AKG 702 sound - Page 5

Hungry Like a Wolf, Rio, Wild Boys. I was more in to new wave, so I will start with Big In Japan, Alphaville. Blancmange, Living on the Ceiling. Visage, Fade to Grey, Soft Cell... YouTube - Marilyn Manson Tainted Love

That's a really great comparison actually! It also seems like the grado fans who don't like the GS1000 are more likely to find the earlier AKG's their cup of tea, and the GS1000 grado heads seem more likely to prefer the K701. Can you say "treble spike"?

also, on the issue of burn in, I've heard a lot of different K701's, and owned a pair for a while, and I could never tell the difference, which doesn't mean there isn't a difference, I've never a/b'd them, but I can say that from my experience, it is slight. In other words, if you don't like the K701, burn in is not going to fix them, but if you like them, they will only get better!

Sounds reasonable.

Duran Duran. They were big when I was in the 5th grade.
The Reflex. Girls on film. Hungry like the Wolf. View to a kill. Wild boys. All good songs. They were a staple of MTV when they actually played music video's 82-84.

I know there is no way that they can enforce this, but it would be great if there was a very large sticker on the side of every box of 'reference' phones that said 'Warning: designed for STUDIO use !'. That way, anyone who complained that their new cans not being lush or bassy or 'involving' could be given a helpline number where an engineer from one of the big recording studios would explain that the requirements for a headphone in their environment differ from what the average person at home usually wants. Personally, I dont need the sticker, but it seems that many Head-Fiers could really use it.

Looks like AKG doesn't have any problem referring the K702 as a reference hps. AKG Debuts K 702 Headphones For Recording and Broadcast Applications

BTW, most of the high end hps want, or try to be reference hps. I'm not sure if the 601 are in the same category, from the AKG site looks like they give up on the 601. The good news are that now you have a vintage model.

Acix, can you give me the URL of the AKG site that you are looking at, pls ?

The 'AKG Europe' site at AKG START still lists the 601:

Wired Headphones:
AKG Personal Audio - Wired - K 701, K 601, K 530, K 530 LTD, K 518 LE, K 518 DJ, K 516 TV, K 514, K 512

Product Page:
AKG Personal Audio - K 601

Personally, I dont like their site : clearly put together by marketers and not engineers. You need input from both, no question, but the nav is hopeless.

I think this is the kind of statement that creates so many arguments surrounding the K701. So often I read people say these same things, like if you don't like the 701, "you just don't understand", "you don't know how to listen to it", etc.

I agree with this statement 100%. There are so many people here who say the HD650 is better than the K702/K702. I had the HD650 and sold it to purchase my K702's. I am happier with my K702's than I ever was with my HD650's.

It is all a matter of preference.

Re: burn in, I did a side by side of my K701 with an un-burned-in K702 (only had ~50 hours) that I'm having recabled (prior to shipping it off) a couple of days ago. I didn't spend much time with them, but the difference was dramatic - much more dramatic than any other tweak I can make in the equipment chain i.e. changing sources or amps or cables. The 702 was forward, closed in, with uncontrolled bass and a hot treble. The 701 was much more open sounding and transparent with better controlled (but less) bass. I'm officially a believer in burn in!

So it wasn't my imagination. I heard a pr of 702s at my last meet and thought the same thing. Very hot treble and forward. Hardly any bass you could concentrate on.

The V3 cable is very transparent, so beware.. If going that route. Since I got my 48a recabled, some DSP modes on my receiver are difficult to listen to. Only straight PCM or 2 channel stereo sound good. I know the 701 is also transparent.

It's hard to compare ~50 hours to ~ 400 hours burn in. I suspect that AKG change the drivers 2 to 3 times on the 701-702. You only can confirm the drivers versions by comparing them 1 to 1 well burn 500 hours and up.

I did just the opposite! I bought both the Sennheiser HD650's and the AKG 702's and sent the akgs back because even though I felt that they were very open I prefer to have a warmer sound with more base. I actually just purchased the Denon AH-D700 from JR for 550 and I'm actually quite impressed with that so far believe it or not. I probably never let the 702's fully break in, although I did log prob over 150 hours on them, I just need more base for my musical preference. However, they would be better for certain types of music I think. If the Sennheiser HD800 wasn't 1400 now I'd buy those too