K701, AKG has done something special here!!

[cheechoz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by redshifter use good rechargable batteries. my sr-71 goes for days of heavy use on one charge of a couple of powerex 9.6v batteries. plus no power conditioning concerns.

I was using 9v lithiums, and let me tell you, that these things are super light, and seem like they never die. The only thing that bothered me, was that different brands of batteries where very tight fits. I had to really push hard to get them in. When it was time to change them, forget it, you don't wanna know!

 

[Gradino]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patu If K701 has low impedance then what does SA5000 and HF-1 have? Even lower and still no problems. RP5.1 drives cans with all possible impedances so I really think that's not the problem here. Yes RP5.1 has great synergy with 650s but it doesn't mean that they're the only cans for it. So 650s are tomato and K701s are caviar? Well tomato tastes better than caviar. Some time soon I'm going to visit that friend to whom I sold K701 and then I have possibility to hook my RP5.1 up with G08. Then I can try again with different source. It might also be due to "only" 100 hours of burn in.

1) The 701 and sa5000 (that i have listened) are very different in sound....
2) Your comparison between 701 and 650 was affect of evident bias (i repeat, rp5.1 is combo with 650 not with 701)
3) The caviar is fantastic..........

S.

 

[Andrea]

headphone-food analogies are nasty.

 

[Gradino]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrea headphone-food analogies are nasty.

Of course, is only for "cazzeggiare", i know that this analogies are not serious.

S.

 

[Patu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gradino 1) The 701 and sa5000 (that i have listened) are very different in sound....

Of course they're but we were talking about impedances, not how they sound.

Quote:

2) Your comparison between 701 and 650 was affect of evident bias (i repeat, rp5.1 is combo with 650 not with 701)

Yes RP5.1 brings the best out of 650s. What would do this to K701?

Quote:

3) The caviar is fantastic.......... S.

I don't like it.

 

[Gradino]

The result in listen of headphone with low impedance is not equal.
Low impedance is 1 parameter but there are many parameter.

My g&w t2.6f is excellent and haven't problem of link with 701.
I have open here a 3d about "the better headphone amplifier for akg k701"

Is curious : you are finn (i love finland) and love tomato and i am italian and love caviar

S.

 

[TheSloth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patu If K701 has low impedance then what does SA5000 and HF-1 have? Even lower and still no problems. RP5.1 drives cans with all possible impedances so I really think that's not the problem here. Yes RP5.1 has great synergy with 650s but it doesn't mean that they're the only cans for it. So 650s are tomato and K701s are caviar? Well tomato tastes better than caviar. Some time soon I'm going to visit that friend to whom I sold K701 and then I have possibility to hook my RP5.1 up with G08. Then I can try again with different source. It might also be due to "only" 100 hours of burn in.

You really do seem to be the only person so far who has heard this phenomenon. I strongly recommend you do some further testing as you described, especially with a more well burned in pair. I do agree with those who quote their sensitivity to sources and amps however - even just changing the gain setting on my amp and then adjusting the volume pot accordingly changes the sound in an audible way. It certainly isn't any where near as audible with my 650's.

 

[Patu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSloth You really do seem to be the only person so far who has heard this phenomenon.

Actually there was this other guy in some of these million threads who said he heard the sibilance. I just don't remember which thread and who that was.

 

[cheechoz]

Like I said earlier, I received my K701's, whith over 300 hours on them. I'm not saying that you need that, but I beleive they are well broken in, and as good as there gonna get. This sibilance thing, is just non existent, to my ears!

 

[Patu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheechoz This sibilance thing, is just non existent, to my ears!

Yes it might also be about that little fact that everyone has different kind of hearing.

 

[mrarroyo]

I do not hear any silibance on my K701. But maybe it is because I am old and can't hear that high

 

[trbl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheechoz Like I said earlier, I received my K701's, whith over 300 hours on them. I'm not saying that you need that, but I beleive they are well broken in, and as good as there gonna get. This sibilance thing, is just non existent, to my ears!

I do recall reading several reports (not the same person posting more than once I don't think) that they thought the K701's exhibited sibilance. I believe in at least once case this was reported to go away as the headphones got more hours of use.

The thing about sibilance is that it is present to some degree in most recordings of voice, and you can become hyper-sensitized to it and start hearing it everywhere. This is likely to be particularly true when you're listening to a new set of headphones and trying to extract every bit of information you can about how they sound.

I know that I found the Sony SA5000's with their accentuated high frequency response showed excessive sibilance. Even after an extended burn-in, with a Gilmore Lite headphone amp, they showed much more sibilance than my original Stax Lambda Pros after doing direct comparative listening tests.

I thought I was hearing the same kind of sibilance with my K701's. But this time when I did the direct comparison with my reference Stax Lambda Pros, I found that I'd fooled myself. I'd become hyper-sensitized to sibilance as I tried to carefully listen to the K701's. And has often been shown, (accurate) musical memory is very short-lived. So you can't listen to 30 minutes of music with one set of headphones, and then listen to the same music with another set, and make valid comparisons. Listening for just a minute or two of a telling passage with first the Staxes and then the AKG's showed that neither exhibited excessive sibilance. The s sounds were not exaggerated, not muffled to silence, just clean and seemingly correct. YMMV.

 

[warpdriver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trbl I do recall reading several reports (not the same person posting more than once I don't think) that they thought the K701's exhibited sibilance. I believe in at least once case this was reported to go away as the headphones got more hours of use. The thing about sibilance is that it is present to some degree in most recordings of voice, and you can become hyper-sensitized to it and start hearing it everywhere. This is likely to be particularly true when you're listening to a new set of headphones and trying to extract every bit of information you can about how they sound.

I agree. Sibilance can naturally exist on the recording itself, and is actually very common.

 

[Gradino]

Quote:

Originally Posted by warpdriver I agree. Sibilance can naturally exist on the recording itself, and is actually very common.

Agree 100%

Many cd from '70 years (minnie rippertone, teenia marie, crusaders and many other) and '60 years (like bucharach) have much less than today....

Attention, no listen sibilance is typical of entry level systems....


S.

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheechoz I was using 9v lithiums, and let me tell you, that these things are super light, and seem like they never die. The only thing that bothered me, was that different brands of batteries where very tight fits. I had to really push hard to get them in. When it was time to change them, forget it, you don't wanna know!

the powerex batteries fit perfectly in the sr-71. if your batteries are really tight, peel the lables off. you can also put a bit of tape on them to work as a tab to pull them out.