[gurus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gabedamien Where are these available for $139??

EBay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...e=STRK:MEWA:IT

 

[abc]

Wow...not a lot of negatives about this puppy. Very interesting.

 

[Asmo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ferbose It only occurred to me yesterday that my new DAC1 has pre-amp function and I should try K501 with my sub. Fortunately I have a pair of subwoofers going down to 25 Hz. One of them is now mated with speakers. The second is connected to DAC1 to be used with K501. Now I can't really complain about the bass of K501 at all. K501 is a complete open design, so subwoofer bass penetrates easily. The bass now has extension and body, and visceral impact as well. Low bass notes also have a pleasant openess, as if it coming from a distance, and in fact it is from a sub 6 ft away. Surprisingly, the added bass opens up the rest of the spectrum as well, and gives an even more spacious feeling than K501 alone. And the kick in the bass--it is wonderful. The kick is as much aural as it is visceral. The body gets the shaken-up feeling, but the ear does not hear overly loud notes--much more like real bass. This is better bass than I have heard on HD580 and an entry-level Stax. I guess K501 mates better with subs than HD580/600/650. Senns already have great bass, and adding a sub to create visceral impact can add too much bass volume. Vibrators are probably better with Seens. K501 is slightly deficient in bass and adding a sub sounds just right. Oh, K501 already has great bass clarity (fast and tight) that does not mess up the mids, so now I get both bass clarity, speed, extension and kick. Yup, my K501 really rocks, with a sub at least.

Dosn't adding a subwoofer while listening to headphones almost defeat the purpose of headphones?

Why not just use speakers?

 

[Ferbose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asmo Dosn't adding a subwoofer while listening to headphones almost defeat the purpose of headphones? Why not just use speakers?

Not really, if the headphone is for non-protable use.

I cross over the sub at 55Hz, and therefore the sub only makes some low rumbles. Since human hearing is relatively insensitive to such low bass, it does not appear loud at all. Even if people hear a bit of that rumble through the walls, they would probably think it is AC or plumbing noise and not even realize it is a subwoofer. Non-audiophles often mistaken a subwoofer as a boom-making machine (booming is around 100-150Hz). I use K501 in my room only. I use it because it does not disturb my roommate and neighbors like my full-range speakers. I also use headphones becuase it offers greater resolution and transparency. With subwoofer and headphone, I can get clarity and bass impact without disturbing others.
Sometimes I also want to know just what is being recorded. Though my speakers are pretty good, they still have higher distortion than K501 and the room interaction further complicates things. Using K501+sub gives me a better idea of what is actually recorded and that is quite valuable.

 

[HVK]

Had to send them back. To sloppy fitting on the head. I did them right up but they just felt way too loose! The sound was good although the HD600's and 650's made me a believer!

 

[wallijonn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vforrest Could you elaborate on cable replacement? I haven't tried removing the cables, but it doesn't look as easy as replacing Senn cables.

Replacing the cable(s) on the K501 is really a snap. You remove the "K501" gold sticker with an exacto knife, "glue" it to the side of the headphone, unsolder 4 posts. You should make a wiring diagram before hand then use an ohmmeter to discern the correct wiring. Replace with your favourite cable, Canare, Belden, Mogami, etc. You should discern more bass and clearer highs. Whether the 'effect' is acceptable is up to you. A little too much bass and it may overwhelm the lower midrange, separate wiring tends to widen the crossover effect. If you're going to replace the wiring, do it for cleaner mids and highs and not lower lows.

I had a thread in here with pictures about 2 years ago.

 

[koax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by abc Wow...not a lot of negatives about this puppy. Very interesting.

...that although I adore the K501's, that I use them now exclusively for listening, and have found that they introduce another completely new dimension of texture with their super-wide soundstage and imaging, and that they decidedly blow away my previous headphone-of-love (a well amped 240M), the very thing that makes them magical to listen to is also their biggest weakness.

Their open design.

Their complete lack of isolation lets atmospheric sounds in with no resistance whatsoever. Rustling of papers around the office, the hum of your refrigerator, the voice of your cubicle-neighbor (the obnoxiously loud sales guy), mice scurrying across the floor (!), etc. Listening to music on headphones can be a very enveloping, isolating, and cocoon-like, experience. These phones are not well suited for that purpose at all. They are best experienced in a very quiet environment.

They are so comfortable that I would find myself leaving them on my head, or actually putting them on WHEN NOT LISTENING TO MUSIC at the office as some sort of safety blanket effect. They are so comfortable and light that I sometimes didn't notice that they were there. Also, with the music off, it's completely possible to have full conversations without taking them off. This can be unnerving to coworkers.

