[saeid72]

 
You're welcome.
 
I own the Sennheiser HD800 which is known for being the headphone in production with the best soundstage and I also own the Bifrost 4490 which is known for providing an expansive soundstage with a non intrusive presentation. Soundstage is bigger and more cohesive than FiiO E10K + Q701, but differences are still on the subtle side of things.
 
You can get higher end gear, and they might bring slight differences here and there, but do not expect night and day differences. Keep in mind that the difference between DT880 Pro and Q701 is pretty big in terms of soundstage, it doesn't get much better than that.
 
Last but not least, if a recording doesn't include the clues for positional accuracy, then no Setup will be able to recreate a coherent image. It's kind of a sad thing to say, but there's plenty of recordings that are not engineered for audiophiles, and thus they won't sound good, no mater how good your setup happens to be. Sometimes it's the other way around, the better your setup, the worse those recordings sound.
 
At this point you are relatively deep in the audiophile world, so you have no choice but start the quest to find the best recordings and enjoy. Some recordings are not up to the task.
 
You can try some crossfeed plugins, I prefer not to use them normally, but they can change the soundstage properties a bit.

 
That's too bad. I am sorely disappointed
The difference is subtle with hd800 + Bifrost 4490
Thank you told the truth
Software and plugins are artificial sound. I, like you do not use

 

[Me x3]

That's too bad. I am sorely disappointed
The difference is subtle with hd800 + Bifrost 4490
Thank you told the truth

Headphones are no speakers after all.
A good speaker setup can be had for 1500usd or so...
Place them properly on a room with a little bit of treatment and no headphone will be able to match them in terms of soundstage.

 

[headphones1999]

Me x3
I got very different experience though I agree with as long as you choose te "wrong" amps.
 
Its true that the its not day and night differents between the HD800 and the Q701, but the HD800 change sound very easily with amps ,something like bottlehead crack is a good example to how different the HD800 can be from one amp to another.
 
same goes the DT880 (and the Q701), I had the DT880 twice and sold it twice, but I never amped them good enough in my system, I once tryed the DT880 with super upgraded AMB M3 amp, and i was amazed, they were nothing like the DT880 I knew when they were in my system, and they were clearly different from the Q701 and not only with the soundstage (I had the Q701 as well when i tested the 880)

 

[Me x3]

  Me x3
I got very different experience though I agree with as long as you choose te "wrong" amps.
 
Its true that the its not day and night differents between the HD800 and the Q701, but the HD800 change sound very easily with amps ,something like bottlehead crack is a good example to how different the HD800 can be from one amp to another.
 
same goes the DT880 (and the Q701), I had the DT880 twice and sold it twice, but I never amped them good enough in my system, I once tryed the DT880 with super upgraded AMB M3 amp, and i was amazed, they were nothing like the DT880 I knew when they were in my system, and they were clearly different from the Q701 and not only with the soundstage (I had the Q701 as well when i tested the 880)

 
HD800 changes its sound with coloured amplifiers as expected.
Q701 has a flatter impedance curve and thus it's less prone to change its sound. Same applies to DT880 to a lesser extent.
 
Well engineered, neutral amplifiers with low output impedance and enough power is what I define as a correct amplifiers and all my comments are based on the headphones used with this kind of amplifiers which by the way normally sound more similar than different in the big scheme of things.
 
You can plug DT880 or HD800 into a receiver with 470 Ohm output impedance or a tube amplifier with high levels of second order distortion and tweak the sound, transform it, make it warmer, more liquid, softer, etc. These are "wrong" amplifiers in my book when it comes to headphone judging. Might be more pleasing depending on your preferences, nothing wrong about that. Same applies to equalizers. Same applies to crossfeed effects.
 
Differences exist, but I don't agree with the hyperbole perspective.
It's could be more fun to believe that my 700usd Schiit Audio rig offers a completely different experience vs my 70 dollar FiiO Q1. Or that my +1000 Sennheiser HD800 is waaay more enjoyable than my 250usd DT880 Pro. But it's not the case.
 
Once you've reached certain level of performance, all you can add is just a few more expensive doses of extra refinement.
But you can add tons of subjectivity as well.

 

[Me x3]

 

Let me add something.

The enjoyment of listening to recordings with headphones (and speakers to a lesser extent) is based on an illusion. Sometimes, slight differences in the overall sound quality can help you to strenghten the illusion and make it more believable. Then you can say DT880 into E10 sounded good but just that, but DT880 into Yggy/Rag sounded like the real thing, and that's fine from an audiophile's perspective.
 
When it comes to describe sound in an relatively objective manner, I prefer to put things in context. A hall full of musicians is the real thing, a recording is not the real thing, although a good one can be close. Then most of the times (99% of the times) the recording was ment to be played on speakers where you have natural crossfeed. Then a good recording played trough quality speakers placed on a treated room will offer a soundstage that's relatively big and easy to believe. Then we go down into the headphone world where there's no natural crossfeed to speak of. Important part of the soundstage clues are lost in this case (headphones) and thus headphones are not close to speakers placed in the right place.
 
In that context, we are comparing the AKG Q701 which is one of the headphones with bigger soundstage, with Sennheiser HD800, probably the headphone with bigger soundstage. So, when you put things in perspective, these two are really close indeed. You can change the amplifier or DAC to tweak the sound a bit towards your preferences, improve/refine it a bit here and there, and make the illusion more realistic for you, but in the big scheme of things differences are still subtle.

