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Q701 appreciation thread - Page 123

post #1831 of 3060
10/4/12 at 9:07pm

A retail store in my city says "it costs more to import these particular models" are they just blowing smoke, to try to justify the high price they're retailing for? 375.99

sounds like it to me.

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post #1832 of 3060
10/5/12 at 8:06am

Prices of this thing deviate immensily.

Amazon has them for $230 for example, while AKG's official site lists them as €500, which equals $650, now that's quite a difference aint it..

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post #1833 of 3060
10/5/12 at 8:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kazaakas View Post

Prices of this thing deviate immensily.

Amazon has them for $230 for example, while AKG's official site lists them as €500, which equals $650, now that's quite a difference aint it..

 

Are they sometimes available from Amazon for less? (Last night, they were $240.)

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post #1834 of 3060
10/5/12 at 8:53am

Are they sometimes available from Amazon for less? (Last night, they were $240.)

 

I managed to get a used pair for under $200.

 

If you look around the For-Sale forum, there's a listing for a pair for $190 I think.

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post #1835 of 3060
10/5/12 at 9:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tus-Chan View Post

I managed to get a used pair for under $200.

 

If you look around the For-Sale forum, there's a listing for a pair for $190 I think.

 

Apparently, $240 is about as low as Amazon goes on a new pair.

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post #1836 of 3060
10/5/12 at 11:58am

Yeah, I paid $236 for mine in black from Amazon, and that's the lowest I've seen. 

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post #1837 of 3060
10/5/12 at 2:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Focker View Post

Yeah, I paid $236 for mine in black from Amazon, and that's the lowest I've seen. 

Same here

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post #1838 of 3060
10/5/12 at 5:55pm

New member checking in on this thread - I just picked up some White Q701 last week for a smokin deal of $239 at Best Buy!

 

So here's the story; I recently got a $200 gift card to Best Buy from my work and was thinking of what to use it for. I was in the market for the Q701 since the HD600's I was also wanting are just way too out of my budget at $399. I knew Best Buy had the Q701's at their locations which have the small music instrument/DJ section. So I see only the white ones there and they are priced at $399. I knew earlier in the day their own website had them on sale for $330 ea which I was prepared to pay with my $200 gift card in tow. So I ask the sales person if they match website pricing thinking he would say only their own website which again I was prepared for. So he said sure, and jumped on his computer and Googled the Q701 and seeing prices pop up at several online retailers for the lowest price of $239 (which were for the black ones) He said sure, he could do the $239 price for me on a price match. Only $39 out of pocket - Sweet!

 

They are burning in now as I have a friend from my work who is an electrical engineer making a O2 amp for me to run these. I also have a HRT Streamer II DAC waiting as well. 

 

Anyone else running these Q701's with the O2 and the HRT MS-II? Curious how this setup will turn out once my amp is done.

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post #1839 of 3060
10/5/12 at 6:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jv92red View Post

Anyone else running these Q701's with the O2 and the HRT MS-II? Curious how this setup will turn out once my amp is done.

 

Not me. But ... the O2's designer said good things about the HRT. They should go together well.

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post #1840 of 3060
10/5/12 at 7:26pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by HamilcarBarca View Post

 

Not me. But ... the O2's designer said good things about the HRT. They should go together well.

 

Yeah..but he's never actually tried it. Kind of just guessing.

 

I don't have the HRT MSII anymore and "upgraded" to the ODAC. The MSII is what I previously used with my Q701. Loved it with the Q701, but hated it with the HD-600 and HD-598.

 

I prefer the ODAC to the HRT MSII by far, but maybe i'm weird. HRT MSII is good with the Q701 though. Totally will not make crappy music more enjoyable that's for sure.

 

The ODAC definitely didn't make my Q701 any more analytical or less music. If anything, the opposite. The HRT MSII is far more revealing actually (to my ears). Perhaps a tiny bit more colored, but that's OK.


Edited by tdockweiler - 10/5/12 at 7:30pm
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post #1841 of 3060
10/5/12 at 9:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by talisman42 View Post

Cool vid. Definitely a lot going on in the manufacturing process.

Very nice video indeed. Now I know something I've ever wondered on my Q701 : how the right channel is wired... wink.gif
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post #1842 of 3060
10/5/12 at 11:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tdockweiler View PostI prefer the ODAC to the HRT MSII by far, but maybe i'm weird. HRT MSII is good with the Q701 though. Totally will not make crappy music more enjoyable that's for sure.

 

The ODAC definitely didn't make my Q701 any more analytical or less music. If anything, the opposite. The HRT MSII is far more revealing actually (to my ears). Perhaps a tiny bit more colored, but that's OK.

