K701 Question

[BMBROWN911]

I was wondering if anyone knows exactly why the K701 is so difficult of a headphone to drive when compared to other headphones in its class. The sensitivity according to the AKG website is 105 db. while the Senn. HD600 is only 97 db. and my SR225's have a sensitivity rating of 98 Db. which makes me wonder exactly what it is about these headphones that can be so difficult for an amp to drive. On my Solo SRG I always have to turn the volume knob higher with these compared to my other two phones which really makes no sense to me considering that there a lower impedence then the 600's and higher sensitivity. Anyone have any ideas? The headroom site claims that there less sensitive then most headphones and I've heard a lot of other people say the same thing and I would agree something is different about these but with the specs. listed on the AKG website I'm not sure I understand exactly what it is that makes them so stubbornly hard to drive. Any ideas?

 

[momomo6789]

i think its b/c there so open makes you raise the volume above what you might on other cans

 

[estreeter]

Its a combination of factors, including the sheer size of the cans as alluded to by momo.

You cant simply look at a set of impedance and sensitivity numbers and decide how hard a pair of cans will be to drive, and the manufacturers dont make it any easier by refusing to standardise re measurements. I am currently enjoying my SR325is straight from an X-Series Sony DAP, but I know that they sound even better from my integrated amp. Money spent on good sources/amps isnt wasted : my advice is to do it once and do it right, and I may even take that advice sometime soon

 

[BMBROWN911]

A proper amp is deffinatelly the way to go with these phones. I absolutely love these out of my SRG but can deffinatelly tell these are the most challenging of the bunch I have. I don't think I would like the sound of these very well unamped.

 

[jawang]

they are low impedence headphones and have relatively low power efficiency. to drive them well, you need an amp with low output impedence (difficult to achieve unless you use a solid-state amp), high output current, and high voltage swing. so an amp must meet all of these conditions, in addition to the obvious requirement of sounding good in the first place.

 

[Happy Camper]

Yep yep yep yep......

This is a can that needs premium, not economy blend for best performance.

 

[DanielCox]

They're less sensitive than the HD600 - they're using different units.

 

[Punnisher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanielCox /img/forum/go_quote.gif They're less sensitive than the HD600 - they're using different units.

Yep.

 

[BMBROWN911]

What do you mean there using different units? Units of measurement or what? The website clearly states that spec. and the units of measurement were the same between the Sennheiser website and AKG website.

 

[Reticuli2]

The AKG specs are probably bunk.