[mike1127]

x

 

[elwappo99]

I've owned both of these, recabled and balanced. The k601 is terrific when balanced. It gains much more space and control over bass when used with balanced amplifiers. Also, the effects your discussed (like strings) are intensified as the bass gets controlled. Just my $.02

 

[dxps26]

K601 all the way...Amping has shown to me (and Many) how particularly demanding this Can is. I think the Cable work will help it get the little push over the edge, Turn it up to Eleven, if you will

 

 

[mike1127]

Thanks guys--- I love the musicality of the K601, which seems to be the largely ignored little brother of the K701. Good to know other people out there love it, too.

 

[tdockweiler]

I'm also trying to decide on which one to recable myself. I like the K601 a lot more and I almost never use the K702 unless it's for ambient music!
 
I'm afraid of killing my K601 if the recable goes wrong. I also won't do it if I don't make it dual entry and bypass the internal wires.
 
The problem with recabling the K601 is trying to find a wire that's a good match for it. It's OK if people don't agree, but nearly every cheap wire I've tried sounded different.
For example, Belden 1192A would be a terrible match for the K601 because it made the mids on my HD-598 too forward and I had to remove it within a day. Sounded great though and had the most detail with the clearest sound. I think for the K601 a neutral wire would be best, maybe Mogami.  I've heard Double Helix is quite neutral too. Strangely that Belden wire seemed to make the soundstage of my HD-598 even larger. Could be a good or bad thing with the K601 if it gives the same results.
 
There may be no improvement with the cheaper ($1-$5/foot) wire and the K601, but maybe I'll prove myself wrong. Could be just a waste of time for me.
Has anyone actually HEARD an improvement when recabling a K601 with cheaper wire? I don't really want to pay $100+ for bulk wire.
I imagine the stock AKG cables are as good as Mogami or Canare or am I totally wrong?
 
 

 

[lejaz]

Interesting observations. will the 70X gain some warmth and body after more burn in and the recable? Will it lose that peak in the upper mids/low treble that you described. (I hear the same peak, which makes some muted trumpet parts in a big jazz band sound like buzzing bees!). I've not read anywhere that these issues will be resolved by a recable. I tried a new mogami cable on my 702 and none of those issues changed. Of course a 702 re-cable is a bit different than a 701 recable. I'm the second owner, so they have had quite a bit of burn in, but can't say exactly how much. The only report I've read that gives me hope for them is to go balanced, but I'm not going to invest the money, as I decided to go with a phone that gives me the warmth and body that I found lacking in them....the hd580. I could have just as easily gone with the 601....it was pretty much of a toss up on which I'd go for.....but i wanted to hear the 580 low mids and bass, and I'm very happy I did.

 

[renlute]

I don't know about recabling, never tried it, but my impression of my K702 vs my K601 is the opposite of a couple above. I just tried listening A/B to passages from a DVD of the ballet La Bayadere (Orchestra of the Opera de Paris) and a youtube video of luthier Wayne Henderson playing the Steel Guitar Rag on an instrument he'd built. My impressions of the two phones hold for both sources.
 
The 702 immediately impresses as warmer, fuller bass, more enveloping sound in general, and broader and deeper soundstage. The 702 also sounds significantly more powerful my amp that is not very powerful at all, but good for A/B/C/D comparisons == a Presonus hp4. (I'll be stepping up to something better before long.)
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFgw_pplZ-Q
 
The K601 may have an advantage of less insinuation of its own coloration. I've felt since I bought it last year that the musical source sounds somewhat more immediate on the 601 than the 702. However the highs on an instrument like the steel-string guitar are more likely to sound shrill or unpleasant on the 601 than on the 702.
 
I just tried another classical piece you can all access -- Beethoven's 9th.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAOTCtW9v0M&feature=related
 
The 601 sounds pretty good, but not when I put on the 702. The timpani right at the beginning knocks me off my seat on the 702, but while it's still powerful it doesn't compare on the 601.
 
