[rushofmusic]

Hi everyone,
 
I've been really interested in getting a pair of AKG Q701's but from what I've heard, all the K701/2s and Q701s are pretty hard to drive.
I have a Fiio E10 right now and I'm wondering if anyone knows if it provides enough power to drive the Q701s by itself.
 
Thank you!

 

[PurpleAngel]

My gut says yes it will work....but.
There are some threads on the Head-Fi forum, some dedicated to the E10, some to the AKG 701.
Try asking the same questions on those threads.

 

[rhodan818]

I have only ever had the Q701, never used a K701. Unless you are specifically looking for hearing loss, you can even run them unamped off any modern PMP. I think AKG must have made these more efficient on the re-release, I don't know. I think quality increases when I run it off my e11, but i dont know much of that is placebo, and how much of that is just the increased volume (I just have to barely turn on the e11 to get sufficient volume)
 
They are awesome, I braided the shorter cord down to ~5 feet for portable use. 
 

 

[rhodan818]

Forced myself to evaluate, and while it has sufficient volume unamped, it kind of gets distorted when you turn it to 50%+ on the nano, it sounds very clean with the e11 and a LOD 
 
edit: added image. this is my walking around the house setup lol. 
 

 

[genclaymore]

Running them un-amp is a no no, amping is not about making them louder, its about supplying them with enough power so they sound correctly. A un-amp headphone that needs a amp do not sound good when un-amp, even when amped and not getting enough power.  I used a AKG 702 my self, sure its not a Q701, but your gonna wanna run those thru a amp that can handle the headphones. Its not good plugging them directly into a portable mp3 player if you dont use a portable amp that can do them justice.

 

[planx]

E10 is good enough especially with the LOD

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

Hi everyone,
 
I've been really interested in getting a pair of AKG Q701's but from what I've heard, all the K701/2s and Q701s are pretty hard to drive.
I have a Fiio E10 right now and I'm wondering if anyone knows if it provides enough power to drive the Q701s by itself.
 
Thank you!

Heya,
 
E10 is sufficient. The Q701 is not difficult to run. A lot of the 70X series, for some reason, has this huge "needs mega amplification" hype which makes no sense to me.
 
Very best,
 

 

[mechgamer123]

I tried using them straight through an iPod classic, and they made all sorts of horrible hissing noise. Plugging them into my receiver (pioneer vsx-920k) made the vocals sound very distant and to the left of the soundstage. However, with my fiio e7, they sound excellent.

 

[lejaz]

Quote:

Heya,
 
E10 is sufficient. The Q701 is not difficult to run. A lot of the 70X series, for some reason, has this huge "needs mega amplification" hype which makes no sense to me.
 
Very best,
 

I know of one forum member who ran the 'k' version off an expensive Burson HA 160, and still didn't find them completely satisfying until he upgraded even further. If you have to spend close to $1000 on an amp then they're not worth buying, imo. A while back everyone was recommending the Heed Canamp for them....not exactly cheap either. But that was the 'k' version, perhaps the 'Q' sound fine out of a fiio....hard to believe that they're that different in that regard. 
 
 

 

[ZoNtO]

delete

 

[genclaymore]

Yea when i was looking for a amp for the AKG 702s I had at the time, I kept running into people suggesting the Heed can amp for it, it drove me crazy. Because I surely wasn't gonna pay that much for a amp.If the Fiio E9 didn't came out. I would had sold the headphones  much sooner as it wouldn't been worth it.

 

[Acix]

Quote:

I know of one forum member who ran the 'k' version off an expensive Burson HA 160, and still didn't find them completely satisfying until he upgraded even further. If you have to spend close to $1000 on an amp then they're not worth buying, imo.

...and why is that?

 

[lejaz]

I should have added 'for most folks'. I'm sure for some people it's worth the investment. But for certain, most buyers of the k70X would never buy them in the first place if they knew they had to spend $1000 or close to it, to amp them to sound up to their potential. Most buyers would be very shocked to learn that. Some people seem surprised that you even need to buy a headphone amp at all. They seem to think their phones should work just fine if you plug them into the computer's headphone jack.  

 

[Acix]

Quote:

I should have added 'for most folks'. I'm sure for some people it's worth the investment. But for certain, most buyers of the k70X would never buy them in the first place if they knew they had to spend $1000 or close to it, to amp them to sound up to their potential. Most buyers would be very shocked to learn that. Some people seem surprised that you even need to buy a headphone amp at all. They seem to think their phones should work just fine if you plug them into the computer's headphone jack.  

There is a few levels of sound quality, and you choose the amp according to your budget, needs or preferences. BTW, I'm more surprised that we needs to pay gas, if there is free energy.

 

[fabio-fi]

Quote:

There is a few levels of sound quality, and you choose the amp according to your budget, needs or preferences. BTW, I'm more surprised that we needs to pay gas, if there is free energy.

You have a valid point. 
 
At the end..the most important thing is being happy even if you bought an expensive or cheap amp.