So, I purchased the AKG K702 from the Harman Direct Store on ebay which sell the refurbished ones for $185 USD which IMO is a really good deal as long as you are not against buying refurbished products. I went this route as you still get a full regular warranty from AKG on these refurbished units as far as I know. Getting it shipped to Canada I got dinged with shipping as well as duties, making it less of a good deal, but for you American folks you get free shipping so that's a very good way to go for it IMO. And from observation while they do have very minor scratches here and there, they replace it with a new headband as well as the pads before reselling them it seems, so I'm pretty happy with the quality of it even if it is refurbished. Unfortunately, it seems that which make version (Made in Austria vs. Made in China) you get from Harman Direct is random even though the picture on ebay shows that it is the bumpless headband (which was a big factor in my purchase)... and I ended up getting the Made in Austria version
WITH the bumps... Happy with the Made in Austria and angled earpads part (the newer Made in China ones seems to have K612 style flat pads now, I prefer angled ones) but not so much with the Bumps on the headband
. I'd rather have taken the Made in China but with no bumps! Fortunately, AKG said they will replace the headband for me FREE, so that's very nice of them. So eventually I'll end up with the Made in Austria version w/ the new bumpless headband which will be fantastic in the end.
Anyways, I've been listening to these until the whole return details work itself out, and made some comparisons with my friend's newer
Made in China Black Q701's for couple days. Before starting off, I'll state that I've owned practically ALL the versions of the K/Q7**'s over the years now except for the newer K712's and the K7xx's. But apparently from what I've read the K7xx are basically the same as the Annies (which I did used to own; didn't really like its sound personally compared to the rest of the line), so that makes it essentially just the K712's I haven't had the chance to listen to thus far and apparently that one's quite close to the Annies anyway. So overall, I'm very familiar with how this series of headphones sound in general. Even though I've gone through and sold many versions of the K/Q's over the years I always end up coming back to them, as there is just something about their sound that is unique and pleasing to my ears... and that's even after owning many, many other headphones over the years that are technically better than the K/Q series... go figure.
Anyways, here are my comparisons outlining the main differences I noticed between the K702's and the Q701's (amp/DAC used: Burson Soloist SL, Fiio E10K.), that some people may be interested in (with major main points in bold):
- Just a personal thing but I think the K702's are better and more professional looking than the Q's. I know many hate the chrome trims and the indigo colour of the K702's but I'm a fan. The black Q's are still nice, but IMO that damn Quincy Jones neon green cable/stiching ruins it... Build quality when held in hand seems the same though, at least on the outside and feel wise.
- It might just be these particular units, but
this K702 has more room for extension to the headband mechanism compared to this Q701: ; I lined up the cups exactly and it's quite visible... the K702's headband frame is attached higher by about 5mm or so compared to the Q's, giving that extra room for headband extension (a pic here:
http://i.imgur.com/EvlCT1R.png ) , and it's been a huge difference in comfort for me (with of course added padding underneath the ban to cushion those bumps). This particular Q701 unit is quite a tight fit on my head, even with it extended to the max... again, I think it may just be this particular Q701 unit but it's something to look out for if you have a large head... and I don't think I particularly have a large head either, I wear 7 1/4 size fitted cap normally. I also found the Q's to clamp a bit harder, but I'm chalking that up to the headband tightness as well as this K702's being refurbished thus used in the past.
-
The headband bumps are MUCH, MUCH softer on the newer Made in China Q701's. This is very, very evident. The bumps on the MIA K702 headband as well as the MIA Q701 headband (I owned the Austria one in the past briefly) is
rock hard out of the box, while the bumps on the MIC Q701's are quite soft out of the box, to the point that I could finally bear to wear these for about an hour at least before top of my head gets sore. So for you folks not happy about getting the Made in China ones, take consolation in the fact that it at least has a more comfortable headband. The Q headband however, is made of a different leather material than the K's... I'm not even sure if the Q ones are real leather actually, it kind of has a synthetic feel to them (though I'll admit that I'm not exactly an expert in leather or anything)... so maybe these MIC Q701 headbands are now made of synthetic leather instead of real leather (I know the K's are real leather, as I've taken knife to the K headband in the past while cutting off the bumps) and that may be the reason why Q headband bumps are much softer.
-
The pads are exactly the same.
However, as I mentioned above,
the newer Made in China K702's seems to come with K612-like flat ones so beware of that. That will surely make some difference in sound... can't really tell you what that may be as I never tried flatter spring foams on the K/Q7** units (although I did have a K601 one time, it was never at the same time with any of the 7 models, so I never got to try).
- HOWEVER,
the inner foam disc inside these units are DIFFERENT, and after switching them up on both units and having listening sessions on both,
I feel that the foam differences is what makes most of the difference in sound between the two units. The K702 foams are slightly denser and less porous than the newer Q foams, and this, to my ears anyway, results in K702's having overall a "drier" tone and Q702's having a more bassy and a "wetter" tone in sound. The Q foams also fill in slight bit of lower mids IMO in comparison. The high treble also seem more forward and aggressive on the Q foams compared to the K foams which I found to be comparatively a bit more laid back. Overall, as they come stock Q's sound slightly less open in my view, with the K's sounding bit more open and clear in soundstage.
- I also had a foam from my older K701 unit (that broke and I just ended up throwing out) which are ALSO different (slightly thinner and even denser/less porous), and they give even more of a drier sound than the K702 foams when put in both units. This is probably what accounts for the early negative criticisms of the K701's being too plasticky and dry. But going just by memory of my older K701's (which is admittingly obviously not reliable), K701's sounded much closer to these 702's than the newer Q's.
- Despite these foam differences though,
there is STILL something about the Q701's that makes it inherently slightly more warm compared to the K702's. It might be that foam on the outer grill that exists on the Q's but not on K's maybe (which I did not remove for this comparison; my friend is OCD in regards to actually opening the grill even though it's perfectly safe...) the Q button on the grill, or just the individual unit differences, but even after testing it with same inner foams I still found there to be more warmer/bassier quality with the Q701's. It's slight but noticeable, and my friend agreed with me on this one.
Anyways, those are some of the difference I found between the two units. Which one do I like better? I personally think that Q701's are a better headphone for musical listening and all around use due to their warmer and fuller nature and K702's better for critical use due to its colder, drier nature (and is really unique in that sense love it or hate it... I've heard no other headphone exactly like it)... and for my needs I like the K702's better as compliments to my other current headphones. If I had to only have one headphone though, I'd probably take the Q's. I also think that may be worthwhile to play around with different inner disc foams for a different sound, as it clearly makes quite a bit of difference. I am not sure if AKG sells these foams separately with different part numbers for the different models though (my speculation is that it's just counted as one single part across all K/Q units and they just silently change it as time goes by) but if one wants to tinker around with modding for sound purposes, you could perhaps make a cutout with different foams and experiment.
Hope that helps anyone who is caught in the fence between the two units.
