TUBEBO
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2002
- Posts
- 68
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- 10
I received my AKG-701's a week ago. Very nice cans. Agree with many of the observations here at Head-Fi. One issue I find interesting is the long burn-in time suggested my many. During one of my thread searches here, I recall AKG's tech's theory that the sonic changes resulted from the gradual compression of the ear pads, thus changing the distance of the drivers from the ear. This immediately reminded me of an experience with the early Grado headphones change in foam types.
I owned a pair of the Grado SR-90's with the original flat ear foam, sold those, and then purchased a pair a few years later with the new con-caved shape units. The old design had the drivers much closer the the ear, the new held them out at a greater distance. The old had more bass and mids and were less bright sounding. The new Grado's sounded thinner and a bit brighter.
This brings back to the AKG’s. When I pressed them tighter to my head, the bass increased, and the mids were fuller, and thus making the highs seemed less forward. Of course, this would make sense given the closer and tighter seal to the ears. This, coupled with the fact that one tends to adjust to a different presentation from one your very use too, may explain why it seems the AKG's require such a long break-in for the drivers diaphragms to relax, when it may be more a matter of the proximity of the drivers location to the ear. Just a thought.
I owned a pair of the Grado SR-90's with the original flat ear foam, sold those, and then purchased a pair a few years later with the new con-caved shape units. The old design had the drivers much closer the the ear, the new held them out at a greater distance. The old had more bass and mids and were less bright sounding. The new Grado's sounded thinner and a bit brighter.
This brings back to the AKG’s. When I pressed them tighter to my head, the bass increased, and the mids were fuller, and thus making the highs seemed less forward. Of course, this would make sense given the closer and tighter seal to the ears. This, coupled with the fact that one tends to adjust to a different presentation from one your very use too, may explain why it seems the AKG's require such a long break-in for the drivers diaphragms to relax, when it may be more a matter of the proximity of the drivers location to the ear. Just a thought.
