[Nik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cris I got mine yesterday from a local dealer and after 3 hours I'd like to state: - Look - Of course this is taste depending - but I like how they look. After all those 'ugly can' statements they look much better than I have expected. They look like something special and sound alike . - Bass - I had the fear that the bass would lack compared to my fine Ultrasone's (PL750). I found different statements regarding the bass, but for me bass is fine, deep and not lacking impact. - Soundstage - Thats the point where I have expected a little bit more. My Ultrasones have a nice soundstage given that they are closed cans. I thought the K701 would blow them away. Till know I have not compared them directly - but from memory I would say that the K701s have a wider soundstage than the PL750 - but the difference is smaller than I have expected. - Comfort - The AKGs have the potential to get very comfortable. Out of the box they are not as comfortable as my 'outworn' Ultrasones. - Musicality - I enjoyed listening to my music from the start. The sound is lively and put a smile on my face

Good!
See you after 200 hours...

Best!
Nicola

 

[Bobby B.]

I'm curious about the K 701 and rock music such as Tool, A Perfect Circle, Dredg etc. How does it compare to the HD 650 in this department?
I'm not stuck to one single genre but the performance with those rock artists would be really important to me.

 

[Nik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby B. I'm curious about the K 701 and rock music such as Tool, A Perfect Circle, Dredg etc. How does it compare to the HD 650 in this department? I'm not stuck to one single genre but the performance with those rock artists would be really important to me.

No any comparison is possible... I hope you understand me...

Best!
Nicola

 

[amartignano]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cris I got mine yesterday from a local dealer and after 3 hours I'd like to state: - Look - Of course this is taste depending - but I like how they look. After all those 'ugly can' statements they look much better than I have expected. They look like something special and sound alike . - Bass - I had the fear that the bass would lack compared to my fine Ultrasone's (PL750). I found different statements regarding the bass, but for me bass is fine, deep and not lacking impact. - Soundstage - Thats the point where I have expected a little bit more. My Ultrasones have a nice soundstage given that they are closed cans. I thought the K701 would blow them away. Till know I have not compared them directly - but from memory I would say that the K701s have a wider soundstage than the PL750 - but the difference is smaller than I have expected. - Comfort - The AKGs have the potential to get very comfortable. Out of the box they are not as comfortable as my 'outworn' Ultrasones. - Musicality - I enjoyed listening to my music from the start. The sound is lively and put a smile on my face

Hi Cris,

how do you think about the combo K701+NX-02? I have the NX-01 (which sounds very similar to the NX-02). It has enough bass impact on big symphonic and rock?

bye
Andrew

 

[Cris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by amartignano [...] It has enough bass impact on big symphonic and rock?[...]

Hi

It's too early for me to tell right now. I only listened 3h and tried to get a good overview and a first impression.

I will - of course

- continue to keep an eye on the bass and tell you.
As far as I can tell, I like the combo and and bass has enough impact for me.

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby B. I'm curious about the K 701 and rock music such as Tool, A Perfect Circle, Dredg etc. How does it compare to the HD 650 in this department?

APC's «Mer de noms» is a quite bright recording and better suited for the HD 650 IMO. «13th Step» goes to the K 701 thanks to the faster drum beats and more realistic sonic balance and soundstage. I still miss some of the HD 650's midrange smoothness though and its blacker blackness with the more delicate treble brilliance, which reminds me of a dark concert hall with spotlit stage. The K 701 is generally brighter and gives the impression of a dimly lit concert hall or a uniformly lit stage. Dreg's «El Cielo» also goes to the K 701 because of the greater detail and soundstage and the harder drum beats as well as the more natural vocals, which are slightly too rounded and soft through the HD 650.

The HD 650 (with Zu Mobius and connected to the Aria) sounds astonishingly good with ProgRock and the like, even if it's of the harder kind. Nevertheless the K 701 sounds more authentic overall, although not in all aspects -- to my ears.
.

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrea All so nice, but, that's quite far from being the essence of audio things, in my eyes. I'm no engineer and I don't have the slightest ambition to be, nor do I need to analyse things to such extent to tell if a sound is finely natural and deeply emotional on the whole for me, or it is not. I'll just know it at once. If I'll get to hear or own this (for how ugly looking) K701, that will be my ground for backing up my sentiments, not this stuff. Just pure inspiration.

