[HaVoC-28]

Quote:

I agree with u on almost everything except SPL auditor + k702 combination. Personally, I prefer amp and headphone to be as transparent and faithful as possible. If anything should has "color", it should be the source gear. I only auditioned SPL with k702 so dont know how well it does with other low impedance headphones. The store I tried them has the Linn DS streamer as source, and the combination sounded simply amazing. I really enjoy the amount of detail they are reproducing. Otherwise, I will just listen on my home system which probably out performer headphone in almost every other aspect. This further confirms what I had in mind.... If such colorless amp + neutral hp sounded awful, the source should be the one to blame. Again, its probably all personal preference... I prioritize detail and resolution than anything else when pick headphones.
Unfortunately, my DAC budget is less than $2k so Linn DS streamer is out of question. Probably going to get either Hegel HD10 or Lavry DA11 when revision is out. It appear their input is limited to 96khz at the moment ><

 
I aslo tend to prefer amp and headphones that are transparent and faitthful  , i was speacking about K702+Auditor is peraphs not a very good match from an electrical standpoint due to the 9 ohms headphone outpout from auditor , but it possibly not an issue at all , if it sounded good to your hears ^^ . 
 
And again same , details , accurecy  are what i am seeking first in a headphone 

, but there is always some compromise to make 

.
 
 
"High resolutions" stuffs ? well it's more mastering differences than anything else but just my opinion after tryed some 96khz /192khz and properly re-sampled it at 44khz .

 

[LizardKing1]

I'm starting to question the definition of "good amp" being thrown around here. The Auditor has 9ohm output impedance, even though it has a pretty linear frequency response, which would give the K701 a bloated bass, which compared to the usual brightness might sound better. I can't even find the output impedance for the HPA-V200 or the Solo Ultra-Linear Diamond on their companies' websites, which leads me to conclude it's not much better.
 
I know you all probably have way more experience with amps than I do, but at a certain point you need to realise the K701 is a bright headphone. It doesn't need a 1,000$ amp "to shine", as if all the lesser amps are not doing their job, it just happens that those mortage-payment amps have certain undesirable characteristics that happen to make the K701 sound good. That doesn't mean they're good amps, it just means that to you, with your music and your headphones, they make them sound good.

 

[psun786]

Quote:

I'm starting to question the definition of "good amp" being thrown around here. The Auditor has 9ohm output impedance, even though it has a pretty linear frequency response, which would give the K701 a bloated bass, which compared to the usual brightness might sound better. I can't even find the output impedance for the HPA-V200 or the Solo Ultra-Linear Diamond on their companies' websites, which leads me to conclude it's not much better.
 
I know you all probably have way more experience with amps than I do, but at a certain point you need to realise the K701 is a bright headphone. It doesn't need a 1,000$ amp "to shine", as if all the lesser amps are not doing their job, it just happens that those mortage-payment amps have certain undesirable characteristics that happen to make the K701 sound good. That doesn't mean they're good amps, it just means that to you, with your music and your headphones, they make them sound good.

 
[size=10pt]Sound can very subjective so it is not uncommon for individuals to favor different sonic signature. What bothered me is that a great number of audiophiles enjoy t teach or influence other on how to appreciate music “properly”. [/size]
 
[size=10pt]They came up with some golden rules regarding what is a good sound. For example, most prefer warm, round and analog to analytical sound. They all think LP is vastly better than digital… a good headphone should have a back row position when listen to orchestral genres and etc. That is where Violectric V200 and Solo UL came in, they are all colored or tuned to the audiophile’s “standard” of good sound. Sometimes, they have to give up “faithfulness” to achieve such goal. The technical specification is never their focus as audiophile a subjective group of consumer who don’t rely on “numbers” (unlike computer buyers). They are persuaded by mouth to mouth perception from so called expert. Don’t get me wrong, both v200 and Solo UL are great amp for k701/k702. By great I mean they are able to control the treble roll off pretty well… which is lacking with many other amps…. Solo SRG II for example.[/size]
 
[size=medium]Unfortunately, I hated warm, round and dark sound and think most LP sounded[/size]
[size=medium]terrible, I always thought the connector are joined properly as the music is grainy & full of static… I mean all the new LPs are mastered from digital files while those older 50 years are abused from hundreds of hour of play. Not to mention the recording technology leap we had in this half century. Also, I prefer “front & surround” position instead of 25 rows in an orchestra hall.[/size]
 
[size=medium]For all these reasons, I decide I will ignore most appreciation reviews and rely solely on my audition when pickup audio equipments as I don’t want to be trained on how to enjoy music with my money. It is not like I have to make a living selling audio equipment (amp manufactures).[/size]

 

[LugBug1]

Quote:

 
I know you all probably have way more experience with amps than I do, but at a certain point you need to realise the K701 is a bright headphone. It doesn't need a 1,000$ amp "to shine", as if all the lesser amps are not doing their job, it just happens that those mortage-payment amps have certain undesirable characteristics that happen to make the K701 sound good. That doesn't mean they're good amps, it just means that to you, with your music and your headphones, they make them sound good.

