphones were originally used to in the studio primarily for isolation, checking details, mixing etc the final recording was always played back on speakers to determine congruity. The majority of studios did not aim toward the audiophile, instead the final recorded release was more often than not geared and mastered to sound best on small portable playback systems, car stereos etc, also remember the ghetto blaster, the walkman and personal listening devices also came on the scene almost as a back-lash.
Our obsession with the computer have most of us stationed daily if not totally glued to digital devices, the next obvious progression was personal listening stations and of course headphones. So where as headphones were once just an occasional alternative to speakers when we wanted to listen to music without disturbing those around us or vice-versa, they are now the de-facto audio transducers.
So what’s all of that got to do with the HD700s, well with the development of the HD800s was really the only obvious alternative to producing a better/different headphone, the HD580 and the 600 series have been with us for quite awhile and while relatively laid back had what many consider one of the best linear tonal reproductions, great for the studio and what many audiophiles discovered not a bad compromise when we needs to keep the music to ourselves, home theatre and subs got us lusting for more base and a slight modification on Sennheiser’s part brought us the HD650s.
AKG got the drivers farther from our ears and the K501s garnered a lot of attention in the audiophile community regardless that it was rather base deficient, angled pads and new driver voice coils came with the K701s further enhancing the expanse of the sound stage, and although not perfect they did offer a different and alternative sound to Senns darker and more intimate sounding HD600s.
Still…although great drivers with an open back design…they were as I mentioned more or less just “small speakers clamped to side of our heads” as is the case with all headphone manufacturers.
One cannot help but feel the HD800s was indeed a cost no object design from the ground up, drivers, baffle, bezel, fit etc to work as one…taking cues from the head-fi community and a yearning for those who do miss the audiophiles original goal to reproduce a proper rendition of the original recording…. the HD700s just happened to be the next in line in that direction. So as we get tired of the pyrotechnics a few manufacturers have taken the reins and are back on track to appease the head-fi audiophile*…young and old.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audiophile

1. “A key goal of audiophiles is to capture the experience of a live musical performance in a room with good acoustics, and reproduce it at home. It is widely agreed that this is very difficult and that even the best-regarded recording and playback systems rarely, if ever, achieve it.”

 
Even more so with headphones.

 

[ppdv]

All,
 
Good News and Bad news..
 
Good News is that my HD700 has finally arrived today

from the recent Massdrop shipping. Hooked it up to my Aune T1 and listened to a few songs. Initial impressions are good but not Excellent as yet since i am from a closed headphone background so far and this is just a starting at open headphones. But I guess the drivers need some burn-in time.
 
I do not feel the controversial "High Treble" issue so far, but i will wait for a few more hours of listening on it to finalize on that opinion or probably just might be my hearing.
 
Bad News: had to shell out additional 105 Euros for the customs duty. That suddenly made the drop look like a waste of time and effort to me. This made the landing cost just short of 10-20 Euros in the local market for me. My bad that i didn't see this coming

.
 
I guess i cant do any more high value Massdrop participation since the customs duty would defeat the whole purpose of me joining the group unless i can get it shipped to US and then have someone hand carry it for me. Though i do have friends in US, i dont have people traveling very often from the Netherlands whose travel will co-incide with my purchase and may not even go to the trouble of bringing it back.
 
Got a couple of things i want to know so that i can use my HD700's in a better way.
 
1) What type of pink noise is used to burn-in the drivers ?
2) What volume is generally suggested ( on the Aune & source ) ?
3) What gain setting is used on Aune ( I am presently at 0 , but dont really find the need to increase it at all) ?
4) How many hours of burn-in is generally needed ( continous or broken duration )
 
Also, can somebody help me with the link to the HD700 owners club in Headfi..?? I couldnt find it myself.
 
Cheers,
PPDV

 

[jincuteguy]

  All,
 
Good News and Bad news..
 
Good News is that my HD700 has finally arrived today

from the recent Massdrop shipping. Hooked it up to my Aune T1 and listened to a few songs. Initial impressions are good but not Excellent as yet since i am from a closed headphone background so far and this is just a starting at open headphones. But I guess the drivers need some burn-in time.
 
I do not feel the controversial "High Treble" issue so far, but i will wait for a few more hours of listening on it to finalize on that opinion or probably just might be my hearing.
 
