[Aelius]

I bought three pairs of headphones here on head-fi to see which one I liked best and I planned on selling the two I liked least. I got the HD600, HD650, and AKG Q701. I like the sound of the Q701 the best. The HD600 and HD650 have somewhat of a veiled sound, but the Q701 sounds clearer and crisper. I'm not too experienced at describing sound, though. Unfortunately, those infernal bumps on the headband of the Q701 are intolerable to me. Is there any mod for switching the headband of the Q701 to another headband? If not, can you guys recommend any headphones which sound similar to the Q701 in terms of how crisp and clear it sounds, but not one that sacrifices too much bass?
 
Thanks!

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

I bought three pairs of headphones here on head-fi to see which one I liked best and I planned on selling the two I liked least. I got the HD600, HD650, and AKG Q701. I like the sound of the Q701 the best. The HD600 and HD650 have somewhat of a veiled sound, but the Q701 sounds clearer and crisper. I'm not too experienced at describing sound, though. Unfortunately, those infernal bumps on the headband of the Q701 are intolerable to me. Is there any mod for switching the headband of the Q701 to another headband? If not, can you guys recommend any headphones which sound similar to the Q701 in terms of how crisp and clear it sounds, but not one that sacrifices too much bass?
 
Thanks!

 
You can try the K601. No bumps on that one, but I think it may be getting harder to find. I wouldn't pay over $250 for it though.

 

[SpaceInvaders]

Quote:

I bought three pairs of headphones here on head-fi to see which one I liked best and I planned on selling the two I liked least. I got the HD600, HD650, and AKG Q701. I like the sound of the Q701 the best. The HD600 and HD650 have somewhat of a veiled sound, but the Q701 sounds clearer and crisper. I'm not too experienced at describing sound, though. Unfortunately, those infernal bumps on the headband of the Q701 are intolerable to me. Is there any mod for switching the headband of the Q701 to another headband? If not, can you guys recommend any headphones which sound similar to the Q701 in terms of how crisp and clear it sounds, but not one that sacrifices too much bass?
 
Thanks!

I have the same problem. Now to an extent that its starting to give me slight headaches. I already posted this in the appreciation thread:
 
"I guess some tailor could sew you some padding along with some leather onto the bottom of the headband. Other option is to have someone remove the bumbs and put another sleeve of leather on top, possibly along with some padding. Something along the lines of this is what i'm gonna do.

Option 1: insert harder (same hardness as the original) padding to fill the gaps of the original bumbs, insert softer padding on top of that, finish with leather sewn onto it.

Option 2: Remove the bumbs and insert softer padding, finish with leather sewn onto it."
 
Also you can DIY mod and put some towel or other piece of cloth on there. Don't make it too hard, its simple really.

 

[btarb24]

For mine i used a razer blade to cut the bumps off the existing headband.  I then bought a leather piece from amazon (a square foot for about 12$).  I cut up a pair of socks so that i had 4 layers of material that matched the area i wanted to pad on the headband.  I sewed the 4 pieces of sock together around their perimeter to make one thick piece of material.  Then i glued it to the headband in the center, leaving room around the edge of the sock so i could glue down the leather piece.  I then glued down the leather piece and kept tucking it down near the sock with my fingernail so it had a nice ridge there instead of a flowing ramp of material.  After it was dry i used a razer to cut off the excess leather.  It definitely looks a bit homebrewed due to the razer cut edges, but i think it turned out fairly well for only about $15 (few bucks for E6000 glue from michaels).  The comfort improvement is huge!
 

 

 

[MusicalSilence]

Wow, that actually looks very nice! I plan on doing the same thing; just bought some pleather from a fabric store. It might not look as nice, but it is far cheaper than getting a K601 headband. When you say you cut off the bumps with a razor, do you mean like one for shaving? That seems a little unorthodox if so.

 

[btarb24]

eh... no.  I mean a razor blade that people use for cutting things  You'll find that once you've cut through the leather the bumps are actually just little pads that are glued down.  So, cut the perimeter of the bump then just pull it off.  It will take a small bit of effort to separate from the headband due to the glue.
 
Here's someone else's image of what it looks like when you cut the bumps off. The yellowy-white material is the padding under the bumps i was talking about.

5

 

[ionengine]

Yeah I just cut both ends a little and then pulled off these damm bumps. What a difference in comfort, very easy to do. Try it you'll like it.

 

[sejsel]

For mine i used a razer blade to cut the bumps off the existing headband. I then bought a leather piece from amazon (a square foot for about 12$). I cut up a pair of socks so that i had 4 layers of material that matched the area i wanted to pad on the headband. I sewed the 4 pieces of sock together around their perimeter to make one thick piece of material. Then i glued it to the headband in the center, leaving room around the edge of the sock so i could glue down the leather piece. I then glued down the leather piece and kept tucking it down near the sock with my fingernail so it had a nice ridge there instead of a flowing ramp of material. After it was dry i used a razer to cut off the excess leather. It definitely looks a bit homebrewed due to the razer cut edges, but i think it turned out fairly well for only about $15 (few bucks for E6000 glue from michaels). The comfort improvement is huge!

I had this in mind (sort of) when I finally found time to do the similar surgery on my AKG K701... removed the bumps (finally!!!) with the razor blade, found some fluffy soft material (very low density foam used for packaging) and suede-imitation bought cheaply at the local store, and went ahead... some glue and careful with pressing the edges repeatedly in so the material adheres to the leather band...

Huge increase in comfort.
Finally those medieval torturing device-belonging bumps are gone, and in hindsight I wish I have done this loooooong time ago...

Recommend to go wider with the padding (if possible), which I intend to do somehow on my newly acquired K702. Removed the bumps even on them.
Will keep you folks posted on the progress...

Apologies for the "flowery" background...