Quote:



Yeah, I heard the k702 on 2 different setups on saturday; an ipod with caps being hooked to a headphone amp and a denon cdp via its headphone output. The akg sounded better on the denons.

For around $100, I think uDAC will be as good as it gets for K701. Matches very well as far as the overall sound signature is concerned. The advantage here will be that you'll be able to use it as a solid source when you eventually decide to upgrade your amp.

Musiland Monitor 02 US ftw

all in one baby, all in one.

OP updated to answer questions but to re-iterate:

"Source will most likely be from my AMP3 Pro.1 (Will the hiss affect things?) or Fuze v2. I can consider my laptop but don't think a USB powered DAC/AMP will have enough juice and if powered externally, the idea of yet another adapter doesn't sound too appealing."

Also, no comments on the C&C XO? At 1000mW, it should have quite a kick. Too bad I missed it when it went for 110 in the FS forum.


Quote:



I'm perfectly fine w DIY which is why the Mini3 is in the list.
Just that even when used, the M3, Dynalo, CKKIII are still out of my budget. On another note, how do they compare against the PH100 since I think they're all around the same price used.


Quote:



At 90mW, will the uDAC have enough juice for the K701s?

I would have advised you to not buy these phones until you could afford the basic amp to drive them to their potential. So now the question is how can you maximize the sound until you can really enjoy them? Even though $100 is your limit you may want to try to p/u a little dot III used. Not sure how much they would go for but probably not much more than $200. I've heard that with the 701's and think that you'd be very happy.

Absolutely not. It is a DAC, the built-in amp is a convenience until you can buy a better 1. Same story with all the other cheap DACs

I think I would start with Musiland 02 soundcard and add a more powerful amp later. I have this and a Shanling PH100.

Quote:



I'd rather have the cans being powered the right way and use my iPod or iPhone for a short term fix until I can get a decent dac.

What good is a nice dac if you don't have power going to your phones?

Quote:



According to AKG, the K701s are rated for a max input of 200mW, don't think you'll be needing 1 watt. I have a pair of the K701s but no amp for them (well, I did try hooking up them to my iBasso T3... ) but have read good things about both the uDac and the Bravo/Indeed "valve class A" tube amplifiers as they are called on eBay.

Quote:



My thoughts exactly... but to be more precise... it's more like... ok.. can I seriously just let a set of K701s just sit around? Let's get something to power them so that I can at least enjoy them in the meanwhile

Quote:



The short answer is, it's an indicator of current capacity. According to a study done by C&C (only one I was able to find), the K701s can take up to 27.7mA with a voltage swing of 4.9Vp-p.
Assuming a rating of 1W @ 32-ohms, that is only a 5.6mA peak output!

As for the long story, with audio, things are a little more complicated. The impedance of headphones actually vary depending on frequency and as such, the amount of current consumed also varies.
Based on the formula P = I^2 * Z, Power should vary linearly according to Impedance if current is constant. Looking at the specifications of an amp though, this is sometimes not the case due to the current threshold of the design.




Back on topic... are all USB DACs being mentioned mainly as a starting point as a source? The uDAC and Musiland seem a little lean at < 150mW... even the PA2V2 seems to have more juice @ 200mW... will they actually be ok?
Haven't been able to find power output specs on the Aune but it's power consumption is rated at 12-18V @ 500mA (6-9W) so either it's really inefficient or packs a punch =)

Current plan is to have an amp + K701 setup for listening in my room by my bed and not for my PC. In the future, it will ideally be sourced by an MP3 player (unless I start getting really picky).
From this perspective, wouldn't say the Mini3 be a better option over the aforementioned USB DACs?


PS... The Musiland ratings are a little confusing... Somebody care to make some sense of the following specs for me?
The High/Medium impedance rating is: 140mW @ 120-Ohm; 100mW @ 32-ohm (isn't this Medium/Low impedance?)
The Low impedance rating is 50mW @ 100-Ohm (Medium Impedance?)

save 99 more and buy the musical paradise amplifier. Proudly made in canada

I currently own a RWAudio Amp1 and while I can not say how it works with the K701/2, I can say it works very well with my HD600. It may not have a huge price tag but it seems to be well built and capable of driving fullsize headphones.

I have thrown up a newbie review of it headphone amp forum and I believe HeadphoneAddict is working on a review of the Amp1 as well. So watch for the review from HeadphoneAddict to be released over the next couple of weeks to help decide if the amp is an good or not.

Has anybody heard the zero DAC on the AKG 701?

I have posted this before, but once again. check out the difference between HD600 and K701, and their impedance vs frequency chart.



The graph is self explanatory but it shows that HD600 will perform best in 300-600ohms impedance setting, while K701 at 64-120ohms.

I'd recommend Musiland 02 as well.

Quote:



it says designed in Canada. Which probably means it was made in china.