[Mochan]

Quote:

Blu-tack isn't as effective as Dynamat Xtreme.  No way to get a small amount of the stuff cheaply, unfortunately.
 
By the way, Mochan, have you tried K701 straight out of your J3?  Also, have you tried rolling opamps in your E9?

Yes, I have! And it sounded ok. But not great. I felt the sound was a little thin, even for me. I no longer have my J3, by the way. My E9 still has stock opamp so haven't tried playing with it.
 
What I have done, is modify my K701. It now has a detachable cable system.    I will post pics once a friend of mine takes pics, my camera broke and I haven't had time to replace it yet.  
 
I'm currently using my K701 with Jena 18 gauge cables. These do something good for the mids!  This Jena cable is starting to be my favorite cable. I have several other cables to use with the K701 and the Jena is without a doubt my favorite.
 
 
To Acix, yes I've tried the K702, but did not really have enough time with it to see if it was what I was looking for. It sounded pretty similar to the K701.

 

[Mochan]

Quote:

For those of you who are driving the 701s with the FiiO E9: do you prefer the low or the high gain setting??

I prefer it on low gain, usually end up with the dial around 10 o'clock form the 6.3mm port. 11 actually when driving from an iPod Nano 2G LOD.
 
These days though I find myself driving the K701 with the X02 more and more. The X02 has the right amount of bass going for it with the K701.

 

[Tetsuma]

Dear K701/2 owners,
I'm looking to move up to a quality source. My eye is currently on Benchmark's DAC-1.
Within my budget, i'd be able to afford it if I sold my Heed Canamp (Source is currently a Xonar DX).
 
How would you say the DAC1's amp would pair with the K701s? If it is a little too much given the 701's nature, what would you suggest?
I'll be trawling through reviews and specs tomorrow, but i'm hoping to awake to some informative responses.
 
Cheers lads.
 

 

[brat]

7 days ago I rediscovered my k701. Years passed since I heard them last time. Now I plugged my old cans in Audio GD FUN (with LME49860) and... I'm in audio nirvana for 7 days. Great sinergy. I'm happy with this combination. GREAT headstage, bass, nice smooth mids...
An interesting fact is that my k701 (#3994) have more bass than any other k701 or k702 I've listened to. Maybe the earlier pieces have something different than the others.

 

[Lurkumaural]

I started at the beginning of this thread and am most of the way through it.  I just had to come in here and post because I'm 6 six songs into my new Q701 (7, if you count listening to Matsuda's "Beach of Dreams - Another World" twice).
 
Based on what haters and lovers of the 701 have said about this headphone, I was mostly expecting to find these lacking on first listen.  They lack nothing.  I can get all the bass I want, in extension and quality anyway.  I like to get that heavy thump/rumble when I'm foot commuting or otherwise dumbing out, but I can accept that these are nonetheless excellent headphones for every type of music I enjoy.
 
They're way loud, almost harshly so, just out of channel imbalance on my Firebox.  I had the same problem with my 2000-ohm Senns.  Wasn't expecting that.  I think I might have to shop for a more refined amp.  I'm in the O2 PCB group buy over at diyaudio; hopefully I don't go and spend more money before that all runs its course.
 
These are the nicest and most expensive cans I own, so I'm not going to myopically declare these king.  But I do want to listen to all my albums and play all my video games right now.
 
My coffee got cold while I was sitting here.  Dammit.

 

[brat]

Dear K701/2 owners,
I'm looking to move up to a quality source. My eye is currently on Benchmark's DAC-1.
Within my budget, i'd be able to afford it if I sold my Heed Canamp (Source is currently a Xonar DX).
 
How would you say the DAC1's amp would pair with the K701s? If it is a little too much given the 701's nature, what would you suggest?
I'll be trawling through reviews and specs tomorrow, but i'm hoping to awake to some informative responses.
 
Cheers lads.
 

It's very very possible DAC1+k701 to be a very bass-light combination! I've listened to DAC1 for a long time and it definitely has less bass than most of the other sources I've had.
Just ridht now I'm using Audio-GD FUN + k701. I've replaced the op-amp (with LME49860) and had to raise the bass with the equalizer of my foobar2000 to fit my taste but now it's a perfect combo

 

[Arleus]

 
Quote:

 
They're way loud, almost harshly so, just out of channel imbalance on my Firebox.  I had the same problem with my 2000-ohm Senns.  Wasn't expecting that.  I think I might have to shop for a more refined amp.  I'm in the O2 PCB group buy over at diyaudio; hopefully I don't go and spend more money before that all runs its course.
 
