[dknightd]

OK just got my AKG K701 phones from TTVJ.
Here is my first impression.
Who has been messing with my bass and treble knobs?
Is this what they call "polite" bass? What happened to the slam?
I can hear things in the music that I never noticed before, but,
so far I think that is because the trebble is way over emphasized.
Midrange is good, but, is overwhelmed by the highs, and
not supported by the bass.
I've learned not to judge headphones/speakers to harshly in the
first hundred hours or so. Maybe the k701 will become more balanced.
I hope so, or else they are going back - I'm pretty sure most
guitarists want you to hear the notes they play, not their fingers
sliding across the string. Kick drums are supposed to sound like they were kicked, not tapped. The solid pluck of a bass string currently sounds weak at best.

So how do k701's develop in time?

 

[AdamP]

First off, I hope you are using an amplifier.

Secondly, it is IMPERATIVE you burn these headphones in for at least a few hundred hours.

 

[GlendaleViper]

Seconded. K701s are power hungry and take a few weeks of heavy use to develop.

The highs tame themselves quickly, but it's a long road to refinement as they are the first to change, but last to finish. The bass came around on mine at the 50 hour mark. If you're a basshead, you chose the wrong headphone though. K701 has excellent punch, speed and musicality to its bass, but there seem to be a few true rumblejunkies out there that really won't ever be satisfied with the 701's "natural" reproduction of the low end.

On the other end of things... they have the best sounding/feeling bass I've ever heard out of a headphone.

 

[mrarroyo]

300 hours minimun, some believe more. For an amp of the ones I have the Heed CanAmp seems to be an excellent match. The MSRP is $400, if interested I got mine from:

Dan Muzquiz
Blackbird Audio/Gallery
619-449-2787
http://www.blackbirdaudio.com

Just contact him and I would suggest you let him know you heard about him thru Head-Fi. Good luck.

 

[Spareribs]

If you're a rock listener, the K701 may not be the best headphone. I mostly listen to jazz and classical and I use a tube amp. On most CDs I have heard so far, it sounds excellent.

 

[rincewind]

Also, please note, many (including myself) have found that the K701 actually get WORSE for a brief period in the burn in process. You'll get an initial improvement. Then significant improvement. Then a time when u just go "What is wrong with these" which stands out all the more because of the prior improvements, then they really settle down. They will never have slammin' bass though, wrong cans if u wanted that.

 

[humanflyz]

If you want to get as much bass slam out of the K701 as the headphone allows, you gotta have a lot of current feeding it. But even then, it will never produce enough slam to satisfy the bassiest of bass-heads.

 

[dknightd]

I'm using the headphone jack on a benchmark dac1.
I listen to lots of different music - reggae, rock, folk, jazz, bluegrass even occasionally a little classical or country.
After playing for a few hours the bass is no longer missing. Highs still a little emphasized, and occasionally spitty.
We'll see how they turn out, I'll leave them playing probably 24 hours a day for the next few days, and put them on when I want to use headphones (I actually prefer to use speakers when possible)

 

[spinali]

Before you do anything drastic, let that break-in thing happen.

I've found that playing alternating white/pink noise samples at moderate volume can accelerate break-in significantly. Use the links in my Headphonee Break-in site below for the links. I play the samples in iTunes and leave the headphones playing for several days.

I would not do bass sweeps for break-in. Just a few days ago, it claimed a K700.

 

[dknightd]

OK it has been about 24 hours. There still seems to be some spittiness in the upper midrange/lower treble.
Right now I still prefer my hd650, but still way too early to decide.
The bill payer in me makes me want to pick a "winner". The music lover in me
says I'll probably be keeping both for different moods (and to a lesser degree
different music). The 701 seem to have a soundstage that I prefer to the 650.
But neither touch my Phillips HP890, which I still keep around, for when I want to loose myself in a live recording - the somewhat less resolution on the 890
can sometimes be a blessing in disguise, and so far I haven't heard a headphone that touches their spacioness (is that a word?).
I'm hoping the 701 will loose what I perceive as an irregularity in the lower treble (that for me is very anoying on some songs)
I bought the 701 not becuase I didn't like the hd650. Rather I bought them because they were reported to be a 650 like can with slightly more
emphasis on high end, and, slightly less on midbass. I bought new speakers a few months ago (b&w 703) which were slightly brighter than what I was using before, so I thought maybe the 701 would be a better match. Toneally they probably are.

It's only been 24 hours. What, about 9 or more days to go???

Based on what I've heard so far the 650 and 701 are both keepers.
It sure is alot cheaper and easier to change headphones than it is
to change speakers. It took me months to finally decide I'd keep
the 703 and let my old speakers go.

For now I'm resisting the temptation of putting my "audition music"
through them - I don't think it would be fair yet . . .

 

[Jon L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dknightd Rather I bought them because they were reported to be a 650 like can with slightly more emphasis on high end, and, slightly less on midbass. . .

