[cardofgiant]

Hello. I recently bought a pair of akg k240 mkII brand new for 105.00 dollars. I like them and feel they have a nice amount of bass for my taste, but also feel they could be better. I listen to bands like Opeth, Alice In Chains, Porcupine Tree. I do listen to bands like radio head, Pearl Jam, red hot chilli peppers and coldplay. So, simply said, I listen to rock music. lol. I plan on getting an Objective 2 amp and have my mind made up on that end of things. My question is should I get the q701 or keep the MkII's. My price range is about 250.00 dollars. Will I appreciate the q701's? I would like to mention I play guitar and would be playing through these headphones. I am very picky about guitar tone and have a fairly good "ear" so if the q701 are much better I am sure I will notice. Thank you for any input. 
 
I would like to add that 85% of my music library is lossless and I do not wish for a headphone that is too analytical. A little is ok.

 

[Dastails]

I'm curious about this too since I have heard the akg k240 MKII and they sounded pretty good. From what I've heard the Q701 has slightly larger soundstage. Which would be good for classical music.

 

[p a t r i c k]

I have the AKG K702s which predate the Q701s. I have listened to quite a lot of music on the K240 MkII because I have a friend who has a pair. I will say that I think my K702s are really quite a lot better than the K240 MkII headphones. My K702s are still the best headphones I've ever used personally and in so many ways are just lovely. They do have a very big soundstage as many people comment, but also the quality of the reproduction is just so very high. I think you will notice a substantial improvement in many areas if you get the Q701s.
 

 

[Saleri]

I'm interested too. I've been using the akg k240 mkII to listen to classical music for a few months and was thinking of upgrading to the q701. Now with the increasing price of the q701 I'm not so sure.

 

[cardofgiant]

I sent back my MKII so I will most likely getting the q701 very soon. Unfortunately I will not be able to do a comparison of the two headphones when I get the q701 since the MKII are no longer in my possession. Perhaps I spent enough time with the MKII that I will be able to do a comparison. I agree about the price of the q701 going up. I have been monitoring amazon prices and they are a bit sporadic. I really don't want the green ones but they are the cheapest right now. The black ones where on sale for maybe a week for 240 dollars but went up to 270. I will wait until they go on sell again.  
 

 

[jasonb]

Q701's rock for Opeth and Porcupine Tree and similar stuff. 

 

[cardofgiant]

Sounds like I may have made the right decision sending back the mkII. Does anyone have any input on how much I should spend on q701. I mean what is a fair price? Amazon is currently selling the black q701 for 280 dollars. Is that a fair price?
 

 

[jasonb]

I paid $240 back in October, but it seems that they have gone up a little bit. $280 seems to be a good price now.
Quote:

Sounds like I may have made the right decision sending back the mkII. Does anyone have any input on how much I should spend on q701. I mean what is a fair price? Amazon is currently selling the black q701 for 280 dollars. Is that a fair price?
 

 

[Saleri]

I'm mean retail price for any of those headphones would be over three hundred dollars. So I would just buy them now before they rise again in price. I don't think you can possibly find any place with a cheaper price unless you go on Ebay. If you do decide the headphones I would really appreciate it if you make a review! 

 

[cardofgiant]

Nevertheless I think I will wait just a little while and see if they drop in price. Amazon does have the green ones for 250...but their green. Not sure if I like those very much. Also it will give me time to figure out what I want to do for dac. I am leaning towards getting the focusrite 2i4 audio interface, since I play guitar, and use that as a dac. Unless someone has good information stating against such use. Of course I want to get the best sound for the money. I am fairly sure on getting the jds labs objective 2. However if anyone has any input on a different amp that would work better with the q701 I would consider and appreciate your opinion.
 
On a side note:: I am excited to finally be getting into the hifi world. Growing up my dad was a bit of an audiophile. He had Magnapan Magneplanars sumo bi amps, pre amps, a bunch of good equipment really. As an electrical engineer he even made his own amp from his own design. I remember he said it wasn't that great. lol. Anyway....
 
Once I get and spend some time with the q701 I will do my best and write a review comparing the mkll. Again, any opinions/suggestions for the questions above is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
Update 3/15: I just ordered a pair of white q701. Found them on ebay for 199.00 from harmanaudio. Turns out AKG is a subsidiary of Harman/Kardon and they have an ebay store under the name harmanaudio. The headphones I bought where re-manufactured/refurbished by Harman/Kardon and includes the normal warranty that comes with a new pair of q701. Good deal. Should arrive next week some time.

 

[Saleri]

Hey dude can you send me a link of that place where you bought those headphone please?

 

[cardofgiant]

If you go to ebay and look up harmanaudio store front, you will find the seller I bought the q701 from. As of right now it looks like they are only excepting bids on these headphones. So try placing a bid. Otherwise you can wait until the "buy now" option becomes available. That's what I did.
 

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Hey dude can you send me a link of that place where you bought those headphone please?

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Headphones-/112529/i.html?_ipg=&_from=&_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ssn=harmanaudio

 

[Saleri]

Thanks PurpleAngel, and I'm looking forward to reading your opinion of the AKG K240 MKII Cardofgiant!!!!

 

[cardofgiant]

I got my q701 headphones today. Pretty cool. As I stated earlier, I got the headphones from harman/kardon store on ebay. They where 200 dollars plus 16 dollars tax, with free shipping. The box they came in was somewhat large. The headphones where securely placed in the box. However, the original box the q701 come in was absent. No big deal, they are refurbs after all. My only gripe is that the green cables both have significant black scuff marks. What I mean by significant is that the scuff marks are obvious. However, I have heard that even new packaged q701 cables have seen this issue. There doesn't appear to be any damage so no harm done. (I will wipe clean later). Oh and the cables are kind of....sticky. Weird. I have listened to them from my iPod since I do not have an amp yet, which gives me a fair chance to compare them to the MKII. I want to spend some more time with the headphones before giving my opinion of the two headphones. I will say that so far the q701 seems a bit clearer, and the bass MAY be a tad bit more pronounced. That's all I want to say for now....