Well here goes my humble opinion. I have a friend who is a high-end audio seller, and, well, I've extensively listened to quite a lot, Stax, Beyerdynamic T1 and DT990 250ohm, Grado RS1i, Sennheiser HD650, Denon D7000 and D2000, to name a few.
I, personally, own Ultrasone pro 900s, Audio Technica es7, Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10 pro recabled with Lune cable, and, most importantly, the UE 700s.
I'd like to comment on the Head-Fi community, before I start my mini-review.
I find these forums very informative, but I often feel that many of the members spend more time on Headfi, than they do listening to their headphones. I am, by no means, a very experienced head-fier, but I feel like there is a notion of make-believe reigning on Head-Fi. Namely, many feel like they should be perceiving things the way they are told to. I'm not directly criticizing individuals, it's more of a critic towards the community as entity.
Now that that's out of the way
I, honestly, think these headphones are very good for what they are. It's a given that they won't compare with the best of the best when only evaluating their SQ, but every time I put them on, I'm greeted with an enticing sound that is thoroughly enjoyable and, to me, that's all that counts. Compared to the TF10, they are brighter and have more midrange. The bass is very detailed but lacks quantity in comparison to the TF10. I won't say one has better bass than the other, as it's more of a personal opinion. They create a wide soundstage for iems, very similar to that of the TF10s, but instruments and vocals don't sound quite as massive as they do on the TF10s. I find them to be slightly faster than the TF10 and to sound better for metal. They have great detail and never sound muddy and although they are very bright, I find their treble to be tolerable and, in fact, enjoyable with the complies. They sound somewhat neutral, except for slightly exaggerating the treble. All in all, I really like them for their size, comfort, ans soundstage. To be honest, I prefer my TF10s, but that is primarily because I prefer the sound signature. If, however, ones preference lies in my brief description of the 700s sound signature, I can wholeheartedly recommend them for their current price ($100-170).
Cheers,
Leander
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