My guess is that the cost of raw materials has small to medium impact on the total cost of making an audiophile quality headphone. You pay for research and development,other fixed costs and then that cost is divided by relatively small number of people that buy this niche product. And it gets...

Actually, some have observed, including me, that the HD650s that have been sold in recent years sound different from pairs that were sold early in their release because Sennheiser supposedly revised the headphone (though they don't admit it) and it no longer carries that muddy bass and ultra...

Some headphones show very little benefit from burn in. My akg k702s changed immensely but they sounded awful new, the sound of the HD598s is quite balanced and smooth from the very beginning. And I love the looks, I think if this headphone was a car it would be Mercedes Benz e-class saloon.  

Just got new HD598s. They sound pretty good right out of the box but do they benefit from break-in? Thanks,Cas

Quote: Exactly. You would hear audible pops, clicks and audio dropouts not a reduced sound stage, clarity and detail like some claim to hear with "inferior" cables. If anything altered that data stream it would sound nothing like music because no audio is transmitted via USB, it's all...

Quote:   The HD600 is a modular headphone and all parts are replaceable. I would just factor in the cost of a replacement headband in the total cost of ownership of the headphone spread over lets say 10 years and see if it is still reasonable. They come with a 2 year warranty anyway and...

Extreme is pretty good if you use Fidelify software, which routes the sound directly to your USB dac bypassing the windows mixer, which reduces the sound quality. The catch is that you must be a premium subscriber to use fidelify and it is a 3rd party software and some features that are on...

Quote:   My apologies for that, the reason why I didn't provide any specific songs was that I'm sure that my amp and headphones are working properly and only some records sound bad and it is down to how they simply sound. The initial harshness and spiky treble is gone unless it is too...

My understanding was that the k702s were identical to the k701s, except for the navy blue colour and a detachable cable. Perhaps they have used slightly more rigid construction in the 702 version as this is a studio headphone and that may somewhat affect the sound as spec wise everything seem to...

Quote:     Watch some videos on youtube about loudness wars, most mainstream songs nowadays have more compressed dynamic range than in the past to make them sound better on small speakers and earbuds but the audio quality is very much degraded when played back on good equipment.  

What I find that on some records the k702s actually sound very good, never mind the required burn-in time. It really varies from record to record and it makes me wonder if that's just a bad mastering job (boost the bass and treble and compress it all) and my headphones are just presenting that...

That's why I decided not to return my k702s. Some folks are reporting changes even in 300-500 hour region, enough to turn haters into lovers.  

Just wanted to report back on the burn-in process and how the sound has changed. I really have started to like what I'm hearing, the tables have turned and now sibilance and harshness can be heard on some records whilst before it was there on most. Dynamics are much better also, so is the bass...

Currently I have set the gain to 18db, it gives more slam so to speak. I did a little bit of research and the consensus is that the k701s require a very long burn in so I'll keep my combo for a while. I really hope that the sibilance and harshness in treble region will fade with time.

D20 is probably as decent as m-stage is compared to some of its more expensive counterparts made in west. Great value DAC is what I'm trying to say. :) Do solid state amps like m-stage benefit much from burn in? My LD3 tube amp changed the sound a lot during the first 10-50 hours but tubes...

I have just recently returned to this hobby so at the moment I own only k702s, matrix m-stage and topping d20 DAC. I have owned AKG K240DF, K701, HD600, HD650, Beyerdynamic DT150 and a bunch of other headphones not worth mentioning. I really liked the K240DFs, better than the HD650s, they were...

Quote:   Thanks for the insight! The cans are essentially new, they were returned as unwanted by the previous owner. I will let them fully burn in before making the final judgment. I recall that the pair of k701s I had before conveyed the same unnatural feeling to music when I used them...

Hello,   I'm listening to a brand new m-stage amp and akg k702s, which have had maybe a dozen of hours of listening time. So far this combination is performing poorly - the sound is sibilant, very metallic and tonally  off. Has anyone else had similar experience and the sound signature later...

For me it's the HD600 no contest but then I'm a guy who likes a well balanced sound. I think the HD600 are also more exciting sounding with that extra treble and sparkle and not so prominent bass, which is too present in the HD650s and can muddle the rest of sound up. The HD650s are good for low...

Haven't heard the K702 but there is something wrong tonally with the K701, at least in my setup. The soundstage is good, balanced and detailed but everything just sounds fake on them. I don't get that feeling that I'm listening to real vocals and instruments. K240DF conveys that very good. 

Quote:   Why clog the site with new threads when this is perfectly fine for adding new impressions? :) I also have noticed that some recording sound bit sibilant but very few. I haven't heard the HD600 for a while, these were my favourite cans because of the balance, tonality, details and...

Fantastic value cans if you can find used on ebay or here. I got mine for about 60£ in mint condition. I drive them with the Little dot MK3 tube amp and I prefer them over the HD650 and AKG K701. Detailed and sound tonally correct. The soundstage is quite nice also. Not very impactful bass wise...

woah, RCA 5654 black plates make my HD650 sound like the HD600 and I wanted to sell the HD650. Now they sound more balanced!

Quote: There is always a small room for improvement with more expensive amps I guess but I'm certain that I got most out the HD600s. The designer of the LD amp has voiced this amp with the HD600 and HD650 so they both sound great but the HD600 is just magical. This is a tube amp and it...

Little dot MKIII. It's a shame I sold my HD600s. They were my favourite cans. I still have Beyerdynamic DT150s which I rate above the HD650s - more musical, larger sounstage and as resolving as the HD650s and can be had for around 80£ used on ebay. The HD600s have more sparkle and resolution...