[Aillas]

  To anybody who has this and the CAL!, could you please compare the sound quality between the two headphones? I'm considering this is a potential purchase. I would love impressions for different genres of music (classical/film scores, hip-hop, alternative rock, etc.).

 
I own the CAL! and am also curious to see how they compare. I love the CAL! but have a feeling I'll prefer the S680 to the CAL!
 
I ordered the S680. Once they've been properly burned in, I'll compare them to the CAL!

 

[wmlk]

   
I own the CAL! and am also curious to see how they compare. I love the CAL! but have a feeling I'll prefer the S680 to the CAL!
 
I ordered the S680. Once they've been properly burned in, I'll compare them to the CAL!

Thank you. I know the CAL! is really impressive for its price, so I want it to be a benchmark for other headphones at a similar price range.

 

[Lifted Andreas]

   
I own the CAL! and am also curious to see how they compare. I love the CAL! but have a feeling I'll prefer the S680 to the CAL!
 
I ordered the S680. Once they've been properly burned in, I'll compare them to the CAL!

 
This shall be interesting!

 

[journeyy]

I ordered on 02.01. from kakaku, buysmartjapan - still no delivery notice :/ this will be a long wait

 

[Lifted Andreas]

I ordered on 02.01. from kakaku, buysmartjapan - still no delivery notice :/ this will be a long wait

 
Be patient mate, it takes a while for the package to get from Kakaku to BuySmartJapan.
 
Took over a week for my S680, once its at BSJ they will dispatch it to your country pretty quick.

 

[takonin]

  To anybody who has this and the CAL!, could you please compare the sound quality between the two headphones? I'm considering this is a potential purchase. I would love impressions for different genres of music (classical/film scores, hip-hop, alternative rock, etc.).

 
I have both CAL and HA-S680.  The CAL is more neutral and balanced sounding than the 680.  After 72 hours of burn-in with the 680, it has becoming less thumpy but I would still say it exhibits more bass and sub-bass than the CAL.  I'm not a basshead so I had to turn down the bass by one notch on my E17. 680 highs are also more prominent and the mids are recessed IMHO.  Overall CAL sounds more intimate and the 680 sounds more distant with pop music.  I'm looking forward to hearing other people's opinions too!

 

[BenF]

   
I have both CAL and HA-S680.  The CAL is more neutral and balanced sounding than the 680.  After 72 hours of burn-in with the 680, it has becoming less thumpy but I would still say it exhibits more bass and sub-bass than the CAL.  I'm not a basshead so I had to turn down the bass by one notch on my E17. 680 highs are also more prominent and the mids are recessed IMHO.  Overall CAL sounds more intimate and the 680 sounds more distant with pop music.  I'm looking forward to hearing other people's opinions too!

E17 is too warm and grainy, it doesn't do well will headphones that are even slightly warm.
S680 improves greatly with better equipment. Even driving it amp-less directly from ODAC the sound is phenomenal.
I strongly recommend you to move up to ODAC.
 
I'm not hearing any recessed mids, quite the opposite. The sub-bass is elevated, but it doesn't bleed into or overshadows the mids.
S680 is for bass lovers, but not for bass-heads.
 
How would you compare soundstage and and comfort of S680 and CAL?
CAL may sound more intimate because of a smaller soundstage, S680 sounds like a "semi-open".
 
P.S. Did you burn according to the procedure in the first post?

 

[takonin]

 
E17 is too warm and grainy, it doesn't do well will headphones that are even slightly warm.
S680 improves greatly with better equipment. Even driving it amp-less directly from ODAC the sound is phenomenal.
I strongly recommend you to move up to ODAC.
 
I'm not hearing any recessed mids, quite the opposite. The sub-bass is elevated, but it doesn't bleed into or overshadows the mids.
S680 is for bass lovers, but not for bass-heads.
 
How would you compare soundstage and and comfort of S680 and CAL?
CAL may sound more intimate because of a smaller soundstage, S680 sounds like a "semi-open".
 
P.S. Did you burn according to the procedure in the first post?

 
 
I don't have the ODAC but I've tried it with plugging in directly to my smartphone and have the same opinion.  I'll give it a try with my Aune T1.
 
I agree the sub-bass doesn't bleed into the mids but I feel the highs and bass are overshadowing the mids.   I'm prefer the mids on my HA-S400 for some reason.  
 
The soundstage on the S680 blows CAL out of the water.  It has a wider soundstage but like I said, voices in s680 sound far away and somewhat hollow.  My HD-650 has a fairly wide soundstage and the voices do not sound far away.  I was wondering if changing the pads would help?
 
I burned the s680 using the file you or someone posted earlier with various noise sounds.

 

[BenF]

   
 
I don't have the ODAC but I've tried it with plugging in directly to my smartphone and have the same opinion.  I'll give it a try with my Aune T1.
 
I agree the sub-bass doesn't bleed into the mids but I feel the highs and bass are overshadowing the mids.   I'm prefer the mids on my HA-S400 for some reason.  
 
