[dgbiker1]

I was debating whether it was worth writing my impressions since both the LD MKIII and AKG K701s have been discussed in great depth here, but my impressions have been surprising in many instances, so I figure I’d share with the 2 people that will likely read this

To start with the K701s now have about 100 hours on them (>70hrs pink noise) and the LD MKIII has about 20 hours. Not completely burned in yet, but things have smoothed out and aren’t changing as dramatically anymore.
I’m listening to a Macbook playing 320kbps AAC/MP3 or lossless through optical to an Extigy card, then through the headphone out (I know it’s less than ideal, I’m saving up for a DAC) to the LD MKIII.

Build Quality/ Looks:
Not much to say here, both the K701s and the MKIII are impeccably built. Bonus points to AKG for the box. Even though it reminded me of my 3G iPod box, it’s still a nice package.
The K701s themselves look fantastic. I’m a bit worried about the two skinny elastic bands on the sides providing tension for the headband, but I haven’t been let down yet. Overall build quality is great. They look great… as long as they’re not on my head, these things are comically large. My only complaint would be the cord that feels anemic compared to a Grado cord, but I plan on recabling in the future anyways.
The LD looks far better in person. I thought the pictures on LD’s website actually looked pretty cheesy, but the real unit looks great. Other than smelling like kerosene for a few days and a tube socket that’s slightly off center with the case opening- being nitpicky- there are no issues. I love the glow of the tubes at night!

Comfort:
First surprise here. If I were to go by what I’ve read everywhere, Grados should be a form of torture and AKGs supremely comfortable. The Grado SR225s that I used briefly before the K701s were extremely comfortable! They were so light I could barely feel them. After a few hours I began to feel there was something on my ear, but no discomfort. By comparison I can feel the K701s the second I put them on. The headband gets a bit uncomfortable after about 45 minutes from the tension produced by those elastic bands. The pads aren’t as cushy as I expected, but they seem to be forming to my head over time (maybe it’s the other way around?). Overall, my comfort vote goes to Grado, though the AKGs are definitely still pretty comfy.

General Sound Impressions:
Getting down to business. First, the K701s did indeed need a good amp. My Cmoy was distorting audibly at comfortable sound levels. The MKIII remedied that problem, but needs to be set at the highest gain setting (K=10) to drive the AKGs.
One of the first things I noticed with the K701 was an exaggeration of the high-mids/low-highs. Playing with my equalizer isolated this exaggeration around 8kHz. Looking at head-room’s charts confirmed this with a hump at around 8kHz. What does this mean? Acoustic, jazz, blues, and other “quiet” and detailed genres sound spectacular. But some rock is literally painful to listen to, specifically Within Temptation’s The Heart of Everything was un-listenable. I’m not talking poor sound quality, I’m talking PAIN. Things have toned down considerably with burn in and the MKIII helped considerably, now I can listen to the album at low volumes, but it’s not ideal. By comparison Grados rocked that album. For anything prog-rockish (Pink Floyd DSOTM, Coheed & Cambria) the Grados are clearly better.
The much discussed soundstage of the K701s was better than expected. I wish I could remember the song (I think it was Portishead, but I can’t find it anymore) where I was startled to hear a voice clearly come from behind my head. Listening to live albums I can locate exactly where someone is shifting in their chair or coughing.
Another surprise: I’ve found that the MKIII, though more powerful than the Cmoy, is perhaps a little less revealing of details. More on this in the specific listening examples. MKIII wipes the floor with the Cmoy for everything else.
I was also surprised at the performance of the K701 with low bit-rate recordings. After hearing they are revealing of all flaws in the source, I found the K701 much more forgiving that the SR225. Where the SR225 sound soft and pixilated with anything <320kbps, the K701 keeps things pretty decent. The soundstage shrinks noticeably and you can hear the rolloff on the top end and muddier bass, but it’s remarkably decent considering what I’ve read.
Finally, bass on the K701s is great. Beautifully controlled, if not skull shattering. I’ve heard details in bass-lines of old songs I’d never heard before. Again, more on this in the specific listening examples.

Specific Listening:
I’ll discuss specific songs/albums/artists/genres that have made strong impressions on my listening experience. This is the music that surprised or impressed me the most.

-Massive Attack, Angel: My #1 reference track. My jaw doesn’t just drop during the final guitar “solo”, it falls right off my head. I’ll admit to cranking up the MKIII way past safe levels, but it’s absolutely worth never hearing my future children’s angelic voices. No distortion, tremendous instrument separation in a very challenging track. I’ve never heard this track like this before. Some other setups will play it with more bass, but none I’ve heard with better clarity. Amazing. Grados were a bit more in your face as this track should be, but I tend to be a more analytical guy (I am an engineer after all), and the AKGs let me deconstruct the song with ease.

