Sennheiser unveils its HD 700 high-end headphones

Excitement for your ears

Sennheiser’s high-end world still has plenty of excitement to offer. At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the audio specialist is unveiling a set of new premium headphones, the HD 700. These fully open dynamic stereo headphones combine high-end sound with an innovative headphone design.

“The HD 700 features a perfect combination of outstanding acoustic properties and sophisticated product design," said Steven Ang, product manager for Sennheiser. “It’s styling and material selection have been thought through down to the finest detail in order to fully exploit the sound potential of the acoustic unit."

The ear cups are designed in such a way that the sound waves are directed to the ears at a slight angle. This results in an impressively natural listening experience. The ear cups themselves have a completely open design. This not only ensures a highly transparent sound but also clearly displays the "heart" of these exciting headphones: the 40 mm Duofol transducer. Its powerful neodymium magnet systems guarantee detailed, lifelike audio reproduction from 10 to 42,000 Hz.

Small details for a great sound

“To ensure that the acoustic properties of the headphones are not impaired by any partial vibrations, the transducer is mounted in high-precision gauze made of stainless steel, as is the case in the HD 800 reference headphones,” explained Ted Tinedo, Product Group Head of Iontech Inc. A new patent-pending feature is the special shape of the gauze, which continues the curved lines of the diaphragm. The resulting curvature reduces the volume of air beneath the diaphragm, thus guaranteeing even more precise control of the diaphragm motion and significantly lowering total harmonic distortion.”

The endeavour to fully exploit the sound potential of the premium headphones led to a further small but effective innovation: a ventilated magnet system. The idea is actually quite simple. "The up and down motion of the diaphragm produces an air flow in the magnet system housing that causes the diaphragm to wobble slightly," explained Ted Tinedo. "By positioning precisely defined holes in the housing directly under the magnets, we can cause the air to flow in a specific direction. This minimises the wobbling motion of the diaphragm." And the result is impressive: with total harmonic distortion of less than 0.03 percent (at 1 kHz and 105 dB sound pressure level), the HD 700 offers brilliant trebles, precise bass reproduction and a crystal-clear sound. Dips in the bass level are effectively suppressed by the patent-pending multilayer design of the headband.

Designed to meet the highest demands
A puristic shape and the black-and-silver finish give the high-end headphones not only a luxuriously elegant but also a high-tech appearance. The ear cushions made of high-quality microfibre fabric guarantee excellent wearing comfort. “The HD 700 fulfils all the wishes of the most demanding music lovers, both in its visual appear-ance and its outstanding sound quality," said Steven Ang. “Its warm, balanced and detailed sound turns classical music, jazz, rock or soul into a fascinating listening experience. High-end fans are bound to be delighted by these exciting new premium headphones.

Features
•    Open, circumaural dynamic stereo headphones
•    Outstanding soundstage with a warm and balanced audio reproduction
•    Specially-tuned, highly efficient drivers capable of delivering high sound pressure levels
•    Highly optimised ventilated magnet system minimises air turbulence and harmonic, intermodulation distortion
•    Open-back ear cups facilitate transparent sound while showcasing cutting-edge industrial design
•    Angled acoustic baffle for optimal sound projection and natural sound experience
•    Ultra comfortable and luxurious velour earpads, silicone-treated headband for minimal headband resonance
•    Innovative and highly aesthetic dual-material yoke for better stability and eliminates negative influences to sound quality
•    Very low THD achieved by top-notch and extremely stable internal damp-ing element
•    Symmetrical and detachable silver-plated oxygen-free four-wire copper cable for better conductivity at higher frequencies
•    Designed in Germany, assembled in Ireland
•    2 year warranty
The new HD 700 will be available in shops from July 2012, and retails at PHP 49,900.