[Me x3]

  Vali 2 vs Asgard 2
 
650mW RMS vs 1W RMS
AB class vs A class
$169 vs $249
 
I am only concerned that Vali 2 is AB class amplifier. But I bet I wouldn't hear the difference.
Additional thing, In Vali 2 I can change tube to get slightly different sound.
 
I don't want to nitpick, I did that for three weeks choosing the headphone. This is now just the matter of how much I want to spend.

Power is not an issue, these are all extremely powerful for K701.

 

[Redcarmoose]

The thing is that maybe many never really know ..........


A) How they sound when under-amped.


B) How they could sound when amped correct.

It's one of those, you don't know till you know things.

Almost no amp can drive them right. IMO

 

[GhostLoveScore]

Almost no amp can drive them right. IMO

 
Yeah, it would be shame if I bought Vali 2 and realized that it's not enough to drive them.

 

[chef8489]

 
Yeah, it would be shame if I bought Vali 2 and realized that it's not enough to drive them.

 

The vali 2 shoukd be powerfull enough. The akg k701 are 60ohm headphones.
Maximum Power, 16 ohms: 1300mW RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 32 ohms: 1000mW RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 50 ohms: 650mW RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 300 ohms: 270mW RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 600 ohms: 140mW RMS per channel
THD: <0.03%, 20Hz-20KHz, at 1V RMS, low gain
IMD: <0.05%, CCIR, low gain
SNR: >99db, unweighted, referenced to 1V RMS, low gain
Crosstalk: -68dB, 20Hz-20KHz

Output Impedance: 1.2 ohms in low gain mode, 5.8 ohms in high gain mode
Gain: 5 (14dB) or 1.25 (2dB)

 

[Me x3]

FiiO E10K can drive the K701 just fine.
Saying that Vali 2 can't drive the K701 is like saying a hammer can not smash pop corn.
 
This is not about power. This is about how much you are willing to spend for tiny incrementals, and to a lesser extent sound signature pairing.

 

[Redcarmoose]

The other thing here is volume. Even the Asgard One starts to break-up and the bass to become crumbly at 80% of volume. The Asgard is underpowered to a point with the k701. I think Schiit has a great return policy though?

 

[Me x3]

The other thing here is volume. Even the Asgard One starts to break-up and the bass to become crumbly at 80% of volume. The Asgard is underpowered to a point with the k701. I think Schiit has a great return policy though?

Maybe the Asgard is faulty or the K701 is being pushed beyond its limits.
The Asgard has enough power to break the K701.
 
Asgard 2 has 5 times the power needed to break a K701

 

[Redcarmoose]

Maybe the Asgard is faulty or the K701 is being pushed beyond its limits.
The Asgard has enough power to break the K701.

Asgard 2 has 5 times the power needed to break a K701

Haha

 

[GhostLoveScore]

I don't want to destroy my hearing. I don't need that much power. I just need them to sound their best and I believe they don't sound their best without the amplifier. That's why I am buying it.

 

[Me x3]

  I don't want to destroy my hearing. I don't need that much power. I just need them to sound their best and I believe they don't sound their best without the amplifier. That's why I am buying it.

That's correct, quality amplifiers are more than just power.
K701 is very clean so you need a good amp (and DAC) to unveil its potential.
 
A phone or computer integrated audio won't make the K701 justice. That's granted.

 

[GhostLoveScore]

I was thinking the other day, 44.1kHz sampling can't be enough. In every song there's a lot happening above few kHz. At 10kHz there are only 4 samples each second. That's low. How can you describe a sine wave with 4 points... 

 

[Redcarmoose]

I don't want to destroy my hearing. I don't need that much power. I just need them to sound their best and I believe they don't sound their best without the amplifier. That's why I am buying it.

Amps don't just make headphones loud, they control the character to add detail.

It's not about making them loud, the quality of the amp effects the damping which will effect the headphones at low power.

You would be best to take your headphones to a meet and hear them from different amps.
Or,


The great thing is you can return any Schiit product and pay a small restocking fee. They are some of the hardest to drive right headphones ever made. That said many think they are powering them correct but have never heard them out of a super powerful amp, ever. This is where the confusion starts. One you hear them out of something like the W5 LE you will understand what they really sound like.

With the correct amp, they open up and become some of the best headphones ever made. Sadly though you have "experts " who have never really heard them, right. In my humble opinion.

 

[chef8489]

Well the experts that make them say to not use more than 200mW. Its hard to believe that they are wrong and that not most " experts" have never heard them powered correctly.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Those are also the folks responsible to sell them. It does not benefit anyone if a headphone becomes known as hard to drive.

I'm just trying to help people. I love the k701s. I have both an early production Austria pair and late Austria pair. I also use a wide range of amps with them. Still on Head-Fi it's a concept of life where folks get them and sell them because they don't like the sound, having never amped them right.

 

[Me x3]

Those are also the folks responsible to sell them. It does not benefit anyone if a headphone becomes known as hard to drive.

I'm just trying to help people. I love the k701s. I have both an early production Austria pair and late Austria pair. I also use a wide range of amps with them. Still on Head-Fi it's a concept of life where folks get them and sell them because they don't like the sound, having never amped them right.

 
Power and volume are tied.
You can not add more without raising the volume
More power = Higher Volume
 
This is not string theory, you need 1,6mW to make the K701 sound at 90dB
Making the math, simple math, you get that 100mW is more than you'll ever need for normal listening levels + dynamic peaks + some extra room, as they are enough to make the K701 sound at 108dB which is very loud and not healthy anyway.
 
You might like the K701 with a 5000mW amplifier, but power has nothing to do with the performance. Unless you raise the volume to extreme levels, the amplifier will only provide the power needed, which is normally ranging from 0.5mW going up to 25mW when peaks hit (for normal listening levels).
 
AKG says you shouldn't use them with more than 200mW because they'll break, not folks who don't like the headphone.
And I'm not one of those who don't like the headphone. Even when I own the HD800, the Tesla T1, and the HD700, I keep one K702.
From a technical point of view, I think the K702 has the best price/performance ratio among quality headphones in the market today. So, yeah...
Far from being one of those who don't like the headphone.
 
Many people don't like the headphone because it's light in the bass for modern compressed recordings and because it's slightly nasal sounding, and this is not a power issue, it's a tuning that you can clearly see in frequency response charts. More so, you can see it in many other AKGs, so that's their target. You can use coloured amplifiers to tweak this character, or EQ or enjoy it as it is. I have no problem with the forward presentation as it's contrasting with most other quality headphones today which have necessed upper mids (DT880/HD700/HD800)