Has anyone compared the higher end headphones?

ALL212

Has anyone compared the Senn HD700 or HD800 to HiFiMan or Audeze? I have HD650's and MrSpeakers Alpha Prime. Love them both but I have an opportunity due to some 'bay sales of investing in the next layer up.

voltz

I have heard the HD 650's & HD700's & hifiman HE400 & Grado RS2i's and like the 700's better then all the others....

the hifiman 400s do not fit my head but are really excellent sounding. The Grados where a nice natural sound with unique highs but on the bright side comapred to the SENN's. I'd put the hifimans in the middle.

wish I could hear the Audeze's, even if its there cheapest

polkfarmboy

Interesting comparison Voltz, when I just started posting I though people were nuts when buying expensive cans. Now after a small run of cheapish and ones I am slowly coming around. I would have never imagined the grado r2i to be bright but then again I have never had the luxury of the comparison to something like those 7's.

voltz

SENNs are bassy in comparison to the Grados, with the grado more natural sounding but not necessarily better. So each person would have a different idea about the sound and/or what is better.

Now Scott @msg has the SENN HD650's & the GRADO RS2i's right now so maybe he could tell you his opinions about the difference between them.

I found the 7's at a really super price and could not stop myself from buying them heck WOO and other sites still had them at like $799 and I got them for around $300

msg

Yes, they both do have distinctly different sounds. I'm new to headphones of this caliber, as well, and I imagine they each have their strengths for specific genres of music.

My reference is the Bose TP1, which have the sonic-v, as Dan calls it, and I enjoy them. That said, the Senn 650's sound beautiful in comparison, and have sweet mids presence and detail. Fuller sounding overall, but less bass, though more natural.

Like Darryl says, the Senn 650's seem bassy compared to the Grado RS2i's, but I wouldn't call the 650's unnaturally bassy. I think the RS2i's are crisp, but didn't make my ears bleed. Overall I really enjoy the 650's better.

One thing I've noticed is that I get used to everything pretty quickly, and so can see the merit in each. Neither the Senn nor the Grado mentioned will satisfy of you're a bass hound.

The Senn 650's are more comfortable to me than the Grado, however the Senn does have a tight headband, and I feel like it squishes my head.

And now I'm also curious about the 700's and others that Aaron is asking about.

tat

I havent in the last 20 years, but I had a pair of those headphones that came with their own preamp back in the 1980's I appreciated better fidelity. I think they may have been electro-static but I forget the brand. they hooked up to the speaker binding posts vs. a headphone jack. Not sure what happened to those, someone must have walked off with them at some point.

tat

Stax...that is the brand. Wish I knew what happened to those, havent seen them since college I dont think...totally forgot about them. I dont like wearing headphones much so they didnt get enough use. I didnt even bring them to college i dont think...or maybe thats where they were stolen.

ALL212

I'll be more specific...

HD700's (800's if I can find a good used pair)
Audeze LCD-2's
Beyerdynamic T1
Hifiman...? I don't know the model numbers there, just that there's good stuff.
Grado's.... not familiar here either.

I'll be driving them with the Bottlehead Mainline.

Face

HD700s are warmer sounding than the HD800. I wouldn't call the HD800 bright, but I found them kind of thin.

I thought the Beyer T1 was meh. A bit too rolled off on both ends.

Hifiman, I've only heard the HE-5 and HE-6, and another model which I can't remember. They both sound good, but he HE-5 sounds a bit bloated and congested in the bass. The HE-6 are the best sounding headphones I've heard so far...but then again I've never heard anything from Audeze.

sucks2beme

I have a set of Grado ps500's and have the ebay clone Gcush pads on them.
More comfortable than the stock pads, and they have plenty of bass and warmth.
I also did a custom headband to stop the cups from spinning around.
The Senn 800's require a beefy warm amp to sound right.
I've owned a bunch of Grados including the RS1 and the Senn 650's.
The 650's match quite well with the bottlehead amps.
To me the Senn 700's just didn't feel as comfortable as the 650's.
The massdrop AKG 7xx's were a great bang for the buck headphone.
If your budget is unlimited, Stax is always a good option. Their higher end
models combined with a Blue Hawaii amp are almost impossible to beat.
And Senn has a no holds barred electrostatic setup. You might have to
take out a second mortgage to buy it.

stuwee

AKG 701's want accurate? tame them with some tubes if ya don't!!