 

[zazex]

   
HD800 changes its sound with coloured amplifiers as expected.
Q701 has a flatter impedance curve and thus it's less prone to change its sound. Same applies to DT880 to a lesser extent.
 
Well engineered, neutral amplifiers with low output impedance and enough power is what I define as a correct amplifiers and all my comments are based on the headphones used with this kind of amplifiers which by the way normally sound more similar than different in the big scheme of things.
 
You can plug DT880 or HD800 into a receiver with 470 Ohm output impedance or a tube amplifier with high levels of second order distortion and tweak the sound, transform it, make it warmer, more liquid, softer, etc. These are "wrong" amplifiers in my book when it comes to headphone judging. Might be more pleasing depending on your preferences, nothing wrong about that. Same applies to equalizers. Same applies to crossfeed effects.
 
Differences exist, but I don't agree with the hyperbole perspective.
It's could be more fun to believe that my 700usd Schiit Audio rig offers a completely different experience vs my 70 dollar FiiO Q1. Or that my +1000 Sennheiser HD800 is waaay more enjoyable than my 250usd DT880 Pro. But it's not the case.
 
Once you've reached certain level of performance, all you can add is just a few more expensive doses of extra refinement.
But you can add tons of subjectivity as well.

 
Always. 

 

[i luvmusic 2]

 

   I'am  not EE but my PIONEER SX-3700,SA-7700 with my  resistor network is fine no smoke so far,The good amp that i have for my Q701 is the Bottlehead S.E.X. however the sound of these amp is no where near as good as my vintage.

which one works better with the 701?

PIONEER SA-7700 at least to my ears.

 

[B-Dawk20]

I just wanna say that more and more these days I find myself reaching for the Q. It really has been so lively since I got my tubes awhile ago and the gumby. I just haven't took enough time to really listen to it. I don't know what it is about the presentation but it's gorgeous to say the least. Maybe not the most detailed and refined I've heard but it is rather musical to my ears!

 

[jasonb]

Finally chopped my long cable down to a 4' (1.2m) length. Cost $5 and only took 5 minutes to put an end back on after cutting it. I should have done this a while ago. Spent all this time using the shorter one braided and then still coiled up because it was still too long. I use my Q701 sitting in a recliner with them plugged into an LG V10 smartphone, so there was never a need for the cable to be so long.

So now they are bass modded, have the headband modded for comfort, and finally now a shorter cable as well.

 

[ionengine]

Ever since I did the bass mod by removing those stickers.And I got fed up with the headband being uncomfortable,I cut off those damm bumps. I have rediscovered these cans I use them all the time. Now this headphone has the sound and comfort I was looking for when I bought them.

 

[CaveManta]

Ever since I did the bass mod by removing those stickers.And I got fed up with the headband being uncomfortable,I cut off those damm bumps. I have rediscovered these cans I use them all the time. Now this headphone has the sound and comfort I was looking for when I bought them.

I'm glad that modding has revitalized your Q701. _{The AKG has awakened!} I still like the sound of mine, but the bumps are annoying me to no end. The indentations in my skull (soft tissue) seem to stay for days following a listening session. I am >|   |< this close to cutting the bumps off!

 

[U-3C]

I'm glad that modding has revitalized your Q701. _{The AKG has awakened!} I still like the sound of mine, but the bumps are annoying me to no end. The indentations in my skull (soft tissue) seem to stay for days following a listening session. I am >|   |< this close to cutting the bumps off!

They do get soft "over time."

But if you do cut them off, do it slowly. Only the skin is linked to headbands leather. Take a knife and go around it. Underneath is the foam that is glued on. You can peel it off, or overpeel and peel off a layer of felt. Both are fine but I prefer just peeling off the foam.

I took pictures of them when I cut mine off but don't know where to I stored them. If you ever want to cut off the bumps, I can go look for them.

 

[CaveManta]

Thanks for the tips!^^ I think I'm going to go for it. When you cut away the bumps, do they leave behind circular impressions in the headband?

 

[U-3C]

Thanks for the tips!^^ I think I'm going to go for it. When you cut away the bumps, do they leave behind circular impressions in the headband?

I'll see if I can find the pics.

Here's how mine look like right now.



Tried to take the pic at a steep angle so you can see how they relate to the original headband better. Those that come out a slight bit are the felt pads that are glued onto the foam. The other side of the felt pads are glued to the leather.

Here's one where I pulled off the felt. It was the first one I took off so I didn't know how everything works underneath the bumps yet:



Notice how it is recessed compared to the rest with the felt on. Here is a top (bottom?) view. The strip in the middle is just felt fiber stuck on leftover glue:



You won't notice it when you put it on. I just think it's easier to peel the foam off instead of the felt and it looks less ugly.

Here's one more where I pulled the felt off. If you look to the one right next to it, there's still a small bit of that yellow/white foam! I scratched it off after taking this pic.



I'll go find the pics I took when I was taking them off. I know I must have stored them somewhere...

 

[CaveManta]

Curses! The headband bumps become headband pits. =P But it looks like they aren't very noticeable with the layer of felt. Okay, I'm definitely going to butcher mine now. This is going to be..interesting. Thanks for the motivation!