Are you happy with your AKG K501s?
Jan 8, 2005 at 5:45 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 55

gurus

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I heard the AKG 501s at the CES show. IMO, they had a great midrange, nice and open balanced sound, lot of slam in the midbass and were light and very comfortable to wear. And most of all no boomy bass here and a nice top end that didn't cause listener fatigue. I listen to mostly jazz and rock from the 70's and thought it had enough low bass to satisfy me. I am by no means a basshead.

I just wanted to hear from current 501 owners why they like the 501s.
 
Jan 8, 2005 at 6:01 PM Post #2 of 55
have mine for a couple of weeks. music along the lines you mention.

can't be happier. had been using grado 325 and senn px-100 when the 325s were gone.

conventional wisdom is that the bass will fill out at about 300 hours. i figure i've got about 100. using the MoFi "Sound Check" warble tone tracks, the 501 so far goes as deep as the 325s do (after a couple of years use). since my ears are past 40, the limit could be them and not the phones. the midbass is definitely less phat. i find that a good thing. there is already enough that at times i feel the air moving in the phone rather than hear the tone. on "good" jazz recordings, what i notice is that the bass line is tone distinct.

listening to Badi Assad/rhythms/chesky. female vocal, acoustic guitar, and percussion. lovely. it is a close miked recording, so not much in the way of hall souncd, but clear as bell.

speaking of bells, try to find some Dave Douglas/Tiny Bell Trio discs, hathut/art. and Masada, and marty ehrlich's Dark Woods.

any way: yeah they're way good if you like your bass true and not bloated.
 
Jan 8, 2005 at 6:06 PM Post #3 of 55
Interestingly you've described my opinion on 501 =) especially agree on lack of listeners fatigue. The only thing is that I really missed some of the low notes ... it's there, but very distant. I'm no basshead either, but I found bass neutral [size=xx-small]595[/size] suit my taste better. If you can live with the bass then it would make them a very good phones ... I like my 501 but not quite happy with them.
 
Jan 8, 2005 at 8:32 PM Post #5 of 55
I've had my K501s for a couple of months, and I am certaiinly pleased with the performance. I broke mine in using bass tones as recommended in a K501 thread here on Head-Fi, as well as a wide range of other music. The bass has developed quite well, and I enjoy the balanced sound spectrum.

I do think the K501s are best served by proper amplification. I use a JMT PPA with bass boost, and the very clean, analytical sound of the amp seems to mate well with the clear and open presentation of the AKG. Sound stage is very wide, and instruments, particularly in chamber music, seem precisely situated. Some find the sound field shallow, but I've not noticed that to be any more the case than with other headphones I use regularly.

Comfort is very good with the K501. They fit well over my glasses and are good for extended listening. About the only complaint I can summon is the the thin cable seems to tangle easily. I can live with that.

The K501s have generated a fair amount of discussion recently. You've probably done a search, so you shouldn't lack for insights and opinions.

Hope some of this helps.

BW
 
Jan 8, 2005 at 8:34 PM Post #6 of 55
I've had K501's for about four months now, and I LOVE their spectral balance, their soundstage and their sonic textural/timbral properties. Yes, I'm VERY happy with the K501's. I also use ER6 at work, which, for work phones, produce a very high quality sound. I'm always happy to come home at the end of the day to the K501's for the abundant fullness of their sound.
 
Jan 8, 2005 at 9:15 PM Post #8 of 55
I've had some odd build quality problems with mine. The first thing was the included 1/4 inch adapter breaking when I was unpluged them from my gilmore V2, leaving half the plug still in the socket, had to use pliers to remove them as all that was sticking out was some cheapo plastic part that insulates the tip. That happened a while back, last january I think. More recently in august last year one of the wires in the left earcup broke off from the solder contact point, and i had to resolder it on. The strain relief on the earcup is also gone. I'm assuming this was from contact with whatever the green stuff they put on the wires is, flux or an anticorrosive or something. The green stuff tends to leak out whenever it's warm, and the stress relief sort of fell off bit by bit after I first noticed it. From a sound quality perspective however I still like them, they have enough kick, and fairly clean highs, great for solo or small string bands. If it's an orchestra though and there are lots of harmonics in the sound they seem to lose their musicality, you can still hear all the instruments, but it sounds more like noise than music. The only other gripe I have with them is just how open they are, though I suppose this goes for all open air headphones.

