This weekend I've got the chance to compare the AKG K702 (Mogami cable) with the Beyerdynamic T1 (balanced).

I'll not go too much into history of those great companies, maybe just a quick reminder...
The K-702 is the studio version of a long AKG headphones line that started with the 301, 401, 501, 601, 701.

The T1 (Tesla) is the Beyerdynamic headphones flagship. I like how they named their flagship headphones after Nicolae Tesla (I'm a big fun, and here is more info about the man and the legend : http://members.chello.nl/e.n.secasiu/Tesla.htm).

The equipment used in this session,
Apogee Mini DAC
Violectric V800
Beyerdynamic T1( balanced )
AKG K-702 ( Mogami W2534 cable )
HagUsb > AES
Sommer cable galileo 238 plus. Nutrix XLR balanced cable.
 
 
Sound format,
WAV, and FLAC.
 
Audio soft,
WL6, Foobar2000
 



Build quality,
The K-702 are made of plastic and looks a bit cheap compared to the metallic T1 that feel more sturdy ( the angle drivers looks great ).

Comfort,
The T1 have a smaller cups compare to the K-702 both feel very comfy, and no problems for me with the bumps on the bottom of the headband.

The sound,
My session with both hps was mostly on the Apogee mini DAC> V800 > Phonitor, on this high level rig the sound transparency play a big factor, I mean with a minimum coloration on the rig you'll be able to pure focus on the sound and of course this will emphasis and bring out the hps sound character.    

Both hps show a great resolution over the sound spectrum, sound stage almost the same...maybe a small advantage to the K-702 by 10-to15%. I was impressed with the T1 sound depth, looks like Beyer fixed the sound depth issue that I've dislike with the 880's.

In this session the K702 sounds to me more natural and balanced, because I found a audible spike in the upper mid lower treble of the T1, with my album Rabbit Dream (electronic music) you can hear some treble sparkles over the hi-hats. as well with other music materials I can easy spot this spike almost in the same area. it also show up on headroom graph.
 

 
Mids, both hps perform great...the vocals sounds with a bit more present with the K702.

Lower mids, the headroom graph show few more db with on the T1, but I didn't find any problem with that in this session.

Bass, you can easy hear the boost on T1, most of the session I had fun with that...until I played my last mastering track... was hard for me to get the a good sound separation between the 60hz-to-125hz that I use to get out of the K702. The sound was more glued together with the T1, maybe most of the peoples will find it warm, or pleasant... but I running a mastering business and I need this separation in the bass.

Conclusions, I prefer the tonality of the K702. I'm okay with the T1 bass boost, but not with the treble boost.

Recommendations, If you have the T1, this is cool just get the Auditor or the Phonitor. If you dont have the T1... get the K702, or the Q701 and the Auditor for the same price as the T1.

To my surprise the Phonitor XLR balanced out can drive well a balanced T1, the sound was great the bass got tight...but you'll need to be careful with the volume of the foobar player, the volume needs to be at 20% for the start point .There is no way to control the level volume coming out from the Phonitor, the XLR out is even strong for the 300ohm of the T1.

This was my personal experience, and I hope you enjoyed the read.

Thanks for the informative review! That's some nice gear. I guess you won't be replacing your K 702. Did you recable it yourself?

Its funny. I was very close to buying a T1 from another Head-Fier, but couldn't justify the price and wanted something a little smoother in treble for longer sessions, so I went with the Q701.

They're most definitely not what I like out of my main can (I prefer a fun signature), but they are fantastic as my complimentary can that is different from my D7000. I really got them for gaming and TV shows, but they have surprised me with how damn good they sound for music, so they will get headtime for that as well.

I do wish I had the T1s, but with the Q701, it made it less of a priority, and something I can hold off on.

Quote:

priest said:

Thanks for the informative review! That's some nice gear. I guess you won't be replacing your K 702. Did you recable it yourself?

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Thanks priest... I don't think I'll replace the K702 any soon, even if I want too I didn't find any worth replacement for the K702 in the studio.
Yes, I recabled the K702 myself, here is more info how you can do it, I added more photos that show the process step by step....http://www.head-fi.org/t/378255/akg-k702-build-your-own-cable

 

 

Nice review! Nice to know that the old flagships are still respectable in light of the new models

Quote:

mad lust envy said:

Its funny. I was very close to buying a T1 from another Head-Fier, but couldn't justify the price and wanted something a little smoother in treble for longer sessions, so I went with the Q701.
They're most definitely not what I like out of my main can (I prefer a fun signature), but they are fantastic as my complimentary can that is different from my D7000. I really got them for gaming and TV shows, but they have surprised me with how damn good they sound for music, so they will get headtime for that as well.
I do wish I had the T1s, but with the Q701, it made it less of a priority, and something I can hold off on.

