[olblueyez]

You do need an amp with more balls to make the 701 sing but one major short comming of the 701s is the junky cable it comes with. You need both, and preferably a dual entry cable. Or maybe you just need to look for a different set of headphones that have synergy with your micro stack, ya know, kill two birds with one stone. IMO you started this thread for two basic reasons. Your amp isnt up to driving the 701s (most amps arent) and they could use a better cable. Changing the amp will benefit you the most but the micro stack is a good setup and should sound great with the right cans. Head-Fi is full of people trying every trick in the book to make the 701s sound great and usually is all adds up to alot of money and sometimes they never get them sounding as good as they would like. If it were me I would order some different headphones and return them is they suck.

 

[QQQ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus /img/forum/go_quote.gif I wouldn't recable a pair of K701's unless it was to allow you to use them with a balanced amp. That would have the potential of opening them up to an entirely new level of performance (more from the amp upgrade than the cable upgrade itself, which would simply be a necessary evil... i.e., an additional cost incurred to get the benefits of running them balanced).

In that case it's easier to reterminate stock cable to with balanced connectors, since it 4-conductor cable.

 

[arteom]

From what I've read the ALO and the RAL (don't think you can get this any longer) cables are the popular choices for the k701. I bought mine recabled already, so can't really comment on what difference it makes over stock. But will say that they sound damn good

. Maybe if you describe the specific shortcomings that might yield specific answers.

 

[myinitialsaredac]

Cheers and Good Mornin' to All (sips tea)

I don't mean to be misunderstood, I enjoy the sound from the 701s with the microstack but I want to "enhance" it in someway that I can not describe, maybe make it "fuller", giving a bit more body to some of my jazz, and a little bit "darker" for the quiet sections, even a little bit "faster" to get that snappy feeling.

From what I'm gathering here an amp upgrade would do me well and more recently (last 3 posts) that a cable upgrade would also be well-founded.

As a proposition does it make sense to upgrade the cable, try it with the micro stack and take a listen to see if its what I was desiring and if not, I can always sell my micro (because amps are more expensive then cables) and get a new amp and be comfortable with the knowledge that the electrons are flowing freely from the new amp (30-day return policies rock!).

Thanks for the input,
Dave

(P.S. arteom what amp are you using to drive ur 701s, the xcan?)

 

[Rednamalas1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by olblueyez /img/forum/go_quote.gif You do need an amp with more balls to make the 701 sing but one major short comming of the 701s is the junky cable it comes with. You need both, and preferably a dual entry cable. Or maybe you just need to look for a different set of headphones that have synergy with your micro stack, ya know, kill two birds with one stone. IMO you started this thread for two basic reasons. Your amp isnt up to driving the 701s (most amps arent) and they could use a better cable. Changing the amp will benefit you the most but the micro stack is a good setup and should sound great with the right cans. Head-Fi is full of people trying every trick in the book to make the 701s sound great and usually is all adds up to alot of money and sometimes they never get them sounding as good as they would like. If it were me I would order some different headphones and return them is they suck.

I never have seen this "bottleneck" theory and how it could dramatically change your headphone's sound quality as often stated. I have tried few re-cabled K701, and most of them had very, very minimal changes over stock cables imo. Only re-cabling that made a difference was when they were balanced.

On the other hand, changing from solid state amps to tube amps changes characteristic of sound signature quite noticeably. Some people prefer tubes, while some prefer solid states. I'm kind of in between, as I prefer tubes (hybrid amps, actually) for my K701 and SR325i while I prefer solid states for my AD2000.

Again, effect of changing your amp has been exaggerated as well. No matter what type of amp you try, it will not make K701 sound "dark" as HD650s. Nor it will increase soundstage of grado SR225 to same level as K701. If you really don't like lack of bass in K701, might as well trade it for HD650. Therefore, I agree with olblueyez on this one, as changing your headphones will provide the most noticeable change to sound signature.

I'm ranting a bit here, and I had too much coffee, so I'll stop

 

[fdhfdy]

Have tried them on several different amps so far.
the bass part doesn't go any better. perhaps re-cabling will do the job but not so sure.

