[dxps26]

Just Get the K601's already!! your Schiit Asgard will be a perfect match with them.
 
honestly, I find that the performance of the K601, while unassuming and underwhelming at many times, has this strange sense of balance - it gets a lot of things right, and the added sense of warmth is a welcome flavour - It never gets in the way of the music, and instrument separation is top-notch. The HD600 is undoubtedly the real champion when it comes to versatility, but there are times I find the bass too powerful, the soundstage too small and the speed a little too slow. Just Played The Best of Sade (the CD I got from the 2010 Christmas Exchange - Thanks, Dw1Narso!!) on both the K601 and the HD600, and the AKG outperformed the Sennheiser by a considerable margin.
 
Sometimes, I have to be in the Right Mood to Listen and Enjoy the K601. If i'm listening to The Prodigy-Invaders Must Die, then the HD600 is the only way to go.
 
Quote:

This makes no sense at all. I sell my HD-600 once I get my K601 and prefer that. I even returned a Denon D2000.
I love the K601 so much but find it kind of fatiguing. I think it was either the upper mids or lower treble. During some music it feels as if the headphones are shouting at me and my ears are ringing. I still love them and buy a K702 to compare them.
 
The mids are clearly less forward on the K702, but the level of detail and clarity of the K702 is a huge jump up over the K601. I also find the K702 LESS fatiguing. What the heck? What detail the K601 DID have was more forward and not lost in a huge soundstage. Sometimes the K702 felt as if it had recessed mids, but it does not apparently.
 
So I loved the K702 and got rid of my K601 too fast. Only after gaming did I figure out the K702's weakness for ME. It's soundstage is almost phony and not very accurate to my ears. Tiny details seem lost and distant.
 
So now I sell both and get a HD-650. It's nice at first, but now I end up with a DT-880. I love it and find it's signature near perfect, but it's not as comfortable as the K601.
 
Now I want a K601 again. When does this end?!
 
To think that my first favorite headphone was a K701 I owned and loved for over 3 years! I keep going around in circles it seems. Now I've tried two old favorites 5 years later and no longer like them. Seems a bit strange.
 

 

 

[lbj]

I just received my secondhand K601!  Lucky number 2100.  After a couple hours of head time, they're everything I'd hoped they be.  They sit nicely signature-wise between my D2000 and RS1.

 

[szaszayanou]

As you can see I'm new to Head-Fi with my first post.
 
I've purchased a k601 and now searching for a proper amp for it. Right now I use the headphone-out of the prodigy hd2 advance DE but I'm sure an amp could be an upgrade.
 
My budget is 400USD. What can you offer?

 

[lasttodie]

Hi this may be a stupid question but here goes: I own a set of Beyerdynamic dt 770 pro 80 omhs (like the sound but they are a bit bass heavy)and I'm thinking of getting a set of AKG K 601, will this be an upgrade? I'm listening to mostly jazz but also some rock and electronica.
The amp I use is a Argon HA-1 (rebrand of Firestone Cute Beyond) will this amp do a good enough job with the 601?
 
I'm grateful for all answers

 

[rehabitat]

My pair of K601 just lost to a pair of MS1 with faux G-cush pads.  K601 are smoother and more hifi but are unfortunately a bit too polite, distant and lifeless.  This was an important lesson for me in learning what type of sound I prefer.
 
I have no regrets buying these as my first full-size cans, but I'll be passing them on soon for others to enjoy.

 

[Ze_Blitzkrieg]

Got my set of K601's in yesterday, and am thorough enjoying them thus far.  They are burning in during the day while I am at work and simply use my DT990's at that point.  Overall very pleased though to this point!

 

[evgenrave]

I have ordered k601 and I will use with a sound card at which built in amplifier. The card will shake these headphones? p.s have Infrasonic QARTET

 

[lbj]

Quote:

I have ordered k601 and I will use with a sound card at which built in amplifier. The card will shake these headphones? p.s have Infrasonic QARTET

I'd guess they'll sound ok, but probably not up to the K601's potential.  They really sound their best with a dedicated amp.
 

 

[tdockweiler]

Ordered another pair of these yesterday. I always liked them, but had a few issues with them. I always did regret selling them. I have to say that the Asgard probably doesn't have perfect synergy with the K601 or K702. I didn't love the K702 until I heard it on the E9. Hopefully I'll have the same experience with the K601 this time now that I have the E9.
 
Has anyone tried the E9 with the K601? Should be a good match since the E9 can drive the K702 with ease.
 
I'm going to compare them to my HD-598 since they do have a few similarities. I think both are about on the same level when it comes to sound. That's my guess.
 
One thing I've found is that any music in a collection that's very brightly mastered or harsh sounds REALLY bad on the K601. Even more so than it normally would. I still think the K601 has slightly boosted lower treble. Even more than the K702 perhaps. I think the E9 is a bright amp (I think?) so this may cause me issues.
 
I still have my K702 and I love it, but for vocal oriented music I prefer the HD-650 sometimes. Depends on the recording. It mostly has to do with the soundstage and the music isn't always that engaging. I prefer the front row experience and something I don't get that with the K702.  Just due to preferences. K702 isn't going anywhere though since I use it for gaming and electronic music.

 

[carledwards]

Just got mine today. Impressive results with the Heed CanAmp. As expected, admirable neutrality. I like 'em!

 

 

[Ze_Blitzkrieg]

Quote:

Has anyone tried the E9 with the K601? Should be a good match since the E9 can drive the K702 with ease.
 
I think the E9 is a bright amp (I think?) so this may cause me issues.
 

