[kevinq]

My HD 700 was delivered this morning.

Was listening to it for a few hours ... the few things that obviously stood out for me were the soundstage, the airy-ness in the presentation and the control over bass notes. This HP is very detailed at the same time not sounding "analytical". Well recorded acoustic music sounded great. I was worried about the treble being too bright (because the treble on the HD 800 is bright for me), but that wasn't the case. I was not bothered by the treble at all.

I still love my LCD-3s powered by Mjolnir 2 (the setup I've at home), but the HD 700s driven by the modest HF2A (Mullard tubes) was no slouch in comparison. I thoroughly enjoyed the 2 hours or so of listening I did today.

These are just my quick/initial impressions. I'll try to do a detailed post when I've had a chance to spend more time with it.
So far happy with my choice (also scratching my head about all the bad press out there about these headphones - that made my decision making process unnecessarily hard )

Great! I was hoping that it would work well for you.

 

[tf10charged]

 
I know I'm being redundant, basically repeating what I said in my long post above, but yes, in my experience, the HD700 has a better soundstage, both more spacious and more precise. I'm thinking that the angled drivers, plus the more-prominent higher frequencies (I believe higher frequencies are more directional; i.e., in a standard speaker setup, placement of the subwoofer isn't as critical as the placement of the tweeters) contribute to this.
 
Before getting the HD700s, I thought my HD650s were wonderfully spacious-sounding. However, they actually sound quite congested in comparison with the HD700s. That is is what I'm experiencing, at least, and I've heard several others comment similarly. And this is using the same, mid- to lo-fi amps that I have.

in many oversea audio forum, opinions are hd700 is no doubt better than HD650 ( well, sennheiser wont shoot themselves by making and continue carrying inferior product).
but in headfi its another story. 
 
although i must agree the initial price is incorrect

 

[amagr]

Happy owner oh HD700s. I have Dragonfly as a DAC/AMP. IS it worth buying amp for that setup? I was thinkinh about Schiit magni.

 

[DavidA]

  Happy owner oh HD700s. I have Dragonfly as a DAC/AMP. IS it worth buying amp for that setup? I was thinkinh about Schiit magni.

Worth is subjective, but I didn't like the Magni with the HD-700, a little to bright for me.  Like the Ember with the HD-700 best of the amps that I currently have, other amps are BH Crack, Lyr2, Asgard2, Magni, VX1, UD-301, and AH-01.

 

[amagr]

Have you tried it with O2?

 

[DavidA]

Sorry, didn't try O2 with HD-700, I've tried my friend's ODAC/O2 and while its good for the price I found it a little to bright with HE-400, HE-400i and K7XX.  With the HD-650 the ODAC/O2 it didn't have the dynamics that I get with the BH Crack.  Another person recommended the Aune T1 as a economical DAC/amp for a friend of mine and its working out great for her HD-650 & K7XX.

 

[AudioMan612]

I'm mainly using a Woo WA7 with my HD 700's, and I've been very happy with it.  I'm currently using the stock tubes, but I plan to upgrade and try that out sometime in the upcoming future.  I also occasionally use the amp built into my Grace m920, and I think it works well too.  This isn't surprising, as Grace did say they used the HD 600's, 650's, 700's, and 800's as their primary testing headphones.  The m920 sounds a bit more detailed, but doesn't have that nice punch in the lows that the Woo has, but it's still a pretty good match.
 
No matter what amp I'm using, the m920 is my source when playing digital audio through either my speakers or headphones.

 

[raybone0566]

Music direct has the hd700 for $499.00 fall clearance sale. Great deal

 

[kevinq]

 

  Happy owner oh HD700s. I have Dragonfly as a DAC/AMP. IS it worth buying amp for that setup? I was thinkinh about Schiit magni.

Worth is subjective, but I didn't like the Magni with the HD-700, a little to bright for me.  Like the Ember with the HD-700 best of the amps that I currently have, other amps are BH Crack, Lyr2, Asgard2, Magni, VX1, UD-301, and AH-01.

I'm taking a close look at the Ember. Would you recommend it over pretty much any solid state amp? (For use with the HD700, of course.)
 
Also, have you found a particular vacuum tube that you like best with the HD700?

