[kstaken]

I'm still breaking in the 65th anv but listened to them briefly tonight and switching from the K701 to the 65th showed a clear volume difference so I broke out the SPL meter and measured. Playing pink noise and with the volume set to generate 70 dB on the K701, switching to the 65th shows 72 dB. Pretty clear these are not the same and even though they have the same impedance and efficiency specs the 65th anv is much easier to drive. I've always felt AKG's efficiency specs for the K701 were garbage anyway. 
 
They also do not sound even close to the same to me. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet as I actually bought these because I wanted a more comfortable K701. My K701s are about 5 years old and I've never heard any of the other models so I'm wondering if the newer K701's are different too. I know the Q701's are supposed to be and I'm actually tempted to buy one just to experiment.

 

[Acix]

kstaken, if you take the pads out of the Anniversary, the drivers looks the same as the K701drivers? Also we need to check if the drivers service part number is the same. I've found the capsule DKK45 (17) to be 2400Z00080, and the capsule number on the K701 to be (11) 2400Z0007.
 
I cant find the Anniversary manual online but maybe there is some info in the box.
 
 
   
 
   
I think with AKG they can change the service part number of the capsule and still use the same one, and if they do minor changes they don't announce, we needs to find out... lol, is like this game find the differences. 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I'm still breaking in the 65th anv but listened to them briefly tonight and switching from the K701 to the 65th showed a clear volume difference so I broke out the SPL meter and measured. Playing pink noise and with the volume set to generate 70 dB on the K701, switching to the 65th shows 72 dB. Pretty clear these are not the same and even though they have the same impedance and efficiency specs the 65th anv is much easier to drive. I've always felt AKG's efficiency specs for the K701 were garbage anyway. 

They also do not sound even close to the same to me. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet as I actually bought these because I wanted a more comfortable K701. My K701s are about 5 years old and I've never heard any of the other models so I'm wondering if the newer K701's are different too. I know the Q701's are supposed to be and I'm actually tempted to buy one just to experiment.

For the love of god, swap the pads and see what they do to the other headphone. Sounds like you have the old K701 (count the bumps, if it has 7, it's old), which is definitely more dry, and analytical than the Q701.

 

[FritzS]

Quote:

For the love of god, swap the pads and see what they do to the other headphone. Sounds like you have the old K701 (count the bumps, if it has 7, it's old), which is definitely more dry, and analytical than the Q701.

 
You means the bumps on the inner leather headband?
 
My K701 have 7 bumps and a ser# 12xxx  and a manufactory date 06022007 - 06. Feb. 2007
my Q701 have 8 bumps and a ser# 02xxx - I get the Q701 in October 2010

 

[FritzS]

Quote:

kstaken, if you take the pads out of the Anniversary, the drivers looks the same as the K701drivers? Also we need to check if the drivers service part number is the same. I've found the capsule DKK45 (17) to be 2400Z00080, and the capsule number on the K701 to be (11) 2400Z0007.
 
I think with AKG they can change the service part number of the capsule and still use the same one, and if they do minor changes they don't announce, we needs to find out... lol, is like this game find the differences. 

 
Q701 and K702 use specially selected DKK45 capsules, which capsules K702 Anniversary use, I cannot say today.
 
In October 2010 I had the chance to visit the AKG manufactory in Vienna.

 

[Acix]

Quote:

 
Q701 and K702 use specially selected DKK45 capsules, which capsules K702 Anniversary use, I cannot say today.
 
In October 2010 I had the chance to visit the AKG manufactory in Vienna.

 
It's strange, the AV don't have any online manual...maybe inside the box?

 

[kstaken]

Quote:

 
It's strange, the AV don't have any online manual...maybe inside the box?

There's nothing in the box of any value, basically just marketing materials and a warranty card. 
 
Today is the first day I feel the K702 65th are almost listenable. That's about 120 hours of time. Out of the box and through yesterday the bass was wooly and annoying. I could listen for about 5 minutes and then had to take them off.
 
