I try to go by my ears than the price tag.

I think the Prime didn't sound much better than Explorer 2. Little more power and nicer package, but similar sound wise. The ifi iDSD beat both at $399, by a small margin. And Chord Mojo well... we'll leave that for the other thread. Oh and it's half the price of the Prime and 1/3 if you include Prime Power.

The $200 ATHM50, QC15 sound better. But the HD700 is way more comfy than ATHM50.

I didn't expect them to be as good but I thought they would have been good enough.
I think it's more the type of sound planars vs dynamic. I bet I'd prefer HE400 over these HD700 but HE400 probably not as comfy.

Some headphones are designed for professional use and some are more for leasure listening (sometimes called more colored). I lean towards the leasure listening ones.

The HD800 are often labeled as analytical and HD700 more leasure. The HiFiMan X were often referred to as more leasure. I'm a little worried the HE1000's are more towards professional side. But folks consistently say the HE1000 are better. And some folks do prefer HD700 over HD800 (for leasure listening).



- Fiddler (IMHO)

If you think listening to music is fun, try learning an instrument.
HT: G61RSL, 4x5K, 5.5KHC, 2xSC6000, Transporter, HD621, Philips BDP7501 4K, Tivo, 65" LG OLED 4K C6
Computer: Foobar2000, 5K, Mojo, HiFiMan HE1000 V2