I'm not sure if I get what you're saying. I tried to highlight the technical aspects of the two headphones in order to convey a relatively objective basis -- of course still seen through my eyes and heard through my ears. That doesn't exclude emotional feelings from my side while listening to music. And I'm not the one who prefers a characteristic which neglects the emotional aspect. IMO both the HD 650 and the K 701 convey a lot of the soul of the music, one of them with greater perfection in the technical aspects.


Quote:

P.S. The HD650 has no real world limits of extension at both sides. Both of them extend very impressively far, to the extent that it's the last thing where I'd fancy wishing for improvement. The significant and worthy of stress (for me personally) lies on nearly an entirely different (even incompatible?) ground, than what I've read thus far from JaZZ.

It's a logical process to have slightly greater distance to a familiar headphone when a new contender with equal, but differently distributed qualities shows up. I've always been aware of the HD 650's imperfections and have regularly expressed them now and then, namely the roll-off in the bass and the slightly subdued treble as well as the slight (lower-)midrange emphasis. The difference to now was that I hadn't heard a headphone that was better in this respect without more serious downsides, so the HD 650 was my favorite, because its specific kind of imperfection was what I considered the most tolerable for me. I knew from my electrostats that there's higher resolution and FR extension possible, though, so it wasn't a surprise to finally meet a dynamic headphone with over-all better performance (still: to my ears), not to speak of partial aspects. Anyway, the HD 650 still has its strong points. I wish the K 701 had its midrange smoothness and coherence; there's still a slight inhomogeneity, likely a hump in the upper midrange and lower treble, making for brightness and even outshining and masking some of the treble brilliance -- similar to the SA5000, BTW. This is what I consider the K 701's weakest point.
.

 

[Nik]

"This is what I consider the K 701's weakest point".

Yes! And this weakest point is totaly "fixed" with a BIG tubey (good) amp !

Just my two cents...

Best!
Nicola

 

[Atropos]

just a quick question if you say the K701 has a better resolution than the HD650. what exactly is this better resolultion and how do you hear it?
if you take for example just a guitar. is the greater resolution that you hear more details. like the sound when the pick hits the guitar strings?

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nik "This is what I consider the K 701's weakest point". Yes! And this weakest point is totaly "fixed" with a BIG tubey (good) amp !

My little EMP also manages to do the fix to some degree, but not consistently (sometimes even the Aria does a better fix job).
.

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atropos just a quick question if you say the K701 has a better resolution than the HD650. what exactly is this better resolultion and how do you hear it? if you take for example just a guitar. is the greater resolution that you hear more details. like the sound when the pick hits the guitar strings?

That's part of it. The other part is transparency and low-level detail.
.

 

[Bobby B.]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaZZ APC's «Mer de noms» is a quite bright recording and better suited for the HD 650 IMO. «13th Step» goes to the K 701 thanks to the faster drum beats and more realistic sonic balance and soundstage. I still miss some of the HD 650's midrange smoothness though and its blacker blackness with the more delicate treble brilliance, which reminds me of a dark concert hall with spotlit stage. The K 701 is generally brighter and gives the impression of a dimly lit concert hall or a uniformly lit stage. Dreg's «El Cielo» also goes to the K 701 because of the greater detail and soundstage and the harder drum beats as well as the more natural vocals, which are slightly too rounded and soft through the HD 650.

Thanks for the impressions. Since I do own the Aria this combination sounds really promising.

 

[fewtch]

One other question -- is the K701 slightly analytical in the treble like the DT880?

 

[Atropos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaZZ That's part of it. The other part is transparency and low-level detail. .

can you please define transparency and low-level detail as well?
and can you really hear the guitar pick hitting the string with the K701? I cant hear this with the HD650 and Aria.

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fewtch One other question -- is the K701 slightly analytical in the treble like the DT880?

If «analytical» means inorganic overemphasis of detail, then it's not -- to my ears it's just very precise and transparent. I'd say the DT 880 has more of a slightly artificial glare as far as I recall. Of course the high level of detail makes it sensitive to recording and electronics flaws. A «digital» sounding source will not sound good. And since we all (more or less) listen to notoriously imperfect digital source devices, there's a certain risk of the K 701 to sound somewhat analytical -- combined with a sonic balance slightly on the bright side of neutral. But not more so than with e.g. the DT 880. On the contrary, I even perceive it as somewhat more organic sounding than the HD 650 with some recordings.
.