AKG K702 65th Anniversary Edition - Page 95

Oh yeah for sure.   I used a track by Atom™ from Liedgut to test this Atom TM – Wellen Und Felder III, it's basically a throbbing bass line and the HD700 delivers that exactly.   The K702 was pretty anemic in comparison but not horrible.

 

The K702 65 still did a far better job with this bass than the HD650 (very muddy) or the K702 (just a note, no presence).    The HD700 was exactly right with it.

Ive heard bad things about the HD700. I'd rather save up for the HD800, personally.

Compared the Annie with the LCD2 for 3 days, and I could easily say the Annie held it's own and even exceeded on a couple of things, like perceived clarity, soundstage, and balance.

The LCD2 has it beat in bass and mid intimacy, and organic tone. Thats about it. It's a wonderful sounding headphone, but it's thickness makes things a little congested and closed sounding. Even my friend who I told nothing about it, compared for 3 hours and said he preferred the Annie.
Edited by Mad Lust Envy - 2/19/13 at 9:04pm

I hated the 800 in comparison, I thought it seemed dull to listen to and I didn't understand the hype.   I think if I'd paid the full $1k for the HD700 I'd feel a little bitter about it, but for $729 it was a BIG step up from the K702 Annies.   They are similar as the HD650 is to the Annies, but where the Annies do everything right that the HD650 does wrong the HD700 does the Annies one better and fills out the top end with sparkle and the low end with authority, plus it adds a real flavor of dimension to the awesome sound stage (this is probably due to the angled drivers).   They are like having really nice speakers on your head.

 

I am not knocking the Annies, if I could afford two sets of headphones I would keep them.   They are a very strong headphone for the price and they do very well with almost every genre of music.   Don't take anything I say as a rejection of these cans, in fact I think AKG should really think about these improvements and release these as a K703 ... keep the K 702/701 as is, just release these as a new number and charge whatever.   They are a great competitor in the $400-$500 range and definitely better than the HD650 if you ask me.

I no longer want that top end sparkle. I've come to appreciate a rounded off top end, making music a lot less painful than stuff with treble emphasis. I think the Annie's treble is in the perfect place. The LCD2 had really smooth treble I also appreciated. In both instance, it made mids better. Treble emphasis just detracts from mids, like the HE400. If the HE400 had much less treble, it'd be borderline what I envision as perfection.

I like the sparkle in this case, and I don't feel like it takes anything away from the mids, nor do I feel like the mids overwhelm the bass. The HD700 sounds right to me, and I haven't found a single instance where they've demonstrated any painful treble.

I really loved my time with the Annies, I can only keep one set though and I'm going with the ones that I prefer subjectively.

Edited by chicolom - 2/19/13 at 10:45pm

I think I may have to go and check those 700s out. I've only tested 800s and for me they have always been wonderful headphones. Right now I'm trying to find the perfect tube for my Annies. If I do find that tube I think I'll be settled for a while so no upgrades for a while.

 

These are my exact thoughts about the LCD-2.2

 

I still like a little treble energy as well.  The HE-500s fits this well.  The Annies treble energy is just a step down from the 500s.  

 

I've had the Annies since Feb 12th.  These are really balanced headphones.  There really isn't an emphases on anything.

 

Why tubes? So many good SS amps out there...

 

Well for me this "hobby" is about constantly learning new stuff. I don't have much experience with tubes so I decided to go for Aune T1 since it seemed like a good budget option at the moment. I thought about SS but couldn't decide which dac to go for (my main amp candidates were m-stage and O2 + black pearl as suggested by blackmore). I also did some local testing with Lehmann linear (too expensive), Cambridge audio dacmagic (wasn't too impressed) and some entry level pro-ject products.

 

I was just talking with toschek and came to the conclusion that tube rolling is fun and rewarding and those vintage tubes are kind of nice collectables. If I ever upgrade I think I'll might go for solid state because those best tubes are very expensive and hard to find. First I wasn't impressed with T1 but this was because of the lame stock tube. I would even say that I preferred my E17 over T1 at that time. Right now I have better tube and I'm positive that I can find the tube that suits my needs and has good synergy with Annies. It's also pretty cool to be able to significantly change the sound by just rolling tubes. You can either use that one very good tube for everything or use specific tubes to get the coloration you like depending on the music and mood. I would much rather change tubes than headphones and Annies are here to stay. Right now my rocket logo sounds pretty nice especially with blues records. It has somewhat cramped sound stage but I like it's instrumental separation. Like I've been saying in other threads it creates this intimate house of blues kind of atmosphere. I have noticed lately that I don't mind that warmish cosy sound which is probably due to the fact that it has been long winter and its still pretty cold here in Finland :)

Still think you have a great chance to find your final amp with BlackPearl mate. Tubes do not solve issues that amp have, they only support already good things:-)

 

 

Highly possible. Haven't ruled out anything yet and I really appreciate your input. I'm taking steps as I gain knowledge and I guess the day for upgrading is inevitably coming... sooner or later. Right now I just wanna enjoy and properly analyze my current setup before moving on. I'd really like to see what I can get out of T1 with proper tubes and learn to know some tubes during the process. I also need more experience from different amps. I'll surely start taking my headphones to every exhibition to test and learn.

Oh man, you make me wanna try the HD700's out. Although living in canada, that would mean buying these for close to MSRP... with no chance of auditioning them before hand.

 

*sigh*

Yeah, I saw those graphs too, but in all honesty they sound good to me.

I don't doubt Purrin's measurements or experience with them but subjectively I enjoy them more, graphs be damned. With the right tubes they are a real pleasure.

The Annies are still great and that's why I keep qualifying everything I'm saying with words like "subjective", "taste", etc. In fact, if I could afford it I'd keep both.

That said, I get that you don't like HD700s & I think that's fine. People are welcome to listen to both and come to their own opinion on the merits of each. It's just cool that there are so many choices out there.