 

[SSN2015]

I have paired mine with the TEAC HA-501 and the match really works great IMO.

 

[kevinq]

  I have paired mine with the TEAC HA-501 and the match really works great IMO.

I'm using my HD700 with the TEAC HA-P50. It's a little $189.00 DAC/amp. I'm trying to decide whether I need a better amp (such as your TEAC HA-501). It's hard to decide since I'm not able to do any A/B comparison tests; I don't have access to any better amps (other than my FiiO E12, which sounds the same to me as my HA-P50).
 
At 150 ohms impedance, the HD700's are not hard to drive. My little TEAC HA-P50 and Fiio E12 get them plenty loud enough.
 
Has anyone compared their HD700's powered by a small, cheap amp, vs. a more expensive amp? What differences did you notice in the sound quality?

 

[SSN2015]

 
I'm using my HD700 with the TEAC HA-P50. It's a little $189.00 DAC/amp. I'm trying to decide whether I need a better amp (such as your TEAC HA-501). It's hard to decide since I'm not able to do any A/B comparison tests; I don't have access to any better amps (other than my FiiO E12, which sounds the same to me as my HA-P50).
 
At 150 ohms impedance, the HD700's are not hard to drive. My little TEAC HA-P50 and Fiio E12 get them plenty loud enough.
 
Has anyone compared their HD700's powered by a small, cheap amp, vs. a more expensive amp? What differences did you notice in the sound quality?

I got the TEAC after using the FIIO E12 for a few days. And believe me it was like listening to a different headphone. The difference in soundstage and the instrument separation was what struck me immediately. Also i found the E12 to be a little too bright and harsh  at higher volumes when paired with the HD700. The TEAC i feel is closer to neutral.
I have never heard the HA-P50 so I can't comment on that . But when  compared to the  E12 my purchase of  the TEAC  HA501 was really a huge upgrade and I am a very very satisfied customer.
 
Hope  this helps.

 

[echineko]

There's an offer from Sonic Electronix for 429.90 new, lowest I've seen. Check out the deals thread:

www.head-fi.org/t/692119/the-deals-discussion-thread-read-the-first-post/17535

For those thinking of getting one, enjoy

 

[kevinq]

 


I'm using my HD700 with the TEAC HA-P50. It's a little $189.00 DAC/amp. I'm trying to decide whether I need a better amp (such as your TEAC HA-501). It's hard to decide since I'm not able to do any A/B comparison tests; I don't have access to any better amps (other than my FiiO E12, which sounds the same to me as my HA-P50).

At 150 ohms impedance, the HD700's are not hard to drive. My little TEAC HA-P50 and Fiio E12 get them plenty loud enough.

Has anyone compared their HD700's powered by a small, cheap amp, vs. a more expensive amp? What differences did you notice in the sound quality?

I got the TEAC after using the FIIO E12 for a few days. And believe me it was like listening to a different headphone. The difference in soundstage and the instrument separation was what struck me immediately. Also i found the E12 to be a little too bright and harsh  at higher volumes when paired with the HD700. The TEAC i feel is closer to neutral.
I have never heard the HA-P50 so I can't comment on that . But when  compared to the  E12 my purchase of  the TEAC  HA501 was really a huge upgrade and I am a very very satisfied customer.

Hope  this helps.

Very helpful, thank you.

 

[Kerouac]

Originally Posted by SSN2015 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
I got the TEAC after using the FIIO E12 for a few days. And believe me it was like listening to a different headphone. The difference in soundstage and the instrument separation was what struck me immediately. Also i found the E12 to be a little too bright and harsh  at higher volumes when paired with the HD700. The TEAC i feel is closer to neutral.
I have never heard the HA-P50 so I can't comment on that . But when  compared to the  E12 my purchase of  the TEAC  HA501 was really a huge upgrade and I am a very very satisfied customer.

I also have the TEAC HA-501 for some time and yes, it's a great amp...when I auditioned it I just had to have it

Also like the damping factor on it so I can adjust it (make it sound brighter/darker) to my different headphones...

For portable listening I consider the Cayin C5 an upgrade over the E12 on my X5...haven't used the E12 for months to be honest

 
Btw, X5/C5 can drive the HD700 also very nicely...