HD580 vs. K701?
Nov 4, 2007 at 7:09 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 7

MaZa

Headphoneus Supremus
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Comparison of these two cans is needed. What has drawn me to listen HD580 more and more in late few days has been soundstage. It has a huge (if bit artificial) acoustic space feeling that really gives music like Black Metal a completely new atmosphere. And classical this stuff is almost requirement.

Now K501 and K701 should have even more bigger and wider soundstage. Bass is questionmark though. Now, bass isnt a thing that I actively listen whenever I use HD580, but does K701 have conciderably less bass than HD580? This is a main question mark, but complete and detailed comparisons of these two cans is definetly welcome.
 
Nov 4, 2007 at 9:45 PM Post #2 of 7
Out of the box the K701s can't handle bass at all....but these phones made me believe in burn-in as after the first few days they relaxed into completely new phones. I listen to electronic mainly... so of course bass is a huge requirement for me and I think these can pretty much do what you want them to. They're very amp-dependent so it really depends on source I suppose. One thing about the K701s is that they go VERY low (10hz-ish) and you feel that crazy vibration. I can't comment on the 580s, so hopefully someone'll give you good advice.
 
Nov 5, 2007 at 4:29 AM Post #3 of 7
I own some 580s and listened to the 701s today.

The 701s I heard must have been burned in because I thought they sounded great and there was no lack of bass to my ears. The soundstage seemed huge when listening to the 1st track on the Ultrasone CD.

One word of caution about my thoughts on the bass. I just heard some Darth Beyers and thought that they had too much bass.
 
Nov 5, 2007 at 2:53 PM Post #5 of 7
Was just worried if the upperbass-lowermidrage fuzz would sound too thin on AKG K701 or K601, harming the ambience of some blackmetal music.

But, I guess I should atleast try. HD580 remains as one of the top 3 headphones I have heard amongst RS1 and DT880, but I want to explore! Thanks guys.
 
Nov 5, 2007 at 4:38 PM Post #6 of 7
Respecting your music preferences I would stay away from the K701's. When there is a lot of percussion they start to produce artifacts and lose resolution on the trebles. The soundstage is deep and wide, indeed and bass of rather high quality but the K701's sound muddy to me. If you haven't already tried, grab the DT990 Pro's. Great for metal, hard rock, with raw, accurate and well extended sound presentation. You want to explore, so this is my suggestion for the next step in this pace.
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Nov 5, 2007 at 5:16 PM Post #7 of 7
Quote:

Originally Posted by majkel /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Respecting your music preferences I would stay away from the K701's. When there is a lot of percussion they start to produce artifacts and lose resolution on the trebles. The soundstage is deep and wide, indeed and bass of rather high quality but the K701's sound muddy to me. If you haven't already tried, grab the DT990 Pro's. Great for metal, hard rock, with raw, accurate and well extended sound presentation. You want to explore, so this is my suggestion for the next step in this pace.
smily_headphones1.gif





Been there, done that. I have owned DT990 2005 already. Even though I am a Gradohead, I found its treble sibilance intolerable on long terms. I already have my general metal can, so that side is already covered.

Black Metal isnt really percussive and hard hitting like metal normally. The sound consists of layered tremolo riff melodies/harmonics and ambience, all that in harsh and fuzzy wall of sound. Drums are also mostly simple blastbeats of different speeds, rythmic properties are very secondary on this stuff.
 

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