Bad News: had to shell out additional 105 Euros for the customs duty. That suddenly made the drop look like a waste of time and effort to me. This made the landing cost just short of 10-20 Euros in the local market for me. My bad that i didn't see this coming

.
 
I guess i cant do any more high value Massdrop participation since the customs duty would defeat the whole purpose of me joining the group unless i can get it shipped to US and then have someone hand carry it for me. Though i do have friends in US, i dont have people traveling very often from the Netherlands whose travel will co-incide with my purchase and may not even go to the trouble of bringing it back.
 
Got a couple of things i want to know so that i can use my HD700's in a better way.
 
1) What type of pink noise is used to burn-in the drivers ?
2) What volume is generally suggested ( on the Aune & source ) ?
3) What gain setting is used on Aune ( I am presently at 0 , but dont really find the need to increase it at all) ?
4) How many hours of burn-in is generally needed ( continous or broken duration )
 
Also, can somebody help me with the link to the HD700 owners club in Headfi..?? I couldnt find it myself.
 
Cheers,
PPDV

 
I don't get why ppl keep buying stuff from Massdrop for the price.  Their prices are not even that cheaper compare to Amazon and so on.  You're just wasting time and effort and make Massdrop gets more profit by doing literally nothing.  Those guys are milking us ppl here on HeadFi.  Most ppl have no idea the truth behind how Massdrop making profit.  In the end, it's still all about business and so they have their way of getting money from consumers.

 

[kawaivpc1]

Well, guys.. I just tried the HD700. It's definitely a diminished version of HD800. 
It has slightly more 3D sound than HD650 but it doesn't worth that much price overall. 
I'm sending this back. 
It's NOT better than Shure's SRH1840. SRH1840 sounds much more accurate overall. 
 
There's no reason to buy HD700 after owning HD800 and SRH1840.

 

[mikoss]

I find 0dB on the Aune to offer the best for details and clarity. Going up to +8 or +15, you may hear better punch/dynamics, but I listen at 0dB myself.

 

[Krutsch]

  Well, guys.. I just tried the HD700. It's definitely a diminished version of HD800. 
It has slightly more 3D sound than HD650 but it doesn't worth that much price overall. 
I'm sending this back. 
It's NOT better than Shure's SRH1840. SRH1840 sounds much more accurate overall. 
 
There's no reason to buy HD700 after owning HD800 and SRH1840.

 
Well, that's like saying: there's no reason to buy a VW Passat after owning a Jaguar F-Type (although I don't believe the difference between the 700 and the 800 is that dramatic).
 
The HD-700 has WAY more soundstage than the HD-650; there is no comparison between the two, in that regard.
 
But, it sounds like you gave it all of 5 minutes and came to the conclusion that works for you.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

   
I don't get why ppl keep buying stuff from Massdrop for the price.  Their prices are not even that cheaper compare to Amazon and so on.  You're just wasting time and effort and make Massdrop gets more profit by doing literally nothing.  Those guys are milking us ppl here on HeadFi.  Most ppl have no idea the truth behind how Massdrop making profit.  In the end, it's still all about business and so they have their way of getting money from consumers.

 
Are you kidding? The prices are DRASTICALLY lower on MassDrop. They just did the PS Audio Sprout for $500, it's $800 on Amazon. Also right now the Ultimate Ears custom reference IEMS for $700 ($1000 retail). MD prices are routinely cheaper than Amazon by several hundred dollars for higher end products. Right now you can get the Final Audio Sonorous VI (the same as the old Pandora Hope VI) for $500, whereas the cheapest that was available previously as $700 and you'd have to import it from Japan.
 
Yes, they have their way of getting money, do you know what it is? It's getting people to buy in bulk for a kickback from the company. A company would rather sell 500 products at a $100 profit than 20 or 30 at a $300 profit, so they set levels of buyers at which they'll drop the price by X, Y, or Z amount and then MassDrop gets their fee for facilitating the sale. 
 
But hey, if you'd rather pay $800 than $500 I guess that's up to you...

 

[donlin]

Well, my HD700 is sold for $329 on amazon.

Now im stuck with my denon's ah-d5000 until lord amazon sends me dispatch of money..

