[Nokami]

Got an MMX300 for 240€ and i wonder they are not really bass heavy its just like the PC360 Bass (a bit more i think). But the Positioning is clearly better and the Soundstage is as big. I really think that i sell my 360s for this...
 
might be an bass light version idk

 

[chicolom]

I Was wondering about something....my x1 and ma900 have arrived at home but im in mexico and wont try them out till this Sunday morning when I arrive in LA (just in time for super bowl)....

But ive been reading up on the AkG Annies and the k702....

If i bought the K702 and put on the earpads from the Annies onto the K702, will the sound signiture be almost equal to the Annies but for less money? Either way, i wouldnt mind spending the 400 bucks for the Annies because they dam look nice and im pretty sure they sound really good compared to the ma900 and X1s

 
I would try the X1s and MA900s out first before you buy another $400 headphone.  Unless you really want to, then go ahead I guess.
 

Is there any way to loosen up the clamping on the X1's? They are fairly uncomfortable compared to the Annies. In fact the comfort is fairly awful to me so far, but I suppose I have a large head and large ears to go with it.

They are heavier and clamp like a Mofo to me. They sound great and I love the bass they can produce but the comfort is like night and day for me. The earpads themselves are fine but the clamping force is crazy.

Speaking of bass I'm quite surprised at how well they can handle bass boosting through my sound card. The X1 was able to handle +12db with no distortion at all and the Annies can handle maybe +3db. Granted I don't use the bass boost for practical everyday use but it was fun to see just how much/deep they could go.

So yeah, Comfort wise the Annies blow the X1 away, I'm hoping there is a way to fix this. Perhaps they will loosen up over time with normal use. I have probably 15-20 or so hours with them so far over multiple sessions.

 
You can try leaving them stretched over a box or a ball.  You can also bend the metal bars at the top to reshape the headband.
 
From my experience the X1s have a normal and reasonable amount of clamp.  They don't clamp nearly as bad as Sennheisers, which even for me have substantial clamp out of the box (and I have a small head).

 

[Grandagony]

Saw the Monster DNA Pro's setup at Best Buy the other day. They had four of them setup on display. All four of them were broken at the exact same spot on the headband. Now I know people are rough as crap on demos in a store but still.. worth a mention I feel.

 

[Evshrug]

I just ordered the AKG Q701 with Fiio E10 (might upgrade the amp later, it seems a lot of people here don't like FiiO) and the HiFiMan-400 on Amazon. There's no place I can find locally that would let me try these out, so I figure I'll return whichever one I like less.

Hawkbear,
Many people here like FiiO, and started their setups with FiiO. My first amp was an E5, and I still own an E12. The thing is, FiiO is focused on making inexpensive starter products... after $120 they don't offer better amps or DACs to upgrade to.

elaborate, please?

Well...
I really liked my AD700, used them for 3 years before upgrading to AKG Q701 headphones. The AD700 were lightweight, comfortable (especially after carefully bending the headband so the earcups would rest flat against my head), and sounded really good and had good soundstage and separation even with just the inexpensive FiiO E5 amp.

To that, the Q701 added better Earpad comfort, more detail resolution, more bass to balance out the frequency spectrum... But more difficult to describe, something that cannot be measured in dB, I found the Q701 grabbed my interest more. The AD700 (and to an extent, the MA900) would leave me a bit bored if I tried to listen to a whole CD, and games were held back a bit from sounding spectacular. With the Q701, I wasn't hearing many new notes that I had never heard before, but the experience was different, and in the 4 months I had both at the same time it became clear that the AD700 was good, but I enjoyed the AKG more.

I have not actually heard the K702 myself, but I read that they were revised to sound more like the Q701. The K712 is supposed to have a bigger difference, but for me the sound has the same benefits with just a tweak in tonality.

Well I'm not doing speakers at the current time. I don't want to piss off my neighbors as I'm in an apartment. The problem with something like the mixamp for me is it doesn't decode dts audio. So when I hook it up to something like my wdtv it can't play the dts tracks my movies are encoded in. Would there be an amp that would work with PS4 that can also do dts? Something that can do both is the perfect solution for me.

You and GrayRaven (and everybody else),
You should sign Chico's petition to FiiO, asking them to make a superior device, hopefully with DTS Connect decoding as well as Dolby Digital Live:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/699717/petition-for-a-gaming-device-from-fiio

For your Playstations, I haven't owned one myself (intend to get a PS4), but I think you can use the bitstreaming options to convert the output to Dolby, which could be understood by the different surround processors we recommend here. But still, sign the petition!

 

[AxelCloris]

To my PC/Mac gaming brothers and sisters, GOG.com has a sale going on. Top games from the past 30 years on sale. Titles will be changing often, the current one will only be up for 20 minutes. Current title is the 1986 classic Might & Magic. 6-pack, limited edition version for $2.50.

 

[Murder Mike]

This is a much better set up than the last sale, but I also think that the games will be better overall so there shouldn't be many duds. Buying a game will add 3 seconds and you have an option to add a second to the timer or subtract a second from the timer by voting. So, if there's no interest in a game, it will expire faster than last time where you had to wait for all the copies to be sold. 

 

[AxelCloris]

Agreed, and I have a few games in their classics list that I hope come up for sale, just not while I'm asleep.

 

[Skipshrike]

I have not actually heard the K702 myself, but I read that they were revised to sound more like the Q701. The K712 is supposed to have a bigger difference, but for me the sound has the same benefits with just a tweak in tonality.
 