The line about the loud-mouthed sales guy is true. I actually bought a pair of AKG 271's just to keep his voice out and my sanity in. I do admit that I switched to the K501's when he wasn't on a call. I sold the 271's when I left that job, as I had grown very addicted to the detail, soundstage, and imaging of the 501's. The non-fatiguingness of them is definitely to be noted too. The closed design of the 271's (read: "pressure"), and the (imho) too-prominent bass "wore" on me.

I decided that the trade-off was well-worth it.

Let me wrap this up by pouring some love on these phones' imaging. For the vast majority of listening (low-bitrate (128-160kbps) encoded music notwithstanding), each instrument can be paid attention to on it's own. The instruments don't step all over each other. The bass drum doesn't muck up the bass guitar or the low guitar sounds. When I decide to focus on a particularly interesting guitar riff or bass line or drum track, the guitarist or bassist or drummer appears in his own physically distinct location. (this is hard to describe without sounding like a huge hippie). "The singer is over there, the guitarist is over there, the bassist is over there, and the drummer is over there." This effect can be a little "spacey" when used to listening to closed or semi-closed phones. After this initial disorientation, I was filled with fascination .. and now I am completely charmed. I encourage any new purchasers of these phones to 1) be prepared for this possible disorientation, and 2) to give them a chance. In my opinion, the effect is like being in the front row of a rock show, where the "sound guy" perfectly balances each instrument (this never happens, and you'll begin to notice when attending live concerts, if you haven't already).

As for the squakings I've been hearing about the 501's bass; To me they seem completely unfounded. They definitely sound "fuller" in the bass when driven by dedicated sources and amps. I mostly listen to them driven by headphone jacks on laptops (apple iBook) and the rear output channels of a chaintech 710 and the bass is always spot-on. It's not "boomy" at all. The high-pressure boomy-ness of certain headphones is what I consider the most fatiguing. Even un-amped, the bass is completely appropriate, and I don't get the sense that I am missing anything by not having an amp in the mix. Also, since they're so easy to drive (relatively low-ohm), they're easily driven to very loud volumes by even dinky sources.

I would buy them again in a heartbeat.
If only I could find a woman as well-balanced as these phones. Sigh!
----------------
www.koax.org

 

[gurus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallijonn Replace with your favourite cable, Canare, Belden, Mogami, etc. You should discern more bass and clearer highs. Whether the 'effect' is acceptable is up to you. A little too much bass and it may overwhelm the lower midrange, separate wiring tends to widen the crossover effect. If you're going to replace the wiring, do it for cleaner mids and highs and not lower lows. I had a thread in here with pictures about 2 years ago.

Have you found any replacement cable that improves or complements the overall sound without negatively impacting the sonic signature of the 501s?

 

[wallijonn]

I've only tried the Mogami cable. I would think that silver cables would complement it. I really wanted to try magnetic oxide coated copper wires but I never got around to ordering flexible MOCC wires.

 

[Jahn]

i've read about the good synergy between using a K1000 and a sub at the same time, so I'm glad to read that the same magic happens between a sub and a K501 as well.

 

[gurus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallijonn I've only tried the Mogami cable. I would think that silver cables would complement it. I really wanted to try magnetic oxide coated copper wires but I never got around to ordering flexible MOCC wires.

So how did the 501s sound with the Mogami cable?

 

[gabedamien]

I've owned my AKG K501's for about 5 hours and I like them a lot so far.

 

[gurus]

Just got my 501s today and have been listening to real music since then. I haven't heard such good mid bass thru top end reproduction. The vocals and the attack on the piano are (un)real. IMO, piano is one of the most difficult instruments to reproduce the sound of and the 501's does that exceptionally well. I have the ATH-AD1000/Senn 555 to compare to and I can easily see myself spending a lot more time with the 501s than the AD1000/555.

The 501's sound like live unamplified music (aka no or very litlle sonic signature) while the AD1000 sounds like you are listening to music thru an amp and speakers, if that makes sense. Forget the thick heavy sounding 555.

The 501's are a bugger to drive. And that could be the reason why they are bass shy -mind you just the very lower spectrum. It also made me realise how good the Rudistor RP-31 is. The RP-31 does a decent job of driving them but I feel that maybe the RP-33 with its dual mono design would drive them a lot better and the 501s bass would definitely benefit from the higher current.
Changing from Canare ICs to Peterson Silver IC's also improved the lower bass and added more slam and a lot of detail and air to things like cymbals and triangles. It seemed like the whole frequency range opened up and got extended. The soudstage also improved quite noticeably. I must say, the soundstaging is one of the strong forte of the 501s.

