[SaLX]

 
Audio-GD 15.32 is a briliant option! You will love the way you can customise DACs performance using different oversampling and filter options You basically cannot be unhappy because you can make the DAC sound warmer or more detailed depending on your taste or audio chain...

From what I've heard, those oversampling options don't do much at all I'm afraid. Maybe I'm better going for the Sabre 11.32: if it's too dry, bright and detailed I can always add a smooth amp on top at a later date.

 

[emertxe]

  From what I've heard, those oversampling options don't do much at all I'm afraid. Maybe I'm better going for the Sabre 11.32: if it's too dry, bright and detailed I can always add a smooth amp on top at a later date.

 
I've owned a DAC with the same chip, StageDAC... And it quite does influence sound if you pay attention and know how to listen (soundstage, imaging, basic tonality very slightly).

 

[devhen]

 
I believe emertxe might be talking about the bit of resonance in the upper mid peak that can push certain things forward (correct me if I'm wrong). 
 
It's not that noticeable by itself - if you compare it closely to a flatter headphones it's easier to spot it.

 
^ This. If you use the K712 exclusively you probably won't notice any issues. If you compare it to other headphones you realize it sounds plasticy. IMO tonal accuracy is the K712's biggest flaw. Everything else about them is awesome I just wish they had the tonal accuracy of my HD600's or even my DT880's.

 

[Evshrug]

Anyone else own K712 and Q701?
What I'm hearing: both are great, and both are great for gaming or movies or music, but... I played several hours of CoD Ghosts today, swapping headphones between rounds, and I was having a hard time distinguishing between them. I had both of them hooked up to my Xbox360 as source, Turtle Beach DSS as surround processor and DAC, and FiiO E12 as amp, with all boosts and tweaks off.

Reading my notes, at first I felt that the bass was tighter on the K712 Pros while the Q701 actually had MORE bass "power" (background info: I've been enjoying my Q701's A LOT since buying them a year and a half ago), and the treble slightly smoother on the K712. After that initial impression however, I couldn't sense the difference anymore after I switched back, and things like virtual surround, footstep detail/separation, sound fatigue didn't seem to mark an appreciable contrast. I didn't feel there was more air on the Q701, nor warmer presentation on the K712. When the sun set and I started swapping the headphones without really looking to see which one I was putting on, I totally forgot which one I was currently wearing after a while (padded my Q701 headband, so they both disappear after a while). I did note that it was nice to be able to switch to a cool set of pads... lol.

A short background, I listened to the K712 exclusively for two and a half months, and then half a month ago I began using either AKG as they were in reach. During those first two months of learning the K712, I felt "Oh, I think I've gained a bit of Mids presence I was looking for, and the treble seems a little smoother. Yay!" However, I still felt the change was more akin to "tweak" than immediately obvious. Today was the first time I tested them both side-to-side, within auditory memory of eachother. I think I should be able to hear differences well, back when I used to play Violin I was able to tune the strings repeatedly to basically as good as my tuner (often could play both my tuned strings and the tuner at the same time, and not hear a beat), and even if my 27 year old ears don't have the range or are as good as they once were, I would not think my sense of tonality would change.

So, either my ears are not sensitive enough, my ears/brain got fatigued/burned out by the length of my testing session, or these headphones are really just a lot more comparable than contrasting considering their price difference. In a way, that's good, because I fell in love with the AKG house sound the first time I heard my Q's, but I had hoped to get more out of the K712.

 

[kman1211]

   
 
I believe emertxe might be talking about the bit of resonance in the upper mid peak that can push certain things forward (correct me if I'm wrong). 
 
It's not that noticeable by itself - if you compare it closely to a flatter headphones it's easier to spot it.

 
I noticed some shoutiness on the Q701 when I compared to them to the HD 600 and K612.

 

[sterlingarcher]

After owning the K702-65s and then purchasing the K712s, I think I may have a slightly different opinion about the 712s than others have in this thread. I didn't notice much of a difference in low end compared to the 702-65s. Though, the high end on the 712s seems crisper and more detailed. I did the k701 bass mod on both pairs and the low end still seems similar to my ears. Mind you, I haven't listened to the 712s for many hours yet, so I guess their color can still change somewhat.

If I had to pick only one to stick with as of right now, I'd go with the k712s because of their high end detail. Plus they don't seem to have that upper mid range hump that others mentioned a lot of the K series has.

That's my mini review as of now.

 

[LugBug1]

Just regarding the AKG's upper mid peak at around 2khz. I wouldn't recommend the need for a warmer sounding amp for these hp's unless you want a warmer sound. A simple tweak on foobar equalizer can mean much more versatility in regards to amps with the these very linear hp's. One notch down at 1.8khz and two down at 2.5khz. Fixed
 
I'm not one for equalizing in general and avoid it at most costs, but a headphone that is as flat as these can really benefit. And it is far better to correct a small area than dull a whole FR by buying warm sounding components. 

 

[BillsonChang007]

Just regarding the AKG's upper mid peak at around 2khz. I wouldn't recommend the need for a warmer sounding amp for these hp's unless you want a warmer sound. A simple tweak on foobar equalizer can mean much more versatility in regards to amps with the these very linear hp's. One notch down at 1.8khz and two down at 2.5khz. Fixed

I'm not one for equalizing in general and avoid it at most costs, but a headphone that is as flat as these can really benefit. And it is far better to correct a small area than dull a whole FR by buying warm sounding components. 

I totally, agree with you! but given that we need a better, more powerful amp to drive the AKG K712 Pro/Annie, we should consider an amp that will match the SQ of either one of these headphones or at least, match the SQ of it. Just my though.

