Q701 appreciation thread - Page 7

I haven't noticed any changes with my pair after 100+ hours. 

Same here.

You don't know how glad I am that I've found this headphone to be a keeper.

Me too :) 

I could probably fall asleep listening to my Q701. No, it's not because it's boring. It's not, but just that it's never fatiguing.

Same here LOL.  For the same reasons.  I could never listen to my other headphones as long without hearing something annoying/fatiguing and putting them away.  At lot more of my songs are getting listening time, songs that I used to skip on other headphones because they caused fatigue when listening to them.

I also never had any issues with any of the treble bothering me. If it ever does it's the fault of the recording.

It would take a really bad "hot" recording to make the Q701s produce offensive treble for me.

One thing I noticed is that this stock cable on the Q701 must be really good. When switching to something else, the sound just isn't the same. It's especially noticable during gaming. I tried two other copper cables and the mids seem a bit leaner and just different. Kind of less musical and more analytical.

Hmm...hopefully AKG  matched these with a decent cable that doesn't bottleneck them.

I do know that when I amp these with my E9 or a portable amp, there is just something missing with the mids. Still good, but just not the same.

I noticed the E9 had recessed mids with these as well.  Like the mids "left the stage" a bit.  Don't know if it had something to do with the E9 output impedance, or if thats just how the E9 sounds.

BTW are there any Q701 fans that also love the HD-598? Both I like about equally. Q701 is technically better, but HD-598 is a keeper. Q701 is just a lot more clear and detailed. HD-598 is a bit better for relaxing and not wanting to analyze your music.

I bet I would like these, maybe I'll pick up a pair someday...

In regards to burn-in, I get a little annoyed when people say things like "...Q701 out of the box sounded HORRIBLE...No Bass, harsh Highs.....COMPLETELY changed after x amount of hours...etc". 

I asked Kevin from High Resolution Technologies about burn-in and here is his response.  I tend to agree with his:

"  I would not go so far as to describe what some people experience as either "B.S." nor "Placebo" but the bulk of the effect is not any change in the product in question, rather it is the user whom is changing.  The tends to be more common on those that are focused upon tonality (one of the simpler auditory effects) and any change from their current reference can take a bit of time to become the new 'normal' for them.  The duration is different from listener to listener but generally anywhere from several hours to several days transpire before they would declare a new product to have undergone the "burn-in" phenomena.  This is not to say that products don't require proper warm-up, many do, but that time span is much shorter than what many report. "

        - Kevin @ HRT

I thought my Q701s sounded fine out of the box (with laptop soundcard mind you).  I haven't noticed much change with any of my headphones with regards to burn-in, and any that I have noticed I would be willing to chalk up to me just getting acclimated to the new tone.  You will get a much more noticeable change from a change in gear (dac/amp/cable/etc) than burn-in changes IMO.

If you listen to a pair long enough, they become "neutral" for you - even though your "neutral" could be someone else's "cold" or "warm" depending on what their used to.

I don't think you get what I'M saying. Having a variation of the same model of a headphone with this big of a difference would be impossible. Unless you have heard both at the same time you should not comment on this. To me this is no worse than someone coming on here and spreading the idea that the HD-595 and the HD-598 are the same when in fact they couldn't sound any more different. I guess those are variations in manufacturing too?

One reason I made this thread is that the Q701 to me is just that much different than the K701 and the K702. When I would be posting comments in those threads, it felt like I was discussing a completely different headphone when talking about the Q701. When talking about the K701, the same comments never apply to the Q701.

IMO saying the differences between the K702 and the Q701 is just manufacturing variations is just crazy talk..so you're saying this would give me less treble, fuller mids and a smaller, more accurate soundstage? Sure....

I'm not going to comment on any of this further because it's getting old. You should really compare them yourself before assuming it's just some variation.

You're selling your Q701s and your M-stage and going with the T1 + upgrading amps?  Your wallet must be fat! 

Care to do a quick comparison the Q701 vs T1?

The details are what these phones are all about, that is what they do well, and what sets them apart.  It's the most detail for the money that makes them special. I fully recommend WASAPI or ASIO if you can.  They are my microscope for sound.  The break in isn't as pronounced as people make it seam, but whats good about it is that unlike some other sets that I've had the break in perfects them and doesn't detract anything from the detail, it just smooths out the high end peak a bit and gives a bit more efficiency in the bass end of the spectrum.  You will notice the bass before the highs mellow out.