That's rather inaccurate. HD650 has a LOT more bass quantity, which actually affects low-midrange and frankly the entire spectrum, not a "slightly less" midbass.

I also don't think K701 has much more treble quanty; it's just that the bass warmth of HD650 makes it seem like there's less treble compared to K701.

Why don't you reterminate the K701 cable with 3-pin XLR's and stick them on DAC-1's balanced outputs and see what happens?

 

[BRBJackson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon L Why don't you reterminate the K701 cable with 3-pin XLR's and stick them on DAC-1's balanced outputs and see what happens?

+1. If I had balanced outs in my system, the 701's would likely be the first to get the treatment.

 

[dknightd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon L That's rather inaccurate. HD650 has a LOT more bass quantity, which actually affects low-midrange and frankly the entire spectrum, not a "slightly less" midbass.

True, so far at least, the 650 have much more bass. I'd say the truth lies somewhere in between. Probably a matter of taste. Both do bass in a completely believable way. Sometimes the 650 gives a little too much, sometimes the 701 gives not quite enough. Probably a difference in the
recording engineers choices, and my choices. I can't really fault either
can on their bass response - they are different, but I can't tell you which one is right - if either are.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon L I also don't think K701 has much more treble quanty; it's just that the bass warmth of HD650 makes it seem like there's less treble compared to K701.

You could be right. To me it sounds like the 701 has more energy in upper frequencies. I haven't been able to put my finger on it yet, and it could just be a break in issue, but the 701 seem to have a peak somewhere in the upper midrange/lower trebble that makes them seem brighter than the 650. For now at least the 650 seems to sound more coherent across the frequency spectrum. Yes the 650 has a broad midbass hump, but the 701 seem to have a narrower peak in the lower trebble (which seems to be slowly going away, I think, maybe). To me niether is a deal breaker, I've heard more difference in sound depending on where I was sitting or standing in a live show. If I had to decide today to loose one can it would be the 701, that may change in a couple of weeks (fortunately I don't forsee the need to dump either)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon L Why don't you reterminate the K701 cable with 3-pin XLR's and stick them on DAC-1's balanced outputs and see what happens?

Trust me, I've thought about it. Reports on the 650 running from the balanced outputs of the dac1 are stupendous. Perhaps the 701 would benifit as well (though I haven't read about anybody trying this yet, have you - I'm not sure the the xlr outputs of the dac1 would have enough current, or match well, to drive the lower impendance 701, but I have not checked). Unfortunately those outputs are already in use, so to use them for headphones would require some kind of switcher, and soldering tiny little headphone wires (which as often as not seem to have some anoying
coating that makes them difficult to work with) I might try it one day, but for now plug and play seems be be working well enough. (luckily the dac1 has two headphone amps built in, they may not be the best available, but they are there and seems to work OK)

 

[Hendrix]

Have any friends with an old 70's or 80's Receiver or Preamp with a headphone jack, power will open these guys up! I agree with all the comments so far regarding not being real bass heavy. I describe it as being accurate. If there is bass in the music and you have it amped properly, you will hear it.
Listen for the Drums once burn in is past. It is the best I have heard on percussion.
Enjoy the pain of burn in

 

[warpdriver]

It took me a LONG time to decide which I preferred. The HD650 or the K701. I was looking for a second headphone for a secondary location (office use) and I was all set to get either a HD600 or HD650, but I ended up with a second K701

The HD650 makes things sound too creamy smooth for my taste. I think it was deliberately colored to make it more appealing to listen to a wider variety of music. So they added more bass and made the treble smoother to help offset the glare present in the average recording. I'm not saying that the HD650 is not revealing the truth, but it's revealing the truth with a gold tinted lens which makes things seem more earth tone. I think the HD600 is a lot better in this regard, its bass level is right smack in the level I consider natural, the HD650 clearly takes it one notch above.

So back to the K701....I feel the K701 is a bit more faithful to the truth in the mids and the highs, with a slight flaw in the upper mids that magnifies the good (airiness) and bad (glare) in recordings. As such it can sound a bit harder than the 650, and the bass does err on the leaner sound of neutral as its main flaw. I'd say it's a 2-3 dB too lean in the critical midbass

But the thing that clinched the K701's victory over the HD650's is that I have some recordings that suffer from the "loudness race" phenomenon, and the HD650 nearly makes those listenable when they clearly should not be. The K701 revealed those bad recordings as what they should be, distorted and clipped.

I do feel that I may consider buying a HD650 for myself just because of the contrast the Senns provide. However, the K701 will remain my reference for under $500 cans. The HD650 will be a headphone I will use for certain recordings that need a warmer, more creamy presentation.

I do have to agree on one post above, there was a point in the break-in that the K701's sounded really harsher than new to me. I think it was about 75 hours, but that harshness did fade away later.