[vid]

Can't see any indication on the bays of anything other than <$150 being the going rate for a K 501.

 

[rawrster]

Quote:

 
Yeah, I think I prefer the K601, too, though it has been a while since I heard it. I do remember the mids being a lot more pleasant, with shouty-ness only coming through with certain female vocalists. With these, they are shouty with a good number of vocalists, both male and female. I've even EQ'd the upper-mid region down, and they can still be shouty.
 
$300 is the going rate I've been seeing, which is crazy since just about a year ago I was seeing them go for $150. Maybe David Mahler's 'Battle Of The Flagships' thread revitalized interest in them?
 
With demand for them being so high I wonder if I could get someone to trade me their Z1000s. I've been wanting to try those for some time.

 
$300 is ridiculous for a K501. I wouldn't pay more than $100-150 or so for them

 

[bracko]

Quote:

 
$300 is ridiculous for a K501. I wouldn't pay more than $100-150 or so for them

They sound better than AKG K702 Anniversary so I think 150 bucks is more than a bargain. Then there is a question: Why do people pay thousands of dollars for headphones for just a little bit increased SQ? HD800 cost 1000 bucks. Here in Sweden 1300 dollars. Is that the right price? How can we decide? If you like how a headphone sounds then the price wouldn't really be an issue. 100 dollars more or less ... I for instance wouldn't buy a pair of LCD 2 even if they cost 300 dollars, but that's me..

 

[bracko]

Quote:

Posted my pair on eBay but would much rather reach a deal with someone from the boards.  PM me if interested
 

Is this your pair?

 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AKG-K-501-Headband-Headphones-Silver-Black-/170985145144?pt=US_Headphones&hash=item27cf824338

 

[bracko]

Quote:

Man, I really wish I could say I love the K501 as much as others, but the honeymoon has kind of ended for me. I certainly like them, and they do a lot of things well, but more and more I've realized that the mids just don't live up to the hype.

Your headphone amp is not good for K501. You need a good SS amplifier with low output impedance to drive those.

 

[elwappo99]

Quote:

They sound better than AKG K702 Anniversary so I think 150 bucks is more than a bargain. Then there is a question: Why do people pay thousands of dollars for headphones for just a little bit increased SQ? HD800 cost 1000 bucks. Here in Sweden 1300 dollars. Is that the right price? How can we decide? If you like how a headphone sounds then the price wouldn't really be an issue. 100 dollars more or less ... I for instance wouldn't buy a pair of LCD 2 even if they cost 300 dollars, but that's me..

 
They may sound better to than the K702 as a matter of personal preference, due to the sound signature. However, the K70x simply outdo the K501 in every technical way. The K70x is in a tier above the K501. Yes, the HD800 can cost that much, but the are in a tier above the headphones that cost $700. 
 
Quote:

 
$300 is ridiculous for a K501. I wouldn't pay more than $100-150 or so for them

 
I completely agree. I recently sold mine off, and can't believe how much money I got for them. Anything over $150 just seems silly to me. 
 

Man, I really wish I could say I love the K501 as much as others, but the honeymoon has kind of ended for me. I certainly like them, and they do a lot of things well, but more and more I've realized that the mids just don't live up to the hype. 

 

 
Unfortunately a little after these were discontinued, there was a long review here that got a lot of attention. All of the sudden people were looking all over for these, whereas before, no one could sell them!  It is very similar to what is currently happening with the old Denon D2000. It's unfortunate there is a bit of a hype train with these. 

 

[bracko]

Quote:

 
They may sound better to than the K702 as a matter of personal preference, due to the sound signature. However, the K70x simply outdo the K501 in every technical way. The K70x is in a tier above the K501. Yes, the HD800 can cost that much, but the are in a tier above the headphones that cost $700. 
 

Everything is "a metter of personal preference". I would really like you to elaborate a little about the "technical way". I don't think that anybody here is interested in paying for "technical superiority". There are many people here on this forum throwing out expressions like "technical superiority" so I would like to know what they actually mean. For me "technical superiority" is something that can be measured with an instrument. What is it for you?
 
Quote:

Unfortunately a little after these were discontinued, there was a long review here that got a lot of attention. All of the sudden people were looking all over for these, whereas before, no one could sell them!  It is very similar to what is currently happening with the old Denon D2000. It's unfortunate there is a bit of a hype train with these. 

 
K501 was a highly praised headphone even 10 or 15 years ago. Anyone who is old enough can remember that. It has nothing to do with an Internet forum and opinions there. I am not sure how many members here (the mp3 and i generation) can remember anything from that time.

 

[bracko]

Quote:

 
The K70x is in a tier above the K501. Yes, the HD800 can cost that much, but the are in a tier above the headphones that cost $700. 

