[Ucronia]

Hi everyone, i was searching for a professional opinion about a pair of good on ear headphones and this seems to be the right place.
I'm going to buy a pair of headphones for gaming and home cinema, and for my needs, and more over, for my budget i'm interested about some models; Akg K701 was strongly recommended, even if i'm a little bit more interested about a Beyerdynamic product, ok that's my situation:
About gaming i've yet bought a great dolby processor for the music output (Turtle Beach DSS2) and now i need a headphones that gives to me a great quality, clear sounds like voices and most over about effects (you know, footsteps, noises etc.)

The frequency response about those models made me fall in love about them but what let me think is:
Akg K701
Frequency Response: 10-39800 Hz
Sensitivity: 105 dB
Impedance: 62 Ohm

Beyerdynamic Custom ONE PRO
Frequency Response: 5-35000
Sensitivity: 96dB
Impedance: 16 Ohm

Turtle Beach DSS Headphones output: 16 Ohm
This made me more convinced in to buy the Custom one pro, more over, i've seen many video that shows a great material quality about them.
Anyway seems to be they are most usefull for a listeners that need clear basses, in my case i suppose to prefer a middle setting, as i've say i'm most interested in to hear clearer as i can noises and voices.

What you can say to me about?

 

[Aaron94]

Im confused at some of your reasoning, mainly the parts about the frequency response? Are you aware that you would be extremely lucky to be able to hear less than 20 hz, and more than 20khz?
 
Ive not heard much about the C1P on here, but I have read a decent amount about how over rated the K701s are. And unless you have an amp of some sort, you wont even be able to use the K701 very well.

 

[Ucronia]

You're completely right,and i am a beginner in the Headphones world.
As you have said i should need and amplifier to use well the AKG, the output impedence infact is the reason that made me choose the 1pro, Anyway, according to what you know, would be better to use an headphone with the same impedence of the sound output, or use another one that have an higher Sensitivity but also a higher impedence, of course with an amplifier?

 

[KamijoIsMyHero]

K701 technically doesn't need an amp for most cases. I have a headphone with similar impedance but lower sensitivity, it was fine with my laptop but an external amp/dac did clear up the music better mostly because my laptop doesn't have a good dac/amp/
Quote:

You're completely right,and i am a beginner in the Headphones world.
As you have said i should need and amplifier to use well the AKG, the output impedence infact is the reason that made me choose the 1pro, Anyway, according to what you know, would be better to use an headphone with the same impedence of the sound output, or use another one that have an higher Sensitivity but also a higher impedence, of course with an amplifier?

no very very bad, you want your headphone amp impedance output to be as small as possible(ideally less than 1 ohm) in comparison to your headphone's impedance The sensitivity along with you headphones impedance also play a role whether you really need an amp or not. Generally the higher the sensitivity and the lower the impedance, the less it would need an amp. IMO 16 ohms is very low impedance and doesn't need an amp. 62 ohms is close to 50 ohms, which I consider low, and 105 dB is high sensitivity already to need an amp.
 
I can find any specs for your Turtle Beach but if your Turtle Beach's headphone output impedance really is 16 ohm, then I would go for K701.

 

[davidsh]

^That is the sensitivity, yes, but still the k701 effectivity is only 93 dB/mw, which is kinda low. Just on top of planar magnetic effectivities.

 

[KamijoIsMyHero]

Idk where you got that effectivity from or how it relates to amping

 

[chrstnwarrior88]

On paper the k70x headphones seem somewhat easy to drive. But from experience this is not the case. You don't have to go crazy or anything but an amp is a necessity with these headphones. They are good for gaming and movies though. Hope this helps at least a little.

