AKG K702 65th Anniversary Edition
Mar 13, 2013 at 11:44 PM Post #1,862 of 3,390
Different strokes for different folks.  I prefer the airy sound of the Q's to the Annies.  My perception with the Annies kept making me think foot steps were coming closer to me than they really were.  So I'd start shooting in a direction and no one was there, yet.  Than the person already knew I was there and came around the corner firing and I'd lose most of the time.  It does sound nice with music.  I like it for that but the Q's just fit my description.  Plus I can get the pads later if I decide to go after the warmer sound.   It could also be that I am just used to the Q's sound too.  
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All I know is that the Annie makes me rethink sellling them. They hold extremely well vs the LCD2 for me. You tradeoff body for air, but the Annie already has body. My LCD2's highest treble is hotter than my Annie's.

Hawaiian, dunno if you're using Dolby Headphone, but the Annie for gaming is basically perfection, IMHO.

 
Mar 14, 2013 at 12:00 AM Post #1,863 of 3,390
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Different strokes for different folks.  I prefer the airy sound of the Q's to the Annies.  My perception with the Annies kept making me think foot steps were coming closer to me than they really were.  So I'd start shooting in a direction and no one was there, yet.  Than the person already knew I was there and came around the corner firing and I'd lose most of the time.  It does sound nice with music.  I like it for that but the Q's just fit my description.  Plus I can get the pads later if I decide to go after the warmer sound.   It could also be that I am just used to the Q's sound too.  

 
I remember back when I had Audio-GD Reference 1 -- > Audio-GD Phoenix --> AKG K701 (balanced). It was the first time I thought of headphones as giving a gaming edge or being "competitive". I got banned from two or three counter strike servers for wall hacking with that combination. I definitely know what you mean about space when it comes to gaming. Not to mention when selling used, the AKG K702.65 tie up about twice as much money :/
 
Mar 14, 2013 at 12:04 AM Post #1,864 of 3,390
Do you mean you're selling the Annie or it makes you rethink selling the Q701?


Selling the Annie, maybe. They sound quite similar to my LCD2. My LCD2 is quite neutral-ish/balanced with some added warmth. Same with the Annie. The LCD2 has more bass (dat LCD2 bass), but not a lot more, and the Annie has more air, and soundstage. I have sat here for the past few days, and there's so much the Annie does right in comparison, it makes me think I should probably sell the LCD2 and get most of my money back. There are instances where the treble on the LCD2 is more fatiguing than the Annies.

Bear in mind, this is for my specific vegan LCD2. The first LCD2 I demoed was leather and a bit warmer, smoother, and more closed sounding. The treble range was noticeably more rolled off than the Annies. My current LCD2 is noticeably more balanced.

While I loved the Q701, no way would I replace my Annie with it. Sure, it's more airy, and the sound is thinner, making sound cues easier to pinpoint, but it loses out on the more natural warmth of the Annies. Positional cues are the same. Literally. It just has a thinner body on the Qs. I'll take the Annie's balance and more fleshed out sound, personally.
 
Mar 14, 2013 at 12:48 AM Post #1,865 of 3,390
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Selling the Annie, maybe. They sound quite similar to my LCD2. My LCD2 is quite neutral-ish/balanced with some added warmth. Same with the Annie. The LCD2 has more bass (dat LCD2 bass), but not a lot more, and the Annie has more air, and soundstage. I have sat here for the past few days, and there's so much the Annie does right in comparison, it makes me think I should probably sell the LCD2 and get most of my money back. There are instances where the treble on the LCD2 is more fatiguing than the Annies.

Bear in mind, this is for my specific vegan LCD2. The first LCD2 I demoed was leather and a bit warmer, smoother, and more closed sounding. The treble range was noticeably more rolled off than the Annies. My current LCD2 is noticeably more balanced.

While I loved the Q701, no way would I replace my Annie with it. Sure, it's more airy, and the sound is thinner, making sound cues easier to pinpoint, but it loses out on the more natural warmth of the Annies. Positional cues are the same. Literally. It just has a thinner body on the Qs. I'll take the Annie's balance and more fleshed out sound, personally.

 
LOL
 
It seems like the more you love a headphone, say it's a perfect fit, and say you'll never sell it, the more likely you are to then turn-around and sell it.  I can't understand the logic!
 
Going of your posts it seems like you like the anniversaries quite a bit, and they're near perfect and don't have any real issues with them - whereas you have a couple issues with the much pricier LCD2.
 
