AKG K701/K702 vs. AKG Q701? - Page 14

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicolom 

 

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this conversion doesn't work.  I just tested it, and you can consider this myth BUSTED! 

 

I have them both here removed the covers on both, swapped them, and put the foam inserts inside the K702.  The Q701 still has more bass.  There's not much difference in the sound to be honest.  They both sound about the same.

 

Something else is changing the sound.  I have no idea what...  Someone kidnap Quincy Jones and interrogate him!!

 

 

 

For me, removing that piece of dampening foam seemed to have opened up the low bass response by allowing air to travel through freely. Sorta like how grado has it open and obstruction free. Have you settled on how you have this configured?

Quote:

Originally Posted by talisman42 

For me, removing that piece of dampening foam seemed to have opened up the low bass response by allowing air to travel through freely. Sorta like how grado has it open and obstruction free. Have you settled on how you have this configured?

I only tested it briefly, but I couldn't really hear any difference between the foam in and out.   I have it stock right now.

It's weird that removing the foam would give you an impression of more low bass. It seems like it'd be the opposite. I tried listening to them without the grill and foam and it was too trebly.

With the grill installed with and without foam there wasn't much of a difference. Weird.

Adding in cloth that was too thick makes them rather muffled sounding.

Sounded amazing with Viva but then I switched to a portable amp and it sounded much, much worse than my Micro Amp + ODAC. I mean not the same due to this "mod".

Most likely i'll switch back to stock. I think the VIVA just converted it to being basically 95% closed (but with a good soundstage)

I think Chicolom is right and that Bounty would be best It's much thinner and perhaps allows more air in than Viva.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdockweiler 

I think Chicolom is right and that Bounty would be best It's much thinner and perhaps allows more air in than Viva.

I did a similar mod to my AD700.  I tried completely opening the back grill (so you could see the drivers like AD2000).  The soundstage got freaking huge, but the already tiny amount of bass decided to leave.  The left-right soundstage actually got a bit disproportionately far away compared to the front-back (depth), so it sounded sort of oval shaped.  I finally settled on dynamatting the drivers with some polyfill too.  It helped the bass a little without hurting the soundstage much.

hello,

I am still deciding between the k701 and q701 and from what I have gotten from the past 10 pages, the q701 seems better in that it is warmer and has a bit more bass response. The thing is, I really prefer the look of the k701 and after looking over the service manuals of both models, it seems like I can interchange some of the parts such as the headband, grill, inner + outer ring, locking knob, and earpads (will probably change the cable color too). Do any of you know if this can be done? Just by eye-balling it, the parts look similar enough, but I just want to make sure.     of course, it is undeniable that by the time I get it, I may start liking the look of the q701 and may forget taking on this project.

-Jeff

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffsyang 

hello,

I am still deciding between the k701 and q701 and from what I have gotten from the past 10 pages, the q701 seems better in that it is warmer and has a bit more bass response. The thing is, I really prefer the look of the k701 and after looking over the service manuals of both models, it seems like I can interchange some of the parts such as the headband, grill, inner + outer ring, locking knob, and earpads (will probably change the cable color too). Do any of you know if this can be done? Just by eye-balling it, the parts look similar enough, but I just want to make sure.     of course, it is undeniable that by the time I get it, I may start liking the look of the q701 and may forget taking on this project.

 

-Jeff

I would just do what I did and go with whichever is cheaper. I got a great price on the least desired of the 701/2 line, the bright green Q701's - it was $100 cheaper than any of the other 70x's I found (low $100's total).

Would it be harder to recable the Q701 to balanced mode as compare to the K701?

You'll have to replace the Q's jack and some internal wiring. With the K - you have to decide if you're going to do dual entry (modding the cups), or futz with internal wiring... 

Both are a bit fussy... but keeping single entry with the K701 is probably slightly easier if you don't mind splicing the wiring. 

The reason I was asking that on some headphones with single sided cable there is four wires available like on the HD598,HD558 and the HD518. You just change the connector on the end to balanced.

As far as I can recall, there are four wires in the K701 cable, so once you map them, retermination is possible. I had thought you were talking about a full recable. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by liamstrain 

As far as I can recall, there are four wires in the K701 cable, so once you map them, retermination is possible. I had thought you were talking about a full recable. :)

That would be good to know I would like to keep things simple as possible. I would recable if I would know that it would be good improvement. It looks like the internal wiring on the k701 may even be thicker that on my Sens cans. It is not always possible to put things back together as tight as the first time. The Q701=K702 looks like it would take more work to terminate to balanced mode.

Quote:

Originally Posted by john57 

That would be good to know I would like to keep things simple as possible. I would recable if I would know that it would be good improvement. It looks like the internal wiring on the k701 may even be thicker that on my Sens cans. It is not always possible to put things back together as tight as the first time. The Q701=K702 looks like it would take more work to terminate to balanced mode.

I dont know why AKG dont use 4 or 5 pin mini XLR and make the headphones balanced ready. I told AKG this wishes too.

Because 99.5% of the headphone using audience doesn't know what balanced is or have equipment to take advantage of it? 

I am surprised that there is some indications on various web sites  that the K701 the power requirements is higher than for the LCD2? Is there any power compression with the K701 meaning does the first impact like bass drum or the timpani is sharp and clear?

Quote:

Originally Posted by FritzS 

 

I dont know why AKG dont use 4 or 5 pin mini XLR and make the headphones balanced ready. I told AKG this wishes too.

It really wouldn't be a big change for them and would make their cables much more useful. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by john57 

The reason I was asking that on some headphones with single sided cable there is four wires available like on the HD598,HD558 and the HD518. You just change the connector on the end to balanced.

This is the case with the K701. There are 4 wires inherently built into the original cable running "bi-wiring" making them balanced a matter of snipping the end of the wire and adding a 4 pin xlr. The two headphones do sound different though, and overall I prefer the Q701.