[GREQ]

Alright well I tried it today with my vintage mid-fi Technics SA-300 integrated reciever, and I can confirm that 35W is enough to drive the SE-700.

Maybe a tad more dynamic and there's a nifty bass control knob, but not as technically capable as my headphone amps, as expected. Still, only needed the volume at like 10-11 o'clock!

I had the same thing happen with SE-700.
It sounded SO bad through my desktop headphone amps.
But when I fed it with my Harman Kardon PM640 VXi in 'high current' mode (instead of high voltage mode) they FINALLY opened up.
Of course I also still had to whack up the bass tone.
It's just a very picky headphone.

 

[Reputator]

I had the same thing happen with SE-700.
It sounded SO bad through my desktop headphone amps.
But when I fed it with my Harman Kardon PM640 VXi in 'high current' mode (instead of high voltage mode) they FINALLY opened up.
Of course I also still had to whack up the bass tone.
It's just a very picky headphone.

It doesn't sound bad out of my amps whatsoever, but they're being pushed to the limit. I'm actually surprised high current worked better for you, since the impedance is so high.

But yeah, a bass boost does do wonders for this headphone. It doesn't magically give them sub bass, but the mid and upper bass get a much-needed 'thump' to them.

 

[lantian]

Sennheiser HD580 Precision.
If you're ever feeling down, or recently made a mistake, just remember this post.


I bought it recently in a flea market, so we'll never know who the dummy is... probably better that they stay anonymous


- Overspill onto the headband - the cup + headband was glued together at one point.


I'm tempted to try some acetone to dissolve the glue, but I know that will destroy the rest of the plastic, and possibly destroy the driver and cable... both of which are still working.
Not much I can do at this point.

Wow, What.
As a suggestion, vibration might be able do make the super glue break the seal from plastic, or use som pliyers to wiggle and pull them off.
Best of luck if you decide to do anything at this point though.

 

[GREQ]

Wow, What.
As a suggestion, vibration might be able do make the super glue break the seal from plastic, or use som pliyers to wiggle and pull them off.
Best of luck if you decide to do anything at this point though.

All good ideas.
It's been soaking in vinegar for a few days... I should probably have another go at it soon.
Failing that, I'll look into pleasuring it

 

[Bingturong]

accidental double post

 

[Bingturong]

Oh boy... the CTX MK II

Probably one of the rarest of all the Napolexes, the CTX-1 MK II was released in 1977 until the company's demise in 1980. Meant to the pinnacle of the Crystalex headphones, how do they sound?

Well... interesting.

First off, the resolution is... sadly quite bad. It's definitely of the 70s. It's a shame because there are quite a few good things about it. It really does have a speaker-like soundstage, albeit one from the 70s. Its quite wide and quite in-depth too, a lot better than many modern headphones. Yet that issue with resolution means, separation is poor. Its 3D dimensional, but very... blurry.

The tonal balance is pleasant and the treble is quite sparkly, which I suppose is why it has the crystalex name. The highs are actually really good even compared to modern headphones and make the headphones a bit bright yet not overly so. Mid-range is, recessed and there's actually bass surprisingly. Quite tight but nothing slamming. Overall it's a very inoffensive sound signature with a focus on treble.

But, the level of detail and the resolution... is, just not good. The headphones sound like, it's tired and out of breath. There's little actual body. It sounds almost, tinny. It would be considered good... in the 70s. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a paper cone driver in these.

They're... very slow and get congested very easily with more complex music. They got a hint of that, musicality but otherwise I just cant get over how... poorly resolving they are. Its a good demonstration of how far dynamic drivers have come.

The headband is a bit uncomfortable and so are the earpads which are just thin leather covers over plastic, there's no padding whatsoever but thanks to the design, they're otherwise quite comfortable.

In summary, interesting speaker-like sound... if the speakers were cheap and from the 70s.

 

[GREQ]

Superex ST-PRO-B (1970)

Shockingly not terrible for an older vintage 2-way coaxial headphone, but they are obviously 'low res' compared to other top vintages of the 70's.
Has a paper-cone 'woofer' + 'tweeter' which appears to be some kind of dynamic type transducer.
(These were easily bested a few years later by the Pioneer SE-505, although it was a 2-way system, they didn't use a coaxial system.)



To think that you'd only need to crank up the bass + treble tone controls on your AV receiver to get these sounding their best.
The crossover tuning here is incredibly good for this type of headphone design.

 

[jerg]

Just got these ones in.



More pictures:

Spoiler

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!

I was able to have my SE-700s do bass justice with upgraded earpads (the best I found to be these 100mm outer / 60mm inner diameter sheepskin earpads) attached using a ring of double-sided adhesive tape to create a seal - see link for brief guide.

• Some EQing-up is still needed to reach bass levels in line with mids/highs, but the seal and a good amt of distance from driver to ear goes a long way to preserving the bass output/detail/extension of the drivers.

+1 to your observations about how much speed these headphones possess. The only cumulative spectral decay measurement of SE700s I found online showed unmatched mids/highs decay speed (even compared to the best modern flagships [1, 2, 3, 4]), on top of top-tier neutrality throughout mids~highs (with only the Hifiman Susvura coming in close), and clean decay (no resonance ridges).

• And don't forget these were measurements with their stock earpads! With modern sealed earpads like I listed above, the bass is likely to measure very respectably as well (to my ear on par in mid-upper bass detail with the best planars).

 

[jerg]

@Reputator And to attest to the SE700's greatness some more - my pair has stayed my sole daily driver headphones for the last 2+ years!

(Mainly 3 mods - the earpad swap for comfort+bass, recabling mod to resolve cutting out issues, and comfort leather strap sold to me @GREQ many years ago)

I still occasionally laid out my collection of dynamic and planar headphones against them to do some A:B comparison / sanity check - and it always ends with me putting my other headphones away again 20 mins later - none of them come anywhere close to the overall performance of these.

Most of us on this forum are chasing after that "perfection" in headphone acoustic performance, and so we try/buy/upgrade headphones as part of the chase. These cans (with the mods and the EQ) ended my chase since 2021, and every day I listen to it I'm still wowed

 

[szerecsen]

Some very rare cans from the early 90's in their original boxes

 

[Zumper]

Sennheiser HD 414 probably originals and Omega

 

[szerecsen]

one more very rare piece for you, from senn this time, also from the early 90's

this beauty is full of deep bass

 

[Bingturong]

one more very rare piece for you, from senn this time, also from the early 90's

this beauty is full of deep bass

Oh wow! The Sennheiser portables back then are super rare! I don't think I've seen one before

 

[szerecsen]

Oh wow! The Sennheiser portables back then are super rare! I don't think I've seen one before

yepp, the only pair i have seen in my life, and i am collecting vintage headphones for some 15 years

I took this picture for you to make a decent picture available for this one

 

[Bingturong]

yepp, the only pair i have seen in my life, and i am collecting vintage headphones for some 15 years

I took this picture for you to make a decent picture available for this one

It always makes me wonder why they're so rare