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Q701 impressions thread
Jan 17, 2013 at 7:14 PM Post #2,371 of 9,602
Quote:
taliesin said:
does anyone know a amp that would help imporove the q701 for £75, becuase im not sure what to do, send £75 on an amp, or sell my Q701 and get the Philips X1.
Click to expand...

 
What are you using now to drive your headphones?
What don't you like about the Q701 sound?
 
Almost any amp is better than the headphone jack on my HP notebook.............
 
Jan 18, 2013 at 4:45 AM Post #2,374 of 9,602
Jan 18, 2013 at 12:29 PM Post #2,376 of 9,602
Jan 18, 2013 at 1:04 PM Post #2,377 of 9,602
I thought I would share my EQ curve for the Q701. This curve will significantly flatten the frequency response of the Q701's from 1khz to 20khz, while leaving the rich bass untouched. It makes sounds behave more neutrally with less coloring.
 
I had made a separate thread about it but here it is again.
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
This should be pretty self explanatory. At the top is the original plot. On the bottom I have vertically mirrored the curve while automagically making the X and Y axis scales readable for convenience sake.
 
If you use EQU on the Iphone, or Electri-Q with winamp or fubar, or pretty much any equalizer that allows you to draw your own curves, and you draw that bottom curve, keeping it's shape, angles, peaks, etc, it should precisely counter balance the Q701's frequency response making it as flat as a mirror.
 
Photoshop work out of the way I am doing this now, I'll let you know how it sounds but one caveat is that my 701's only have about 30 hours of burn in so my frequency response is going to be different, presumably, from this plot as they aren't broken in yet. Come to think of it, when they did this plot they don't say if it was after burn in or not......
 
Give it a try and let me know what you think!
 
#Update 1
Well...that was different. I hate it. Rather than sound clear and flat and transparent, it just sounds underwhelming, treble like, and dead. I wonder how much of that is that they aren't broken in yet so my response curve is different from the reference one?
 
The change in the bass response is probably 80% to blame for that. I'm thinking of making a derivative curve that doesn't play with any frequencies from 20-1000hz to keep the bass intact but moderate the midrange with the inverse still.
 
#Update 2
I've dialed this in to Electri-Q now with winamp and like I learned on the Iphone, I left the bass up to 100hz unmolested but followed the inverse curve from there up. I was able to get a much finer level of EQ control with electriQ than the iphone EQu app.
 
I ended up lowering the region from 10-16khz by about 4db in order to weed out some sibilance and sparkle and I'm currently listening to The Dave Brubeck Quartet performing "Take five" and I have to say, this sounds pretty damned good. The cymbals sound crisp with not a hint of wishy washy you get with colored upper midrange or bad mp3 compression. The bass is present but not over powered, the sound stage is incredibly open and in general I would say the sound with EQ is an improvement in transparancy than without it, which the ultimate goal for me in EQ work, to make the EQ sound invisible and for the cans to sound colored without it, not with it.
 
Jan 18, 2013 at 1:24 PM Post #2,378 of 9,602
Jan 18, 2013 at 3:32 PM Post #2,379 of 9,602
Quote:
stalker81598 said:
An exact inverse of your headphone's frequency response graph shouldn't be what you're going for. The human ear is naturally more sensitive to certain frequencies which is why you see a lot of headphones have a dip in the 7kHz range. Check out this thread:
http://www.head-fi.org/a/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-a-tutorial
Click to expand...


Glad you mentioned this, however due to the open backed nature, distance from ear drum, etc, the Q701's are largely absent of these pesky notched resonances. I hit them with a frequency sweeper and the variation in loudness was negligable. I also used pink noise to fine tune. Try my curve and decide for yourself if it's an improvement or not. I didn't make a 1:1 inverse, that's just the starting point before I adjusted to make it not so over processed.
 
You can actually see these adjustments looking at the shape of my EQ curve and comparing it to the inverse curve, I don't boost 10-16khz as high, and I cut 6 to 8 just a bit more than needed and pink noise showed this to be ideal.
 
My cans are still in the break in period so your mileage may vary but it should be a pretty close approximation of 'perfect' for this headphone.
 
Jan 18, 2013 at 4:47 PM Post #2,381 of 9,602
Quote:
kodhifi said:
Glad you mentioned this, however due to the open backed nature, distance from ear drum, etc, the Q701's are largely absent of these pesky notched resonances. I hit them with a frequency sweeper and the variation in loudness was negligable. I also used pink noise to fine tune. Try my curve and decide for yourself if it's an improvement or not. I didn't make a 1:1 inverse, that's just the starting point before I adjusted to make it not so over processed.
 
You can actually see these adjustments looking at the shape of my EQ curve and comparing it to the inverse curve, I don't boost 10-16khz as high, and I cut 6 to 8 just a bit more than needed and pink noise showed this to be ideal.
 
My cans are still in the break in period so your mileage may vary but it should be a pretty close approximation of 'perfect' for this headphone.
Click to expand...


For the most part I find there to be surprisingly few major resonances, but the ~7khz resonance is pretty prominent on the 701s. After you leave the EQ to fix it on for a while, and take it off, you can really tell it's there.
 
Jan 21, 2013 at 7:31 PM Post #2,384 of 9,602
Has anyone tried both the O2 AND Magni with the Q701? Which one did you prefer?
 
