From a post of mine: I realized something about the HD650, now that I'm listening to my 2nd pair (rebought ~6 years after selling my 1st pair): an immature listener might completely under-appreciate what they do, how they present recordings, have no idea and then just sell them like I did. It took me that many years to understand what I want and what I hear... It's hard to explain but at the moment I feel like these bastards will only be sold if I go deaf. They're just so competent, they shift my attention to music. The detail level is really good...

Modded 250Ohm version sounds really nice, I just put them on after keeping in storage because of ATH-R70x. I can definitely see how this could be an end-game headphone for some people, a retirement headset, as someone has mentioned around here. They're durable (passed the sit-on test) while being capable of very satisfying and pleasant rendition of music that is probably quite close to how it should sound. The music is presented as a beautiful whole, a full performance where every instrument is just there in it's place both tonally and in the...

200 bucks?! In short, these are the strongest performers I've heard and they made me sell my HD650 very quickly. I did enjoy the HD650s with some recordings, mainly vocal music, but they were lacking some breath, air and energy to me, while Q701 delivers all that and more. HD650 were like visiting your grandma -- fuzzy, warm and cozy, and Q701 is a lively party -- everything is lively, accurate and no detail is ever left out. They have a very nice impact. Every drum hit is very satisfying. Oh and the soundstage...why repeat ourselves; it's been said...