 

Ok, so if I understand correctly, your saying the ODAC is transparent while the HRT MSII is more revealing and a bit more colored which which is why they work well with the Q701.  But you prefer the ODAC to the HRT MSII by far?  You mean for other headphones you own besides the Q701?  Curious because funny thing is I just picked up the Koss DJ100 Tony Bennett edition cans for $49 this week which you also own and wonder how well the synergy will be there as well.

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post #1843 of 3060
10/6/12 at 2:50am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jv92red View Post

 

Ok, so if I understand correctly, your saying the ODAC is transparent while the HRT MSII is more revealing and a bit more colored which which is why they work well with the Q701.  But you prefer the ODAC to the HRT MSII by far?  You mean for other headphones you own besides the Q701?  Curious because funny thing is I just picked up the Koss DJ100 Tony Bennett edition cans for $49 this week which you also own and wonder how well the synergy will be there as well.

 

The HRT MSII is still fairly neutral, but I guess people say it's a bit "musical". I've heard people say it's slightly dark though. I think this is possible. I think it actually made my HD-600 and HD-598 a bit TOO warm, but with the Q701 it's OK and I didn't notice much change. It also didn't magically reduce the Q701's treble and turn it into an HD-600 biggrin.gif

 

DJ100 was good with the MSII, but wouldn't be my first choice. But who buys a $150 DAC for just one $80 headphone! I'll admit that the HRT MSII makes the DJ100 a bit bassier and warmer than it should be, but it's often kind of nice. It took me forever to realize it was my DAC. For so long I thought it was bad amp synergy!

 

There's a ton of people out there who love the HRT MSII with some of the Sennheiser stuff, but that's the only reason I sold it. I just wanted something that plays well with everything I have. Mostly my DJ100.

 

For the Q701 I still prefer the ODAC to the HRT MSII. It's smoother and less fatiguing than the MSII. I think the HRT MSII might have slightly forward upper mids or something, but not sure. Sometimes it felt like it made my bad music worse than it really should be..but then again maybe it really is that revealing of my garbage tracks. On my ODAC, even my garbage tracks don't bother me as much. These are the ones where it feels as if the treble and mids are cranked up at the studio. On 5 CD players they do, but on the ODAC they don't. What the heck?!

 

Overall I'd say the Q701 is much smoother with the ODAC, but some will prefer the HRT MSII. It also depends on the amp too.

 

Have you heard a Sansa Clip+? The ODAC sounds a bit similar, but obviously like a Clip+ on steroids and a little less warm. I didn't think the Clip+ was slightly warm until I used my KRK KNS-8400 with the ODAC!!

 

I don't know why the treble on the ODAC is so "polite", but it sure is nice. Maybe it has some slight roll off...

 

I'm glad to report that the ODAC has yet to change any of my headphones sound signatures in any major way. Equally good with the Q701 and HD-600. DJ100 is amazing with it too.

 

BTW it's amusing when people say the ODAC is cold and analytical. Such nonsense! It's no detail monster, but the HRT MSII definitely was to my ears.


Edited by tdockweiler - 10/6/12 at 2:53am
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post #1844 of 3060
10/6/12 at 11:28am

I've had my Q701's for two weeks, and have had them breaking in constantly (330 hours). I don't think they are changing any longer, probably not for the last 150 hours. No surprises after reading Head-Fi forums exhaustively, although I'm a little disappointed how bad highly compressed files sound, much worse than on my Grado MS1i's. Adjusting the bass/treble on the E17 doesn't help at all, just muddies up the sound. I'm hoping adding an equalizer will allow me to enjoy those files I can't replace easily, some of them are 128kbps... 

 

My present setup is:

 

MacBook Pro4,1 (early 2008), 4GB, 500GB Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid, Mac OS 10.6.8

iTunes 10.6.3            

BitPerfect 1.0.3, with SoX, up-sampling, dither and max bit depth

FiiO USB DAC E17

FiiO E09K -> AKG Q701, Grado MS1i

FiiO A1 -> Yamaha YST SCII speakers 

 

Any suggestions for parametric equalizer software for OSX? Is Audio Hijack Pro worth setting up? 

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post #1845 of 3060
10/7/12 at 1:09am

Hey guys,

I just bought a pair of AKG Q701 from amazon. How long do you guys recommend to burn in this headphone?

 

So far, I have Sennheiser HD 25 i II, Sennheiser PX 200, Creative Aurvana Live, Harman Kardon CL. I hope Q701 will sound better among all headphone pairs that I have.

I have a JDS Labs C421 as my amp, but have not bought any DAC yet. Which DAC do you recommend me to buy to pair it with C421 and Q701 ?

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