Supposedly the Magni is ultra transparent, but I'm going to take this with a grain of salt until I have or hear the O2. I think it is.
The Magni seems pretty flat and is no longer bright. It works well enough with all my headphones, but the Micro still sounds a lot smoother.
Basically it's like the Magni, but with the "cold and analytical" part gone. It's not warm though and measures flat too. Not sure what could cause the differences.
 
Like the Magni it's very revealing of source and very accurate. Telling them apart wasn't exactly easy. I guess it's just that it's a tad more musical, whatever the heck that means.
Not enough to change any of my headphones. That's with the dozens or so i've had. I honestly can't even say it has a touch of warmth. Even the Clip+ sounds warmer.
Overall the Micro seems maybe just a tad fuller sounding than the Magni with most recordings (Q701 only!). Sometimes there seems to be no difference.
 
I like the Magni with the Q701, but prefer it with my Micro Amp. The E9 in comparison to the Magni seems a bit more colored. I kind of liked that with the Q701.
I never thought I'd have an amp make the E9 seem warm!
 
It's interesting comparing the Micro, E9 and Magni. The Micro was actually closer in sound to the Magni than E9.
I don't think I'll ever know which is more accurate, so it'll be nice to get the O2. I don't know why I do this to myself..
 
The HD-650 is especially good with the Magni. Right now i'm using my Magni for gaming. I alternate between the Q701 and HD-650.
 
BTW I actually thought the E9 and Micro had better imaging than the Magni, but it must be my brain playing tricks on me.
I tried again, but the difference was so subtle.
 
Of course I should point out the differences between all of them isn't huge.
For ONLY the Q701, I'd have a hard time picking between the E9 and Magni. Magni is a better all-rounder perhaps.
 
Another interesting thing about the Magni with Q701 is that there is such a dramatic difference in how each recording sounds. On my HD-650 everything sounds good mostly.
On the Magni you go from thin/slightly harsh to very warm and full sounding. It's just strange. I've said this before, but you could fool someone that they have an AD700 on their head with the Q701 and very transparent gear.
Then you switch tracks and it magically sounds almost like an HD-650. I guess the Q701 is just that accurate
normal_smile .gif
You feel like you're listening to the recording studios gear or their awful sounding recordings. Not talking about bit-rate.
 
The only other headphone I experienced this with was the DT-880 and my setup wasn't as good back then. With the wrong recording, the DT-880 could be a snore-fest, then others it just sounds amazing.
 
Jan 22, 2013 at 11:51 AM Post #2,385 of 9,602
Hello all! first of all thanks to anyone who helped me decide to buy these headphones, the AKG Q701.
 
and sorry for my english, ill try my best with typos :D
 
here is my REVIEW OF THE AKG Q701.
 
now, as a matter of fact, i am not an audiophile, im just a guy who loves music and want to listen to my music in the best way i can afford.
i had two "fake" beats by dre studio i bought from china (basically identical to the original ones, same factory, ill explain more about those fake later on a different post)
with the right EQ they were "ok" to listen, but did not provide me any "wow" effect like i had when i first bought the hifiman RE0 IEM.
 
so i was looking around for a set of headphones, that will sound natural and true to the artist intention, it was not a simple task and i have done a lot of reading, and maybe i might help some other people in the same state i was. anyway.. a lot of people talk about that the AKG Q701 has little to none bass, that they sound very boring and analytic... and they need super expenssive amp to run them or to even enjoy them.
 
well, with that in mind i went to the store and got them, not for cheap here in israel (about twice the price), but with all the tax i have to pay and shipping, it will be about the same... and no warrenty...  so yea, i payed a lot, and hoped these headphone will not suck :)
 
so i opened them, i could immediately tell that they are build good, had some artifact on the headphone slider, but nothing serious (a little scratch). when i put them on the head they feel really nice! my ears dont touch the driver and they are very soft and comfy. (they are really really big headphones, and i like it)
i pluged it in my PC jack of an on-board soundcard and listen to my FLAC collection.
 
WOW, ok these headphones sounds really really amazing, the clearity of those is stunning. i needed indeed to pump up the PC volume to about almost Max to have a really good listenning volume (more then that its just too much!) so as for amp. yes they do sound amazing without amp, if you can get these headphones better with an amp this is just amazing feature actually cuz without one they are stunning... so with proper amp i guess its leaves some taste for future upgreade :) i tried with the E5 fiio, didnt notice any difference in terms of sound quality.
 
ok next the Bass. now i was expecting to have "treable headphones" but! those are really balanced ! the BASS is amazing for my taste ! its powerful enough and has punch and kick to it, and not over powering bass head that makes the song all muddy (like the beats) i really really like the BASS i am no expect.... but this is my opinion.
 
one trouble i did find with this headphone is "cracking" noises, and i figured out why, if you wear glasses.. they will make squeek noises, without glasses they are noise free... its not that annoying but it something u might need to take in mind before buying.. no one seems to talk about it.
 
in terms of money for value, i feel like i did a huge huge jump in terms of sound quality with those, did not come cheap, almost twice the price than USA, but that nothing i can do, still, money for value i do rate them highly.
 
yes, they leak sound, they are not designed to block sound, but other than that they are an amazing headphones and i am really happy with the purchase.
would rate them 9/10 stars.
 
and for those who claim they sound crappy without amp... dunno what to say... ppl that really had them say they sound good even without amp, but saying they sound crap without one.,. i guess ppl just read it and pass it over and over
 
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