 
Hmm..which ones does logic say you should say bye-bye to? 
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Mar 14, 2013 at 1:03 AM Post #1,866 of 3,390
My Q701 pads should arrive anytime now, so I'll have to do more comparing between them and the anniversaries specifically for gaming to see which ones I prefer overall.  
 
I didn't get too much time to compare them with gaming before I sold the Q701.  Only enough to determine that they both performed well and just had some minor technical differences (more air and smaller lighter instruments, Vs thicker and larger heavier instruments, etc.)
 
I liked both of them, but I didn't spend enough time to develop a preference for one over the other though.  I'll have to give them each more time to see if one emerges as a personal favorite for gaming. 
 
Mar 14, 2013 at 2:00 AM Post #1,867 of 3,390
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I remember back when I had Audio-GD Reference 1 -- > Audio-GD Phoenix --> AKG K701 (balanced). It was the first time I thought of headphones as giving a gaming edge or being "competitive". I got banned from two or three counter strike servers for wall hacking with that combination. I definitely know what you mean about space when it comes to gaming. Not to mention when selling used, the AKG K702.65 tie up about twice as much money :/

Ya true.  Wow you got banned for using your audio equipment.  I know many times in modern warfare 3 while using sit-rep pro and having the mixamp with my Q's I can clearly hear foot steps even when they use dead silence and many times people grumbled that I was hacking or using a mod because they said there was no way I could hear them...lol
 
Mar 14, 2013 at 2:03 AM Post #1,868 of 3,390
Well, to be honest, if it wasn't for the LCD2 bass, I'd prefer the Annie for pretty much every single use. The mids arent as intimate as the LCD2, but I blame the difference in openness and space. I feel they both have similar mids in that they are linear with the bass, but the Annie projects farther out, so it isnt as close in the virtual space. Same can be said of the K/70x. People said the mids weren't forward on those, but honestly, they are, just the space is so vast that they aren't in your face.

One thing people need to realize is just how good the bass is on the Annie. It honestly isn't far from the LCD2, though the LCD2 just has that added growl and ferocity when called for. They're both natural in bass overall, and only hit hard when a song calls for it.

I rather not sell either of my cans, but they're undoubtedly similar. In my case, I prefer going with the one with that planar magnetic bass body.

I honestly feel the Annie gets like 90% of the way to the vegan LCD2. The leather LCD2 is different enough to say they'd compliment each other more. If I had the leather LCD2 which does some things better, and some things worse than the vegan... I may have justified having both the Annie and LCD2. Overall I feel the strengths on the vegan LCD2 are better than the leather ones, which are closed sounding, congested, and rolled off sounding in the treble, but is more non-fatiguing, and warmer.
 
Mar 14, 2013 at 2:04 AM Post #1,869 of 3,390
Seems like the vegan pads give the same effect as the Q cables did.  The bass was a bit more natural sounding and the sound stage opened up a bit.  I miss the LCD's but they gave me some tinnitus.  I used them with the V200 and Da11.  It sounded great and I never listened to them at high volumes but for some odd reason I would have ringing.  Could of been stress induced also. 
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Selling the Annie, maybe. They sound quite similar to my LCD2. My LCD2 is quite neutral-ish/balanced with some added warmth. Same with the Annie. The LCD2 has more bass (dat LCD2 bass), but not a lot more, and the Annie has more air, and soundstage. I have sat here for the past few days, and there's so much the Annie does right in comparison, it makes me think I should probably sell the LCD2 and get most of my money back. There are instances where the treble on the LCD2 is more fatiguing than the Annies.

Bear in mind, this is for my specific vegan LCD2. The first LCD2 I demoed was leather and a bit warmer, smoother, and more closed sounding. The treble range was noticeably more rolled off than the Annies. My current LCD2 is noticeably more balanced.

While I loved the Q701, no way would I replace my Annie with it. Sure, it's more airy, and the sound is thinner, making sound cues easier to pinpoint, but it loses out on the more natural warmth of the Annies. Positional cues are the same. Literally. It just has a thinner body on the Qs. I'll take the Annie's balance and more fleshed out sound, personally.

 
Mar 14, 2013 at 2:23 AM Post #1,870 of 3,390
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Well, to be honest, if it wasn't for the LCD2 bass, I'd prefer the Annie for pretty much every single use. The mids arent as intimate as the LCD2, but I blame the difference in openness and space. I feel they both have similar mids in that they are linear with the bass, but the Annie projects farther out, so it isnt as close in the virtual space. Same can be said of the K/70x. People said the mids weren't forward on those, but honestly, they are, just the space is so vast that they aren't in your face.

