AKG Q701 for metal? - Page 3

Can I bring this thread back for a quick question, how do you think these would do for music like Steve Vai, Dream Theater, Paul Gilbert and, Guthrie Govan(and other prog jazz players like him)? I listen to a lot of instrumentals with virtuoso guitarists but I also listen to blues, rockblues, jazz, classical, and some others.

My main concern is if I get the q701, then I'm going to need an amp but if it is worth it then I may just shell out the cash.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jzbass25 

Can I bring this thread back for a quick question, how do you think these would do for music like Steve Vai, Dream Theater, Paul Gilbert and, Guthrie Govan(and other prog jazz players like him)? I listen to a lot of instrumentals with virtuoso guitarists but I also listen to blues, rockblues, jazz, classical, and some others.

 

My main concern is if I get the q701, then I'm going to need an amp but if it is worth it then I may just shell out the cash.

I cannot comment to the Q701's but if they sound LIKE the K701's then I would recommend them, the only thing I will mention is AKG seems to make ACCURATE cans, I've never had a 'warm' experience with the 701's, while the detail was amazing, soundstage is incredible, I would not recommend for blues since I prefer a warmth with Jazz.  My HD600's fit that bill nicer.

I will say I have not had the experience of using tube amps with them, which is suppose to increase warm from the amp...

If I had cash right now, I'd be tempted to grab the hfiman EF2A and the 701's again.  (for the price they are great cans)

I have a cheapo BravoV2 with all the recomended modds and RCA vintage tube and it sounds good with certain types of music. 

My steup is: Foobar2000(WASAPI) --> Audioengine D1 DAC --> BravoV2 ---> Q701(around 40hr)

It soudns great with any type of Jazz or Blues, the clarity of Q's is too much for me with metal or any harder music.

Radiohead sounds really good since there is not alot of "noise", also most of the Black Keys stuff sounded pretty good. But as much as I love SOAD there is no way I can listen to it on these cans for extended period of time and I think that is not even close to music that is  being discussed in this thread. Maybe these cans need more burn-in cause I have seen quite a bit of diffrence between out of box and now but how much more Q's !!!!!!

For guitar virtuoso music I'd lean towards a Grado.  The SR-325 is in that price range.

Quote:

Originally Posted by skeeder 

I cannot comment to the Q701's but if they sound LIKE the K701's then I would recommend them, the only thing I will mention is AKG seems to make ACCURATE cans, I've never had a 'warm' experience with the 701's, while the detail was amazing, soundstage is incredible, I would not recommend for blues since I prefer a warmth with Jazz.  My HD600's fit that bill nicer.

 

I will say I have not had the experience of using tube amps with them, which is suppose to increase warm from the amp...

 

If I had cash right now, I'd be tempted to grab the hfiman EF2A and the 701's again.  (for the price they are great cans)

I have the Q701 and the EF2A, I can tell you that they work but just not to the Q701's fullest potential.  The EF2A just doesn't put out enough power for the headphones.  I ended up buying a Matrix M-Stage, the bass extension grew dramatically, still didn't over power, but it was much more obvious.  The soundstage grew, became more dynamic, and the highs became clearer.  The extension was there even at really low volumes.  I did notice a night and day difference between the two amps.

Best way to put it: the jump from straight iPod/On board sound to EF2A is as big as the jump from EF2A to M-Stage.

Edit for the OP: I was never impressed with death metal using the Q701, although the M-Stage greatly improved it.  You may not get that hard hitting double kick, but the layers of guitars and shredding is amazingly clear.  And on a well mastered track I can really appreciate it.

I would not say the 701s go with metal. There is a time when I spent a year listening to Opeth with them out of a stock Woo 5 LE. I guess I did like it. It was not the perfect metal experience but entertaining none the less. The 701s have a huge soundstage and are fast enough to keep up with the Opeth music tone changes. I would call it mid-centric metal. I had all the power I could get into the 701s still they would not reproduce enough bass. They really perform their best with vocal and acoustic guitar where there is no bass to reproduce in the first place!