Got the funds, get some 'stat's, game over with the proper amp!!

ALL212

YESSIR!! Sennheiser HD800s inbound. Should have them early next week.

Joey_V

voltz wrote: »

I have heard the HD 650's & HD700's & hifiman HE400 & Grado RS2i's and like the 700's better then all the others....

the hifiman 400s do not fit my head but are really excellent sounding. The Grados where a nice natural sound with unique highs but on the bright side comapred to the SENN's. I'd put the hifimans in the middle.

wish I could hear the Audeze's, even if its there cheapest

Heard the Audeze's lowest line.. felt a little thin to me but still good.

sucks2beme

My next listen is going to be Focal Elear.
It seems to fill that gap between good headphones
and insane $$$$ headphones

Joey_V

I enjoyed my HD650 and MDR5000 (Sony) in the past. Also had the HD555 as my gateway.

Had the Headamp GS-1 amp... always wanted to try Singlepower before he turned out to be a scam artist. and Also wanted to try out Ray Samuels gear.

Now I have the BW P7... it's all sounding good.

ALL212

HD800s'sssss arrived today. I was a bit worried as the box weights in at 5 lbs or so but the outside box has an inner box with velvet and all that wonderfulness. 2 cords, one for balanced 4 pin, the other for standard 1/4" and a manual with languages in it that I didn't know existed.

Stuck them on the Bottlehead Mainline via balanced connection, started some tunes and wandered off for about an hour catching up on things. Got back to them and...

I have many an hour on HD650's and maybe a year or two less listening on MrSpeakers Alpha Prime's. The sound on the 800s's is amazingly detailed. I think the sonic spectrum is just flat - they don't sound flat - but the freq response is so balanced that everything comes through, nothing is under amped, nothing is over amped. I don't think these will "blow your skirt up" on first listen but after some time of listening to familiar material you realize what you've been missing.

The fit is strange. It's comfortable but those big deep cups are odd when compared to the other cans I have. Cable is nice, it makes no noise at all when rubbing on clothing. Other cables, those stock and those I've made, you can hear.

Don't look for these to show up in the FS thread!

stuwee

Congrat's ALL212, not having your skirt blown up is mighty fine praise unless you hang out under a NYC subway grate and Ms Monroe is standing overhead

I'm curious about this sound cables make rubbing clothing tho, I live in AZ, quite dry here most of the time, I've never heard anything from rubbing...

ALL212

stuwee wrote: »

I'm curious about this sound cables make rubbing clothing tho, I live in AZ, quite dry here most of the time, I've never heard anything from rubbing...

These seem immune to it. The HD650's and MrSpeakers have my own cable on them. When I move and the cable brushes against something (volume low or off) I can hear that movement. It doesn't come from the cones - it just travels up the cable to the framework of the 'phones. One cable set I made I put that woven cover on - really bad mistake! Shirts with collars on them are bad news with those also. Can't stand the stock cables so I just sit still! MrSpeakers came with a 4' cable... for what they cost I should have gotten a 100' cable - so I made one for them.

The HD800s appears to be immune from any of that and the cable is of good quality so no modifications will be made.

RamZet

If you'rer near NYC go check out Lyric HiFi, they have all of those lined up on a wall to demo.

stuwee

@All212, thanks for the reply, do you have a dedicated headphone amp or, use what your preamp has (which preamp if so?)

ALL212

Bottlehead Mainline as a dedicated headphone amp. I've got a couple of Bottlehead "cracks" also.

stuwee

Nice! Living in the middle of nowhere Arizona, I couldn't audition amps, just got my Little Dot I+, love it with the AKG's, the 701's need some serious current to fill in the edges of the instruments that I love to hear. I'm looking forward to tube rolling, never done that before.

jakeshields

I had the HD800S earlier, fantastic headphone, now supplanted by HE1000V2, which is a very similar headphone--wide soundstage, very detailed, but also has extremely deep bass.

If you prefer the HD650, then the natural end game progression for those cans (smaller image, but more reference tonality) would be the Focal Utopia.