 

[Ucronia]

Quote:

K701 technically doesn't need an amp for most cases. I have a headphone with similar impedance but lower sensitivity, it was fine with my laptop but an external amp/dac did clear up the music better mostly because my laptop doesn't have a good dac/amp/
no very very bad, you want your headphone amp impedance output to be as small as possible(ideally less than 1 ohm) in comparison to your headphone's impedance The sensitivity along with you headphones impedance also play a role whether you really need an amp or not. Generally the higher the sensitivity and the lower the impedance, the less it would need an amp. IMO 16 ohms is very low impedance and doesn't need an amp. 62 ohms is close to 50 ohms, which I consider low, and 105 dB is high sensitivity already to need an amp.
 
I can find any specs for your Turtle Beach but if your Turtle Beach's headphone output impedance really is 16 ohm, then I would go for K701.

 
Ok, probably cause as i've already wrote i'm really a "n00b" about, but what you let me understand and what you say at the last are for me exactly the opposite.
For what a beginner like me could immagine, sensitivity is really important, most over required if your headphones got a hight impedance, the C1P have a hight sensitivity and low impedance, good thing right? Akg's impedance in therms of ohm is exactly 4 times the Audio processor output, for what i know, dosen't it mean that they could be only great if paired with an high quality amp for headphones? And due to this that without any amps the C1P are surely better?

 

[Ucronia]

Quote:

On paper the k70x headphones seem somewhat easy to drive. But from experience this is not the case. You don't have to go crazy or anything but an amp is a necessity with these headphones. They are good for gaming and movies though. Hope this helps at least a little.

And which is the best amp for this? (nothing exaggerated). And the amp would take in consideration any specs like the Input (in case the DSS2 output of 16 Ohm), or the akg impedence?

 

[chrstnwarrior88]

That is the million dollar question for these headphones. I personally have a musical paradise tube amp that I think is spectacular. But from what I have heard for the best bang for your buck you should look into the matrix m stage, the 02 amps, and Schiit Magni. These are all great options. But your best option is research. There are 1000+ post discussions about which amp is best for the k70x headphones.

 

[Ucronia]

Quote:

That is the million dollar question for these headphones. I personally have a musical paradise tube amp that I think is spectacular. But from what I have heard for the best bang for your buck you should look into the matrix m stage, the 02 amps, and Schiit Magni. These are all great options. But your best option is research. There are 1000+ post discussions about which amp is best for the k70x headphones.

Your amp cause me a Soundgasm, really. Tube amplifiers are pure art, but all those things are out of my actually budget. Even if you really convinced me that Akg K701+Amps like your would be the heaven i will buy the C1P, more over, if i can spend so much for amps, i would also search for other budgets headphones. Thanks a lot.

 

[Ucronia]

Ok with a little research i think that the only amps now in my budget are the Bravo V2/V3, what about those? Wich is the best? And there are other Valve amps at low price?
 

 

[Aaron94]

I honestly think you should bump the amp budget up a bit and just go for the Magni. Tube amps color the sound, and from what I can tell you may or may prefer that sort of signature to a flatter reponse. From what Ive read the Magni is a very translucent amp, I hear it doesnt do much more than power your headphones, but I may be wrong. 
 
At least I would say you should start with a solid state and work your way up to a tube amp, just incase you dont like the tube sound.

 

[Ucronia]

Quote:

I honestly think you should bump the amp budget up a bit and just go for the Magni. Tube amps color the sound, and from what I can tell you may or may prefer that sort of signature to a flatter reponse. From what Ive read the Magni is a very translucent amp, I hear it doesnt do much more than power your headphones, but I may be wrong. 
 
At least I would say you should start with a solid state and work your way up to a tube amp, just incase you dont like the tube sound.

Remembering that i would use those headphones for home cinema, Which amp could be better? (i can't expand my budget a lot, i can admit only a little sacrifice untill 100Eu)

 

[Ajani]

Is there any reason why you've limited yourself to those 3 models? Also, what is your budget for headphones? 
 
I really like the K701 - they can be driven from a laptop, but will sound better with an amp. Whether you will like their sound (even driven properly) is up to you.
I prefer the Beyerdynamic DT880 though. Never tried the custom one.
 
The other main contenders in that price range are the Sennheiser HD600 and HiFiMan HE400.