Edit: Don't take this as a purely negative post, they are very comfortable, and for most of the music I listen to they sound really good. Hopefully the issues I've seen with my pair are just a fluke.
 
Jan 8, 2005 at 9:49 PM Post #9 of 55
which reminds me. the one thing that i noticed about them, which wasn't clear from pictures and whatever, is that the cups are positioned by those teeny threads; although i've searched and haven't come up with any msgs. saying they broke. but i still wonder how durable they'll turn out to be.

(i power them with a MAD HD with some mods.)
 
Jan 8, 2005 at 10:41 PM Post #10 of 55
robert: No worries, mate - these strings might lose a bit of their tension over the years, but they are fairly durable. Well, more durable than in the 80s, that is - 'cause on my two K240Ms I had at that time, the strings got too weak after some 2 1/2 years each. Whereas I didn't have any problems so far with the K400, K501 and K240S I bought after that. In addition, I wouldn't be surprised at all, if AKG offered a replacment part - and I'd think one could replace these strings oneself, too.

Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini
 
Jan 8, 2005 at 11:11 PM Post #11 of 55
Quote:

Originally Posted by sbulack
I've had K501's for about four months now, and I LOVE their spectral balance, their soundstage and their sonic textural/timbral properties. Yes, I'm VERY happy with the K501's. I also use ER6 at work, which, for work phones, produce a very high quality sound. I'm always happy to come home at the end of the day to the K501's for the abundant fullness of their sound.


How would you compare the K501 to the ER-6? I just got recently an ER-6, whose brightness and clarity I am quite enjoying compared to my Senns (HD555). Which is prompting me to replace the HD555 with either an ER-4S, a DT 880, or, more relevantly to this thread, a K501.

In particular I'm interested on how the bass in the K501 compares to the ER-6.
 
Jan 8, 2005 at 11:57 PM Post #12 of 55
Quote:

Originally Posted by sacundim
How would you compare the K501 to the ER-6? I just got recently an ER-6, whose brightness and clarity I am quite enjoying compared to my Senns (HD555). Which is prompting me to replace the HD555 with either an ER-4S, a DT 880, or, more relevantly to this thread, a K501.

In particular I'm interested on how the bass in the K501 compares to the ER-6.



I can't help you with a comparison with the ER-6, but the K501 and the DT880s are my two favorite headphones. I'm wearing one and can see the other as I type. For brightness and clarity go for the K501. The Beyers lack the "airiness" that characterizes the AKG IMO. Better yet, get both.
evil_smiley.gif


BW
 
Jan 9, 2005 at 12:51 AM Post #13 of 55
i've had my k501's for 2-3 months now. i'm currently listening to some s&m with extreme happiness. the lows are the best i've ever heard (although my headphone experience is minimal at best). the midrange is pretty much perfect to my ears. the highs are smooth and just right to me. in all honesty, buying these headphones coupled with the rewiring and the amp is the best choice i've ever made in the headphone world. the portapros were to boomy and muddy for my interest. the sr80's had a terrible soundstage and were hard to handle physically. the a900's sounded as if the midrange was killed by the bass and treble.

physically, the k501's are extremely comfortable. headphone-hair-wise, they don't give me any negative problems, although my hair does appear flat after prolonged wear.
 
Jan 9, 2005 at 1:16 AM Post #14 of 55
Quote:

Originally Posted by robert
which reminds me. the one thing that i noticed about them, which wasn't clear from pictures and whatever, is that the cups are positioned by those teeny threads; although i've searched and haven't come up with any msgs. saying they broke. but i still wonder how durable they'll turn out to be.

(i power them with a MAD HD with some mods.)



I've owned both the 240M and the K501 from AKG, both using the same elastic type mechanism. Despite the daily flogging the 240's recieved during my college days (tossing them into boxes, dropping them on the floor, moving, etc) they haven't skipped a beat. Honestly those bands are the last part I'd worry about on the headphones, since the groove the headband slides in stops before you reach their elastic limits.
 
Jan 9, 2005 at 1:40 AM Post #15 of 55
I think that the K501 is an amazing headphone, especially for the price. Light and comfortable, with well balanced sound. Great choice. They are also very easy to re-cable.

So why the heck did I sell mine? 2 reasons: they sounded very much like my HD600s, and the Sens are just more comfortable/stable for me. Also, those pads itch! I get a reaction to whatever that material is, and end up with big red rings on my head. That pretty much trumped any sonic benefits.


gerG
 

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