[warpdriver]

Well, certainly the effect of long break in of the 701's is becoming a very common pattern. I would have said you were crazy if you told me that 200+ hours were needed, but having experienced it myself, I am glad that I'm not the only one to experience it.

 

[jpelg]

Great write-up, Mark. You obviously put a lot of time, thought, & effort into it. I respect what you have done here, as I do all of your well-done reviews.

Still, I can't believe that AKG would ever design a home headphone that took the equivalent of over one year of normal use (assuming an average of 1-2 hours per day) to come close to their potential. Not wanting to start any flaming, or even debate, but just wanted to note my official opinion for the record. Cheers.

 

[amartignano]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaZZ Thanks for the update, Mark! (Now) I agree with most of your findings.

Me too, finally

[size=xx-small]although I have to admit that now I'm surprisingly amazed by the Sennheiser HD600, which I find overall better than the HD650... in my setup and for my tastes... and one of the best dynamic headphone I've ever had... ok... flame me...

[/size]

Quote:

So the R10 must be a great headphone as well. .

Yes, they are, believe me...

bye
Andrew

 

[Andrea]

markl,

Congrats on the change of party!

Just kidding - I can very well understand adjusting one's views, to an extent.

 

[Andrea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpelg Still, I can't believe that AKG would ever design a home headphone that took the equivalent of over one year of normal use (assuming an average of 1-2 hours per day) to come close to their potential. Not wanting to start any flaming, or even debate, but just wanted to note my official opinion for the record. Cheers.

I double that.

 

[Mastergill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpelg Still, I can't believe that AKG would ever design a home headphone that took the equivalent of over one year of normal use (assuming an average of 1-2 hours per day) to come close to their potential. Not wanting to start any flaming, or even debate, but just wanted to note my official opinion for the record. Cheers.

Well, IMO this is clearly more about psychological burn in than real drastic change sound-wise...or maybe peer pressure

. I do believe in "burn in" but not in the magnitude people are usually talking about here. The way members are describing their burn in experiences sound like you guys receive gears that are half-broken and will slowly return to spec after 300-500 hours. In most case this is your inexperienced ears that need to adjust to a new sound presentation.

Anyway, you're last impressions, markl, are getting more interesting especially to put the R10 in perspective for guy like me who never heard it. Like for real drums reproduction from headphone you should try one day the HD650 with a very high quality and beefy power amp, even if you have to wait 600 hours

, you'll see...unmatched bass reproduction, period.

 

[allenf]

That is one heck of a review - thank you markl.
Also I get the impression that spending so much time and effort on the AKGs has expanded your listening vocabulary and level of understanding - and only a headphone with remarkable chops would make this process worthwhile. This tells me all I need to know.
Thanks again.

 

[markl]

Quote:

Well, IMO this is clearly more about psychological burn in than real drastic change sound-wise...or maybe peer pressure

Heh, well, I've already taken my lumps. Seems to me I'd face more derision for seeming to change my tune, but oh well, I have to calls 'em as I hears 'em, come what may. This was an interactive real-time review process, so ups and downs were inevitable.

Quote:

Take for example your mention of "break up" when things get too loud. I can't imagine that happening here. The 701s are simply far too loud to listen to when turned up and still there's no evidence of break up. As I'm sure you know, the R-10s are quite efficient cans and the 701s are rather at the other end of the spectrum. They're sort of hard to drive and inneficient. This means that the 701 won't mate well with as many amps as I would expect the R-10s to. Same for the "colorations" you mention re the 701. Perhaps there's a bit of "anti-synergy" going on in your system with respect to pairing with the 701?? I dunno, just a thought.

Well, it's certainly *possible*, but I still doubt it. I think it depends also on where you feel the point of being "too loud to listen" is. I suspect I listen louder than you do. Every headphone will eventually start to distort at some point when you crank the volume, K701 is no different. I can turn the HR-2 up to between the 10:00 and 11:00 position to achieve the proper volume level for K701 to sound its best. After the 11:00 position, it starts to distort. The R10 OTOH, sounds its best at the 9:00 position and doesn't really start to break up until the 12:00 position (which I would never listen at anyway). My feeling is that in addition to being more efficient, the R10 can simply play louder than the K701. But the bottom line is that it's not as though the K701 has to be cranked drastically to achieve same volume level as the R10, or that the HR-2 is being cranked to anywhere near the full excursion of the volume knob. I don't feel the HR-2 is really breaking a sweat with the K701, but I have no way of "proving" this.

