[SP Wild]

Hi guys,

I am having some issues with my beloved K701's lately and wonder if others have had similar issues.

OK - so, because I have retired from the rat race I find I have a lot of time on my hands (great - I get to actually listen to my headphones for as long as I desire). I also find myself wide awake in the middle of the night and I thought I could watch movies with headphones (something I never really tried).

I figured the headphone of choice should be my favored K701's, but I have found that during dialogue, there is a closed in sensation in the extreme upper middle range - an unwillingness to open up - like there is a distracting resonance. I really hate to say this, but. I have heard K701 haters calling them "tin cans", and this is exactly the sensation I am getting. Like someone is talking inside a tin can - not so obviously - but a very slight sensation. Perhaps its just this one movie - but no, its like that in all the movies.

Well thats OK - perhaps the K701 is not suited to movies, only music. But alas, cursed I am - I now hear this phenomenon in all my music. It manifests itself in every sound emitted - and it was something I never noticed before, but. After the movie incidences, will not leave my consciousness whenever they are on my head - It drives me crazy.

This phenomena was first noticed in my HD595 - much more severely and in a lower frequency range (instead of a tin can - the can is made of soft plastic or cardboard) - also never noticed this in my HD595 in the past until recently, when I got into my Ipod.

Am I going mad or has anyone else noticed this phenomena. I am not bashing the K701's - I have always enjoyed them - what gives? Has anyone had this particular issue with their K701?

 

[spartan123]

your going mad.

 

[Brandon7s]

I've not noticed anything like this with the K701 pair I got a few weeks ago, and I watch movies with them all the time.

 

[aimlink]

I find my K702's to be quite nice for movies. It tames the usual boominess of the bass in most movie soundtracks these days, voice clarity and forwardness in great and treble fine. If it were not for the bumps on the head-band, I'd designate them my preferred movie cans. I don't hear any tin-can type sound coming from the treble range.

You may well be getting obsessive with the sound and this is a troublesome path to take since you'll now be hearing it everywhere there is a sound stimulus.

 

[KCChiefsfan]

Closed in is the last phrase I'd use to describe the K701. The soundstage is massive (in my opinion, I know that some have a differing one). You could always try a tube amplifier to add some warmth (I'm assuming you've got some sort of headphone amplifier running the K701's. If you don't, then there is your problem) though it doesn't sound like that is what you are after.

I have the 555's (modded into 595's) and I'm not sure what you mean there either. I find the highs lacking on the 595's, not the lows (again, this is all source and amp dependent, so YMMV). Does your pair of 595 have a particular problem with cymbals by any chance? That has always been my biggest pet peeve with them, and it was one of the reasons that I eventually upgraded.

I don't really know how to fix your problem, but my advice is always to find a new headphone and audition it instead (if you can afford it). I'd never stick with a headphone that annoyed me (in fact, I got rid of the K701's because the ridges on the headband annoyed me. I have them back now, but it's still a problem I need to fix. If I can't, I'll sell them yet again)

 

[SP Wild]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aimlink /img/forum/go_quote.gif I find my K702's to be quite nice for movies. It tames the usual boominess of the bass in most movie soundtracks these days, voice clarity and forwardness in great and treble fine. If it were not for the bumps on the head, I'd designate them my preferred movie cans. I don't hear any tin-can type sound coming from the treble range. You may well be getting obsessive with the sound and this is a troublesome path to take since you'll now be hearing it everywhere there is a sound stimulus.

That is why I thought the K701's would be perfect for movies - see I was on the right track.

"closed - in" was probably the wrong phrase. I mean this frequency is "prominent and resonating" - and will not "open up" to "meet the treble smoothly".

I eventually settled with the HD650 - though the treble and upper mid is not as prominent as the K701 - the sound "opens up" as it does not "bounce around" or "resonate" in the extreme upper mid - lower treble.

I prefer the signature of the K701 - but I do not appreciate the "tin can resonating effect". Before I am declared crazy - just listen to the K701 on speech - and then just imagine having a conversation with your neighbour and examine the differences.

 

[SP Wild]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KCChiefsfan /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have the 555's (modded into 595's) and I'm not sure what you mean there either. I find the highs lacking on the 595's, not the lows (again, this is all source and amp dependent, so YMMV). Does your pair of 595 have a particular problem with cymbals by any chance? That has always been my biggest pet peeve with them, and it was one of the reasons that I eventually upgraded.

Yup I know exactly what you are saying there - talking into an empty toilet paper roll - hence the treble is rolled - off. I'm a drummer - and cymbals are way not right - not opening up and splashing. They're fatally flawed.

 

[Ypoknons]

I think it'd be easier to help if we knew your sources as well.

 

[fjrabon]

I kind of know what you mean. It's like a certain frequency in the female voice just jumps out and it won't meet the rest of the sound spectrum. I don't know that I would call it resonating, but yeah, the female vocal range is disproportionately forward.

