[LeoNatan]

Guys, it's all good. No need to bicker about a suggestion.

To update, apparently the local Sennheiser representative here in Israel contacted me and they have the item in store, so I ordered it. I do fear for the future of these headphones, if items are becoming so hard to find already. I'd buy several of the headbands, but since it seems they deteriorate over time (mine's paint started to crumble), it wouldn't make sense.

 

[Marlowe]

I'm wondering how long people with deteriorating pads and headbands have had their HD700? I've had mine for about 20 months and, while it has gotten very heavy use, the pads and headband still look virtually new to me. And heavy use means heavy use: I'm retired and wear headphones much of the day, perhaps 1-3 hours for music and 3-6 hours of movies/TV. Until very recently, the HD700 was my primary headphone for all of this, with occasional use of the HD6XX and (even more occasionally) the Hifiman 400i for music. While the Focal Elex has become my primary music headphone recently, the HD700, because of its wide soundstage, remains my default choice for movies/TV. (I also game a fair amount, but usually use IEMs directly from my PC so as not to waste tube life in my amps.)

 

[LeoNatan]

I'm wondering how long people with deteriorating pads and headbands have had their HD700? I've had mine for about 20 months and, while it has gotten very heavy use, the pads and headband still look virtually new to me. And heavy use means heavy use: I'm retired and wear headphones much of the day, perhaps 1-3 hours for music and 3-6 hours of movies/TV. Until very recently, the HD700 was my primary headphone for all of this, with occasional use of the HD6XX and (even more occasionally) the Hifiman 400i for music. While the Focal Elex has become my primary music headphone recently, the HD700, because of its wide soundstage, remains my default choice for movies/TV. (I also game a fair amount, but usually use IEMs directly from my PC so as not to waste tube life in my amps.)

I've had mine for a few years, but actually had a huge break from using them in between, so they sat in their box. I think it's very much weather dependent. I live in Israel, near the coastline, so it's very hot and humid here most of the year. I am not sure of the pads are deteriorating too, as I replaced them with ones from Dekoni right after I resumed using the HD 700.

To explain how my band is deteriorating—it seems the paint is crumbling and disintegrating. It's probably a poor choice for material by Sennheiser.

 

[Sylaw]

https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/Au...lity/sbaf-serious/Sennheiser HD 700/README.md


man..... this Eq setting made me speechless.. spike? harsh? lol.. wish it sounded straight out of the box this way :') .

 

[Seijuro]

I owned them for maybe 6 months and hated them out of the box connected to an NFB-11. I got the Modhouse mod and that treble peak improved significantly so much so that I would have kept them, but the 660s came out and I sold them. No idea why Sennheiser tuned them that way.

 

[Sylaw]

I owned them for maybe 6 months and hated them out of the box connected to an NFB-11. I got the Modhouse mod and that treble peak improved significantly so much so that I would have kept them, but the 660s came out and I sold them. No idea why Sennheiser tuned them that way.

If you gave a listen with this eq you would have had a different opinion about the 700s.. Man it just completely transformed the headphones and gave such beautiful mids and details

I'm not trying to pull drama here.. But i almost cried when I heard this eq. And im not ashamed to tell that. Wow.. Everyone should try this eq setting with eqapo

 

[Seijuro]

That sucks for me. I loved the comfort and look of the 700 but it's been gone since June. I'll keep this EQ on hand and if I see another 700 at a good price I might get it again.

 

[Sylaw]

You should mate.. I bought sonarworks true-fi sub last month and now I feel like a dumbass for paying 79$. This sounds absolutely stunning and stransform that mid range into somthing magical . It just crazy how much of details this simple eq opens up.

 

[Seijuro]

Glad it worked out for you. Maybe I'll get one again in the future.

 

[slex]

Just took out my set for a spin. Realize that this HD700's cups look like miniature Hifiman 1000s's cups( well almost )design and decide to wear them cups as far towards my chin.

Definitely very good sonic changes for the better, go try.

I tried Hifiman 1000 cups, not a cup of tea for me. Too big and dun like too much warm on my face lol.

 

[Blueshound24]

If you gave a listen with this eq you would have had a different opinion about the 700s.. Man it just completely transformed the headphones and gave such beautiful mids and details

I'm not trying to pull drama here.. But i almost cried when I heard this eq. And im not ashamed to tell that. Wow.. Everyone should try this eq setting with eqapo

I know very little about eq'ing and seldom use it, but I went into JRiver's DSP Studio and plugged in the below numbers for the Parametric eq.
I used these values, and I think I did it right:

Type Fc Q Gain
Peaking 13 Hz 0.55 7.0 dB
Peaking 211 Hz 0.41 -4.5 dB
Peaking 2023 Hz 1.2 4.8 dB
Peaking 3666 Hz 5.48 3.9 dB
Peaking 6058 Hz 2.27 -8.8 dB
Peaking 80 Hz 4.04 0.4 dB
Peaking 7834 Hz 4.54 4.3 dB
Peaking 8699 Hz 1.48 -3.2 dB
Peaking 14675 Hz 0.57 2.3 dB
Peaking 19887 Hz 1.11 -9.7 dB

It also says this below, and I have no idea what it means. I just did the above values and at first blush it does make the mids more lush and a little easier to listen to, seems to make it more balanced top to bottom? They lose the peaky treble and are certainly less harsh without any siblance. It also takes away some of the excitement from the music.

Parametric EQs
In case of using other parametric equalizer, apply preamp of -5.6dB and build filters manually with these parameters. The first 5 filters can be used independently. When using independent subset of filters, apply preamp of -5.6dB.

 

[Blueshound24]

You should mate.. I bought sonarworks true-fi sub last month and now I feel like a dumbass for paying 79$. This sounds absolutely stunning and stransform that mid range into somthing magical . It just crazy how much of details this simple eq opens up.

@Sylaw , do you know if there is a set of parametric eq values for the AH-D7000? That would be very interesting to try as well!

 

[Blueshound24]

https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/AutoEq/blob/master/results/innerfidelity/sbaf-serious/Sennheiser HD 700/README.md


man..... this Eq setting made me speechless.. spike? harsh? lol.. wish it sounded straight out of the box this way :') .

NVM. I found a list of cans with values to eq on your link. Only thing is I'm not sure which one I have?


https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/Au...lts/innerfidelity/sbaf-serious/Denon AH-D7000

https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/Au...nerfidelity/sbaf-serious/Denon AH-D7000 B2012

 

[Fapandeggs]

Are the arms that hold the cups plastic?

 

[Marlowe]

Are the arms that hold the cups plastic?

The large back arm is obviously plastic; the thinner front arm is probably plastic, but I'm not one hundred percent sure. I like the HD700 a lot (maybe I'm not a sufficiently educated listener, but I've never been bothered at all by its notorious treble spike) and its the most comfortable headphone I've ever worn, but while it's build quality is good, its materials are almost entirely plastic--ridiculously so for a headphone that originally sold for $1K. It not only feels cheap for a $750 headphone (its current nominal MSRP), but it feels extremely cheap for a $400-500 headphone, its actual street price.The difference in materials between the primarily metal and (likely faux, but very well done) leather MD Focal Elex for $700 is stunning.