I have had these for several weeks now. I find them amazing.
Comfort:
A bunch of people have mentioned the bumps on the head band. These drove me mad to the point of wrapping a cloth around the band! But, it is leather, they break in and then are very comfortable. I guess you are expected to own a pair of these for a long time. Now they are broken in, I can spend (and do spend) entire days listening to them whilst coding.
Sound In General:
The stage is amazing. They are reference, so the sound is clinical. I can see why some people would find them fatiguing; I drive mine from a little dot mkiii value amp. If I drive them from a solid state amp then the sound is not so easy to listen to. My guess is that these headphones make no effort to improve the sound supplied at all. That is exactly what you want with reference cans!
Sound Stage:
It is big, but not stupid. Sometimes you get the idea that you are listening it loudspeakers on your ears, which is slightly annoying. I suspect this is due to the big size of the drivers. Most of the time, it is very much like listening to infinitely accurate speakers in the room. Actually, I use a digital effects unit to add a tiny bit of reverb' quite often, this really makes the listening experience like sitting in a living room listening to top end speakers.
Bass:
This is completely accurate. If you want a _lot_ of bass you are going to have to add this yourself, the headphones will not do that. They are reference, boosting the bass would be stupid. I use a sound processor to add bass if I want a lot. They take a lot of bass, but that does need a lot of drive. The amazing thing is that even with stupid quantities of bass, the middle and top remain unaffected (if you use a really good amp).
3Wires:
Yes - these do not have balanced input. Do I care - no! Balanced for the steps between processors are a good idea but for these I don't see the point.
Build:
These are not beautiful. The are not shiny. If you want to take pictures of yourself holding them and looking cool - you will be disappointed. They are are quite sturdy. I would not take them on the road. If I compare them to the my Sony monitors - they Sony's are much much stronger.
Sound Isolation:
Do not use these as monitors! The leak like nothing else ( apart from maybe K1000s but I don't have that sort of money).
Comfort:
A bunch of people have mentioned the bumps on the head band. These drove me mad to the point of wrapping a cloth around the band! But, it is leather, they break in and then are very comfortable. I guess you are expected to own a pair of these for a long time. Now they are broken in, I can spend (and do spend) entire days listening to them whilst coding.
Sound In General:
The stage is amazing. They are reference, so the sound is clinical. I can see why some people would find them fatiguing; I drive mine from a little dot mkiii value amp. If I drive them from a solid state amp then the sound is not so easy to listen to. My guess is that these headphones make no effort to improve the sound supplied at all. That is exactly what you want with reference cans!
Sound Stage:
It is big, but not stupid. Sometimes you get the idea that you are listening it loudspeakers on your ears, which is slightly annoying. I suspect this is due to the big size of the drivers. Most of the time, it is very much like listening to infinitely accurate speakers in the room. Actually, I use a digital effects unit to add a tiny bit of reverb' quite often, this really makes the listening experience like sitting in a living room listening to top end speakers.
Bass:
This is completely accurate. If you want a _lot_ of bass you are going to have to add this yourself, the headphones will not do that. They are reference, boosting the bass would be stupid. I use a sound processor to add bass if I want a lot. They take a lot of bass, but that does need a lot of drive. The amazing thing is that even with stupid quantities of bass, the middle and top remain unaffected (if you use a really good amp).
3Wires:
Yes - these do not have balanced input. Do I care - no! Balanced for the steps between processors are a good idea but for these I don't see the point.
Build:
These are not beautiful. The are not shiny. If you want to take pictures of yourself holding them and looking cool - you will be disappointed. They are are quite sturdy. I would not take them on the road. If I compare them to the my Sony monitors - they Sony's are much much stronger.
Sound Isolation:
Do not use these as monitors! The leak like nothing else ( apart from maybe K1000s but I don't have that sort of money).
I have a pair of Q701s myself, I find them very comfortable, but I have heard other folks say they can' t get past the fit.