[yeast]

Still happy..smooth overall when listened unamplified with panasonic CT470...plenty of gain, sweet highs, bass a bit overdone, but expected with the cheap DAC in the CT470. Midrage is quite open, but still not as deep and wide as a well set up high end speaker based stereo system or the AKG501's. Upper mids very smooth.

Compare to AKG501'a under the same conditions the 7605's, 501's sound veiled and muted somewhat. Others have said it needs to amplified, so I listened through the headphone section of an APT-Holman Preamp.....same effect, the Sony's cleaner and mor neutral...on the cooler side of Neutral, the AKG501's a tad diffuse, but a bit deeper and wider in sound stage.

Both sound good with classical, instrumental music. Like the Sony's a bit better with blues and acoustic Jazz.

I use the following test CD's:

Rossini Overatures on London, Dutoit and Montreal Symphony-one of the best 3 dimensional Classsical recording IMHO.

Weepin Willie-Anologue Productions

Reference Recordings, Copland, Berstein, etc. HDCD Fanfare for the common man

London-Shostakovich-The Dance Album-The Bolt,The Gadfly-Challiy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Keb Mo-Just Like You.

various Enya CDs

My listening tastes lean toward depth of soundstage, detail, and imaging.

Sennheiser HD580's are on the way with my Porta Corda, I will compare all with that amplifier.

 

[Neruda]

you're going to need a much better source than the panasonic 470 to hear what the K501 is capable of. I don't know about that preamp you mention, but there's something wrong because the improvements over the V6 should be monumentous.

 

[gloco]

I agree with Neruda. I have a cmoy amp build by headfier JMT and the 501's simply sound superb paired with it. You should definitely invest in a amp...even a DIY amp will help big time. I prefer the 501's and my senn 580's over the 7506's when they are amped.

George

 

[yeast]

I would probably agree, but I failed to note that I wanted to test the Headphones without amplification to get a feeling for relative sensitivity/efficency, I travel alot and have concerns that Portable amps and a lot of extra gear may have problems with airport security...I am on the list for a CMOY, and a Porta Corda is on the way. I just think the 7605's do a lot of things without all the other stuff.....

 

[Tim D]

Thats a good point yeast...except AKG501's are probably the absolute worst portable headphones in existance. I doubt you could even fit them on your head in coach, and your earcups are probably going to be pressing right into the ear of the person sitting next to you.

 

[gloco]

Quote:

Originally posted by Tim D Thats a good point yeast...except AKG501's are probably the absolute worst portable headphones in existance. I doubt you could even fit them on your head in coach, and your earcups are probably going to be pressing right into the ear of the person sitting next to you.

LOL, Tim D has a very good point there!

yeast, you are right about the 7506's, they are a great pair of cans for portable use. Believe me, i love mine when paired with my MD player. I think the cmoy would be a problem at any airport. Who knows though, just strap your gear to your waist, i'm sure the "security" will let you right through.

George

 

[MacDEF]

This isn't a fair test at all. If you want to know about the "relative sensitivity/efficiency of the two, we'll tell you -- the 7506 work great out of weak sources, while the K501 suck

The K501 simply can't be used with a portable, or even out of the headphone jack on a receiver (the vast majority at least). They require a headphone amp, and a good one at that.

 

[Xander]

Absolute feces! Yeast, you have no idea how HORRIBLE the K501s sound out of a poor source. I can't express enough how large the improvement is if you were using an amp. On a good amp, these headphones are centuries ahead of the V6's in sound quality. Infact, many things are centuries ahead the V6's in sound quality. :\

 

[yeast]

Wow guys...lets not get so testy...I need a pair of sensitive high quality cans for use on an airplane and if the 501's don't perform as well on a PCDP, so be it. The 7506's to my ears are quite musical (For Classical and Jazz). As I said in the review, the bass is too boomy. They also fit nice on my earss. With regard to the AKG501's with an amp, the same thing can be said for great speakers being driven by a midfi reciever. they would sound terrible.

If I was going for the purest sound, I'd use a 300B tube system into AKG1000's.

Your comments are well noted though.

 

[Braver]

Quote:

Originally posted by yeast ..I need a pair of sensitive high quality cans for use on an airplane and if the 501's don't perform as well on a PCDP, so be it.

I'm curious tho, why did you pick the 501 in the first place? using those on an airplane, out of a portable, is the equivalent of wearing sunglasses when deep-sea scuba-diving!

but enough of this, it will be nice to see how the amp will change things

 

[Flasken]

Neruda:

Quote:

...but there's something wrong because the improvements over the V6 should be monumentous...

Gloco:

Quote:

I prefer the 501's and my senn 580's over the 7506's when they are amped.

macDEF:

Quote:

the 7506 work great out of weak sources, while the K501 suck

Xander:

Quote:

On a good amp, these headphones are centuries ahead of the V6's in sound quality.

LOL

I can't believe you all missed the fact that he's talking about 7505 !!! Not the 7506 or V6... Or at least that's what he says...

The 7505:

[EDIT: on the other hand it's probably a typo since he says 7605 which is nonexisting to my knowledge.. And he does say 7506 once later on.. What headphone are you talking about, yeast??]

 

[Xander]

Interesting.. I wonder how the 7505's sound?

 

[Braver]

 

[gloco]

LOL, i'm pretty sure he means the 7506's. Anyway, yeast, if your gonna use cans on an airplane, wouldn't it make sense to buy a pair of ety's? Even though i don't like the thought of canalphones, if i was the travelling type, i would invest in a pair.
Just my .02.

George

ps. When you receive your cmoy, you'll see what everyone's talking about yeast.

 

[MacDEF]

He said 7605 and 7506 at different times, and since I don't think there ever was a 7605, I am assuming he means 7506