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If I needed to buy a new hps I'll probably go for the Q701, and not only because they are 5 times cheaper compare to the T1. The Q701 graph looks almost identical to the T1 in the bass and mid bass area, the T1 have more bass @ 20hz but most of the bass information is above the 20hz anyway.
 

For some reason, it only recently got through to me that that Q 701 sounds different from the K 702. I just thought it was a cosmetic change. I guess I should have been paying more attention.

Wow so I guess I wasn't the only one who found fault in the T1's bass separation, I didn't notice the spike in the treble though. Thanks for the informative review!

Quote:

priest said:

For some reason, it only recently got through to me that that Q 701 sounds different from the K 702. I just thought it was a cosmetic change. I guess I should have been paying more attention.

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I don't know for sure if they sounds sooo different, but from the headroom graph looks like AKG add more lowmid and bass to the Q series. Here is more interesting info about the differences between the 702's and the Q's,  http://www.head-fi.org/t/594927/akg-q701-vs-akg-k702-comparison-review/75#post_8138139
 

 

Only a K701 fan would say that the T1's have too much bass. You might want to tell those who accuse them of having too little. IMO the K701's lack of any real bass is one of their major flaws. As pointed out by moniker "A" below, the bass/sub bass performance of the K701s does leave one wanting for more true to life bass.
 
As well, the 10kHz spike is quite a bit tighter and occurs at a range in the frequency spectrum where not much is going on, so its not anywhere as big an issue as the K701 treble spike that kicks in at around 6kHz and lasts until about 10kHz. I find this much more of a colouration and obtrusive to what's really going on in the recording.
 

Quote:

categg said:

Wow so I guess I wasn't the only one who found fault in the T1's bass separation, I didn't notice the spike in the treble though. Thanks for the informative review!

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If you didn't notice the spike in the treble is fine, I've compare them to the K702 maybe this why the spike jump out. About the bass, when you boost any sound frequency with bell shape curve this will round other close frequency's in range of the bell curve.  

Quote:

macedonianhero said:

Only a K701 fan would say that the T1's have too much bass.

You might want to tell those who accuse them of having too little. IMO the K701's lack of any real bass is one of their major flaws. As pointed out by moniker "A" below, the bass/sub bass performance of the K701s does leave one wanting for more true to life bass.
 
As well, the 10kHz spike is quite a bit tighter and occurs at a range in the frequency spectrum where not much is going on, so its not anywhere as big an issue as the K701 treble spike that kicks in at around 6kHz and lasts until about 10kHz. I find this much more of a colouration and obtrusive to what's really going on in the recording.
 

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Bassy hps are audiophile delusions and marketing, it can be fun but not so accurate... as I've mentioned in post # 11. The K-702 have more of the bell shape curve in the upper mids, spikes are more easy to spot in this area because the high frequencies are more directional than the lower frequencies.
 

Quote:

acix said:

Bassy hps are audiophile delusions and marketing, it can be fun but not so accurate... as I've mentioned in post # 11. The K-702 have more of the bell shape curve in the upper mids, spikes are more easy to spot in this area because the high frequencies are more directional than the lower frequencies.
 

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The T1s are far from "bassy" headphones. the measurements prove it. They are not Monster Beats or Bose bassy heavy headphones by any stretch. The K701s are just too anemic to be used as a standard for "accuracy". Sorry I don't get your argument here. And the colouration from 6kHz to 10kHz is far more damaging to the details on the recording than a tight 10kHz spike on the T1s.
 

Quote:

macedonianhero said:

In your opinion that is.

 
The T1s are far from "bassy" headphones. the measurements prove it. They are not Monster Beats or Bose bassy heavy headphones by any stretch. The K701s are just too anemic to be used as a standard for "accuracy". Sorry I don't get your argument here. And the colouration from 6kHz to 10kHz is far more damaging to the details on the recording than a tight 10kHz spike on the T1s.
 

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Well, the measurements prove the T1 have spike and this is audible as well the boost on the bass. You can like the spike and the boost on the bass as much as you want too, but this still is not gonna make the T1 sound more balanced, or accurate.   
 
 

Quote:

acix said:

Well, the measurements prove the T1 have spike and this is audible as well the boost on the bass. You can like the spike and the boost on the bass as much as you want too, but this still is not gonna make the T1 sound more balanced, or accurate.   
 
 

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I think you're missing my point, the spike is at 10kHz, what information is exactly at that range? While the K701's spike occurs in a much more problematic 5-6kHz and lasts until 10kHz. This is a much more problematic colouration. With regards to the bass, when coming from the bass-amemic K701s, then anything is going to sound bassy. But to say that they have a bass boost is simply disingenuous at best. I would argue that the T1's bass is quite neutral; while the K701s bass is too light to sound close to natural.