The soundstage on the S680 blows CAL out of the water.  It has a wider soundstage but like I said, voices in s680 sound far away and somewhat hollow.  My HD-650 has a fairly wide soundstage and the voices do not sound far away.  I was wondering if changing the pads would help?
 
I burned the s680 using the file you or someone posted earlier with various noise sounds.

 
Smartphone isn't a great choice for a high resolving headphone like S680.
Aune T1 is even warmer than E17, you'll probably be disappointed.
 
I've tested S680 again with vocals - sounds like I'm at a private concert, very involving.
If you'll see my first post, the vocals sounded bad until the burn-in finished, may be you didn't follow the procedure exactly?
24/7 burn-in at volume 30% above comfortable.
 
There is no need to change the pads, they are not the problem.

 

[takonin]

   
Smartphone isn't a great choice for a high resolving headphone like S680.
Aune T1 is even warmer than E17, you'll probably be disappointed.
 
I've tested S680 again with vocals - sounds like I'm at a private concert, very involving.
If you'll see my first post, the vocals sounded bad until the burn-in finished, may be you didn't follow the procedure exactly?
24/7 burn-in at volume 30% above comfortable.
 
There is no need to change the pads, they are not the problem.

 
Nevertheless, I was comparing the s680 and the CAL using the same amp/DAC and player.  I'm considering selling s680 because it wasn't up to my expectations and wasn't significantly better compared to the other headphones I already have.  I really want to like it but the extra bass just isn't my thing.
 
I followed the burn-in instructions exactly as written

 

[Lifted Andreas]

Nevertheless, I was comparing the s680 and the CAL using the same amp/DAC and player.  I'm considering selling s680 because it wasn't up to my expectations and wasn't significantly better compared to the other headphones I already have.  I really want to like it but the extra bass just isn't my thing.

I followed the burn-in instructions exactly as written

Dude, keep burning them with thumping tunes at high volume!

These cans need at least 200-300 hours good pounding before you'll get the best you can out of them.

Don't make a hastly decision of selling them without hearing the full potential!

 

[BenF]

   
Nevertheless, I was comparing the s680 and the CAL using the same amp/DAC and player.  I'm considering selling s680 because it wasn't up to my expectations and wasn't significantly better compared to the other headphones I already have.  I really want to like it but the extra bass just isn't my thing.
 
I followed the burn-in instructions exactly as written

 
S680 thrives on high detail, and E17 isn't giving it.
Just because you used the same DAC/amp to compare two headphones, and one of them doesn't sound right, that doesn't mean that it's the headphone's fault.
I'm sure HD800 wouldn't sound great out of E17 either - but would anyone say that HD800 is a bad headphone because of that?
 
Anyway, I have tested my S680 with E17 just now (never did before), and the vocals are a bit off.
ODAC does a much better job, but if you don't want to spend ODAC money, Hifimediy Sabre DAC sounds great too.
I have just tested the asycnronous version, and it's almost indistinguishable from ODAC, at just 57$.
http://hifimediy.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=123
The synchronous version is even cheaper at 42$ and sounds the same (I have both) :
http://hifimediy.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=62&product_id=83
 
However, I still don't know how much of your problem is because of E17 and how much because of burn-in.
May be you should try to burn-in on higher volume than before, while you wait for your new DAC 

Don't give up so easily, you've got yourself a really great headphone really cheap -  you just need to make a small effort to unlock its full potential.
 
P.S. Did you also do the brain burn-in as requested in the first post?
       Another member had a similar problem, until he gave his brain a little time to adapt: http://www.head-fi.org/t/690493/the-jvc-ha-s680-s400s-and-s500s-big-brother-is-here/225#post_10126378

 

[Painful Chafe]

Dude, keep burning them with thumping tunes at high volume!

These cans need at least 200-300 hours good pounding before you'll get the best you can out of them.

Don't make a hastly decision of selling them without hearing the full potential!

 
 
Very true. Just when I think they have settled and the sound it really great, they improve a bit more. I'm not hearing any trace of the once bloated bass. I've got about 50 hours of the burn in and 100 hours of listening now. I think I stick them on the burn in track again.
 
I'm kind of surprised about the comparison to the S400. These are a couple of levels up, IMHO.
 
Also, I've been using my X3 and it sounds great. Surprised to hear the comments about the E17 and am now wondering if I'm missing something. I'm not sure how similar they are. I've tried the 680's on my Walkman NWZ-Z1060 and Clip+ and I like the X3 quite a bit more.

 

[michaelgordon]

ive not really had the chance to listen a lot at the moment prob been a week or so. i presume that as they are now burnt in they will be ok and wont start to get worse if im not listning to them?

 

[Aillas]

 
The soundstage on the S680 blows CAL out of the water.  It has a wider soundstage . . .

I realize that you have faults with this headphone, but this sounds promising to me as I've been craving a little extra soundstage for movies, videogames and Skype voice calls.
 
Have you tried the S680 with movies? If so, how well did they fare with them? The supposed wide, 3-D soundstage of the HA-S680 makes me think they'd make a great headphone for movies / gaming / Skype voice calls.