 

[Jap]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpelg Still, I can't believe that AKG would ever design a home headphone that took the equivalent of over one year of normal use (assuming an average of 1-2 hours per day) to come close to their potential. Not wanting to start any flaming, or even debate, but just wanted to note my official opinion for the record. Cheers.

[size=small]
The AKG K501 reputedly requires 300-500 hours of break-in for full sonic quality maturation. The K271 Studio also reputedly requires a long maturation process to reach their respective quality peak. (I was considering getting these, but I doubt they will make much of a difference over my Headphile modded Senn HD-25-1 to be worth the extra hike in price.) I haven't read too much about the K601, but virtually all reports from K701 users who stuck it out successfully throughout the burn-in process have agnonized over the long, dramatic morphing of the phones from bass-less squeakers to full bodied, fairly neutral, near elite phones.

These phones all share in common those apparently unusually tight Varimotion drivers. I recall K501 users in past threads (from years past) taking extreme measures like employing super bassy CD program material at high volumes to break in the K501s and raise the bass quantity to more normal levels.

I don't believe all this is mere coincidence: the AKG's with Varimotion drivers are wild sonic beasts that requires patience to tame.

[/size]

 

[TooNice]

Are the pre break-in and post burn-in difference measurable using any tools?

I must say, I am still skeptical about how much difference it is supposed to do.

I would expect the brain to adjust to the sound FAR earlier than that. Maybe in 10-20 or so hours of listening =/

 

[hawat]

Maybe someone can bring their burned in pair in a shop and compare with a new pair to see if burn in really makes that much difference with the 701.

 

[acs236]

Markl,

Comparing your initial impressions to your recent ones, I see that you noted a significant diminishing of the "blanket over the speakers" effect. I have a bout 65 hours of mine and I'm noticing this rather undesirable sound signature. Admittedly, it's somethign I'm very sensitive to. I hope I feel differently after more burn in.

I have to give your experience significant weight since your primary can is the R10, which has no such quality.

 

[markl]

Hi acs236, K701 will never sound like the open-window R10, but my experience was that the fog and heaviness, that blanket-over-the-speakers effect did allieviate to the point I no longer feel it's a deal-breaker.

 

[elrod-tom]

OK...I'm starting to get a bit more comfortable with these cans. Enough to give a few more impressions after about 40 hours of burn in:

1) I think it was markl that mentioned that these seem to be a bit touchy about how they are placed on one's head. I would tend to agree. I noticed that they sounded a bit flat earlier today, and noticed that they had rode up a bit on one side. Once I repositioned them correctly, I noticed a BIG change in SQ. So be aware of this when using them.

2) They are still a bit on the bright side, but the bass is starting to come through. There is still a bit of a muffled quality to them as well. This seems odd, as I would not typically expect one with the other...but it's there without a doubt. Still though, good (though not yet particularly punchy) bass response. Elvis Costello's "The Element Within Her" was particularly illustrative of the bass that these cans are capable of driving. Ditto George Michael's "Cowboys and Angels".

3) So far, it seems to me that it handles accoustic and other music with more defined instrumentation better than those that are a bit more, shall we say, blended together. Case in point: when listening to Elvis Costello's "Shipbuilding", the piano, drums, trumpet, and other instruments are all stand very much on their own. When listening to Slowdive's "Alison", the K701 seems a bit claggy. This has a lot to do with the music itself, but I've noticed a lot more instrument separation on my long since broken in K501's. It seems like this might improve with burn-in, as music like this requires a much more reactive driver.

4) Having noted the "flaws", let me say that if it stays this way and burn in were essentially over, I'd be pretty happy with them at this point. The soundstage is huge, and there might just be a BIT of over separation in the imaging, but it really fills up your head with sound. This is particularly evident in tracks like Chet Baker's "Alone Together", which if you haven't heard it, sounds like track one from the soundtrack of a Mickey Spillane movie. I really like the mids thus far, though the highs are still a bit brassy. I'm expecting this to get better.

5) Several folks have mentioned that the K701 seems to bloom at higher volume levels. I would tend to agree, but thus far I'm quite pleased with their performance at lower volumes.

6) Sorry, but I still can't get used to the appearance of these things. I hope that they come out with black ones.

 

[jpelg]

Anyone try the K701's from an amp with an 120-ohm headphone jack, like from Jan Meier's Corda or PreHead lines?

I'm wondering if any currently produced headphones are looking for the "old" European 120-ohm output standard, like the Beyerdynamic DT831/931 models?