Sony MDR-SA5000 vs. AKG K 701/702 - Page 4

Quote:

Originally Posted by PointyFox 

Odd, bass sounds natural to me on my triports, and I'm a bassist.  Flutes sound perfect to me, and I'm a flutist.  I listen to rock, soft-rock, folk, and classical :P 

How long have you had the Triports? 

I really suspect you'll have a different opinion once you try the K701s.  I A/B-ed them many times to different recordings, and there was a difference. 

Having considered all these options ages ago, I went for the DT880 '03 250 ohm before I upgraded to the DT880/600.

The AKG K701/K702 is notorious for being picky amp wise, not to mention the funky fit and unnaturally wide soundstage. Having heard decent $$$ speakers in an acoustically dampened room + HD800's, I know what a decent natural soundstage is and although headphones in general don't offer a 'natural' soundstage, judging apples to apples, the K701/K702's soundstage sounds like you pinched the far left and far right soundstages and stretched them. If you want to see how the K701's soundstage is like shape wise, think of a Bell curve. It isn't a well rounded soundstage. Not to mention they are bass light (despite what all the K701 fanbois and the 'head-fi sound signature' say), particularly when not amped properly. The K701's do have good soundstage depth however. the K701 is very much love it or hate it and as much as I want to like it, I hate it. The SA5000 I've read has gobs of detail but is rather cold sounding. The DT880/600 ohm however I feel is the best within this price range for an all-round headphone. Others feel the same too tbh. It really depends on your music taste though. The K701 is insanely fanboi-ed here. It's not a bad headphone but more the flaws outweigh the positives of it.

Sorry, I don't want to discourage you. Perhaps they may sound fine out of the STX...I'm not familiar with that one.  I'm only judging by my experience with the emu 0404, and that has a notoriously underpowered headamp. Even with the 0404 the 702's sound pretty good except for the bass.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PointyFox 

I've read many places where people are using the Asus Xonar Essence STX and the K701.

 

 

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/476602/asus-xonar-stx-built-in-amp-and-k701-synergy

if you dont like the sa5000s, i doubt you would like the 701s

Your best bet would be to go for headphones that are a tier down from the ones you are currently considering. This whole hassle of amplification and source will get you frustrated. Go for something like the Shure 840 or Audio Technica M50, both have good bass and are adequate for your soundcard.

Also Ultrasones are worth considering as well. Anyway, I feel you'll underpower the DT880 / K701 (SA5000 = I dunno) from the STX amp. It's not so much that it won't power it but more that the quality of the amping is not too good and doesn't make them sound close to their potential.

@lejaz....a bright sounding headphone with a bright sounding amp...gees, I hope you got a dark sounding / bass orientated source to make up for it!

Even though the MKV is solid-state, I felt it was rather bright sounding at times when I had one.

K701/2 is the headphone with the best soundstage, imaging and layering in its price range, other headphones you should considered are HD600 although it does not compare to K701 in terms of imaging.

It is also recommended that you get a decent desktop amp. From my experience, I found that the area which will be improved the most with proper amping is soundstage. Decent desktop amps are affordable today, I've never heard Sheer Audio HA-006, but it is based on Dynalo which I really like and the new Schitt amps should be good too.

I want the K702 but I already have 2 open air headphones... 

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinesekiwi 

Also Ultrasones are worth considering as well. Anyway, I feel you'll underpower the DT880 / K701 (SA5000 = I dunno) from the STX amp. It's not so much that it won't power it but more that the quality of the amping is not too good and doesn't make them sound close to their potential.

 

@lejaz....a bright sounding headphone with a bright sounding amp...gees, I hope you got a dark sounding / bass orientated source to make up for it!

Even though the MKV is solid-state, I felt it was rather bright sounding at times when I had one.

I purchased it in part based upon a forum member's recommendation. She claims it's an extremely neutral amp...not dark or bright...but true to the recording. Some of the reviews make the same claim. I certainly hope it's not adding any high end! I definitely find the upper mids/treble a bit over the top with some songs, but I assumed it was a characteristic of the phones. Now you've got me thinking....may have to do some more research.
 

Compared to my M^3 and even the STX amp, it's bright. One good thing about that $2 IC in the STX is that it's very neutral. Of course quality wise it's not even close to the MKV or M^3.

I'm not sure I would buy an amp solely to cut the high end a bit. I'd rather do it with eq, but so far it's not been necessary. And the bass is very much to my liking. The diffuse/distant mids on the 702 are another story, but I don't want to sidetrack the thread.

Yeah I own the AKG 702s. They are quite clinical but a pleasure to listen to if you like to hear details in a track. I EQ'd mine a bit to add just a tad more bass but really its fine. The bass isn't all that anaemic, its actually very very tight
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ampeezy 

Yeah I own the AKG 702s. They are quite clinical but a pleasure to listen to if you like to hear details in a track. I EQ'd mine a bit to add just a tad more bass but really its fine. The bass isn't all that anaemic, its actually very very tight
 

Yeah dude, I second that. I own the AKG K702's and when amped decently, even with the E9, the Sound is to die for. Excellent soundstage and detail with adequate bass. I must admit that the soundstage can get weird with some music with the extreme left-right thing but its fine almost always. GREAT pair of cans