Sennheiser HD 700

After the Sennheiser ones broke, I used the AKG earbuds that came in with my Samsung Galaxy S8+. They sounded worse, but kind of okay. When these broke, I used my mother's AKG earplugs from her Galaxy S7.

The HE-500 has a richer tone, which some listeners may prefer, but in the end the HD 700 sounds more like being there, and it's considerably more comfortable than the HE-500. Previous generations of high-end Sennheiser headphones didn't sound great plugged into iPods and such, but the HD 700's winning clarity is on full display on my iPod Classic. Conclusion

Those headphones have so little clamp and the oddest shaped your cups that it's almost impossible to find a perfect position on your head. I actually found them quite uncomfortable and annoying to wear.

On the secondary market, the HD800s were then the same price as the new HD700s - and were generally better in every aspect. That's why the HD 700 has such a reputation. They are not bad headphones at all, but they have always remained in the shadows. Many just didn't listen to them themselves, but only heard other people's opinions.

Fast and resolving with that delicious planar subbass. Almost reaches HD 700 levels of detailing without the garbage tonality. An absolute steal for $350. I've also demoed the DT1990 and HD800 as points of comparison.

Even to my degenerate ears, something was clearly off. Coming from a Sennheiser HD 450, I honestly thought the Sennheiser to have a better sound profile, even though this cost thrice as much. I googled it and found a litany of complaints of this headphone, and that scared me, to say the least. There was no Equaliser, and the dual connection was just AWFUL.