[Podtweaker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gatto /img/forum/go_quote.gif that zen head amp looks nice, what headphones do you use it with?

Beyerdynamic DT770/PRO 80ohms. I had gotten these phones because I was looking for a pair of sealed phones for portable use. It turns out that these phones are the ones the designer used to 'voice' the Zen Head when he was designing the amp. They are a bit tight(or it could just be my fat head) but they sound very nice w/ this amp. I ended up bending the headband out a bit by flexing the band a bit closer to a straight line rather than rolled steel band circumference they are at. You might not have to do this. I have a pair of AKG 701s that I use w/ my tubed home headphone amp. If I can find what the hell I did w/ the 1/4" to 1/8" adaptor jack I'll put the 701s on my fat head & give it a listen.

 

[Gatto]

lol, if you could do a review that would be great!

 

[jsrockit]

I was interested in the 701s...but just couldn't figure out a good cheap amp to go with them...so I went with the Beyerdynamic DT770/PRO 80ohms as well...they look good, feel good, and sound good. I needed a pair of closed headphones for recording...I'll get the 701s later when I can do it right.

 

[Gatto]

has anyone tried the iBasso D3 Python, the price looks pretty good and it's powered by 5 batteries, think it could drive them at least decently?

 

[Rednamalas1]

^ probably not.

Only portable amp I've heard that can drive K701s at least decently was Audio Lisa...And that is not very portable

 

[wolfen68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rednamalas1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^ probably not. Only portable amp I've heard that can drive K701s at least decently was Audio Lisa...And that is not very portable

I used my former K701's almost exclusively with an SR71 and found the combination very satisfying. A desktop would surely show some improvement, but for transportable situations I found the combination more than adequate. That combination is still the greatest soundstaging I've heard in a "portable" rig.

 

[tomjtx]

The Corda Move does a very good job with the 701 .

Less air than DV337 and Cantate? Yes less soundstage too, but it still does a very good job.

The iBasso D3, however, seems incapable of driving the 701. There was so much distortion (clipping) I was worried about damaging the 701.
The sound was anemic , thin and the bass was a blur of distortion.

This was true of both high and low gain.

I was surprised , because with IEMs (Se530, Ety4s, earlier shures) and Yuin PK1 and 2 the D3 is an astonishing amp.

with these types of phones I like the D3 more than the Move.

gatto, I would recommend you buy the D3 and pair it with compatible phone for the office and you can then enjoy the great sound of the D3 with your Freqs.

Wait till you can buy a great home amp to go with the 701.

Or get the Meier Move which does drive the 701 quite well.
You can plug in the move as well and not worry about battery life.

 

[u-hear-that]

I run my 701 with a headroom cosmic in my office. It is portable with 4 d cell battery brick. It will push the 701 ok but I get even more plugging the amp up with an astrodyne power switch. That does the trick. Theres a portable amp that will suffice but truly needs to be plugged in.

 

[Gatto]

how about the Predator? think I'd see a big difference in the SR 71 and the Predator

 

[olblueyez]

Why not just buy an inexpensive desktop amp like the LD Mk V and leave the 701s at home like most people do? If you want portable then get some cheap buds or IEMs for now and save for some nice portable headphones that wont need an amp. Why must non portable headphones be driven by a portable amp? You just doing yourself a disservice by trying to drive the 701s with an underpowered amp. Even an inexpensive AC amp will not drive those headphones to their full potential, for that you would need an AC amp costing 1000 to 2000 bucks or even more.

 

[Rednamalas1]

agreed on some parts - I don't think 1000$+ amps are always needed for driving K701s to sounding fantastic, but what I suggest is:

Portable: ESW9, no amp (some isolation and but lets out very little sound out.
Home: keep your K701s, and get dedicated home amps to really appreciate those K701s.

IMO, carrying K701s around to work could be problematic, as they're not very small and can be little fragile at times. But if you're listening session is mainly in the office, I suggest small but dedicated amps such as Gilmore lite to pair it up in the office and leave it there.

 

[Podtweaker]

I think you may be placing too much emphasis on the AKG 701s as your end-all phones. My 701s sound fantastic through my Opera tubed headphone amp & while they sounded OK (found the adaptor) through my portable Zen Head amp they were'nt nearly as impressive as Denon AH-D5000 headphone(I picked up today) through the Zen Head. I haven't had a chance to listen to the Denons through my Opera home amp yet. Another good thing about the Denons is that they didn't need as much volume as the 701s thru the ZH1 amp. The dealer was pretty much taken back by the SQ of the ZH as I had it w/ me to audition the D5000s . His comment was he thought it was at least on a par w/ the RSA portables a few of his Head-fi customers had brought in for him to take a listen & he might even like this amp a bit more. One other thing the D5000s don't appear to be giving up anything to the 701s & this is thru the Zen Head ! (To sum up my "fat head" be very much liking my Zen Head, but I guess you can tell that) Later.

 

[olblueyez]

Sell the 701s and add that to your budget. I would also recommend going to a meet so you can see why people are saying these things.

 

[Podtweaker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by olblueyez /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sell the 701s and add that to your budget. I would also recommend going to a meet so you can see why people are saying these things.

Very good suggestions. If I could work a meet into my schedule I would like to go just to see if I could drum up some interest in starting a dialog on why those of us who have moved beyond using the stock players & earbuds are'nt devoting nearly as much effort in seeking out "higher intentioned"/less SQ compromised (because of the 10 billion fun things you can also do w/ your PDAP) players. The end results that we can hear are only as good as what is conveyed by our source components. At the risk of repeating myself I thought this website was called "Head-Fi", maybe we should think about calling it "Head-Fi (well , good enough fi anyway)". What's that line in that popular song "So close, but yet so far away" (I actually don't care for most popular music, the imagery usage is too weak for my taste, but sometimes a line from the lyrics will work when it's used out of context. What do I call most popular music ? Oh that's right "Mediocrity for the masses"

 

[triode12]

What about the TTVJ Millet Hybrid Portable?
Will that drive the K701s decently?