A new reference from AKG? - Page 7

the 240 monitors usually up every week with tons of pairs for sell since they were so popular in studios. they sell more often than the sextetts and DF's combined but kinda good thing cause you can score monitors pretty cheap nowadays compared to sextetts and even the 240DF. the 240DF rarely pops up on ebay since most people that own them rather keep them than sell it. you will be seeing the k340 more often than you be seeing the 240DF. it shows up more often though i believe on Austria ebay sites due to AKG still makes special requests for certain radio stations and so forth. i think the 240DF is pretty popular in japan as well since they pop up pretty much over there as well.

k500 and k400 are as rare as 240DF showing up on ebay. well i don't see them much. the 240DF's though are worth the hassle and patience searching for in my opinion. out all the 240 models i like the 240DF the most for my personal preference.

Since you're advertising that place, roBernd, let me just clarify that the K 501 is a piece of trash. The K 340 are worth maybe $40, I wouldn't pay more than $30 for the 240 DF, same goes for the 250; and the 260 is worth $10. Just so no one goes over the top with their shopping. Ignore the K 400/500 totally.

 

(Okay, so they're all good headphones, but don't overpay.)

Edited by vid - 2/8/12 at 1:37pm

On the German ebay, vintage AKG's grow on trees, plenty to chose from so no need to overpay, wait for a better deal in stead.

on the uk site the k240df is on for over £200. only one of them though.

no way mate.

i see this as a secret plot to hog all the good headphones and get them cheap in the process. i'm on to you. like a hawk!

I completely agree.  Not worth it.  The Q701 is where it's at, and represents the pinnacle of decades of research and development and experimentation by AKG.

9gag... more like ebaumsworld 2.0, ripping off memes and everything else and smashing their watermark on it.

AKG really have gone down hill. All their vintage headphones are far better in every way. The K1000 sounds amazing in everyway and it was discontinued. Same will the K501, and is in my opinion, AKG's best headphone ever produced.

 

I don't have much faith in them anymore and if they came out with a new flagship model it will most likely sound like a bigger K701.

 

As you know I've owned many AKG headphones (K240M, K240S, K400,K501, K601, K701, K702, Q701). Among them all my favorite ones are the K400 and K501. Here are some observations from my own listening.

 

• The K400's are very nice and are quite warm with a slight bump in the treble and they have a huge soundstage. They have a more pronounced bass response and it does sound good.
   
• The K240M are very warm and I did love them when I had them. They had a nice warm midrange with subdued treble and nice bass that was slightly emphasized. 
   
• The K240S is the lower impedance version of the K240M. It sounds largely the same as the K240M, but has more bass. IMO it's performs better than the K240M on a lot of gear, but when the K240M is driven properly it stomps the K240S.
   
• The K501 is the best IMO and has a very natural sound and warmer mids that are so realisitc. The treble is also quite smooth and never fatiguing. The bass is also quite nice but rolls off a tad early. The soundstage is the biggest I have ever heard, maybe even bigger than the HD800.
   
• The K601 is a step back and although it is still a good headphone, it is not better than the K400 and K500. It is better than the K240M, but has somewhat anemic bass, warm mids, and smoother treble. The thing is that the detail does not batch the K400 and K501.
   
• The K701 or any models based upon it has a artificial sounding soundstage. The treble is brighter and not all that detailed compared to the previous models. The mids are funky and sound off as hack. Really my whole rant on them is in the spoiler tag below.

 

 

 

K701 Model Series Rant (Click to show)

 

 

Edited by Zombie_X - 2/11/12 at 7:36pm

Nonsense

Man, your impressions of all those headphones are so different than mine. I think I stopped going by listening impressions so much because they're so different than what I hear. Nobody ever can seem to agree on what a headphone here sounds like. Everyone here doesn't have the same ears or hears anything the same way. Sometimes, but it seems rare.

 

The K400 I felt had way less bass (even less sub-bass) than the K601/K501, was less detailed than the K501 and had a smaller soundstage than the K501 (by far IMO). The K601 definitely felt much warmer and had fuller sounding mids. I think many here use K601 pads on the K400 just to get more bass from them. I do agree the K400 has more forward mids and more treble than the K501. K501 felt more balanced.

 

K601 to my ears is better than the K702  for specific music. K702 is technically better, but I preferred the Q701 to the K601. K601 I still like to listen to, but it's often too warm and doesn't have enough detail. Not as clear as the Q701 and has this weird treble and upper mids peak somewhere. Sound clarity i good, but not up to the Q701 level. I think the K601 has the best bass between the K400, K501 and Q701.

