Dear All,
Do let me know about your views
Roughly clocked 75 hrs on my new K701… Cambridge Audio Azur 640C ver. 2.0 CD player Headroom Micro Ultra K701 (stock cable)… Ok… here are my impressions. As I share my thoughts over here, I will refer to the Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 stand mounts (I own these and love them) and my Shure E4C IEMs. So let me summarize the configuration of my home stereo and my iPod-based system:
Onkyo DV-SP502 Universal Player Cambridge Audio Azur 640A (ver. 2.0) integrated amp Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 (Not placed on stands, what a pity!)
IPod 5.5G Shure E4C (Apple Lossless)
I listen primarily to instrumental classical and have a HUGE collection of finely mastered Deutsche Gramophone and DECCA discs. (Naxos, Philips Classical, Sony Classical to mention other labels…)
Now, more about the K701 sound at 75 hours:
•Fairly big soundstage, although I can’t pin-point the location of the instruments. (I remember hearing a high-end floor-stander in a shop and they literally ‘disappeared’ into thin air, leaving behind a glorious soundstage, where it was easy to pinpoint the location of the instruments.)
•Even tonal balance, sometimes seems a tad tilted towards the upper midrange… not a deal-breaker though
•Gobs of detail… wow! (leagues ahead of my Shure E4C…. though I guess that my Wharfedale 9.1s are capable of coming close especially if I use a pair of good stands to clean up the bass)
•Timpani sound rigorously defined and taut on the K701 only when they are the main instruments in the mix… But if they are playing along with an orchestra at full swing, they sound meek and get lost when they should ideally step forward a bit more.
• A bit weak in dynamics… my Wharfedale has better dynamics at this point of time.
•Bass has better resolution than my Wharfedale and my E4C… subdued, but accurate and musical!
•Very good with small scale orchestras, chamber music and quintets.
•Wonderful, wonderful piano… excellent attack and decay…. Bravo AKG!
•My first major gripe…. VIOLINS! OMG…. Just not up to the mark. PERIOD. Not bad, though; but I am used to the special treatment that my Wharfedale gives to violins… Anybody who owns these Wharfedales will know… the diamond 9.1 has a SPECIAL TWEETER that sings way above its price tag and renders violins with bite and air… and the Kevlar midrange driver endows them with immense warmth, ‘wooden timbre’ and blossoming dynamics. On the K701, I DO NOT HEAR REAL TREBLE. My E4Cs had NO TREBLE. The K701 is definitely way better… but what I hear from them is upper midrange and lower treble… not true linear, extended treble that I hear from the Wharfedales. As a result, violins on the K701 have a slightly weird tonality with a hump in the upper midrange…. Also the warm and dynamically involving presentation (By dynamics, I mean the blossoming of the woody textures, I should have found a better word:-P) of the Wharfedale 9.1 is missing here. Lots of upper midrange and lower treble energy for a slightly thin, texturally inaccurate, yet detailed violin! That’s what the K701 offers at 75 hours… NOT BAD, BUT NOT GOOD EITHER! I have read that the HD600 produces a better violin… but that baffles me as I have heard that the Senns have even less treble than the K701! My question, does the presentation of the violins improve with further break-in?
•Other than the violin, most instruments sound really good on the K701… when lots of violins play together, I don’t detect this anomaly… but solo violin strips the K701, as of now! Piano on the other hand is special… good job AKG!
•I am playing classical through these cans with the volume control at 12 o’ clock for 5 hours every day. Though I need to play it louder or longer for break-in? Is 300 hours at ONE GO necessary… or it’s just as good if 5 hours daily adds up to 300?
Do let me know about your views
Roughly clocked 75 hrs on my new K701… Cambridge Audio Azur 640C ver. 2.0 CD player Headroom Micro Ultra K701 (stock cable)… Ok… here are my impressions. As I share my thoughts over here, I will refer to the Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 stand mounts (I own these and love them) and my Shure E4C IEMs. So let me summarize the configuration of my home stereo and my iPod-based system:
Onkyo DV-SP502 Universal Player Cambridge Audio Azur 640A (ver. 2.0) integrated amp Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 (Not placed on stands, what a pity!)
IPod 5.5G Shure E4C (Apple Lossless)
I listen primarily to instrumental classical and have a HUGE collection of finely mastered Deutsche Gramophone and DECCA discs. (Naxos, Philips Classical, Sony Classical to mention other labels…)
Now, more about the K701 sound at 75 hours:
•Fairly big soundstage, although I can’t pin-point the location of the instruments. (I remember hearing a high-end floor-stander in a shop and they literally ‘disappeared’ into thin air, leaving behind a glorious soundstage, where it was easy to pinpoint the location of the instruments.)
•Even tonal balance, sometimes seems a tad tilted towards the upper midrange… not a deal-breaker though
•Gobs of detail… wow! (leagues ahead of my Shure E4C…. though I guess that my Wharfedale 9.1s are capable of coming close especially if I use a pair of good stands to clean up the bass)
•Timpani sound rigorously defined and taut on the K701 only when they are the main instruments in the mix… But if they are playing along with an orchestra at full swing, they sound meek and get lost when they should ideally step forward a bit more.
• A bit weak in dynamics… my Wharfedale has better dynamics at this point of time.
•Bass has better resolution than my Wharfedale and my E4C… subdued, but accurate and musical!
•Very good with small scale orchestras, chamber music and quintets.
•Wonderful, wonderful piano… excellent attack and decay…. Bravo AKG!
•My first major gripe…. VIOLINS! OMG…. Just not up to the mark. PERIOD. Not bad, though; but I am used to the special treatment that my Wharfedale gives to violins… Anybody who owns these Wharfedales will know… the diamond 9.1 has a SPECIAL TWEETER that sings way above its price tag and renders violins with bite and air… and the Kevlar midrange driver endows them with immense warmth, ‘wooden timbre’ and blossoming dynamics. On the K701, I DO NOT HEAR REAL TREBLE. My E4Cs had NO TREBLE. The K701 is definitely way better… but what I hear from them is upper midrange and lower treble… not true linear, extended treble that I hear from the Wharfedales. As a result, violins on the K701 have a slightly weird tonality with a hump in the upper midrange…. Also the warm and dynamically involving presentation (By dynamics, I mean the blossoming of the woody textures, I should have found a better word:-P) of the Wharfedale 9.1 is missing here. Lots of upper midrange and lower treble energy for a slightly thin, texturally inaccurate, yet detailed violin! That’s what the K701 offers at 75 hours… NOT BAD, BUT NOT GOOD EITHER! I have read that the HD600 produces a better violin… but that baffles me as I have heard that the Senns have even less treble than the K701! My question, does the presentation of the violins improve with further break-in?
•Other than the violin, most instruments sound really good on the K701… when lots of violins play together, I don’t detect this anomaly… but solo violin strips the K701, as of now! Piano on the other hand is special… good job AKG!
•I am playing classical through these cans with the volume control at 12 o’ clock for 5 hours every day. Though I need to play it louder or longer for break-in? Is 300 hours at ONE GO necessary… or it’s just as good if 5 hours daily adds up to 300?
let's see what further break-in does!