 
I haven't heard the Q701's, but The K712's work extremely well for me with the Magni and the 2011 mixamp when gaming on a console.  Fun fact: the orange cable is more visible and I've tripped over it less.
 
I think the extra 3dB helped and I've looked, can't stop looking, at new headphones with renewed wallet-control now.

 

[rc10mike]

Besides the MixAmp and Turtle Beach DSS1, there is another way to get Dolby Headphone for you headphones. Some AVRs have Dolby Headphone built in to their headphone jack. You just need to do some research to find the ones that have it.
 
For me, it kills two birds with one stone. I have an AVR for normal movies etc...but I can also plug my headphones in and get Dolby Headphone with any source, ie; gaming console.
 
Yamaha has its own Dolby Headphone processing called "Silent Cinema", but Ive seen very little reviews on it.
 
I was skeptical at first, but my Marantz SR6005 does everything, I no longer need a DSS or Mixamp.

 

[psx2]

Hey,
 
I noticed on the AKG K701 description you said this -
 

Trust me, the Mixamp is enough for the K701 if again, you don't add voice chat. If you do, you WILL need to attach an amp to the Mixamp's headphone out, just to juice the K70x and voice chat audio. Yes, they do scale with good amping, but for the purpose of gaming, I don't deem it necessary, asides from when you're in need of voice chat.

 
Can you recommend me the absolute cheapest amp to just add the voice chat with the mixamp. I'm not looking to improve quality/sound only something to power the voice chat audio and K701. (Sorry if this does not make sense, I'm clueless when it comes to audio)

 

[Fegefeuer]

We really need more interest for the FiiO petition. Some of you guys are frequent posters in Overclock.net (or other forums) etc...maybe we can get a lot from there? 

 

[Brick3]

Between ma900 and hd598 which has more forward/intimate mids with more emphasized treble and better for competitive gaming?
Please response if you have owned both and not just based on the reviews cuz i've read a lot of reviews as well.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Hawkbear]

  The Q701 is a good upgrade over an M50. Don't worry about the FiiO products, either. No, they aren't the best, but they aren't expected to be at their price. There is a purpose out there that they serve and they do it pretty well. Consider them a gateway drug to bigger and better things.

 
 
Hah, if my wife knew that those ATH M50s she got me were a gateway drug, I think she would have reconsidered!
 
I'm wearing the HiFi-400 right now, been testing it today. At first I wasn't sure what to think, just because I'm used to the closed headphones and I couldn't seem to get the volume high enough. But, I had some weird sound settings on my PC, and after I fixed that they sound amazing. There are still some songs that are too quiet, for some reason, but I'll see how they do with an amp. I never understood what people meant when they say that a headphone is "precise" or "detailed" until I tried these. 
 
Not that it matters for sound, but from an aesthetic standpoint, the Hifi cans look ridiculous. My wife walked into my office, froze, and laughed when she saw them. Then, I had her try them. She typically dismisses my new gadgets immediately, but she wore them for a few full songs.
 
I knew the Q701s would be much better looking, but I was interested in the sound from the HiFi's planar tech. After having them for only a day, I'm actually growing to like the ridiculous look of it, probably just because they sound so good.
 
I agree 100% so far with what MLE said about the HiFi-400, especially with the bass. I listened to a few songs that I remembered had more bass with my M50s, and I was slightly disappointed. But, I tried a handful of more bass-heavy songs, and the difference was huge. Just like MLE said, if there is bass, you're going to hear it.
 
I've been listening to the M50s for almost 2 years, and while I still like them, especially for the price, it seems like when you're used to a particular sound that it takes some time for your ears to adjust. It probably took 10-20 minutes for me to adjust to the open headphone "atmosphere". 
 
I get the Q701 today and the FiiO E10, I'll give a quick review once I've tried them both with the amp and I decide which headphone that I'll keep.

 

[kraken2109]

If you're considering the K701/702/Q701 or even Sennheiser HD600/650 I recommend looking at the AKG K612 pro. I just got a pair for £112 and so far I think they're amazing. I've used HD650s before, and ignoring a slight (not huge) difference in sound signature, I think they're just as good.
I was considering the K702 and everyone says 'not enough bass' so I was a little worried about these, but I honestly think the bass is perfect. They can easily handle lots of bass and go really low but never enough to negatively impact music.
I will try them with some games soon, but I have a feeling they're going to be great thanks to the nice wide soundstage.

 

[Hawkbear]

I got the Q701 right when I finished the other post. I didn't need to try them for very long, and my wife said they're both hideous, so I'll pick the one with the sound and comfort that I prefer: the HE-400.
 
I was surprised at how much volume I got out of the Q701 without an amp on my PC. But I did try them with the FiiO E10, and it was better. I liked the soundstage on the Q701 a lot, and if I were just a gamer, I actually might pick them over the Hifis. But generally I'm working on my PC, and I listen to music probably more than I can game, and I prefer how music sounds from the Hifi. 
 
The other thing that made the decision easy, even though I didn't think would bug me, was the bumps on the bottom of the Q701 headband. Even if I liked the sound better overall, I probably would have sent the Q701 back and gone for the Annies or even the K702, because those bumps were really uncomfortable. I have a completely shaved head, so perhaps if I had some "extra hair padding", it would have been fine. 
 
I was amazed at how much lighter the Q701 was over the HE400, but the HE400 is still by far more comfortable. So I'm keeping the HE400, thanks for all the advice everyone.