I agree, I use a £160 ($220?) mosfet amp and it works brilliantly with the K702's. Loads of current and a nice bit of warmth- bass is amazing, honestly!
 
  All they need is current to shine, and there are plently of budget amps out there with lots of it. Ofcourse a higher end amp is going to sound better, but if you can afford a high end amp and dac then I'm pretty sure you wouldn't still be using the K70X's, not when there is an HD800 around.  

 

[Chris J]

[SIZE=10pt][COLOR=000000]Sound can very subjective so it is not uncommon for individuals to favor different sonic signature. What bothered me is that a great number of audiophiles enjoy t teach or influence other on how to appreciate music “properly”.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt][COLOR=000000]They came up with some golden rules regarding what is a good sound. For example, most prefer warm, round and analog to analytical sound. They all think LP is vastly better than digital… a good headphone should have a back row position when listen to orchestral genres and etc. That is where Violectric V200 and Solo UL came in, they are all colored or tuned to the audiophile’s “standard” of good sound. Sometimes, they have to give up “faithfulness” to achieve such goal. The technical specification is never their focus as audiophile a subjective group of consumer who don’t rely on “numbers” (unlike computer buyers). They are persuaded by mouth to mouth perception from so called expert. Don’t get me wrong, both v200 and Solo UL are great amp for k701/k702. By great I mean they are able to control the treble roll off pretty well… which is lacking with many other amps…. Solo SRG II for example.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

Unfortunately, I hated warm, round and dark sound and think most LP sounded
terrible, I always thought the connector are joined properly as the music is grainy & full of static… I mean all the new LPs are mastered from digital files while those older 50 years are abused from hundreds of hour of play. Not to mention the recording technology leap we had in this half century. Also, I prefer “front & surround” position instead of 25 rows in an orchestra hall.

For all these reasons, I decide I will ignore most appreciation reviews and rely solely on my audition when pickup audio equipments as I don’t want to be trained on how to enjoy music with my money. It is not like I have to make a living selling audio equipment (amp manufactures).

I'm in full agreement with your last paragraph, you really have to listen to headphones and equipment and make up your own mind.
But I do like vinyl.......................sorry!

 

[Ahzari]

Quote:

I'm in full agreement with your last paragraph, you really have to listen to headphones and equipment and make up your own mind.
But I do like vinyl.......................sorry!

+1 vinyl is awesome 

 

[MacedonianHero]

Just my quick impressions...
 
A little background, I owned the K701s for quite a while a few years back and I found them ok headphones that never really amazed me. Fast forward to this past Friday, I was in Winnipeg with my wife and kids visiting family and got to hear the Q701s.
 
Colour me impressed. The issues I had with the K701s, (poor bass impact, vocals that sounded off and treble that was a bit too much), the Q701s fixed most of them quite well. If I were looking for a headphone from the last generation of flagships (DT880/600, HD650, HD600, etc..), the Q701s would be at the top of my list.

 

[Chris J]

The Force is Strong in The Qs!

 

[preproman]

Quote:

Just my quick impressions...
 
A little background, I owned the K701s for quite a while a few years back and I found them ok headphones that never really amazed me. Fast forward to this past Friday, I was in Winnipeg with my wife and kids visiting family and got to hear the Q701s.
 
Colour me impressed. The issues I had with the K701s, (poor bass impact, vocals that sounded off and treble that was a bit too much), the Q701s fixed most of them quite well. If I were looking for a headphone from the last generation of flagships (DT880/600, HD650, HD600, etc..), the Q701s would be at the top of my list.

 
Wait until you hear them on a good B22 or the GS-1.  Talk about sound stage...

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

 
Wait until you hear them on a good B22 or the GS-1.  Talk about sound stage...

Yeah, not sure that's gonna happen on my GS-1 or Liquid Fire with the Q701s...got too many other cans that would get priority. Still, I did enjoy my Q701 session and they did seem easier to drive than the K701s.

 

[MDR30]

Quote:

 
 
Here's the back of the K701 driver, fetched from the ever-useful driver pics thread:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/202122/the-headphone-driver-pics-thread/15
 

 
 
You see the openings on the left, right and centre covered with filter paper/nylon fabric. These affect themovement of the diaphragm, and the bass response. If you remove the centre fabric you would get more bass, but also a less controlled membrane. It's all a give and take. I'm very curious as how the back of the Q701 driver looks.

