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AKG 701 compared to Grado 325is, my experience - Page 3

post #31 of 35
4/13/10 at 6:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bhanja_trinanjan View Post
I have a Ultra Micro, which has the same level of electronics as your Ultra Desktop.

I love the K702 with the Ultra Micro; but don't you find the sound to be a little lean and distant.. (lacking saturation, tonal density and lushness in the upper mids) unless you step up to at least 12 o' clock on the volume pot @ medium gain?

That's my only gripe... is my source at fault?(Cambridge 640C)... my new Burson HA-160 is coming... I will find out soon!
I think we're going a little OT here but this discussion may be helpful for the OP, who I believe has decided on the K701's.

The K701/2 are very revealing and fairly hard to drive well. As a result there is a huge difference in how they sound depending on the source, DAC, and amp. I've gone through several combinations and finally settled on (not coincidentally the most expensive amp by far) the HR Ultra Desktop. Maybe your source isn't coupling well with the HR amp. I'm curious to hear if the new amp improves the sound for you.
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post #32 of 35
4/13/10 at 6:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bhanja_trinanjan View Post
I have a Ultra Micro, which has the same level of electronics as your Ultra Desktop.

I love the K702 with the Ultra Micro; but don't you find the sound to be a little lean and distant.. (lacking saturation, tonal density and lushness in the upper mids) unless you step up to at least 12 o' clock on the volume pot @ medium gain?

That's my only gripe... is my source at fault?(Cambridge 640C)... my new Burson HA-160 is coming... I will find out soon!
I'm being off topic here, but this really scares me. I drive my K701 out of Ultra micro stack. Very very rarely I need to turn the volume pot past 9 o'clock on mid gain. In fact I'm most comfortable with 7-8 o'clock. How can your ears stand that kind of volume?!
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post #33 of 35
4/13/10 at 7:54pm
I just came back to this thread when I recalled that little detail.

I am using my XP computer USB output to the DAC in the HR Ultra Desktop. The volume is good for long term listening around 9-10 o'clock max. 12 o'clock is really blasting!

If you have it at 12 o'clock in the medium gain setting to reach comfortable listening level that suggests that the output signal from the Cambridge CD player is much lower than what would come out of the HR DACs. That might be creating the lean/distant sound.

The new amp you are looking at might have an input impedance that better matches your cd player and as a result improve the sound. This is often why some combinations of equipment just don't produce optimal sound together.
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post #34 of 35
4/14/10 at 3:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by darwinshardhat View Post
I just came back to this thread when I recalled that little detail.

I am using my XP computer USB output to the DAC in the HR Ultra Desktop. The volume is good for long term listening around 9-10 o'clock max. 12 o'clock is really blasting!

If you have it at 12 o'clock in the medium gain setting to reach comfortable listening level that suggests that the output signal from the Cambridge CD player is much lower than what would come out of the HR DACs. That might be creating the lean/distant sound.

The new amp you are looking at might have an input impedance that better matches your cd player and as a result improve the sound. This is often why some combinations of equipment just don't produce optimal sound together.
Yes... 12 o' clock is fairly loud... but then again I am listening to orchestral classical which has huge dynamic swings.

Mozart's clarinet concerto or Beethoven's violin concerto seems to lack a certain tonal density/lushness unless I really pump up the volume. In comparison, my speakers sound full and lush at lower volumes.(But AKG has higher low level detail)

I want similar lushness in my headphone setup, without loss of resolution and at a lower volume, as 12 o' clock is damn loud when the entire orchestra kicks in!
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post #35 of 35
4/14/10 at 2:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bhanja_trinanjan View Post
Yes... 12 o' clock is fairly loud... but then again I am listening to orchestral classical which has huge dynamic swings.

Mozart's clarinet concerto or Beethoven's violin concerto seems to lack a certain tonal density/lushness unless I really pump up the volume. In comparison, my speakers sound full and lush at lower volumes.(But AKG has higher low level detail)

I want similar lushness in my headphone setup, without loss of resolution and at a lower volume, as 12 o' clock is damn loud when the entire orchestra kicks in!
I can understand. The K701/2's are very finicky, but I absolutely believe those cans will achieve that for you with the right setup. I wasn't using them often and was ready to get rid of them until very recently. Even with the Ultra/DPS setup they didn't sound quite right. I was experimenting with different settings on the computer and found one in particular was causing distortion in the signal (it was just too 'hot' going into the DAC). After fixing it, the sound just 'clicked'. It finally met the expectations created by the many critical reviews I've read on these cans. I wish you success in achieving that as well.
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