[bowei006]

Quote:

Q701's have a very nice amount of bass. I'd say midbass is even stronger than the D7000, though the sub bass is obviously not gonna touch the D7000.
In any case, the Q701 smokes the CRAP out of the HD598 in every way other than the very mid forward tone the HD598 has, where the Q701 takes a more balanced approach and keeps the mids in line with everything else.

 
Great to know what my Q701's can do. My personal tastes are just a bit..you know. But on most occasions my bass needs are sated with my HFI 580, XB500, and Logitech Speakers..so the Q701's are pretty nice. But for my needs and taste in music, the bass responce isn't enough.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I totally understand, as that is why I have the D7000 as my main. The bass on those are perfect. I'm sensitive to mid bass, so the fact that it's reserved while sub bass is plentiful and omnipresent makes it the perfect can for me. Still, the Q701 is the perfect alternative, for when I don't demand that much bass, though the mid bass is just a hint more than I consider perfect for my personal taste.

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

I totally understand, as that is why I have the D7000 as my main. The bass on those are perfect. I'm sensitive to mid bass, so the fact that it's reserved while sub bass is plentiful and omnipresent makes it the perfect can for me. Still, the Q701 is the perfect alternative, for when I don't demand that much bass, though the mid bass is just a hint more than I consider perfect for my personal taste.

Exactly, I listen to Asian music a lot and those times when I let go of my average music needs... I can just pull on the Q701's and enjoy Asian music..oh jeez. These are almost perfect with them!! If only it had a tiny...TINY ...TINY more bass...just a tiny more bass along the mid to high low frequency range these would be fantastic!! >_< Some of my Asian songs or songs that these do well on sometimes have those "kick" parts of the song that the Q701 just can't kick with and EQ is not doing well. A +2dB EQ on my E17 rectifies it a bit though. Software EQ isn't doing too much beneficial stuff though >_<
 
These are refrence headhones..for mid and highs. Not for bass...so it can be argued that these aren't "refrence refrence" as a true refrence should have a flat responce and thus also be good at bass and let me hear the music as intended..or as recorded by the people(which many times..is pure crap and needs coloration on purpose) 
 
These are also great with my anime and gaming though

 

[SolomonPierce]

Hd598 is a great beginner set because it can be very good even straight from your pc (at least from mine). X70x any of them, require a decently paired amp with good synergy and able to pump a lot of current. 701s are better for classical IMO, but the 598s are pretty good as well due to their soundstage and great comfort. Not saying the 701 doesn't have soundstage it just feel a tad more thin, the 598 though still fairly laid back, can be forward and lush when it needs to be especially with female vocals.

I have a LCD2 on order and if they can take over for female vocals, then I may be lookin to sell my 598s as much as I love them. Shoot me a pm if you're interested. I'll probably know by this time next week. If I don't think they'll get the head time they deserve I'd rather someone else get to use them. They have their flaws but are nice for ~200 IMO, the new MAP at $250 isn't worth it. If you want to buy new, the k701s or Q etc, are the better buy at $250.

 

[fortunate son]

Some classical music lovers I know like the Sennheiser HD600's best of all. I've owned all of the Sennheiser HD series and my favorite with the right amp is the HD700.

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

Mike at headfonia.com wrote the article referenced in the link below, which includes a discussion of the reasons he has difficulty recommending the AKG 701 to anyone.
 
http://www.headfonia.com/old-school-trio-akg-k701-beyer-dt880-sennheiser-hd650/
 
I wish I had read this before I bought the like sounding AKG 702, so that I would have avoided the loss I took when the new wore off and I no longer cared to listen to them.
 
Mike also includes a discussion in the above link of the Sennheiser HD650 which you might also want to look for on the used market.
 
Some classical music lovers I know like the Sennheiser HD600's best of all.
 

Mike's opinions are those of his own. I respect that of him. He doesn't all into the social audiophile norm and won't recommend something he doesn't care of following the FOTM. However he is a human like us and has his own opinion on sound. There are many things others and some things I disagree with him about. But those are just opinions.
 
I find the Q701's to be excellent for what I use them for.

 

[vagarach]

I bought the K702 due to its reputation as being light on bass, my Sennheiser HD555s had too much! The initial few months of use...they hardly got used, I could listen maybe for 15 minutes before my ears would hurt. Piercing highs and no bass to speak of! 
 
However, after a year or so of on-and-off use (I pretty much gave up using them all the time like I used to with the HD555), either my ears or the headphones have changed. The highs are not painful to listen to, and the bass is slightly more like the rounded, thumping bass presentation given by the HD555s, but with far more precision.
 
The 702 just isn't very good at all the music out there. They can be mind blowing with superbly produced and recorded 'real instrument' music, or they can sound just ok.
 
Also, the K702 has a great 'continuous' style fit, there are no notches on the headband, just elastics. They are supremely comfortable!