 
Now are there no brave surgeons out there? Bring forth your scalpels and screwdrivers and document the back of the Q701 drivers with your camera!

 

[Acix]

Quote:

I agree with u on almost everything except SPL auditor + k702 combination. Personally, I prefer amp and headphone to be as transparent and faithful as possible. If anything should has "color", it should be the source gear. I only auditioned SPL with k702 so dont know how well it does with other low impedance headphones. The store I tried them has the Linn DS streamer as source, and the combination sounded simply amazing. I really enjoy the amount of detail they are reproducing. Otherwise, I will just listen on my home system which probably out performer headphone in almost every other aspect. This further confirms what I had in mind.... If such colorless amp + neutral hp sounded awful, the source should be the one to blame. Again, its probably all personal preference... I prioritize detail and resolution than anything else when pick headphones.
Unfortunately, my DAC budget is less than $2k so Linn DS streamer is out of question. Probably going to get either Hegel HD10 or Lavry DA11 when revision is out. It appear their input is limited to 96khz at the moment ><

 
I'm agree with you about the SPL Auditor + K-702 combination, I have the Phonitor and my search for the right K-702 amp finished from the first time I heard the Phonitor, I've try for a few years to get some more cheaper alternatives...but if you're a big fan of the transparent sound like I'm, the SPL amps maybe the best choice out there. 

 

[iim7V7IM7]

Hi,
 
I just ordered a pair of AKG K 702s and a HeadRoom MicroAmp. My audio interface has some excellent DACs (RME Babyface) so I already had that covered.  I decided upon these among a number of fine alternative options AKG K550, Beyerdynamic DT 880, Denon AH-D2000, Sennheiser HD600/650 and Shure SRH940. All of these sound as if they are fantastic headphones but I had to make a decsion in the end on one pair.  I am hoping for a very well contructed set of headphones that are comfortable to wear (I do hear some complaints here) and have a very neutral presentation of sound with dynamics and a large soundstage from the K 702s. I had no idea how volatile the subject of which headphones to choose could be in an online community such as this!  The euphonic nature of human hearing and people's need to justify their likes and dislikes can produce some very interesting posts.
 
I was not sure that I needed the Micro Amp given that my audio interface has a preamp in it.  Does anyone else here run K 702s off of a audio interface without an amp? I also wanted to ask other K 701/Q 701 and K 702 owners about any non listening methods used to break them in? I have read online that they really reach their glory after a few hundred hours of use which might take a good part of a year for me. They should arrive towards the end of the week and I will follow up with my impressions.
 
Thanks,
 
Bob

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

Hi,
 
I just ordered a pair of AKG K 702s and a HeadRoom MicroAmp. My audio interface has some excellent DACs (RME Babyface) so I already had that covered.  I decided upon these among a number of fine alternative options AKG K550, Beyerdynamic DT 880, Denon AH-D2000, Sennheiser HD600/650 and Shure SRH940. All of these sound as if they are fantastic headphones but I had to make a decsion in the end on one pair.  I am hoping for a very well contructed set of headphones that are comfortable to wear (I do hear some complaints here) and have a very neutral presentation of sound with dynamics and a large soundstage from the K 702s. I had no idea how volatile the subject of which headphones to choose could be in an online community such as this!  The euphonic nature of human hearing and people's need to justify their likes and dislikes can produce some very interesting posts.
 
I was not sure that I needed the Micro Amp given that my audio interface has a preamp in it.  Does anyone else here run K 702s off of a audio interface without an amp? I also wanted to ask other K 701/Q 701 and K 702 owners about any non listening methods used to break them in? I have read online that they really reach their glory after a few hundred hours of use which might take a good part of a year for me. They should arrive towards the end of the week and I will follow up with my impressions.
 
Thanks,
 
Bob

 
BTW the Headroom Micro has perfect synergy with the K702 and Q701. It doesn't fix the K702s treble, but still sounds good. I imagine the Micro Amp holds up very well with the M-Stage, which after shipping is probably the same price as the Micro Amp.
 
Don't worry, when you get the Micro Amp your first impression will be something like mine.."This thing is so small. No way this thing could drive the K702 well enough!". Yes, I know that amp size doesn't always mean much

The Micro is about half the height of the Fiio E9! It has a brick as a power supply though.
 
My Micro Amp is never going anywhere.

 

[iim7V7IM7]

Thanks for sharing your impressions regarding the HeadRoom Micro Amp.  I really wasn't sure that that part of the purchase.  I got the impression that from online reading that it may not be well regarded compared to newer options like the Schiit Asgard and some others in the sub- $500 price range.  The specifications on it look quite good.  What are others experiences with Headphone amps? Has anyone A/Bd K701s or K702s with both of these amps?