Senns HD700 Opinions?

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Q1DM6

Gawd
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Mar 22, 2012
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The reviews for these damn things are all over the place. Have any of you tried them personally? God almighty I would love some 800s but the price :eek:

Maybe I'll hold out for Christmas sales on the 800.
 
I think some of these headphone sets are wildly overpriced, I mean how much does it really cost to make the drivers in them or the rest of it. You can get a really amazing set of tower speakers for a grand.

I've never heard these headphones though, I've listened to the $400 Beats ones and I was very unimpressed, sounded little better than the $20 Sonys I have, maybe these headphones are really great but IMO I can't help but feel the prices are wildly inflated for what they are and if you are going to spend $1000 on headphones you'd be better off going in for some really nice speakers.
 
matteos said:
I think some of these headphone sets are wildly overpriced, I mean how much does it really cost to make the drivers in them or the rest of it. You can get a really amazing set of tower speakers for a grand.

I've never heard these headphones though, I've listened to the $400 Beats ones and I was very unimpressed, sounded little better than the $20 Sonys I have, maybe these headphones are really great but IMO I can't help but feel the prices are wildly inflated for what they are and if you are going to spend $1000 on headphones you'd be better off going in for some really nice speakers.
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The beats sounded like shit because beats ARE shit.
 
Beats are shit, but I think anything more than $200 on headphones is diminishing return amplified.

$1000 on a set of speakers will likely give you altogether 2 1" tweeters, 4 6.5" drivers and 2 8" woofers, plus thick MDF cabinets, bracing, crossovers, more time spent on manufacturing and excellent sound quality, the materials cost money.

With headphones you have two 30- 40mm drivers, some plastic, padding and some leather. I refuse to believe the materials can cost more than $100 in even the most expensive headphones out there and the wildly inflated prices are solely for marketing and profit.

Just my opinion
 
I don't care for speakers.
My piddly bookself JBLs are fine for my usage.
I'd have to upgrade my amp and all for the 800 I'd imagine, which is why the supposedly much easier to drive 700 is appealing, but the price...urg. Then again, they might take a significant Christmas dip as well.
Those November/December Amazon deals will be along in no time flat.
 
Some things are worth the money. I would pay $300 for a pair of good old Lambda Normal Bias stax b/c they last 40 years and sound great. Best, deep as a well, 3D soundstage I have yet heard for gaming.

So it depends. I wouldn't pay much for the 700s though. Not THAT good compared to less expensive models.
 
With anything in audio, and indeed most things in life, each dollar you spend gives less return than the last you spent. However that doesn't mean that dropping some coin on headphones are worthless. You do get better quality, and comfort, with your cash.

In terms of the HD700s I can't say I've not heard them. In general I like Sennheiser headphones, they do a good job, though not as much as some other brands. My favourite all time headphones are Denon AH-D2000s. They are exceedingly accurate and comfortable and aren't monkey-fuck retarded expensive (you can get them for less than the list price). However Denon has discontinued them so I can't really recommend them to people anymore since finding them is difficult or impossible.

Also if you aren't needing to buy now you can wait a bit and see if Sennheiser revamps the 600 series to include the new design from the 700/800 series. The 600 series phones sound quite good, so the biggest thing your money would get you right now is the ergonomics and that may change in time.
 
Whether you think headphones are overpriced is subjective. Compared to speakers they provide a far more intimate experience.
 
viralcow said:
Whether you think headphones are overpriced is subjective. Compared to speakers they provide a far more intimate experience.
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hmm, not really I'd say pricing is fairly objective since we can measure cost of parts, labour etc and compare them to profit.

Your opinion that headphones offer a more intimate experience than speakers... THAT is subjective.
 
Headphones by their nature prevent the room from affecting the perceived sound, while speakers are heavily dependent on the acoustics of the room for the perceived sound. While the intimacy of the experience is subjective, the effect room modes have on the perception of a speaker are a measurable and objective fact.

That being said, I agree that the luxury pricing tier of headphones is a bit overpriced, but you also have to recognize that headphones are a fairly niche market and the pricing is set at what the market will bear. Part of the reason they are priced what they are, is because people are willing to pay that much. As for the objectivity of pricing; do you know how much the Sennheiser HD800 ring radiator cost in R&D? How much does it cost them to make? It's difficult to make an objective comparison when not all the facts are known. Speaking of overpriced, there are niche market audiophile speakers that easily cost $10,000+.

I know of more than a few speaker drivers where a pair would easily cost more than $1000, let alone the rest of the speaker parts, such as crossover and enclosures. I personally built a speaker that cost about $700 total between the drivers and crossovers, never mind the enclosure I personally built. In that frame of reference, a $300-ish Sennheiser HD650 headphone, for example, is a fairly good bargain.
 
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There are no bad products, just bad price points... Beats at half the price would still be a tough sell tho!
 
I'd try a pair of HD600/650s before throwing down that kind of coin for the 700/800s.
 
