Sennheiser HD700's

[Natural Sound]

I'll start here even though this thread has been inactive for a while:)

New on this forum and expecting a Crack at my house in the next month or so!   Just wondering if anyone has any experience running the HD700's with the Crack or any other Bottlehead Amps?

I love the Sennheiser sound signature and I'm enjoying these phones without an Amp right now (unfortunately) so I can only image what they will be like with a great amp! 

Also running a Modi Multi Bit DAC and an AudioPhellio 2 if that makes any difference to answering the question.

Thanks!

I don't have any experience with the HD700's. But I feel its worth noting that the Crack OTL might not be the best match. Crack and Crackatwoa work best with headphones that are 200 ohms and higher. Unlike the HD650 and HD800 phones at 300 ohm the HD700's are only 150 ohm. Bottlehead's Mainline amp is better suited for lower impedance phones. The now retired S.E.X. amp would have been another good choice. There is talk of a replacement in the works but that might take some time to be released.

[SimonJazzSax]

Thanks for the reply.  I wish I could afford the Mainline!  That would be my first choice.  I didn't see the S.E.X. available on the website, am I crazy or missing it? 

I also thought about the impedance situation as you mentioned, but since the crack was so affordable and it said headphones higher than 120 ohms, I went with it.

From what I've read online, it's the best bang for your buck tube amp wise.  I did read on some other forums about some guys who have paired the 2 and love it, but I figured I'd ask here too.

Thanks for your answer and the info!

[Natural Sound]

Thanks for the reply.  I wish I could afford the Mainline!  That would be my first choice.  I didn't see the S.E.X. available on the website, am I crazy or missing it? 

I also thought about the impedance situation as you mentioned, but since the crack was so affordable and it said headphones higher than 120 ohms, I went with it.

From what I've read online, it's the best bang for your buck tube amp wise.  I did read on some other forums about some guys who have paired the 2 and love it, but I figured I'd ask here too.

Thanks for your answer and the info!

No, you aren't crazy. The S.E.X. amp was retired in May of this year.
http://bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?topic=9101.0

There is no doubt that the Crack amp is the best bang for the buck out there. I bought one of the first ones and have enjoyed listening to it in my home office for several years now with my beloved HD600's. The stock build is fantastic but the Speedball takes it to the next level. You really should consider that before any other upgrades.

Keep us updated on your build and how you like the sound. Something tells me you will have a big grin on your face.

[Bacci]

I have the HD700s too and decided to order the crack after reading CNET's Steve Guttenberg recommending the crack-HD700 combo ("my budget-priced Bottlehead Crack headphone amp sounds astonishingly good with my 300-ohm Sennheiser HD 580, and 150-ohm HD 700 headphones", google that quote for the whole article), in an article about headphone impedance no less.
Will do a listening comparison with my AMB M^3 (which theoretically is excellent at transients with its OPA627s opamps, and has tight/precise bass), but only after I solder the must-have speedball in. I suspect the mechanical damping is so good on these cans that it won't matter much.

[Paul Joppa]

A little searching found this plot of impedances for several headphones:

https://www.head-fi.org/t/623554/sennheiser-impedance-marketing-question

Notice that the HD700 has a huge impedance peak of nearly 400 ohms. With Crack, that will give a boost to frequencies around 100Hz, probably around 5dB. The other phones on the plot have a much flatter impedance plot, so even though they are 50 ohms or less, they will show less response fluctuations with Crack.

These impedance interactions are of course not the only audible differences, but they are the ones most easily analyzed. There is still no substitute for listening!

[Doc B.]

That won't necessarily be a bad thing with HD700s.

[SimonJazzSax]

Thanks so much for the replies everyone.  I am truly looking forward to building this amp and definitely will look into the speedball upgrade in the near future:)  I want to get it built and spend some quality time with it before I go off upgrading and such.  Definitely want to check out some other tubes as well:)

[Bacci]

You're in for a treat my friend, the sound of this combo is unbelievable
With the HD700, more bass compared to my AMB M^3 (even with bass boost all the way open) and no harshness/sibilance issues.
Doc got me addicted to Crack!

[Samsquatch]

Maybe no one is paying attention to this thread anymore but Massdrop has the HD700 on for $399 for a few more days.