Just got these ones in.
More pictures:
Pioneer SE-700 in absolutely amazing condition. Popped up on eBay for what would've been a very reasonable price for the headphones themselves, but this one came with an incredibly PRISTINE vinyl case with no cracks or splitting anywhere. I'm
dumbfounded by that. The original paperwork sure doesn't hurt either. Sorry if you were one of the ones watching these!
These headphones debuted in 1974, and sure enough the manufacturer date is week 40, 1974. That would have been between Sept. 30 and Oct. 6, so it just had its 49th birthday a couple weeks ago.
In use the drivers want to cut in and out when I first start playing music. It's not the cable I don't think, because moving it around doesn't help. The piezoelectric drivers just seem to need to wake up, but once it's been going for a while they stay on and the center image is perfectly aligned in the middle.
These are absolute SPEED DEMONS. I'm not sure I have a more detailed headphone than this. It has a shockingly good soundstage for its age, and pinpoint imaging. Not a TON of 3D spatial variation, but it can handle complex layered tracks with the best of them, and you never lose sight of any of the instruments or elements.
But I have to talk about driving these, because you pretty much can't. These are BY FAR the hardest to drive headphones I've ever listened to. AKG K340? Cakewalk compared to these. I saw some reports online (
1,
2) that showed these tested between 3.8 to 5.3
KILO ohms! Yeah,
ten times greater than your typical high impedance dynamic!
I didn't believe it til I plugged them in. I think the presence of a 1/4" TRRS plug is kind of comical, because these things really need a speaker amp, and from what I read Pioneer did sell an adapter box to do just that. It nearly maxes out either of my headphone amps, neither of which are any slouch.
No sub bass to speak of. Technical limitation of the unique drivers. Online measurements also say there's nothing above ~8.5k either but I never found them lacking in the treble. Overall tonality is excellent, a bit on the bright side, but plenty of lower midrange oomph that they don't sound dry at all. I'd call it pretty true-to-life.
That speed though. Crazy detail and clarity!