Having tried both I'd say the HD700 are not worth it. They're great headphones no doubt but the HD800s are still the king for ultra revealing detail monster headphones and the HD700 didn't show me the supposed groundbreaking "musicality" that all of the early reviewers raved about. If I were buying another pair of expensive cans and it was between the two I would pick up a used or open box pair of HD800s for $1000-1100 instead of the HD700s.

It's also worth mentioning that the new HD650s no longer have the dark voicing or the "veil" that is sometimes described. They are a very neutral headphone that is evocative of the HD700/800 now and outside of them being painfully uncomfortable for me I think they're a pretty solid pick since you can get them used for ~$300.
 
guitarslingerchris said:
It's also worth mentioning that the new HD650s no longer have the dark voicing or the "veil" that is sometimes described. They are a very neutral headphone that is evocative of the HD700/800 now and outside of them being painfully uncomfortable for me I think they're a pretty solid pick since you can get them used for ~$300.
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Sennheiser retuned the 650 or what? I actually love the very clear analytical sound of the akg q701, but can't get over my personal impression of it being 'thin' sounding. It just didn't have much presence. If I can capture that clarity in something other than the 800 I would probably be game. Is the 650 that much different/better sounding than the 598?
 
Q1DM6 said:
Sennheiser retuned the 650 or what? I actually love the very clear analytical sound of the akg q701, but can't get over my personal impression of it being 'thin' sounding. It just didn't have much presence. If I can capture that clarity in something other than the 800 I would probably be game. Is the 650 that much different/better sounding than the 598?
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You can read about it here among other places. Based on what you described I'd say you might look into the DT 880 as it has a much richer sound to my ears while still having comparable clarity to the AKGs and new Sennheisers.

As far as the 598 and 558 goes they are a pretty big outlier at the moment compared to everything else Sennheiser makes. They're the only real "fun" headphone as everything else in their current line is fairly neutral. The older HD650 would be a closer match to the 598 than anything else but the new one isn't the same at all.
 
guitarslingerchris said:
You can read about it here among other places. Based on what you described I'd say you might look into the DT 880 as it has a much richer sound to my ears while still having comparable clarity to the AKGs and new Sennheisers.

As far as the 598 and 558 goes they are a pretty big outlier at the moment compared to everything else Sennheiser makes. They're the only real "fun" headphone as everything else in their current line is fairly neutral. The older HD650 would be a closer match to the 598 than anything else but the new one isn't the same at all.
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Yeah, I was considering the 880 as well based on what I was reading across the net. Is there enough of a difference to justify being picky between the 250 and 600ohm dt880?

edit: also been considering the shure 1840, altho from what I understand it bends more toward traditional music and electronic/dance style stuff might not be it's bag. I do listen to a pretty wide variety so I might give it a shot tho. Reviews are extremely positive.
 
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I've tried my friend's 250ohm 880s and I own the 600ohm and I would say the difference is mostly negligible and that they have the same characteristics.
 
Can the STX alone handle the 600 ohm 880s just as well (as the 250 ohm's, obviously not comparing it to the Vio) or is it pushing the limits of the card? The 600 ohm version seems to be like $50 cheaper lately...
 
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It can, but it's at the extreme end of what the STX can handle so if you play things very loudly you may be disappointed although at normal listening volume it's fine.
 
I live in a rural area of my state. No hifi music stores, no hifi meets, no anything, really. I bet I'm the only person in hundreds of miles who even has low end audiophile ambition. :(
I gotta get everything through Amazon, so I can return if necessary.
 
Beyer 880/600 + Schiit Valhalla or some other similar tube amp will give you what you want. I had those and a SQ-84 amp a few years back and it was killlllller. The only dynamic headphone I liked better with tubes was a AKG340 modified by headphile. Another hard to drive but amazing sounding headphone. So much so that I sold that combo to the a fella who produced Alison Krauss and Robert Plants album. He used that combo so they could listen to their recording.....Yeah, still have an audio boner about that one.
 
How would you guys rate the neutrality of a Sennheiser HD 650 w/ Schitt Valhalla and Bifrost DAC?
 
guitarslingerchris said:
Tube amp kind of automatically disqualifies it from being neutral.
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Yup. I just preferred the way they sound with tubes is all. The midrange becomes more lifelike to my ears. With a good ss amp it just is too dry. Especially from a pc source. Just saying, if you really want to connect to the sound, go for tubes with dynamic cans.

Oh, and I like the Senn 600 more than the 650 btw. All just my opinions of course.
 
Megalith said:
How would you guys rate the neutrality of a Sennheiser HD 650 w/ Schitt Valhalla and Bifrost DAC?
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I haven't used my HD650s on that setup, but with my PPAv2 amp and y1/y2 DAC, they are noticeably darker with more bass than my HD595s and the HD800s I demoed at Head-Fi's Can Jam in 2010 (both of which are VERY neutral to my ears).
 
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