Member Reviews: AKG K701 Studio Headphones

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I am not a sound expert when it comes to anything hi-fi, but I bought these headphones secondhand 9 months ago just because I wanted a great pair of phones, for once.  I'm also a self(ish) taught bass player and I had gotten through a number of cheaper ear and head phones with my bass played through a Korg Pandora practice unit. My only problem at the time of purchase was the fact that I'd not done enough homework to realise that, first off, they work best with an amp - that's how much I know.  However, as they don't sound half-bad on their own, I kept them. Now nearly a year later I'm pissed that what I think is a straight forward design flaw has lead...

  First impressions - Upon first opening the box of these (lightly used) cans, the very first thing I noticed how light they were! In all honesty I was freaking out for about an hour, then went to a local used electronics shop where they had the same model a couple weeks back. Apparently they are SUPPOSED TO BE that light, so the relief swept over me.    Sound - I do not have an amp yet, so talking like I know anything would be out of line. Straight lined to a computer the bass is just enough for classical piano. Listening to the album the is in the picture, the experience is amazing. If you close your eyes, you feel like you are sitting in an amphitheater...

I am new to this forum and to the high-end headphone arena. This is my first ever review and based only on my first afternoon of playing and listening. OK, these are brand new, and maybe they will break in, but will they break in that much? They appear to be beautifully made, almost jewel-like out of the box. If they hold up and retain this apparent quality with long use, I would have to judge them finely made. So far, I have only used them with my Yamaha P150 Electronic Piano, as I have no headphone amp yet. I don't know how fair a test this is--more or less valid than hi-fi music listening?    My comparison 'phones:  Sennheiser Precision HD580: Clean,...

I had one in 2008 and subsequently sold it because of comfort issues. Personally, I didn't like the design/thought it looked cheap (the blue plastic)The ones I had were difficult to drive (not for Musiland 02 US type HP amps or un-amped portable ) Recently had a chance to listen to a re-cabled one from joe007 .He attached some soft pleather to the headband and put an expensive looking custom cable on them (my custom cable was about $35). The headband 'mod' fixed the comfort issue. Maybe added some bass. (I remember my custom cable seems to have calmed down the highs a bit when I had my pair)The strange tonality and fake sound-stage feel were still there though. Give them a go at meet,...

Definitely not a fun headphone compared to AT W1000x or Denon D-series.Sounded completely cold and analytical fresh out of the box. Bass was almost non-existant. Burn in using pink noise seemed more effective compared to normal music playback. More instrument seperation after reaching 400 hours pink noise burning. Any hours beyond 600 will not benefit as I did not feel any improvement starting hour 601.    

Nice so far.