K701 and Sextett first impressions

I just received some k701s with supposedly around 250 hours burn in and sextetts which of course should have been burned in years ago because of its age

Anyway lets start with the sextetts... familiar sound, almost the same as I remember my k240s maybe a little more cohesive though. Overall I enjoy them but because of the closed can leather coloration, its nothing to fuss about.

K701s... Well, I'm gonna be adding 200 hours more just to see if it still evolves but as of now... bass quality is great... a non bloated hd600 style soft sound (I like the stax 202 bass better though even though it didn't go as low). I like the bass. Problem why lots of rock music sounds thin is exactly because of what I saw from the old headroom measurement graphs... A boost in the lower highs around 7khz making it sound thin and plasticky just as I though from looking at those old graphs. Also as predicted are the highs not being as extended as the hd600s. They are brighter but less extended on top. Now the worst part... The sound breaks up at high volumes with my gilmore lite with dps... Well see if this is a burn in problem though or an amping problem. If its an amping problem all I can say is WTF! The k701s are low impedance cans with low power handling... How can the glite be not enough powerwise. hmmmm well see. as of now, I know the hd600s are staying unless these cans get in shape.

Oh I almost forgot... Wheres this huge soundstage I keep hearing about. Its only bigger than the hd600s because of the unnatural tonality. How can anyone say these are neutral cans??? The hd600s are more neutral and still they are far from neutral.

Bottom line, I still havent heard anything that does it right so far as headphones are concerned. Not even close to a well setup speaker system in the $10k range (tonality wise). Well soon see about the hd800s. I'm not really trusting Tylls ears anymore from that first hd800 review if these k701s don't shape up to be the world class shyte that he says they are on Headroom. I don't think I can blame my amp for the lack of neutrality because after all the gilmores are supposedly about the most neutral one can buy for the price.. Supposedly

Well see... I'll add my final comments in a few days. I'll also try the we396a on my havana dac to see if it tames the 7khz hump... and other amps as well

About overall neutrality, Its actually better than the hd600s when you consider bass to treble balance IMO but there are more anomalies in between especially this unforgiveable lower treble peak which only time will tell if it goes away. Pataburd and MarkL was totally right about this.

The sextetts really aren't bad. Just not in the league of clarity with higher end cans. Tonality isn't bad though. I get the feeling that the sextetts will improve with the new 242 velour pads. Anyway Vvanrij, I hope you get your Stax tomorrow. Feeling guilty that these arrived here first

Thats one of the only things i dont like about the sextetts. I want to get rid of some midbass It has a typical closed headphone bass that I don't like so much. The k701 bass is much better IMO if only the lower highs didn't get so much of the focus of the entire range of sound

hmmm could it be that there are two driver batches floating around being mix and matched with the k701s and k702s since they do use the same driver after all

pls do tell if the new cable changes the lower highs anomaly. Ive got a feeling some drivers just need more burn in than others which is why the 701s and 702s you have could sound that different from each other. I got a feeling a new cable might improve some things but not fix the problem at hand

ok so we got different drivers you think or just totally different ears. The lower highs are just way too present. Its right under the sibilance region so it doesnt sound sibilant like beyers. Its like a senn in the mid highs because its well behaved there but the upper mids are more evil than grados at the moment. hmm