I think this question has been already discussed, but as far as I've read about it, there is no clear explanation for the fact, that one K701 has less bass while another one has a huge amount of it (for an open headphone).
At the moment, I've got three different K701s. (Yeah, that's crazy, I know!)
Yesterday was a public holiday here in Germany and just for fun I decided to compare them all a little bit. So I connected them to my Corda Symphony (0 ohms output) and started listening with main attention to the bass reproduction.
The results in short from the oldest to the newest:
K701 No.1 (#11XXX) has a really little amount of bass. While listening to some bass intensive classical stuff, I asked myself "Where is it? Shouldn't there be some bass? Hmm..." For the most recordings, it's annoying. Or let me say it more clearly: I hate it!
K701 No.2 (#27XXX) has a huge amount of bass. Not as much as my HD800 for example, but it comes fairly close. My thought: "Wow!" Well I hate the wearing comfort of the K701s in general, but would it be more comfortable to wear, I'd say this No.2 is one of the biggest bargains, I can imagine. It seems to offer 80-90% of the HD800 sound. That's incredible!
K701 No.3 (#43XXX) has also a huge amount of bass, slightly less than No.2. But there is another thing. Maybe the K701 is some kind of defective... well, I don't know and it looks like new, but there clearly is a distinct distortion in the bass, No. 2 hasn't got. That's not very nice. In some deep bass areas it sounds like it is overstrained.
Let me note two things:
1st: I really don't listen a lot with the K701 model, mainly because it's uncomfortable to wear for me.
2nd: I also can't exactly say how much burn-in time each of them has (easily > 100 hrs each).
Conclusion:
I'm really confused after this direct comparison.
What I've heard is a fact, but it can't be true. Somehow I can't believe it.
The sound signature of all three is the same (what I would call "typical K701 sound"). But in the low end they all do so very different things... how can that be?! I don't understand it. Btw. I couldn't observe sibilants with my three K701s (like the AD900 or DT990 have).
I've never heard such extreme differences out of one and the same type of headphone in comparison. This seems to be a real "K701 thing".
In four weeks I'll be in Vienna again. Maybe I should go to AKG and ask someone there... this would be -at least for me- very interesting.
And while I'm writing this here, it comes to my mind, that there are different frequency charts for the HD800 (my favorite headphone) existing, too. So far I've not read about complains about different sounding HD800s.
Maybe I should compare some different HD800s... oh... damn it... no... I won't... this could possibly destroy my "ideal headphone world"...
At the moment I don't know whether I shall laugh or cry... hmm... where is my "Litte Book of Calm*"? ...
* I really recommend to grab a copy of this book, if you're longer than seven years on this crazy-mad money-sucking head-fi platform...
At the moment, I've got three different K701s. (Yeah, that's crazy, I know!)
Yesterday was a public holiday here in Germany and just for fun I decided to compare them all a little bit. So I connected them to my Corda Symphony (0 ohms output) and started listening with main attention to the bass reproduction.
The results in short from the oldest to the newest:
K701 No.1 (#11XXX) has a really little amount of bass. While listening to some bass intensive classical stuff, I asked myself "Where is it? Shouldn't there be some bass? Hmm..." For the most recordings, it's annoying. Or let me say it more clearly: I hate it!
K701 No.2 (#27XXX) has a huge amount of bass. Not as much as my HD800 for example, but it comes fairly close. My thought: "Wow!" Well I hate the wearing comfort of the K701s in general, but would it be more comfortable to wear, I'd say this No.2 is one of the biggest bargains, I can imagine. It seems to offer 80-90% of the HD800 sound. That's incredible!
K701 No.3 (#43XXX) has also a huge amount of bass, slightly less than No.2. But there is another thing. Maybe the K701 is some kind of defective... well, I don't know and it looks like new, but there clearly is a distinct distortion in the bass, No. 2 hasn't got. That's not very nice. In some deep bass areas it sounds like it is overstrained.
Let me note two things:
1st: I really don't listen a lot with the K701 model, mainly because it's uncomfortable to wear for me.
2nd: I also can't exactly say how much burn-in time each of them has (easily > 100 hrs each).
Conclusion:
I'm really confused after this direct comparison.
What I've heard is a fact, but it can't be true. Somehow I can't believe it.
The sound signature of all three is the same (what I would call "typical K701 sound"). But in the low end they all do so very different things... how can that be?! I don't understand it. Btw. I couldn't observe sibilants with my three K701s (like the AD900 or DT990 have).
I've never heard such extreme differences out of one and the same type of headphone in comparison. This seems to be a real "K701 thing".
In four weeks I'll be in Vienna again. Maybe I should go to AKG and ask someone there... this would be -at least for me- very interesting.
And while I'm writing this here, it comes to my mind, that there are different frequency charts for the HD800 (my favorite headphone) existing, too. So far I've not read about complains about different sounding HD800s.
Maybe I should compare some different HD800s... oh... damn it... no... I won't... this could possibly destroy my "ideal headphone world"...
At the moment I don't know whether I shall laugh or cry... hmm... where is my "Litte Book of Calm*"? ...
* I really recommend to grab a copy of this book, if you're longer than seven years on this crazy-mad money-sucking head-fi platform...