 

Do keep us updated about the O2 (in the context of the 701 and this thread, I mean). Of course, it should sound basically transparent for all headphones, but it would be nice to hear from you on whether it subjectively is too. I'm hoping someone starts building O2s to sell, because I've never soldered before, and I doubt the O2 is the simplest project I could start practicing with.
 

 

[Acix]

Quote:

Dear K701/2 owners,
I'm looking to move up to a quality source. My eye is currently on Benchmark's DAC-1.
Within my budget, i'd be able to afford it if I sold my Heed Canamp (Source is currently a Xonar DX).
 
How would you say the DAC1's amp would pair with the K701s? If it is a little too much given the 701's nature, what would you suggest?
I'll be trawling through reviews and specs tomorrow, but i'm hoping to awake to some informative responses.
 
Cheers lads.
 

You can try out the Grace m902, or even the Apogee duet if you're using a Mac platform. I like them both more than the Benchmark's DAC-1.

 

[DomieMic65]

Quote:

For those of you who are driving the 701s with the FiiO E9: do you prefer the low or the high gain setting??

I have posted this to a dedicated thread about my set up ( http://www.head-fi.org/t/560116/akg-701-fiio-e9i-prev-akg-k240mkii-in-search-for-amp/15#post_7705370) but nobody answered ... so I am continuing here:
 
Well I am tending to like the high gain but I don't know if it is the most accurate setting! I think that even though it sounds lusher with more impact, air, and bass in some recordings tend to harden the listening in higher volumes!
Also it is the matter of the potentiometer: I explain.. I think that the potentiometer of the E9 (like all logarithmic potentiometers) sounds better in higher volumes (it works more accurately when it tends to reach to the end of it's way)... and when the amp is set to high gain you have to use it in the beginning 12 o'clock top!
 
From the other hand both cans -the most- and amp are quite new so they need time to break-in and settle down!
 
And another observation:
While the 701s are harder to drive than the 240mkIIs the amp runs cooler with the first than the second! I am wondering why..

 

[Mad Max]

Raising the gain cuts down on excess bandwidth of the opamps a pinch, which leads to little bit better sound.  It may also allow you to use a segment of the volume pot that is free of imbalance.
You will kick up the headphone's THD quite a bit if you go too loud, apart from putting your hearing at risk.

 

[khaos974]

7 days ago I rediscovered my k701. Years passed since I heard them last time. Now I plugged my old cans in Audio GD FUN (with LME49860) and... I'm in audio nirvana for 7 days. Great sinergy. I'm happy with this combination. GREAT headstage, bass, nice smooth mids...
An interesting fact is that my k701 (#3994) have more bass than any other k701 or k702 I've listened to. Maybe the earlier pieces have something different than the others.

The benchmark amp module is actually one of the nicest amp available on the market: astonishingly low distortion, absolutely no noise and finally up to 1.26W of power.

 

[brat]

The benchmark amp module is actually one of the nicest amp available on the market: astonishingly low distortion, absolutely no noise and finally up to 1.26W of power.

If you're talking about my opinion about Benchmark DAC1: I don't know anything about the schematic of this dac/amp but I compare it to many other dacs and headphone amps that I've listened to. Maybe it's a perfect device but definitely sounds thinner and has less lows than most of the other combinations I heard. I wouldn't describe it as a neutral heaphone amp. Maybe it's my personal taste but I can see here many other people share this impressions. Every engineer knows that good specifications are not enough for good music reproduction. Sad but true.

 

[grmnasasin0227]

In here to show my appreciation! I bought my K701s used and fully broken in about a year ago, and fell in love with the airiness. I'm working on getting together the funds to amp them, I'm thinking a Woo is in my future. Still looking around at DACs.

 

[Tetsuma]

Duet 2 looks like great value. A little annoyed I don't have a mac anymore...

 

[brat]

Raising the gain cuts down on excess bandwidth of the opamps a pinch, which leads to little bit better sound.  It may also allow you to use a segment of the volume pot that is free of imbalance.
You will kick up the headphone's THD quite a bit if you go too loud, apart from putting your hearing at risk.

It may be theoretically better to use the gain but using the gain of my Corda Prehead 1 and Audio-GD FUN leads to a similar effect in both amps: changes their linearity from flatter to U-shaped. The gain makes a boost of the bass and the highs. Not much but quite audible. Maybe it's not typical for all amps but it's valid for the two of mine.