My last post stated I thought the drivers were different and I shouldn't have waded into those waters as that's not something that I actually want to get into debating. I'm just trying to figure out if the K702 65th have the same special quality that has elevated the K701 to my preferred status even though I also own HD800s, LCD-2s, Stax SR-507s, ESP-950s and many others. The K701s have obvious issues with their sound and if you switch back and forth with something like the HD800 it's clear but when you sit down and do extended listening those issues become irrelevant to me and the K701s (properly driven) engage musically better than anything else I own. It took me a loooong time and a lot of money spent to figure that out. I hated the K701s for years, thought they were completely unmusical and boring and it has been an interesting ride as I've changed gear and seen how my opinions on various headphones have changed. So I'm just trying to figure out if these new ones will bring greater comfort and maybe fix some of the more glaring issues in the K701 without also throwing out the quality that makes the K701 appeal to me in the first place. It will take a while to figure that out.

 

[Hooster]

What amp do you find goes best with the K701, kstaken?
 

 

[kstaken]

Quote:

What amp do you find goes best with the K701, kstaken?
 

My preference is currently for the Apex Peak/Volcano and they also sound really good off the Mjolnir. The first time I realized there was something interesting in the K701 was after I had them for 3 years and then purchased an HE-5LE which led me into experimenting with speaker amps to drive headphones. I tried the K701 off a speaker amp for the hell of it. At the time I hated the headphone and figured hooking them to a 100WPC speaker amp might destroy them, instead what I found was that my toes were tapping and my head was bobbing and it was a huge What kind of moment. They obviously don't need "that" much power and I definitely don't recommend speaker amps for them, it was just what it took for me to be able to see that they were much better than I realized. Since then I've added numerous other headphones, amps, different sources and keep trying to convince myself that the K701s suck but that toe tapping/head bobbing quality keeps them on my head more than I feel they should be given the obvious issues they have. A few weeks ago I decided to simply embrace that feeling and accept that my once most hated headphone is now my favorite based purely on the quite fuzzy and highly personal "musically engaging" quality. The only problem is that they get really uncomfortable after about an hour which led to my interest in the 65th anv. version.

 

[preproman]

It's something about headphones on speaker taps that just does it for me to.

 

[Acix]

kstaken, have you had the chance to check out the SPL amps ?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Lol, I posted something on this thread by mistake...


In any case, eagerly awaiting for the price of the 65th Ann. to come down to realistic levels.

 

[Carlsan]

Quote:

Lol, I posted something on this thread by mistake...
In any case, eagerly awaiting for the price of the 65th Ann. to come down to realistic levels.

Just posted this on the deals thread:
 
 
PROAUDIOSTAR has the AKG K702 65th Anniversary Studio Monitoring Headphones on ebay for $499.
If you use the make an offer button, you may be able to get them for $375, I did.
That is the lowest I have seen on these limited edition headphones.
 
 
AKG k702 65th anniversary  on ebay

 

[talisman42]

Quote:

Just posted this on the deals thread:
 
 
PROAUDIOSTAR has the AKG K702 65th Anniversary Studio Monitoring Headphones on ebay for $499.
If you use the make an offer button, you may be able to get them for $375, I did.
That is the lowest I have seen on these limited edition headphones.
 
 
AKG k702 65th anniversary  on ebay

 
The analysts at Head-fi rate this post as a strong 'buy'   

 

[Mikesin]

Quote:

Just posted this on the deals thread:
 
 
PROAUDIOSTAR has the AKG K702 65th Anniversary Studio Monitoring Headphones on ebay for $499.
If you use the make an offer button, you may be able to get them for $375, I did.
That is the lowest I have seen on these limited edition headphones.
 
 
AKG k702 65th anniversary  on ebay

Hmm,  I want these, but I want a pair of HD650 aswel, whilst I've also got a deal atm where I can get the D7000 for £285/$458 used, not sure if this is a good deal for what they are now.. Paying £10 more for a used D7000 over a new HD650... or just the K702  65th when I've already got the standard K702 which I find completely fine..

What would you lot do? I have the HE400 baring in mind, where the HE400 is said to be 'better' than the D5000 and HD650 (so ive read?)...