[TDL-speakers]

Couple pics to explain a little better. Excuse the crap quality....My bad!

S.

 

[Audioholic123]

Couple pics to explain a little better. Excuse the **** quality....My bad!

S.

Yeah unfortunately this is something that sometimes happens. It is also related to prolonged exposure to air.

 

[TDL-speakers]

OK, thanks.

S.

 

[xxAMAROKxx]

You can also add some bass or reduce treble by changing Foam discs under the earpads:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Fin...32790830374.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.hP7ZRg
- denser material - less treble pass through.
- thicker material - more bass is there. Soundstage is more distant.

And it realy works, much more than I expected. I am almost convinced that AKG adjusts the final color of the sound just by these foams.
I usually use two disks with different thickness together (Treble is noticebly muted, but still airy, Bass stronger.)
Or one thin, but denser disc for closer soundstage and less treble.

 

[Me x3]

Take this as the headphone that's almost as good as the Sennheiser HD800/S, it's very cheap, and yet no one talks about.

 

[jrhill]

It's a rather different sound IMO - I found them to be an excellent reference for system comparisons too (the HD800's are a bit bright for me) - the only problem with the k701's is the cable so I upgrade it and longer too - some really weird prices out there but the Massdrop one works well, if still available - might need the k702's (with the plug/socket) if you don't want to disassemble and solder the new cable

I painted on a 'blob' of red nail polish on the right can when the letters wore off and wrapper that 'bumpy' band with a knitted clip over woolen sleeve from China - only a few $s - a nice feel to it - a very comfortable set of cheap, top quality phones, those k701/702s

They mate up really well with that Massdrop CTH (Cavalli Tube Hybrid) headamp particularly if you upgrade to a good quality linear power supply - the supplied Switch Mode supply isn't very good at all (but cheap)

 

[Me x3]

What I mean is, both gets you the very big soundstage along with an overall tight and detail oriented sound across the board. Both are also light and comfortable and tend to shine with top class recordings. HD800 is slightly brighter, HD800S slightly darker, but the main difference to me lives in the upper midrange which is slightly softened on the Senns and slightly raised on the AKG K701.

I've owned two AKG K702 in the past, and while similar in some regards, they aren't as close to the AKG K701 as it's often assumed.

 

[xxAMAROKxx]

I own HD660s for three months and I can say, that K701 is suitable for more music, I usually listen to.
K701 has - weaker, but deeper Bass - thinner Mids with accent on the right place - smoother heights without peaks (660s does have any) - wider soundstage and way better imaging.
(Now, I have K701 with AKG foam rings by thomann.de. They are made from different, lighter material and better sounding than original)

 

[Me x3]

I own HD660s for three months and I can say, that K701 is suitable for more music, I usually listen to.
K701 has - weaker, but deeper Bass - thinner Mids with accent on the right place - smoother heights without peaks (660s does have any) - wider soundstage and way better imaging.
(Now, I have K701 with AKG foam rings by thomann.de. They are made from different, lighter material and better sounding than original)

Are you talking about the foam that's behind the earpads?

 

[xxAMAROKxx]

Yes, these foams.
The black one is the original (K701-China-2016)
The gray one is AKG original from thomann.de

The tickness is the same, but material and density are different, which affects mainly treble region. The gray foams are cleaner sounding and more refined for me. Also soundstage has changed a little.
https://www.thomann.de/cz/akg_k_701_foam_net_piece.htm

 

[Redcarmoose]

I have an early k701 from around 2006 then in 2009 I purchased a second k701 pair. Interesting that one pair has the L/R on top and the other has the L/R on the bottom with the AKG symbol on the top.

So one pair is an early pair and one is a late Austrian pair. They sound exactly the same. The second pair I purchased used as a back up; just because they became so cheap second hand. Funny though when I removed the pads the used pair had two separate mismatched foam rings. One was thick and one was thin, though the foam ring thickness differences don’t seem to effect the sound?

Maybe one reason that few talk about them anymore is they were a flagship way over ten years ago. Though they are relatively easy to acquire and sound great if you can relate with their sound signature.

The other thing is they are tremendously difficult to amp right. They are one of the hardest headphones I’ve come across to amp properly. Though with the right amp and mental burn-in they never cease to amaze.

 

[xxAMAROKxx]

Remove that foam rings and listen to your music.
HPs final sound tuning is very important. One way to do this is to place foam, paper or anything else in front of the driver. AKG used these rings and I think, they did the right decision. .... - AKG can develop and use new materials. - User can experiment with original or non-original rings ..... Its funny to hear, how they change the sound.

 

[Me x3]

I don't have those grey foam rings so I can't speak for them based on personal experience. What I do know is that no ring at all makes the sound slightly less linear relative to the stock configuration (black ring installed). Since the gray ring is supposed to be less dense than the black ring, my educated guess is that they push the sound 'halfway' to the 'no ring' configuration. If that's the case, I can't see much of an improvement from that front, although you might prefer it and that's perfectly fine for sure.

In my view, the AKG K701 can be improved by pushing the 1.3kHz to 3kHz region down by about 4dB.
That's what the AKG K712 PRO should have been but it's not. It's a different headphone with different pros and cons.

For reference, here you have the AKG K701 frequency response.
Green trace is the stock configuration. Purple trace is the 'no ring' configuration. Each trace is the average of three measurements.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Interestingly the first new pair of k701s has two sets of grey rings over each transducer if I remember right? It’s been a while since I looked.

 

[394216]

I have used my K701 for more than 7 years now. Still great sounding even if i have higher end headphones. my only gripe is the pads. They go flat easily; maybe because of my excessive sweating.