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

I bought the K702 due to its reputation as being light on bass, my Sennheiser HD555s had too much! The initial few months of use...they hardly got used, I could listen maybe for 15 minutes before my ears would hurt. Piercing highs and no bass to speak of! 
 
However, after a year or so of on-and-off use (I pretty much gave up using them all the time like I used to with the HD555), either my ears or the headphones have changed. The highs are not painful to listen to, and the bass is slightly more like the rounded, thumping bass presentation given by the HD555s, but with far more precision.
 
The 702 just isn't very good at all the music out there. They can be mind blowing with superbly produced and recorded 'real instrument' music, or they can sound just ok.

I agree to this. They don't do bass thump songs well but with the one's that do. They aren't as enjoyable as the bass thump isn't there but they do make the vocals and soundstage sound great.
 
For those thump times I switch into my HFI 580's. Or if I need super thump. My XB500. And If I need closed studio usage. I choose SRH440. It's hard to get an all in one headphone at the price we had.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Considering how I hated the K701 and love the Q701, I can understand Mike's views. The K701 is noticably dryer and more analytical. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone but those that want to analyze. The Q701 adds a slight warmth and fuller sound, making them great enough for general purpose, as long as bass isn't a priority.

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

Considering how I hated the K701 and love the Q701, I can understand Mike's views. The K701 is noticably dryer and more analytical. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone but those that want to analyze. The Q701 adds a slight warmth and fuller sound, making them great enough for general purpose, as long as bass isn't a priority.

Well I do a lot of EDM based Jpop. And while these Q701's won't be perfect for it. They do absolutely get the vocals and everything BUT the thump correctly.

 

[eskimoo]

Quote:

Considering how I hated the K701 and love the Q701, I can understand Mike's views. The K701 is noticably dryer and more analytical. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone but those that want to analyze. The Q701 adds a slight warmth and fuller sound, making them great enough for general purpose, as long as bass isn't a priority.

 
Between HD598  & K701 is not quite fair comparison. 
HD598 is easy driving all purpose headphone.
K701 is high-end headphone which require heavy amps to really sing.  No contest here . period!
The closest comparison is with closed K550, easy driving & resembles K701 sound sig , but with good BASS! 
If you really want open cans, look for open K242HD or the easy driving semi-open K540
 
Quincy did tweaked Q701 to have better sounding in general? How About K702? Im curious about K701 since Q701 is rare item here.
Actually Headfonia is Sennheiser-heavy & "sponsor" heavy website. So you wont find any real AKGs praising there. Blame AKG for being cheap on marketing departement!

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

 
Between HD598  & K701 is not quite fair comparison. 
HD598 is easy driving all purpose headphone.
K701 is high-end headphone which require heavy amps to really sing.  No contest here . period!
 
Quincy did tweaked Q701 to have better sounding in general? How About K702? Im curious about K701 since Q701 is rare item here.
Actually Headfonia is Sennheiser-heavy & "sponsor" heavy website. So you wont find any real AKGs praising there. Blame AKG for being cheap on marketing departement!

.... I thought K701 and K702 was MORE rare on Head-Fi then the Q701's. I see Q701's here a lot more often.
 
I don't know who sponsors head-fonia or if they ARE sponsored so I wont' make any judgements. But I see what you mean if it was. Which is also a bit funny as AKG is owned by a huge audio company.... who is probably bigger than Sennheiser.

 

[eskimoo]

Quote:

.... I thought K701 and K702 was MORE rare on Head-Fi then the Q701's. I see Q701's here a lot more often.
 
I don't know who sponsors head-fonia or if they ARE sponsored so I wont' make any judgements. But I see what you mean if it was. Which is also a bit funny as AKG is owned by a huge audio company.... who is probably bigger than Sennheiser.

 
never saw Q701 on store, yet.
can be either self-sponsored, friend-sponsored, distributor-sponsored or manufacturer-sponsored. 
Some countries have Sennheiser dominated market, so hard to say if AKG was bigger in reality but in the market you only see Sennheisers. Harman is big, but I dont have any idea if AKG bigger than Sennheiser.
Sennheiser probably still bigger  than AKG as microphone & headphone manufacturers, look at their lineups, whoever got more lineups is bigger! 
Anyway, either Harman is very big or AKG is big but if they little cheap on marketing side, who will promote their products? Not headfonia for sure
 
even on headfi not all AKG lineups got reviewed compared to very popular Sennheisers. 

 

[bowei006]

Harmon is what i was referring to. They are definateley bigger.

 

[eskimoo]

Harman didn't push policy to heavy marketing AKG's headphone, unlike Sennheiser which have thick & well funded marketing teams all over the world.
Instead Harman more focused on selling its speakers , AKG has very pathetic marketing teams (do they have marketing funds anyway?) , Even grado beats akg on marketing departement
If you search at youtube or many well reputable review sites there are plenty of Sennheisers advertising & reviews. AKG .... ? nope! Only Quincy lineups got better hyping & marketing.
 
Beats by DRE is another example of marketing success, second to Sennheiser.