[CYoung234]

I am having fun using my new (to me) K501's. I bought a set each of K601 and K701 pads based on my comparison of these with my brothers K601 headphones. Of course, I tried his pads on my phones, but don't tell him!

I will be doing some more critical listening over the next few weeks on this. I unfortunately have already picked a current favorite, but I do not want to reveal this until I have a better chance to compare them more. I can tell you my favorite IS NOT the stock K501 pads, which have received little ear time since the others arrived.

One final point with these cans is that they are startlingly good unamped on my iPod G3 Nano. I am VERY surprised that they are listenable at all. They far exceed my expectations in this regard.

 

[FortisFlyer75]

I am having fun using my new (to me) K501's. I bought a set each of K601 and K701 pads based on my comparison of these with my brothers K601 headphones. Of course, I tried his pads on my phones, but don't tell him!

I will be doing some more critical listening over the next few weeks on this. I unfortunately have already picked a current favorite, but I do not want to reveal this until I have a better chance to compare them more. I can tell you my favorite IS NOT the stock K501 pads, which have received little ear time since the others arrived.

Hi CYoung,

Not sure where you are located, but where did you get your K701 pads from as i am having trouble finding a stockist for these and how much do they cost?

I have the K702's but want to get spare pads for them and thought the 702 might look a bit unique with the grey 701 pads on ; )

 

[CYoung234]

To get pads, you can contact:

Frank Rodriguez
Customer Service Administrator

Note New E-Mail Address:

frank.rodriguez@harman.com

Ph: 818-920-3279
Fax: 818-920-3208

K701 pads were $22.41 each when I ordered them. They shipped the same day I ordered them.

edit: Oops - I just noticed you are in the UK. There was a site in the UK that sells these. Here it is:

CIMPLE Solutions Pro Ltd

 

[scompton]

You need to contact AKG for your country for the pads.

At one time, I owned the K400, K401, K500, K501, and K601. I compared them all, swapping the pads. The differences between these headphones is very subtle once you change the pads.

 

[FortisFlyer75]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CYoung234 /img/forum/go_quote.gif To get pads, you can contact: Frank Rodriguez Customer Service Administrator Note New E-Mail Address: frank.rodriguez@harman.com Ph: 818-920-3279 Fax: 818-920-3208 K701 pads were $22.41 each when I ordered them. They shipped the same day I ordered them. edit: Oops - I just noticed you are in the UK. There was a site in the UK that sells these. Here it is: CIMPLE Solutions Pro Ltd

Thanks, Will give them a go ; )

Well. will be interesting to see which pads you prefer?

Also your 501's work with portable gear okay with out dedicated amp is interesting...

Are the 501's comfortable in general?

 

[estreeter]

The 501s are light and comfortable - the 601s are heavier but the pads are the most comfortable of any headphone I have ever placed on my head,

 

[oldwine]

i think the K701 pads are also confortable too. it is more soft that the 501's.

 

[CYoung234]

Okay, here are some quick results. Yes, the differences are a little subtle, but the 601 pads sound more open than either the 501 or 701 pads. The 701 pads in particular sound a bit closed in comparison. The good point of this is they provide a bit more isolation. I believe the bass may be a bit stronger with the 701 pads, but at the cost of some muddiness. The 601 pads sound airy and wide open in comparison. Soundstage seems best with the 601 pads as well. In terms of comfort, I believe I prefer the 601 pads over both the 501 and 701 pads, with the 701 pads coming in second.

I will do more listening of course, and provide a more thorough report later.

 

[fishski13]

CYoung,

am i correct in saying that the K701 have pads that angle the drivers toward the ears, and the K501 and K601 have flat pads without any driver angle? i felt like the K701 cupped my head more vs the K601. my impressions between stock K601 and K701 mirror your pad experiment.

i've not heard the K501, but the K601 i have in house right now is sounding really nice with a mellower upper-midrange compared to the K701.

 

[CYoung234]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishski13 /img/forum/go_quote.gif CYoung, am i correct in saying that the K701 have pads that angle the drivers toward the ears, and the K501 and K601 have flat pads without any driver angle? i felt like the K701 cupped my head more vs the K601. my impressions between stock K601 and K701 mirror your pad experiment. i've not heard the K501, but the K601 i have in house right now is sounding really nice with a mellower upper-midrange compared to the K701.

Yes, you are correct. The K701 pads are thicker in back than in front. I am going back and forth with these right now - for some music I may prefer the K701 pads - more listening is required.

As far as your last comment, I have never heard K701's. I have compared the K501 and K601 pretty extensively though. I personally prefer the K501 to the K601. They are more different than you might think. The K601 has a slightly artificial soundstage (too large), and a more diffused or transparent sound. The net effect for me was that some recordings are less well integrated on the K601 - the instruments have so much separation that they almost sound like there are little walls around them. This is for large symphony orchestra recordings. On some rock or jazz recordings this effect is quite nice, though, so to each his own, I guess.

The K501 is a bit more immediate and has a bit better low end extension. The mids and highs on the K501 are a little better. The K601 sounded a bit too warm to me in the mids, and the high end was just a touch overemphasized. One characteristic of live orchestral music I have noticed is that the high end at first seems to not be there - you only hear it when there is actual content in the music itself. A little hard to describe - you have to hear it live. To my ears, the K501 does a slightly better job of conveying this.

Okay, now that I have hijacked my own thread and shifted to a discussion of the headphones itself rather than the pad, I need to do further listening to the 501s with these two pads to arrive at any final conclusion!

 

[BirdRobin]

i was thinking of changing the pads on my K501s to the K601/K701 pads too, now you just gave me another reason to change them

 

[CYoung234]

I think my bottom line is: go for the 601 pads. I think overall they are the best choice. They make a rather substancial difference versus the stock pads.

 

[paulb09]

I know this is slightly unrelated considering the headphone I have in question is the K601, but I've been amazed all this time how everyone was saying the K601 are better on the K501 than the K701 pads, yet when I first tried the switch on the K601 I didn't notice much.

However, trying them again today, I think I worked out why. Because of the difference in foam rings I was talking about in one of the other pad topics, I believe I must have used the more transparent foam rings when I first tried the K701 pads, making less difference in the sound. Now I just switched the pads keeping the old, less transparent foam rings in I can tell the difference, and it confirms your findings on the K501 too. Actually, even switching foam rings the difference is there, though perhaps not as large. I guess I just missed it before.

The K601 pads do make the treble more noticeable, and soften the bass a little. The K701 pads make the K601 sound even more relaxed than with standard pads, rounding off the treble a bit and bringing the bass up slightly. The K701 pad seems to isolate more efficiently. The HeadRoom graph creator doesn't seem to be working for me at the moment, but it would be interesting to see how the isolation ratings of both compare if the data is available.

As for which I prefer, that's difficult over only two tracks. I found the treble slightly metallic sounding with the K601 for the rock track, yet for the orchestral track it didn't bother me and I preferred the more open and treble tipped sound of the K601 pad.

 

[CYoung234]

Thanks for your post. I should clarify something on the K501. They do not have any foam ring like the K601/K701 do. I did not buy any foam rings and obviously therefore am not using any. Those of you with K601s may want to try pads both with and without the rings to see what differences they make. For me, when I tested this on my brothers K601s, that change did not make the 601 into a 501; they were still very different.

 

[scompton]

The page where you can do graphs from scratch is broken. It works from an individual headphone's page though. Just click on a graph and it pops up in window. If you scroll down you have all the options.

Neither really isolate