EDIT: the mid range however remains unchanged through burn in, and for the mids, they are there, and they are detailed, but they never really get to be anything really special, which lends to separating the instruments more and giving the elusion of a wider sound stage, but it also makes them a poor choice for a lot of distorted guitar rock songs like nirvana.

In regards to burn-in, I get a little annoyed when people say things like "...Q701 out of the box sounded HORRIBLE...No Bass, harsh Highs.....COMPLETELY changed after x amount of hours...etc". 

I asked Kevin from High Resolution Technologies about burn-in and here is his response.  I tend to agree with his:

"  I would not go so far as to describe what some people experience as either "B.S." nor "Placebo" but the bulk of the effect is not any change in the product in question, rather it is the user whom is changing.  The tends to be more common on those that are focused upon tonality (one of the simpler auditory effects) and any change from their current reference can take a bit of time to become the new 'normal' for them.  The duration is different from listener to listener but generally anywhere from several hours to several days transpire before they would declare a new product to have undergone the "burn-in" phenomena.  This is not to say that products don't require proper warm-up, many do, but that time span is much shorter than what many report. "

        - Kevin @ HRT

I thought my Q701s sounded fine out of the box (with laptop soundcard mind you).  I haven't noticed much change with any of my headphones with regards to burn-in, and any that I have noticed I would be willing to chalk up to me just getting acclimated to the new tone.  You will get a much more noticeable change from a change in gear (dac/amp/cable/etc) than burn-in changes IMO.

If you listen to a pair long enough, they become "neutral" for you - even though your "neutral" could be someone else's "cold" or "warm" depending on what their used to.

Hi Guys

Count me in as a new member of the Q701 owner's group.

Just got mine yesterday, in black, and boy it looks good. Well got it, rushed home and plugged it into my desktop, through the headphone jack of my Creative Gigaworks 5.1 (I think that's its name) and played in some iTunes, and left it hugging the sides of the Gigaworks subwoofer, I have a big head so need to reduce that clamping force.

I live in Lebanon and buy my stuff from Amazon US and then it is delivered to me by DHL express through their US address. So it's a long wait between buying and receiving. I bought my Q701 after extensive research and having read every review I could find of the X70x and other HP that I was considering (Audio Technica 900 and 700, Beyers 990 and 880, Senns 598 and 600 and 650.... and others) and I thought the Q701 was the best value of the bunch it was technically superior and it was cheaper than most of them. And I started reading the K701 appreciation thread here on head-fi (I did eventually read it all), when I got to page 44~45, with mostly favorable threads, I said that's it I ordered A black Q701 from Amazon market place for $251. After some more pages down the road well the tonality changed to mostly bashing the thing, it was turning to rather a depreciation thread, OOOHHH WTF I was experiencing buyer's remorse before even seeing getting my HP. It was agonizing.

When I got it, to say the least my expectations were low, VERY LOW, and boy what a surprise, a freakin' pleasant surprise, no make that very pleasant. I just peaked at them from time to time and God I'm liking what I'm hearing, a lot. Even from my iPhone 4 with a tiny fiio E6 they sounded nice at low volume, at higher volumes the little fiio distorted like crazy.

In the evening, and before New Year's Eve, with a glass of red wine in my hand, I played "Chris Botti Live in Boston" bluray (in PCM Stereo) on OPPO BDP 83, connecting with my Denon AVR2310 through HDMI, and plugged my Q701 in the headphone Jack of my Denon, I sat back and enjoyed 2 hours of pure music heaven.

I am no way a basshead, but I was expecting little bass, OH NO NO the bass is great it is deep impactful and articulate.

The midrange is sweet just darned sweeeeet.

The highs, I was afraid of the harshness I have always heard about, will it was mostly very very good, a tad on the bright side but I like my music a little bright. There was one odd thing I heard in Yo Yo Ma's piece where the cello and violins hit the higher notes there was something not right I didn't try to elaborate I just let it pass, I was enjoying the music too much, to care about a little blemish, anyway it could be cused by maybe some jitter and not the fault of the HP.

Well one more horror story is the headband and comfort issue, well these are great to wear for a long time, and I have a big head.

To me: THE MYTH IS BUSTED

The AKG X70x are great HP (and not just for the price), at least my Q701 is.

Happy New year everybody.

every headphone is a snowflake, bro