[meringo]

Hi Head-Fiers. Over the past year I made a big effort to upgrade all of my sound equipment. I picked out and installed a nice Klipsch 5.1 system, bought new earbuds, 2 sets of headphones, and a Sound Blaster Z card for my PC. Now... I overspent.. by a lot. I am thinking about selling and am looking for some insight. 
 
My curent headphone lineup:
 
Sennheiser IE80 - I commute in and out of Manhattan daily via the subway system, so I needed a good set of buds. 100% satisfied with these, as they beat out any I've ever tried.
 
Grado SR-225E - I wanted a good set to listen to my vinyl collection, mostly 60/70s rock and hard rock. These kick ass, but are uncomfortable for long listens. 
 
AKG Q701 - My most recent purchase, for the use of gaming and PC listening..... I actually sold my PC speakers, and will now only use headphones. The soundstage is incredible, and the headphones remain musical, but don't sound quite as good as my Grados for music listening. Even my girlfriend with untrained ears preferred the Grado over AKG overall.
 
I guess what I'm asking is: should I just suck it up and keep all 3? or sell either the Grado or AKG? The Grado could be used for gaming with it's enhanced soundstage over previous years and models, but are certainly fatiguing next to the AKG. 

 

[Rainbowsloth]

I would try the akg k 702. Very much like the q 701 but IMO are better sounding and have a more detailed soundtage

 

[meringo]

It's funny you mention that! I bought the K701, Q701, and K702 all at the exact time to test. I ended up sending the Ks back. The K702 did sound slightly better to me, but the improvements just weren't enough to justify the price - $75 more at the time. I should have done more testing with them against the Grados I suppose.
 
Thanks for your input. 

 

[cel4145]

If you have a Klipsch subwoofer, sell it and upgrade

 

[meringo]

If you have a Klipsch subwoofer, sell it and upgrade

hahaha I don't! That's the one speaker which isn't Klipsch. It's a Lava sub, purchased at the time they were trying to get rid of their stock before the merger (I can't recall who the merged with, come to think of it.) 

 

[cel4145]

hahaha I don't! That's the one speaker which isn't Klipsch. It's a Lava sub, purchased at the time they were trying to get rid of their stock before the merger (I can't recall who the merged with, come to think of it.) 

You definitely should upgrade. The Lava sub is an OK budget sub with an uber peaky native response:



Move up to an entry level enthusiast grade sub, such as the Rythmik LV12R. It'll be like going from a $50 headphone to the Q701 or 225e in bass audio quality improvement (not bass like those headphones, just that big a quality jump). Bass quality like you have probably never heard before