 

[SP Wild]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fjrabon /img/forum/go_quote.gif I kind of know what you mean. It's like a certain frequency in the female voice just jumps out and it won't meet the rest of the sound spectrum. I don't know that I would call it resonating, but yeah, the female vocal range is disproportionately forward.

This definitely would manifest itself in the female voice. Disturbingly, if you watch a movie scene and say the actors are outside in an open field conversing, the K701 renders these sounds like they are conversing in a tiled room. This is disturbing because the K701 is unable to render the outdoor voice - can someone confirm this suspicion that I harbor.

 

[fjrabon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SP Wild /img/forum/go_quote.gif This definitely would manifest itself in the female voice. Disturbingly, if you watch a movie scene and say the actors are outside in an open field conversing, the K701 renders these sounds like they are conversing in a tiled room. This is disturbing because the K701 is unable to render the outdoor voice - can someone confirm this suspicion that I harbor.

I've used the K701 for studio work. It's great for evaluating female vocals, but terrible for mixing/mastering. One job I had was to put together a composite live track from 35 different live takes of a song. At first I was using DT770's and I couldn't evaluate them at all, everything sounded the same. I switched over to K701's and it was like shooting fish in a barrel. Now, I don't like them for actual music listening though, because the female voice and things in a similar spectrum just jump out of them.

=573&graphID[1]=703&graphID[2]=&graphID[3]=&graphType=0&buttonSelection=Compare+Headphones]http://www.headphone.com/learning-center/build-a-graph.php?graphID[0]=573&graphID[1]=703&graphID[2]=&graphID[3]=&graphType=0&buttonSelection=Compare+Headphones

If you notice they spike at two places over the HD600, 2kHz and 6kHz - 8kHz, which are the two frequency ranges that really makes the female voice pop. Whenever I'm mastering and I need to pull female voice out of the muck, those are the two bands I push a little bit. However, on a headphone it makes female voices sound discontinuous to the rest of the mix. It's occasionally good/great if the original mastering had the female vocie too low in the mix, but it's very colored. When you listen to a female vocalist or a piano on a K701, it's not how the producer/engineers intended it to sound. It may sound better, I'm not saying it doesn't, but it's not how its "supposed" to sound.

People trash graphs on here, but I'm not using them to prove a point, but to confirm something I hear, and a lot of other people hear.

 

[MarkJnK]

The only movie I watched with my K701's was Inglorious Bastards, and I thought it was fabulous. The sound, the clarity, the detail I usually lose through the surround sound... I really enjoyed the experience. I found voices especially well represented, with a definite sense like I was hearing the subtleties of their expression and mood much better than I normally do. Certainly no "tin can" effect. Using a Pioneer Elite receiver, and DVD via toslink.

 

[SP Wild]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fjrabon /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've used the K701 for studio work. It's great for evaluating female vocals, but terrible for mixing/mastering. One job I had was to put together a composite live track from 35 different live takes of a song. At first I was using DT770's and I couldn't evaluate them at all, everything sounded the same. I switched over to K701's and it was like shooting fish in a barrel. Now, I don't like them for actual music listening though, because the female voice and things in a similar spectrum just jump out of them. =573&graphID[1]=703&graphID[2]=&graphID[3]=&graphType=0&buttonSelection=Compare+Headphones]http://www.headphone.com/learning-center/build-a-graph.php?graphID[0]=573&graphID[1]=703&graphID[2]=&graphID[3]=&graphType=0&buttonSelection=Compare+Headphones If you notice they spike at two places over the HD600, 2kHz and 6kHz - 8kHz, which are the two frequency ranges that really makes the female voice pop. Whenever I'm mastering and I need to pull female voice out of the muck, those are the two bands I push a little bit. However, on a headphone it makes female voices sound discontinuous to the rest of the mix. It's occasionally good/great if the original mastering had the female vocie too low in the mix, but it's very colored. When you listen to a female vocalist or a piano on a K701, it's not how the producer/engineers intended it to sound. It may sound better, I'm not saying it doesn't, but it's not how its "supposed" to sound. People trash graphs on here, but I'm not using them to prove a point, but to confirm something I hear, and a lot of other people hear.

Yeah - I think this jump in the 2 khz region is the emphasis and perhaps the second jump in the 8 khz may contribute to the "resonance". Comparing the 701 to the HD650 graph confirms my suspicions that even though the 701 is a treble phone and the HD650 is not - the K701 upper treble appears more rolled off than the HD650 - ie the HD650 has more treble extension relative to lower treble.

What surprised me was that a lot of these attributes were not picked up with a lot of music - however moments in a DVD movie dialogue - I grasped a wealth of information I missed with music.

 

[Acix]

SP Wild, maybe the K701 make you aware of the bad quality of the online movies?
In some of the online movies you can hear the low quality compression bit rate and sound artifacts, same as the low bit rate mp3s.

 

[SP Wild]

I just realised that I probably never really noticed this in the past because all my music is almost exclusively female vocals. Nevermind - though I am now casting my eyes on the HD800.