 
In an ideal world it would be like that every $1000 dollar headphone sounds better than a $700 dollars headphone and that we know with certainty that, if we buy a $1000 headphone we have one that sounds superior to any $700 headphone. In reality I am affraid it doesn't work like that. There are many other factors involved. Take a look at the new k702 Anniversary which cost $400 while k701 only costs $200. Is k702 really (technically) superior to k701? No it isn't. What do we pay for when we buy k702? For novelty, limitedness. We certainly don't pay for better SQ or better quality in any other way. We can only say that something is better "to our ears". There are very few, if any, objective ways (besides the price which I think is misleading) to discern SQ superiority. Only our ears can do that.

 

[Kukuk]

Quote:

Your headphone amp is not good for K501. You need a good SS amplifier with low output impedance to drive those.

 
The Little Dot I+ is certainly less than ideal, but it does to a fair job since it does have a low output impedance.
 
I did finally get the chance to try them out on my friend's Lyr. They improved overall, especially with regard to detail and instrument separation, but the mids were still very aggressive.

 

[bracko]

Quote:

 
The Little Dot I+ is certainly less than ideal, but it does to a fair job since it does have a low output impedance.
 
I did finally get the chance to try them out on my friend's Lyr. They improved overall, especially with regard to detail and instrument separation, but the mids were still very aggressive.

Then I guess you just plain don't like how they sound

, or like them with reservations. I thought that Little Dot had something around 30 Ohms out which is quite high. Maybe I am wrong.

 
Your preference has nothing to do with the price of the headphones. I have k701 and the mids on that one are "harder" than k501. I wouldn't say they are harsh, just harder, especially compared with HD650. But then I think HD650 are a little too soft overall. I never thought of k501 as being aggressive sounding headphone. For me it is very far from being aggressive. A little bass-light perhaps, but nothing disturbing. For me, of my three headphones k501 is the one I presently use the most, with variety of music (even Dylan, actually right now I am listening to Blood on the Tracks

)

 

[vid]

Quote:

They sound better than AKG K702 Anniversary so I think 150 bucks is more than a bargain. Then there is a question: Why do people pay thousands of dollars for headphones for just a little bit increased SQ? HD800 cost 1000 bucks. Here in Sweden 1300 dollars. Is that the right price? How can we decide? If you like how a headphone sounds then the price wouldn't really be an issue. 100 dollars more or less ... I for instance wouldn't buy a pair of LCD 2 even if they cost 300 dollars, but that's me..

 
If you think the K 501 is better than the K 702 An, you wouldn't pay more for the K 702, hence any price you set as proper for the K 501 would be higher than how you would value the K 702 given that you've waived the manufacturer-suggested price as an indication of worth; thus using the suggested price of the K 702 as a measure for your perceived bargain price of the K 501 seems at odds with itself.

 

[Kukuk]

Quote:

Then I guess you just plain don't like how they sound

, or like them with reservations. I thought that Little Dot had something around 30 Ohms out which is quite high. Maybe I am wrong.

 
Your preference has nothing to do with the price of the headphones. I have k701 and the mids on that one are "harder" than k501. I wouldn't say they are harsh, just harder, especially compared with HD650. But then I think HD650 are a little too soft overall. I never thought of k501 as being aggressive sounding headphone. For me it is very far from being aggressive. A little bass-light perhaps, but nothing disturbing. For me, of my three headphones k501 is the one I presently use the most, with variety of music (even Dylan, actually right now I am listening to Blood on the Tracks

)

 
I think I read somewhere that the LD1+ has an 8 Ohm output impedance, could be wrong though.
 
Blood On The Tracks is a good one with the K501s. Definitely don't get the shouty-ness I get from Another Side of Bob Dylan, which is too harsh for me to listen to.

 

[bracko]

Quote:

 
If you think the K 501 is better than the K 702 An, you wouldn't pay more for the K 702, hence any price you set as proper for the K 501 would be higher than how you would value the K 702 given that you've waived the manufacturer-suggested price as an indication of worth; thus using the suggested price of the K 702 as a measure for your perceived bargain price of the K 501 seems at odds with itself.

Yeah, but now the discussion is about the second-hand price of the K501 and I believe most people here are relating to other headphones' manufacturer-suggested prices as an indication of worth. Otherwise it would be impossible to discuss prices or have them in our calculations at all.

 

[rawrster]

I'm not relating it to other headphone costs at all. When I had mine they took forever to sell at under $150 and that's around the price other K501 was going for. Put up an ad for $300 and gl selling them.

 

[bracko]

Quote:

I'm not relating it to other headphone costs at all. When I had mine they took forever to sell at under $150 and that's around the price other K501 was going for. Put up an ad for $300 and gl selling them.

But what do you relate to. How can you insist they are not worth more than 150 bucks?