Once I have sometime, I would love to try them with my Wadia as a source with some Pulsar ICs and a VH Power cord. If this synergistic combination fails, I can always go back to the AD1000s if and when I want some stronger bass!

I think for what they cost, the 501s offer (and they are not even broken in or tweaked) absolutely great sound at a bargain basement price.

 

[Ferbose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gurus Once I have sometime, I would love to try them with my Wadia as a source with some Pulsar ICs and a VH Power cord. If this synergistic combination fails, I can always go back to the AD1000s if and when I want some stronger bass! I think for what they cost, the 501s offer (and they are not even broken in or tweaked) absolutely great sound at a bargain basement price.

Glad to see what seems like to me a resurgence of K501 popularity.

Actually, for the price of a couple mid-level interconnects, you can get a quality budget sub that would totally transform K501, if you also happen to have a pre-amp out somewhere (maybe signal splitting at line-level would also work using piggyback RCA connectors). Amazingly, with sub crossover set at <60Hz, you can listen to loud music with body-shaking bass without disturbing neighbors. In another post of mine I have explained why: http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=100886

By transforming I mean you can get clean, agile, deeeeep and moooooving bass that does not mess up the already pristine mids of K501. For the first time in five years for K501 ownership, I feel I know its true colors.

 

[Romanee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gabedamien I've owned my AKG K501's for about 5 hours and I like them a lot so far.

Wow! If you like them virtually out of the box (I was sorely disappointed by a couple of pairs out-of-box), you'll love them after a few weeks of burn-in. They tend to be very stiff, constricted and "closed" before burn-in. Remember to use some very deep bass test files to loosen them up. They will improve significantly in the first 100 hours or so, and will continue to improve after that. Repeating a few days of deep bass later on will open them up again, even after they've matured!


Quote:

Originally Posted by gurus Just got my 501s today and have been listening to real music since then. I haven't heard such good mid bass thru top end reproduction. The vocals and the attack on the piano are (un)real. IMO, piano is one of the most difficult instruments to reproduce the sound of and the 501's does that exceptionally well. I have the ATH-AD1000/Senn 555 to compare to and I can easily see myself spending a lot more time with the 501s than the AD1000/555. The 501's sound like live unamplified music (aka no or very litlle sonic signature) while the AD1000 sounds like you are listening to music thru an amp and speakers, if that makes sense. Forget the thick heavy sounding 555. The 501's are a bugger to drive. And that could be the reason why they are bass shy -mind you just the very lower spectrum. It also made me realise how good the Rudistor RP-31 is. The RP-31 does a decent job of driving them but I feel that maybe the RP-33 with its dual mono design would drive them a lot better and the 501s bass would definitely benefit from the higher current. Changing from Canare ICs to Peterson Silver IC's also improved the lower bass and added more slam and a lot of detail and air to things like cymbals and triangles. It seemed like the whole frequency range opened up and got extended. The soudstage also improved quite noticeably. I must say, the soundstaging is one of the strong forte of the 501s. Once I have sometime, I would love to try them with my Wadia as a source with some Pulsar ICs and a VH Power cord. If this synergistic combination fails, I can always go back to the AD1000s if and when I want some stronger bass! I think for what they cost, the 501s offer (and they are not even broken in or tweaked) absolutely great sound at a bargain basement price.

I expect you've read this too many times and it must be getting tedious, but the 501s will continue to bloom during weeks (or hundreds of hours) of burn-in. They are usually so stiff, constricted and relatively closed when new that it's just that much harder to make any valid judgments on synergy until they have matured.

Have you had the opportunity to try the latest GSP Solo amp with the 501s? This little amp drives them with ease, huge dynamics, great depth and breathing room to spare -- but as usual the sound would have to fit your taste. I'll have a chance to revisit the Solo and audition the RP-33 the end of January at immtbiker's mini-meet and will post impressions thereafter. (The original purpose & focus was the Qualia 010s with RP-33 and a bunch of other pieces, and it's expanded a bit beyond that.)

I love my 501s and though they sound wonderful with a number of different systems, it is tough to find the optimal amp for them. I almost think the K1000s are easier to amp: I've heard them sound really sweet with RKV MkII, Dared Monoblocks, Cary 300SEI and a few others -- and the K1000s are supposed to be more difficult to drive than the 501s. Perhaps it's because the 501s are a more limited system than the K1000s and so harder to draw great/optimal sound from them(?).