 

Not to be rude, but I'm baffled by how anyone can think the Q701 and K702 can sound the same. You have to use the stock cables. I mean, to me it's very easy to spot the differences. Maybe you didn't try a big enough variety of music. With some music I can barely tell the difference between my KRK KNS-6400 and 8400 Maybe you should have compared them longer? We'll know facts soon as to what causes the differences. There's now at least 4-5 people who feel they sound much different. They're now almost as warm as my K601 and the mids are much fuller sounding. This is with any amp.

 

I'm not trying to preach and say I'm right, but saying i'm just "fooling myself" is annoying to hear you say. As if my brain suddenly makes this stuff up. I find it amusing how I can go almost 3 months with the Q701 and have zero complaints, but with the K702 it's only a week or two, if that. Something about that headphone always seemed to annoy me. Within the next year we'll see how many more people can compare them. I think there's now more people who felt they sound much different than those that don't. Doesn't really matter. Female vocals also sound pretty bad on the K702, but on the Q701 they're quite good. If they weren't I probably would have sold my Q701. Then there is this bizarre treble issue on the K702 I don't have with the Q701. You're probably less sensitive to the treble on the K702 though. I would have kept the Q701 if just that alone was the only improvement.

 

BTW I'd say there is a 10-15% improvement of the Q701 over the K701. If that's no difference to you, then ok...Q701 to my ears is just a much improved K702. It won't make anyone who hates the K702 suddenly love it. It's quite possible though.

 

If anyone is trying to decide on the Q701, just ignore all of us and compare them with your own ears. That's what I did. Had both at the same time. Same setup and everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, crap man. I didn't mean to come off that way! I read my post and realized I sound like a jerk. I didn't meant to say you were wrong at all.

 

I didn't mean to come off as rude int hat post but I just don't hear a difference, and you know it could be my ears . I do have some hearing damage and all but not so much where the headphone bad at all. I just have 30% hearing loss in one ear, but that's still bad enough.

 

I know my post came off in a bad way with the "fooling yourself" comment, but they don't sound different at all. Didn't mean to say that you are folling yourself literally but I mean some people hear the marketing claims and hear what the claims say, like a placebo. Maybe my pair was different than yours and it could be manufacturing differences, but when I had both the K702 and Q701 side by side, they sounded identical.

 

I tried a lot of classical, orchestral, acoustic music on them and none of it sounded different. Now I heard that the Q701 is supposed to have thicker foam over the drivers, but mine was the same on the K701, being with the thinner foam that is. So maybe the newer models have that thicker foam?

 

I would also say trying both may be best for most people. You know what? Just ignore my comment above guys, I cam e off as sounding like an jerk.

 

My bad guys and gals of the Head-Fi community.
 

 

 

Edited by Zombie_X - 2/11/12 at 7:39pm

Nonsense? OK, only their higher end headphone have this issue, disregarding the K601 though. The K701, K702, Q701 have this sonic signature. My statement was not too detailed in my initial post so my bad. This what I meant.

 

Also, IMO, most of their modern headphones aren't all that good. Granted I have not heard them all but some I have heard sounded bad. Most of the portable from them I have heard sounded like poo.

 

Also sorry for the double post guys.
 

 

 

Nah, nothing rude. I always like to trying to figure out why the Q701 sounds the same for some people (or different). I'm always arguing about their differences, but it's all in fun. I'm much rather have discussions with people like you who have actually compared both rather than those who just guess they're the same! I think someone had the idea that some earlier pairs could sound closer to the K702/K702, but we'll never know for sure. It could be like the DT-770 600 having bass light and bass heavy versions. Of course I don't want to open this can of worms and starts that rumor. I really wanted to believe it was all marketing BS, but once I heard them I loved them. I don't believe AKG was lying with their marketing stuff.

 

I really want to find out for sure what's different physically between them. Nobody has really found out apart from some foam and a cardan piece. Then the button. Same part # for the driver too.

 

I had this REALLY stupid idea once that AKG improved the cable for the Q701. Now science guys can ignore what I said there. I don't know why, but the Q701 stock cables sounds so much different than the other 3 cables COPPER cables i've tried. It sounds almost like Canare wire! Crazy I know. Someone compared both cables and couldn't here a difference between the K702 and Q701 cable, so there goes that brilliant idea. I tried too, but only had the K240 Studio cable. Same thing I think.

 

I just want to be sure to not make it sound like it's a completely new headphone and some bass monster. That'd be wrong. I don't even like to suggest it to those that already have the K702. I'd upgrade to it though

 

Hopefully more people can compare them and see if some more of them sound the same or different.

 

 

 

Edited by tdockweiler - 2/11/12 at 7:48pm