Somebody bought them for that much even though they were spray painted?  Amazing!

 

[lawrywild]

 
University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1983, BS in Civil Engineering with advance classes in Business Law, Computer Science and Fashion Design.
Hint: Fashion Design is were the girls are

 
 

   
Heyoooo! I'm also Civil. 
 
 
 
 
 
I think FR only really tells a part of the measurement story. I find the CSDs are what I turn to more often than FR.

 
 

I'm a structural engineer. Our company is working on what will be the tallest building in the world.

 
 

   
Thornton!? I'm also a structural! But I'm juuuuuuuuust starting out. 

 
 
 
Lol crazy. I'm a Civil Engineering graduate also (though now I work in corporate finance).
 
 
Clearly engineers like HD700s..

 

[ppdv]

   
I don't get why ppl keep buying stuff from Massdrop for the price.  Their prices are not even that cheaper compare to Amazon and so on.  You're just wasting time and effort and make Massdrop gets more profit by doing literally nothing.  Those guys are milking us ppl here on HeadFi.  Most ppl have no idea the truth behind how Massdrop making profit.  In the end, it's still all about business and so they have their way of getting money from consumers.

 
To be honest, the price would have been a good deal if i had it sent to the US and got it hand carried later. I would have saved a good 150 Eur over the lowest cost available here.
For me, amazon does not make too much of sense again as usual with the long distance shipping and most vendors not ready to ship International.
 
Anyway, good lesson learnt.
 

I find 0dB on the Aune to offer the best for details and clarity. Going up to +8 or +15, you may hear better punch/dynamics, but I listen at 0dB myself.

i guess i will stick to 0 gain for now, and try the 8 / 16 settings later on.
 
Any pointers on the pink noise to burn-in the drivers ???

 

[kawaivpc1]

   
Well, that's like saying: there's no reason to buy a VW Passat after owning a Jaguar F-Type (although I don't believe the difference between the 700 and the 800 is that dramatic).
 
The HD-700 has WAY more soundstage than the HD-650; there is no comparison between the two, in that regard.
 
But, it sounds like you gave it all of 5 minutes and came to the conclusion that works for you.

 
It has definitely less detail than HD800. I have concluded that it's not too different from SRH1840. SRH1840 is actually better in many ways. 
Dude, I paid 590 dollars for HD700. SRH1840 is $499 and still sounds better. 
If HD700 was 350 dollars, it's a good deal. Don't buy new HD700 for its full retail price. Buy a used one for 320 - 360. Then, you're making a good deal.
For 320, I would keep it. For 590, no. 

 

[SomeGuyDude]

   
It has definitely less detail than HD800. I have concluded that it's not too different from SRH1840. SRH1840 is actually better in many ways. 
Dude, I paid 590 dollars for HD700. SRH1840 is $499 and still sounds better. 
If HD700 was 350 dollars, it's a good deal. Don't buy new HD700 for its full retail price. Buy a used one for 320 - 360. Then, you're making a good deal.
For 320, I would keep it. For 590, no. 

 
Saying it has less detail than the HD800 is pointless. It's like pointing out that a Dodge Charger RT has less horsepower than the Hellcat. No duh. You're comparing a high-end model against the TOTL flagship.
 
It's great that you like the SRH1840 more. So go and enjoy it, talk about how great it is in the SRH1840 thread. Not sure what the point is of blathering on in here about how overpriced the HD700 is to a bunch of people who love it and think it was worth every penny. Are you expecting to convince people of something? Go, enjoy your Shures, no one will tell you not to. 

 

[DavidA]

   
It has definitely less detail than HD800. I have concluded that it's not too different from SRH1840. SRH1840 is actually better in many ways. 
Dude, I paid 590 dollars for HD700. SRH1840 is $499 and still sounds better. 
If HD700 was 350 dollars, it's a good deal. Don't buy new HD700 for its full retail price. Buy a used one for 320 - 360. Then, you're making a good deal.
For 320, I would keep it. For 590, no. 

 I have a SRH1840 and while its good, its still in the class of a HD-650 IMO.  The HD-700 is closer to the HD-800 in sound signature to me and as a few other have noted the HD-700 is much more speaker like in its presentation to me while the SRH1840 still has that headphone on your ear presentation.