 
I do not have other amps to compare it to, but my E9 works extremely well with my K601.  Testing it with other headphones and such, I do not get any sense what so ever of it being even the slightest bit on the bright side.  If anything, I would have to say the amp is pretty transparent when it comes to the coloration (or lack thereof) to what is being sent through it.  Obviously different ears will hear different things, but my friend also tested my amp and found no sort of coloration to the DT990's or HD600's.  Really the K601's are the only headphone I can tell a real difference with by using this amp, if anything the DT990's gained just a tick of bass and control, but overall I was not very happy with $130 towards the DT990's, they definitely need a different/better amp in my opinion to see very noticeable differences.
 
Anyways, back to the K601's. . .they do very well with the E9 and you should be happy.  I enjoyed most all of my music on them, but can see a few things here and there where it is obvious that the openess of them make a slight feeling of something lacking in the music.  Examples would be a few Rammstein CD's, Metallica. . .mostly heavy metal and rock.  It sounds really good none the less, but is obvious that there is better.  I will say however that I really prefer the K601 to the HD600 for an everyday all-rounder.  I know some (many?) will argue with me, but I honestly feel this to be true.  They do everything really well, and give you a very accurate presentation of what you are putting through them.  This means however that if something is a bright recording, it will sound bright on them. . .they will not take the edge off like the HD600's do.  As I Lay Dying CD I have for instance sounds bright on everything (harsh on DT990's) except on the HD600's probably.  There is an obvious lack of low end to this CD, made very apparent with the K601's, but anyways. . .I'll stop rambling now 

.
 
I think I have cured my desire for Rammstein and other music though. . .sadly bought a pair of SR225i's earlier this week 

.  Thought they sounded like pure s#!t right out of the box, and was about to post a for sale add on here for them the very next night.  But I finally broke down and "massaged" the headband some to open it up.  I found out that they were clamping WAY too hard on my head and made everything jumped up and drowned out with low mids/upper bass.  Now that they very gently rest on my ears with no pressure what so ever. . .Rammstein now puts a massive grin on my face, 

. . .first upper end headphone to do so between the HD600, DT990, K601, and K701/2.
 
. . .I thought I said I was going to stop rambling. . .
 
-Blitz

 

[tdockweiler]

I just got these the other day and I normally don't like to post impressions right away, but they're sounding really good out of the E9! First thing I noticed is that this pair is not that bright at all. It has enough treble for me and isn't as dark as the HD-600. My old pair on my Asgard had a boosted lower treble and on poorly mastered recordings it would REALLY fatigue my ears really fast. I don't know for sure if it was bad amp synergy, but I think so. The same poorly recorded music is still annoying, but not as bad as before. This "music" would usually sound bad on any headphone (except the HD-600).
 
After 10 hours of burn-in I was watching the masterpiece "The Day After Tomorrow" and was surprised that these felt like they definitely had slightly more bass than the K702. Seems like there was more mid-bass. What I noticed most, is that when I was listening to them with my receiver the sound signature was quite smooth and no frequency seemed to jump out at me. After an hour I tried the HD-650 and there was definitely far more detail, but I had no interest in doing a side by side comparison.
 
I'm really loving these for music. Japanese Pop with female vocals sounds amazing. The vocals are slightly forward. The K601 right now sounds like a slightly more energetic HD-598 with perhaps more detail. I got the impression that it had more detail then my HD-598 (which I love) but I'd have to compare them side by side.
 
On my K702, it often feels like I'm listening to music in an airplane hangar an with some music I feel like I'm 2 1/2 rows back from the stage. With the K601 I feel like I'm more like 1 or 1 1/2. The music is more upfront and the mids sound more forward. Female vocals sound amazing on these and similar to the HD-598. Obviously the soundstage is smaller, but I don't mind. It probably has something to do with the pads too.
 
The K601 at this point almost feels like a combination of a more energetic headphone and the HD-600. Don't ask me why. It's quite fun to listen to, but still fairly laid back still in some ways. I think many people who love lots of treble might not like it. This pair certainly has less treble than my last pair. It more closely resembles the google cache frequency graphs.
 
Anyone else have both the K601 and HD-598? It would be a nice comparison. I'm pretty positive the HD-598 has a larger soundstage, but the imaging on both is probably similar. Sound clarity seems similar. Not sure which one has the more forward sounding mids, but my guess is the K601.
 
The K601 definitely isn't super detailed like the K702 and also seems far more forgiving of some badly recorded music (unless it's really, really bad and harsh sounding). I imagine what it comes to sound clarity is similar to the HD-600 or HD-598. Not sure which yet. K601 is also not as clear sounding as the K702 of course.
 
I'm going to test them for gaming next. Should be good for gaming. For $190 they're sure a good deal. To me, they're quite similar to the HD-598 is many ways. Maybe I'll do a K601 and HD-598 comparison sometime.
 
One thing I noticed on my last pair is that the number on them was VERY low, but they were new. A four digit number I think. This one is around 19,500. Maybe pairs can vary in sound. Who knows. This one isn't even remotely fatiguing on the music I've listened to it with. Can't complain about that.

 

[tdockweiler]

Found these graphs on Google's cache. Looks pretty good to me! Thought someone might find these useful if you haven't seen them yet.
Can't wait to try them with my new amp tomorrow.
 

 

 

[evgenrave]

I am the owner of K601 and I have a question: how much warming affects headphones?, there is now a quiet volume, and a very weakbass. My K530 still play a brighter and louder. Do not pull theirsource? .. Infrasonic Quartet, built-in amplifier

 

[evgenrave]

no big difference between k530 and k601.I will write in detail after 100 hours of burn