How do you compare them to Q701?
Q701s to me are very very open. The soundstage is tremendous as if you are in a concert hall. The caveat is you don't feel much of the bass, and occasionally the mids/highs clash with each other.
The NH Carbons to me are much less open and more direct. There is some soundstage to it, but it's more like being in a small room. You definitely feel the bass. The mids/highs are much more distinct compared to the Q701s.
The Q701s are much less thumpy compared to the NH Carbon. The one major difference is there are a lot of low end things happening that were not as visible in the Q701 compared to the NHC. Keep in mind that the NH Carbon comes with 2 types of earpads: 1 pleather and 1 suede. They each change the sound signature a lot. The pleather makes the NH Carbon sound more like a closed headphone, where all that juicy goodness slams right in your ear with not much room to aire out. The suede on the other hand allows some leakage (which is my preference since I like open back headphones), but still keep some of the low end there.
As people have said, the NH Carbon is more dark. The Q701s are definitely brighter. I find the NH Carbon works well for rock and electronic music. It's very tight, and sometimes it's a little too tight. I suspect with more usage, my ears will adjust and it will be not as tight.
The Q701s dont take time to adjust to get used to. The NH Carbon always takes my ears 15-20 mins to adjust for some reason when wearing. I'm not sure why. I haven't really been counting burn in time since my last post, but on average I probably burn in 1-3 hours a day. When I do listen and once my ears adjust, they are delightful, and it's hard to take them off. I want to keep playing with them.
For gaming, the Q701s are still a little better than NH Carbon when it comes to directional sounds in FPS, but my ears are starting to adjust better.
In conclusion and going back and forth between the 2 on a day to day basis, I wish the NH Carbon was slightly warmer. It's taking me a little time to get used to it, but overall it's been a pleasant experience so far. There is a slight addiction that I have to the sound signature. I can't articulate it well with words, but hopefully this helps give some perspective