On the other hand, I am the kind of person who is too mean to use EQ! I don't like tuning down anything in the FR... Because my ears will send a feedback to my brain "I WANT MY X Hz BACK!!!" But when I tune it back up, my brain will send a warning letter "stop collecting those sibilants/annoying spikes etc"

 

[LugBug1]

I totally, agree with you!

but given that we need a better, more powerful amp to drive the AKG K712 Pro/Annie, we should consider an amp that will match the SQ of either one of these headphones or at least, match the SQ of it. Just my though.

On the other hand, I am the kind of person who is too mean to use EQ! I don't like tuning down anything in the FR... Because my ears will send a feedback to my brain "I WANT MY X Hz BACK!!!" But when I tune it back up, my brain will send a warning letter "stop collecting those sibilants/annoying spikes etc"

Absolutely, they love power thats for sure. Also, they may be quite hard to drive but they are versatile in respect to what kind of amp used. They work well with high current SS amps but also respond to tubes too. No impedance curves apparently, so they work a dream on my old vintage amps as well. Really sound amazing on these old machines! 
 
I hate messing with the FR as well, but I've experimented lots and lots. I would never use tone controls as they cause too much of a curve over too many frequencies. But for me, I tell myself that they are broken to begin with in this one area... So I'm just putting a little plaster over it- EQ style! 

 

 

[devhen]

Originally Posted by LugBug1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Absolutely, they love power thats for sure. Also, they may be quite hard to drive but they are versatile in respect to what kind of amp used. They work well with high current SS amps but also respond to tubes too. No impedance curves apparently, so they work a dream on my old vintage amps as well. Really sound amazing on these old machines! 
 
I hate messing with the FR as well, but I've experimented lots and lots. I would never use tone controls as they cause too much of a curve over too many frequencies. But for me, I tell myself that they are broken to begin with in this one area... So I'm just putting a little plaster over it- EQ style! 

 

 
So it sounds like the K712, despite being somewhat low impedance, performs well and sounds great even out of an OTL tube amp that has high output impedance? If that's the case its certainly good news to me because I was worrying that that wouldn't be the case. I'm planning on building a Crack soon and I'd love to be able to use my K712 with it.

 

[Muinarc]

Just checking in. I've been listening to the K712 several hours a day at work for the past 3 weeks or so. I am using a Meier Corda Jazz amplifier and a Win 8.1 tablet as a source.

One thing that I have found with these, more so than with the many other cans I have tried, is how drastically their sound signature changes with volume. At the moderate volume levels that I prefer, the balance top to bottom is decent. The upper range "shoutiness" that people mention seems more prominent and the bass is light, much like I am used to from AKG. When you crank it up from there, the bass fills out nicely and this seems to balance everything out all together. There is a range where these really punch above their weight class, unfortunatley it is louder than I would like for long periods of listening. When you go up from there to what I would call loud to very loud volumes, the bass just goes out of control and these become almost boomy.

 

[Muinarc]

Sorry double post.

 

[BillsonChang007]

So it sounds like the K712, despite being somewhat low impedance, performs well and sounds great even out of an OTL tube amp that has high output impedance? If that's the case its certainly good news to me because I was worrying that that wouldn't be the case. I'm planning on building a Crack soon and I'd love to be able to use my K712 with it.

Yep! So far, I don't see my E09K with 10Ohm OI to be affecting the performance on my pair of Annie xD

Just checking in. I've been listening to the K712 several hours a day at work for the past 3 weeks or so. I am using a Meier Corda Jazz amplifier and a Win 8.1 tablet as a source.

One thing that I have found with these, more so than with the many other cans I have tried, is how drastically their sound signature changes with volume. At the moderate volume levels that I prefer, the balance top to bottom is decent. The upper range "shoutiness" that people mention seems more prominent and the bass is light, much like I am used to from AKG. When you crank it up from there, the bass fills out nicely and this seems to balance everything out all together. There is a range where these really punch above their weight class, unfortunatley it is louder than I would like for long periods of listening. When you go up from there to what I would call loud to very loud volumes, the bass just goes out of control and these become almost boomy.

I am guessing that's because of sealing issue. Bass wil leaks out from those small holes while some will reach your ears, treble and a little bit of upper mids will get focused/expanded. If you increase the volume, more "particles" will be produced thus more will travel into your ears while some will still leaks out. [Billson logic, uncertified by any university, no experimental taken, not very much scientific logic taken into account so please take it for what it's worth! :rolleyes: xD]

 

[devhen]

 

So it sounds like the K712, despite being somewhat low impedance, performs well and sounds great even out of an OTL tube amp that has high output impedance? If that's the case its certainly good news to me because I was worrying that that wouldn't be the case. I'm planning on building a Crack soon and I'd love to be able to use my K712 with it.

Yep! So far, I don't see my E09K with 10Ohm OI to be affecting the performance on my pair of Annie xD

 
Well there's a fairly big difference between the 10 ohm output impedance of something like the E09K and the 100 ohm output impedance of an OTL tube amp like the Crack but I'm glad its working for you. I can't wait to try these with the Crack, I'll definitely let you all know how it goes.
 
Does anyone else have the Bottlehead Crack and the K712? How do they pair? Thanks.

 

[BillsonChang007]

Well there's a fairly big difference between the 10 ohm output impedance of something like the E09K and the 100 ohm output impedance of an OTL tube amp like the Crack but I'm glad its working for you. I can't wait to try these with the Crack, I'll definitely let you all know how it goes.

Does anyone else have the Bottlehead Crack and the K712? How do they pair? Thanks.

Not sure if that will work "fine".