"loses that sharp extension closed headphone may have"

That is like saying you don't like this BA driver IEM because it does not sound like a dynamic driver IEM. Why would you buy the BA one in the first place?

#13  I dislike Skrillex type of "dubstep" but listen to a LOT of EDM, trance and techno.  I use the K712 now and am awaiting my first pair of K7XX, but prefer them to my ATH-M50 for this music (all music).

My pairing of the K7XX with the udac2 seemed like a bad choice; right now I have the E12 as an amp for it, and while a lot of electronic music isn't that great to my ear, artists like Shpongle are amazing, due to their wide soundstage and really uncompressed sound. Count me in in terms of musical tastes, as I listen to tons of trance/techno, but also dislike Skrillex or DVBBS who use more compressed sounds.
 
To me, the K7XX primary crown is its inviting sound, which was enough to make a critic like me turn into someone who goes to sleep with music. Vocals sound a lot better now that I have an okay budget amp, although scaling upwards is probably a wise choice. Compressed music still sounds meh with my pairing though.
 
@Oktyabr The K7XX's may sound a bit boring especially coming from the K712, but I think that would be due to it's very flat sound sig, and that it's primarily a recording headphone rather than a relaxation one. Please tell me how they compare to the M50's once you get it!

I LOVE Sphongle (and related acts)!  Even bought Museum of Consciousness on limited vinyl   Sphongle, Pink Floyd, Kroke (try "Live at Home" if you've never heard them), Steely Dan, Alan Parsons, and more.  My tastes are all over the place.  Electronica, besides Sphongle, I like Pretty Lights, Phutureprimative, Crystal Method, DJ Shadow, too many to list.  

I bought the K712 because I missed the first K7XX drop and I wanted the K7XX because I wanted to find a good replacement for the K701 that I loved (but the bumps killed our relationship).  The M50 has been my primary can for years, for gaming and music, and if I needed another pair of closed cans I'd probably end up taking them home again.  Will be interesting to see how all three stack up.

@Oktyabr  Lol, I just found a gold mine of electronic recommendations. Thank you! The K712 Pro is probably better built than the K7XX too, so don't worry about extra money spent.
 
Erm... also, sorry bout that previous comment. The paragraph where I mentioned you in my last comment that paragraph should've started with "the KRK's", not "the K7XX's". Massively confusing so I apologize again about that. When I'm tired I mix the 2 names pretty often lol.
 
What i DID mean to say was the KNS8400's have a flat sig, but it should be really interesting when paired up against the M50's... I'd like to see which is better. Open headphones like the K7XX or the K712 Pro should blow both out of the water, especially considering soundstage and imaging.
 
Just bought the Magni 2 Uber for $120 today basically new... you wouldn't happen to know how the Schiit stack matches up with the AKG's, would you?

I saw the new drop on massdrop and was thinking about joining it.  I was planning on using these headphones in my recording studio and was surprised to see you mention that they are definitely not studio headphones.  I've seen reviews note how neutral and analytical they are, so I was hoping you might be willing to expand on your thought process at to why they would not work well for studio purposes.  
Thank you!

@Huzbie To my limited knowledge, studio headphones have a flat signature rather than a lively one, and no part of the signature (lows, mids, highs) are boosted or bloated in any way. While the K7XX keeps to the second part of the equation, they do sound lively and a little "fun", which is great for enjoying music. But if you really want to stay 100% accurate to the recording, the HD600's may be a better choice for you. 
 
To say it in another way, these are more geared to a listener's perspective than a recorder's perspective. Their crowning ability in my opinion is how fast you can really "get lost" or space out with these headphones (they're great to relax). For a recorder, that may turn out to be harmful; you don't really want to space out when singing, you want to focus on what you have to do.
 
To be fair, the sound of these change radically depending on which amp you have, and to emphasize again, you DO need an amp or you're not getting your money's worth.
 
If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask. And I do have a very much studio headphone for sale (as well as a review of it that I wrote), so feel free to check that out too.
 
Just my $0.02.

Still a great review!  I'll tell you right now.  After living with the M50s, the K712 and the K7XX for over a month, I gave the M50 to my wife (with new, fuzzy earpads!), and I sold the K712.  Sound wise I simply could not tell a difference between the K712 and the K7XX.  Build quality too, from very close visual inspection, was a close to identical as i think you are going to find outside of a testing lab.  So what did it come down to?  I liked the all "ninja" black of the K7XX better than the (still very nice) orange and black of the K712!  I DID buy another chinese made cable for the K7XX, since it only comes with one (versus two with the K712), and I swapped out my soundcard or motherboard (both) and a Creek OBH-11 amp for a gently used Audio-gd NFB-11 DAC-AMP, which I find is a very nice fit.

The K7XX is a superb headphone and if I had $500 and had to do it all over again?  It would be the K7XX I'd go after, rather than the K712 or the Annies.

@Oktyabr Man, you are good! I can't even tell how you knew I scratched the old review and wrote the new one, lol.
 
I did bash aesthetics in the review, but if there's no difference in sound aesthetics are of course next, lmao. I love the all black as well What amp do you use with them?

@avitron142 As I said, Audio-gd NFB-11 (actually the 11.32):  http://www.head-fi.org/products/audio-gd-nfb-11-32

@Oktyabr Sorry I missed that last line, haven't been sleeping the last few nights. The Audio-gd seems pretty cheap for a good dac-amp option, glad you got it! Hope you enjoy, and I need to look into the albums you mentioned... I'm in need of some good suggestions again, and your previous posts fit the bill

@avitron142 Lol!  Yeah, I've been there myself.  I like the Audio-gd products.  I was actually looking at the usual suspects in that price range (O2+ODAC, Schitt Stack, etc.), not because there was anything wrong with what I had...  I just wanted to see if I was missing something.  I stumbled across my first audio-gd (NFB-12) on the bay and only a couple of days later found this one instead.  Plenty of power, sounds at least as good as anything else I've played with but ultimately I just like having a physical volume knob and power switch on my desktop  I actually ran both sets of AKGs out of my Creek OBH-11, my SB Recon 3D sound card, the chip on my motherboard and even my portables!  While there were subtle differences I could have lived with any of them, beyond the lower volume of the phone and tablet.

More music?  I just discovered "Genuine", aka "Chris Zippel".  Some of his stuff is a little quirky but if you like Shpongle, Younger Brother, Hallucinogen, etc. give him a try too.  Tube "Spacedock" and "Deep Draw" for two of my current favorites by him.

@Oktyabr Thanks so much! I'm glad you found a good amp for the K7! It can certainly be picky... Best of luck!

I don't necessarily agree about your remarks on amplification. An iPhone will drive them to painfully loud levels...though the quality of the reproduction won't be as good as with dedicated amplification. In a related point, I found the Magni2U to be a great pairing.
 
The other 99% of this review I agree with wholeheartedly! Great work!

@DarthFader Like you said, loud isn't everything By amping I'm only talking about quality. The Magni 2 isn't fatiguing with the K7XX? Maybe I just wasn't used to it... let me know! And thanks for commenting!

It probably just comes down subjective preferences. All I am sure of is that I like the K7XXs on my Magni 2 Uber.