 

[Rednamalas1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fdhfdy /img/forum/go_quote.gif perhaps re-cabling will do the job but not so sure.

No, it won't.

to elaborate a bit more, if you tried bunch of amps in order to increase bass amount for K701 and have not found satisfactory improvement, cabling will not improve it much further.

I generally upgrade in this order (for improvents/changes in sound quality and signiture):
headphones > Amps and Sources > cables and interconnects

Cables are the very last place for improvment - when you can't upgrade your amps/sources any more for a certain 'phone. cable upgrades and interconnects are the worst cost-effective ratio for sound quality improvement IMO.

 

[jvlgato]

I'm in a similar position w/ my 701's. Like 'em a lot, but want to LOVE 'em. Have read and posted, and got Creek OBH-21SE amp, but still looking and will probably try a tube amp.

Reading and PM'ing, I've gotten all kinds of great advice, but it's all over the board. The most consistent thing I've gotten is to try a tube amp around $500, the biggies being Little Dot, Woo Audio, Darkvoice, and Single Power. Some have suggested just getting new phones, but I'm going to give these a chance, because I mostly like them and think I can love them yet! The one other can the intrigues me is the Stax, because I have a ribbon speaker for my main system, and wonder if an electrostatic is closer to that sound than a dynamic one would be.

Good luck! I'll be interested to know how it goes!

 

[Rednamalas1]

^ Don't forget Bada PH-12!

 

[QQQ]

All disgruntled k701 owners must try Shanling ph100.

 

[arteom]

Yes, I am using the the x-can v8 with my k701's.

 

[olblueyez]

Buy the 650s and if they are not your cup of tea then return them, no harm no foul.

 

[Shambla]

I agree with the general consensus so far that a cable change is probably not the way to go. I currently own 2 pairs of K701s, one standard and the other with a Black Dragon cable (already fitted when I bought them). Whilst to my ears there are subtle differences between the 2 and I do prefer the Black Dragon version, I would have felt a little disappointed with the improvement for the money if I had paid for the upgrade myself rather than buying a pair with the cable already fitted. It doesn't fundamentally change the sound and to be honest, some of the differences I am hearing could easily be due to slight variations in the drivers rather than the cable.

In terms of advice on an amp, I currently use a fully upgraded Woo WA2 and it sounds amazing with both the 701s and my HD600s but I think this may be more than the OP was looking to spend.

 

[Sherwood]

I have a 701 with a Moon Audio recable running through a Millett Hybrid, and it is a beautiful combination. It has all but supplanted every other dynami I own. I usually tell myself that the cable was a big part of the equation, since I'd heard the 701s before and never particularly fell for them, but I had never heard them through my amp, so that might very well have made the difference.

If, however, you decide upon a recable, there is only one fiscally sensible way to handle it: buy used.

3 or 4 recabled 701s a month pop up on here, and they're generally top shelf cables. Buy one of them outright, and sell your stock 701s the same way. You'll pay about $40 plus shipping for the cable, which is such a negligible amount in this hobby that it's well worth the try.

 

[haarvi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by olblueyez /img/forum/go_quote.gif You do need an amp with more balls to make the 701 sing but one major short comming of the 701s is the junky cable it comes with. You need both, and preferably a dual entry cable. Or maybe you just need to look for a different set of headphones that have synergy with your micro stack, ya know, kill two birds with one stone. IMO you started this thread for two basic reasons. Your amp isnt up to driving the 701s (most amps arent) and they could use a better cable. Changing the amp will benefit you the most but the micro stack is a good setup and should sound great with the right cans. Head-Fi is full of people trying every trick in the book to make the 701s sound great and usually is all adds up to alot of money and sometimes they never get them sounding as good as they would like. If it were me I would order some different headphones and return them is they suck.

olblueyez,
If it is not too far off-topic:
Would you please explain why, if the K701s were to be re-cabled, you recommend changing the cable
configuration from single to dual entry.
Is this recommendation specifically for the K701s?
Or does it apply across the board?
Harvey