[BigOakTopher]

The new HD700s definitely look very futuristic. I think I like the aesthetics of the HD650 better.

 

[WayTooCrazy]

I don't know, they look very nice, and I think $800 is a much more tempting price point.

 

[Bocefuss4500]

Quote:

I don't know, they look very nice, and I think $800 is a much more tempting price point.

agreed this is where i need to be at to serious consider buying a set ..

 

[grokit]

Quote:

The new HD700s definitely look very futuristic.

 
Definitely futuristic, I dig the tailfins.
 

 

[ac500]

I'm a fan of futuristic, not a fan of the "vintage" look personally. I'm fairly young though so, after a long enough time, what's "futuristic" to me will probably be "vintage" to others.

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

 

You are referring to the 6kHz right on the HD800? Yeah that one can be bad on the HD800s and it varies. On all post s/n 10000 I've heard, it doesn't seem to be too bad.
 
To be clear, the peaks on the HD700 are not small. The HD700 has a similar peak to the HD800 around the upper mids, but that one doesn't seem as bad as the HD800 (mainly because the overall treble is not shelved up as much.) What bothers me the most one in the mid-treble. It is sharper, more narrow, and of greater magnitude than anything found on the HD800. At at least that's what I hear. The "spotlit" term that Jude used aptly describes it. Think HD25-1-II treble and to a lesser extent T1.

Thank you for the clarification. I think Sennheiser does not want to hear the term "veiled" applied to the HD700. I don't really have a problem with some aberrations in the mid-treble, as long as the treble extends well past the 10kHz range. If it drops like a rock, those aberrations stick out like a sore thumb.
 

 

[Anaxilus]

Somewhat OT wrt HD700.
 
Here's an overlay that might explain the last Senn gen's perceived veil by some, myself included.  The 558/598 were fixed using thinner paper for dampening.  Differencing the area under the curve from 3.5khz to 9khz shows an obvious discrepancy.  Then HD800 versus a few others some consider veiled.  Just a relative comparison fwiw.
 

 

 

[Javierelizondo]

 
 

Now one more comment which I haven't made before: having a tube amp did not take away the edge of the HD700 peaks, at least not for me.

Which is the brand of your tube amp?

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

Which is the brand of your tube amp?

Eddie Current Balancing Act w/ partial silver Transformers.
 

 

[holden4th]

As a musician who plays a variety of instruments I know that the two hardest instruments to reproduce via electronic media are the piano and the human voice. So when I audition a new piece of audio equipment I have a number of CDs/FLAC files that take along with me to gauge the accuracy of reproduction of these 'instruments'. This brings me to the current flavour of this thread - what posters expect to hear. As a classical musician I want a combination of tonal accuracy, detail and a sense of soundstage. Now with the piano soundstage is not an issue but tonal accuracy and detail is vital. With the voice I want to be able to hear where the singer is in relation to his accompanists but I also want to hear him/her draw in a new breath. This gives me a sense of embodiment for the singer/group - that they are not coming out of some imaginary space but firmly placed on stage.
 
So what I want is a headphone that is first of all tonally accurate and secondly allows me to place instruments in their soundstage whether it be a duet or full symphony orchestra. As the majority of my musical listening is classical my HD580s do a great job regarding tonal accuracy and soundstage is also very good. If the music is a band or group produced in a studio then this becomes moot as the sound engineer has 'managed' the sound anyway. When I want to listen to Level 42 I swap over to my Shure 840s - the closed environment seems to work much better for this type of music and I get the visceral thrill of solid yet tight and detailed bass.
 
So, will the HD700 do justice to both? I doubt it. Based on what I've read from the handful of posters who've actually heard these cans they might suit my classical listening tastes very well - provided they can give me a totally realistic piano sound. Then there is string tone, voice tone etc. If they make my rock music rock then even better.

 

[Magick Man]

At $800 they're still in LCD-2 territory, though. Eventually they'll drop to $650-700, but for now I just don't see it.

 

[nikp]

Quote:

As a musician who plays a variety of instruments I know that the two hardest instruments to reproduce via electronic media are the piano and the human voice. 

I disagree. The new "pop singer" of Japan, Hatsune Miku, is freakishly good but the human voice really is hard to imitate. Piano is relatively easy to reproduce (digital pianos and decent keyboards sound very good). Strings.. Those are hard. Strings have warmth and "feelings" in them. Every time a note is played (on a violin), it will sound unique although it's in the same pitch. Same thing with brass instruments. Until now, I haven't heard one that comes close. I absolutely "hate" digital instruments because they sound too fake. 
 
Btw, you might want to try the HD800. 

 

[Maxvla]

What do you think are inside a piano? Strings. Struck or plucked strings are easier than others though. I do agree that bowed strings and human voice are the most complex musical sounds to reproduce with bowed strings taking the top spot easily. The complexity of a bow interfering with a vibrating string in a 'constant' tone can't be underestimated. The difficulty in human voice is how deep the 'strings' are in our throats and that they are actively variable. Like playing a violin with 1 string and a peg to change the pitch.

 

[nikp]

Quote:

What do you think are inside a piano? Strings. Struck or plucked strings are easier than others though. I do agree that bowed strings and human voice are the most complex musical sounds to reproduce with bowed strings taking the top spot easily. The complexity of a bow interfering with a vibrating string in a 'constant' tone can't be underestimated. The difficulty in human voice is how deep the 'strings' are in our throats and that they are actively variable. Like playing a violin with 1 string and a peg to change the pitch.

Piano, I believe, is both a percussion and string instrument, but it's not often called strings for this matter. 

 

[grokit]

Now they're $800? I thought that they were going to stand firm at $999 and penalize dealers for discounting ala the HD800. 
 
AFAIK, the grand piano is the hardest instrument to digitally sample and reproduce realistically.