Admittedly this may be partly an amp issue. I'm listening to the same passages on one of my K340s and can tell that the amp cannot push these cans adequately. I've heard them on a better amplifier and they knocked both 601 and 702 to their knees.

 

[mike1127]

Quote:

I don't know about recabling, never tried it, but my impression of my K702 vs my K601 is the opposite of a couple above. I just tried listening A/B to passages from a DVD of the ballet La Bayadere (Orchestra of the Opera de Paris) and a youtube video of luthier Wayne Henderson playing the Steel Guitar Rag on an instrument he'd built. My impressions of the two phones hold for both sources.
 
The 702 immediately impresses as warmer, fuller bass, more enveloping sound in general, and broader and deeper soundstage. The 702 also sounds significantly more powerful my amp that is not very powerful at all, but good for A/B/C/D comparisons == a Presonus hp4. (I'll be stepping up to something better before long.)
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFgw_pplZ-Q
 
The K601 may have an advantage of less insinuation of its own coloration. I've felt since I bought it last year that the musical source sounds somewhat more immediate on the 601 than the 702. However the highs on an instrument like the steel-string guitar are more likely to sound shrill or unpleasant on the 601 than on the 702.
 
I just tried another classical piece you can all access -- Beethoven's 9th.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAOTCtW9v0M&feature=related
 
The 601 sounds pretty good, but not when I put on the 702. The timpani right at the beginning knocks me off my seat on the 702, but while it's still powerful it doesn't compare on the 601.
 
Admittedly this may be partly an amp issue. I'm listening to the same passages on one of my K340s and can tell that the amp cannot push these cans adequately. I've heard them on a better amplifier and they knocked both 601 and 702 to their knees.

These aren't necessarily contradictory to my observations. I think the K701 (or K702, which I think is identical other than the cable attachment) has a bass hump. Say you listen to a bass guitar pluck a note. Depending on the pitch of the note, the bass hump could lend it a fuller, warmer sound. No contradiction there. If, on the other hand, you said that a midrange flute or some such note sounded warmer on K702 then I would be surprised.
 
The K702 with a more enveloping and bigger soundstage: I agree with that.
 
You-tube recordings are very low resolution. Just pointing that out.
 
The timpani probably has more impact with the K702 because of that bass hump.
 
How highs are perceived depends on the distribution of energy over the spectrum. A recorded sound can have more energy in the lower treble, more in the mid treble (sibilance), or more in the high treble. If a sound has its energy primarily in the sibilance region, then I would bet money it will sound brighter on the K702. And if it's not a good recording, or not a good amp, and there's some harshness to it, then you would probably say the K702 is more unpleasant.
 
If you think the K601 is more unpleasant, then first there's probably some harshness to the recording or the playback, and second it's probably not in the sibilance region.
 
I should also point out that the output impedance of the amp has a huge effect on the K601, especially the highs. I used a little box with my amp that adds 100 ohms in series with the output, and it makes all the difference with the K601. It's harsh without that. And apparently, as best I can tell about the AKG engineers, which seem to be very reticent to give out information, they don't expect you to be using an amp with near zero output impedance (such as most solid-state amps).
 

 

[lejaz]

1. @ mike 1127
2.  
3. Did you try the impedance adapter with the 701?  If so, was there any change? I was using a SS amp with almost zero output impedance, AFAIK, with the 702

 

[mike1127]

I use the box with the K701, also, but it doesn't make as obvious a change. I can dial the resistance anywhere from 120 ohms to 80 ohms, and there is hardly any change in tonal balance. And removing the box completely, there is little change in tonal balance.--but I think it sounds slightly smoother with 120 ohms. Not a big difference.
 

 

[mike1127]

My K701 have about 300 hours of burn-in on very loud pink noise. I must say, the warmth and musicality is coming along. They are still a "cool" headphone compared to the K601, but then the K601 is probably too warm. The sibilance is still an issue, but I am told by someone who got K Works to recable his K701 that the recable gets rid of the sibilance.