One thing people need to realize is just how good the bass is on the Annie. It honestly isn't far from the LCD2, though the LCD2 just has that added growl and ferocity when called for. They're both natural in bass overall, and only hit hard when a song calls for it.

I rather not sell either of my cans, but they're undoubtedly similar. In my case, I prefer going with the one with that planar magnetic bass body.

I honestly feel the Annie gets like 90% of the way to the vegan LCD2. The leather LCD2 is different enough to say they'd compliment each other more. If I had the leather LCD2 which does some things better, and some things worse than the vegan... I may have justified having both.

 
I dislike intimate mids (or anything else).  I like to deep a distant relationship between me and the sound.  Which is probably why I'm a soundstage whore. 
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I still don't get your logic for selling headphones, and if I were in you're situation everything you've described would have me screaming at myself to sell the LCD2s.  But I also don't like headphones that are heavy, closed, intimate, dark, or really anything else I've read about the LCD2s.  Not my cup of tea. 
 
Really, the only thing I think I've heard you say that you liked better on the LCD2s is the bass, and even then you said it's only a little better.  I guess that takes huge priority over everything else though, because to me it still seems like a no-brainer to keep the AKGs...
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Especially since the anniversary is limited stock and it isn't getting any cheaper, so if you sell it you can probably kiss that smooth headband goodbye. I don't know much about the LCD-2, but I imagine it would be much easier to sell and reacquire them later.
 
Mar 14, 2013 at 2:30 AM Post #1,871 of 3,390
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Ya true.  Wow you got banned for using your audio equipment.  I know many times in modern warfare 3 while using sit-rep pro and having the mixamp with my Q's I can clearly hear foot steps even when they use dead silence and many times people grumbled that I was hacking or using a mod because they said there was no way I could hear them...lol

 
Well not just because I had that audio equipment, but basically if someone was walking anywhere close to a wall, I could pretty accurately pick out their location. Enough people got killed through walls on a few servers to put up a fuss :/ Fun times trying to explain that your headphones help you pick out the locations. "Ok, hacker"
 
Mar 14, 2013 at 2:53 AM Post #1,872 of 3,390
I love intimate mids, Chico.

I mean, the Annie might be close in how much bass is present compared to the LCD2, but I prefer the fuller body, and depth to it. The bass is a special thing on the LCD2. Also, it has a thicker body, which presents itself more naturally than the Annie, if only just a bit. The thicker, the better, personally.

The air is definitely on the Annie's side, but the vegan LCD2 isnt bad on this front. It has a natural sounding soundstage, something like the DT880. Not huge, pretty good enough. For gaming, the soundstage projects quite far, which makes the vegan LCD2 pretty worthy gaming cans.

The pads are very comfy. The weight is a pita, but overall, comfort is an improvement over the leather LCD2.

I do enjoy music quite a bit more off the LCD2. I guess it's more aggressive than the Annie, which I like. Sadly, I do want a laid back headphone. I might consider the HD650 as a compliment to the LCD2, rather than the Annie, since it will be more different than the Annie is to the LCD2. Don't get me wrong, I think the Annie is superior, but the HD650 has a special, more relaxing tone, for when I wanna sit back and watch a show... and I prefer the oval shaped ear cups which makes it easier to lay down with.
 
Mar 14, 2013 at 3:23 AM Post #1,873 of 3,390
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Well, to be honest, if it wasn't for the LCD2 bass, I'd prefer the Annie for pretty much every single use.
I do enjoy music quite a bit more off the LCD2.

 
...Wut??
 
 
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In the Annie you have: very balanced, warm, detailed, spacious, god tier in positional cues, fun, engaging, and extreme comfort. If it sounds like I'm gushing about them, that's because I am. There is VERY little to complain about here. This is my idea of a perfected well balanced headphone. The only headphone I would prefer over the Annie is the D7000, which loses out on balance, in place of some truly awe-inspiring fun and musicality. Yes. The Annie is my 2nd favorite headphone ever, and due to it's comfort, musicality, and gaming prowess, the Annie would be my very first pick if I could only own one headphone.

 
 
Alright, I'll stop trying to make sense of it....
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Sell it!!
 
Mar 14, 2013 at 3:42 AM Post #1,875 of 3,390
Well MLE prefers LCD2 but fails to admit it clearly
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, their is no prob in liking LCD2 more
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