System upgrade (part 1)

Due to a change of circumstances my "summit-fi" system has been delayed until next year (perfectly timed considering the new integrated amp!) so in the interim, I bought a set of HD540IIs from Ash. They are still burning in so I'm withholding final judgement for now but my K701s and DT880s will be looking for new homes soon! In fact they are so good, I foresee another demo to compare everything I have already heard against them... Couple that with my new Bitzie and I think I won't be going out much. 

I don't know if anyone else is but I'm booked in for Head-Fi's CanJam in London on the 29th of August as some interesting new models will apparently be making a debut (high end, closed Sennheisers anyone?) and should be fun to grab a listen. If I can, I'll take my 540s and compare.

Edited by miT - 25 Jun 2015 at 11:40am

Without a doubt! DT880s have "refined" (and almost non-existent) treble but has a warm, full bodied sound + amazing comfort. The K701s have ludicrous amounts of treble and everything is really detailed but are accused of being thin sounding. I find the bass fine as you can hear it to the lowest note but it does lack a little presence...

Mix the two together but with better controlled mids and lows (than the DT880s), slightly more refined/less harsh treble (compared to the K701s) and greater detail and you have the 540s. Literally the best of both worlds. Comfort is on par with the DT880s too but the 540s are feather light.