-Kruder & Dorfmeister, K&D Session: My #1 reference album. Spectacularly recorded album takes you through shoe-gaze to hip-hop, jazz, etc. Everything from hip-hop bass lines to atmospheric details, to cymbals is crystal clear. 2nd best setup I’ve heard for this album after a set of Polk speakers that seemed tuned specifically for this albumJ

-Artist: Cinematic Orchestra: Never liked this group before. I just happened to pop in their album and I was floored. All the little details that are brought out and beautifully positioned in space take this album from boring to an interesting, very involving listen.

-Diana Krall, Live in Paris: Sounds amazing, especially “A Case of You” where you can make out every detail of her voice. Audience members can be precisely located in the venue with startling certainty. One major shock: This song sounds better on the Cmoy than MKIII! The smoothness of the tubes takes away some of the texture from Krall’s voice that keeps this track interesting. Background noise also sounded a bit off with the MKIII. This is the only song I’ve heard that sounded better on the Cmoy.

-Ceu, Lenda and Ave Cruz: All I need to say hear is that Ceu’s voice sounds extremely seductive

I’ve always maintained that the best singers in the world are female bossa-nova artists. Ceu sounds good enough that I have a bit of a crush now, how many headphones can do that? Bass lines are also very well handled with the setup. Unlike Krall, Ceu’s voice is all about being ultra-smooth, so the MKIII really complements the recording.

-Trentemoller, The Last Resort: As expected, IDM sounds phenomenal on the K701. The soundstage and accuracy of these phones really brings out the best in IDM. Blips seem to approach from all directions, bass is handled perfectly. I also liked Plaid, but Trentemoller’s more musical approach to IDM suits my palette much better.

-Genre: Trance: WOW! What a surprise! I haven’t listened to trance since a freak accident (bass shook the sub enough to rip the rear connections out of the amp) took out my rear surround speakers on my surround speaker setup. This is a genre that needs two things: bass and space. I honestly thought the lack of bass quantity would make trance pretty boring. Boy was I wrong! The soundstage makes the synthesizers sound huge, you feel like you’re at a warehouse rave. The exaggerated bass on 99% of tracks gets knocked down to normal levels and becomes another part of the music instead of overpowering it. The K701s seem to prefer the more epic, breakdown-heavy tracks of Sasha & Digweed, Blank & Jones, Paul Van Dyk, Oceanlab, trance [] control, Oakenfold, and the like. IiO’s less trance-y, more pop inspired tracks also benefit from the K701, “Is it love?” in particular benefited dramatically from the more controlled bass line. Michael Woods remixes will melt your face, that’s all I need to say about that.

-Genre: Hip-Hop: Another major surprise. My hip-hop tastes are VERY limited, I dislike about 90% of the genre, but the other 10% is brilliant. Beastie boys, the roots, the streets, aphrodelics, bomb the bass, all sound good. As with trance, the controlled bass benefits these artists quite a bit. The more old-school hip-hop in particular sounds great.

 

[Rednamalas1]

Great review

I love my K701s mated to BADA PH-12 tubes...It does wonders on classical music + Jazz + blues + and anything live. My favorite was Eric Clapton Unplugged album and anything classical - match made in heaven!
I'm glad that you liked your LD MKIII... just wait until you have around 700hrs of usage on your K701s - it sounds even better!

 

[dgbiker1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rednamalas1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Great review I love my K701s mated to BADA PH-12 tubes...It does wonders on classical music + Jazz + blues + and anything live. My favorite was Eric Clapton Unplugged album and anything classical - match made in heaven! I'm glad that you liked your LD MKIII... just wait until you have around 700hrs of usage on your K701s - it sounds even better!

There was a good chunk of time between ~60-80 hours where nothing was changing and I thought the pink noise had accelerated the process. Then they started changing a lot after ~80hrs. The 8kHz peak is definitely toning down, they're much less sibilant and painful. I couldn't wait to post my impressions, but I'll definitely update as they blossom

 

[pataburd]

Pain is not part of my experience with the RAL/K701 and R&R, or other non-jazz/non-orchestral music. When you mention that the soundstage shrinks when going from the SR-225 to the K701, that sounds odd and uncharacteristic of the AKG. It leads me to believe that you are perceiving/reporting shortcomings of the source rather than the headphones themselves. As many K701 owners will attest, too, 300 hours is the necessary minimum before these headphones begin to come into their own.

 

[TylerEaves]

One thing to try, is to push them further down on your head than seems natural. I find it more comfortable, seems to spread out the wait on the headband more. Also, try tilting them back and forward. While I can't testify about the squeeze (I have to wear glasses, so no escaping this), but I don't find the tension uncomfortable. I like the fact that they stay on, unlike my Grados which don't always survive mild headbanging

 

[dgbiker1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pataburd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Pain is not part of my experience with the RAL/K701 and R&R, or other non-jazz/non-orchestral music. When you mention that the soundstage shrinks when going from the SR-225 to the K701, that sounds odd and uncharacteristic of the AKG. It leads me to believe that you are perceiving/reporting shortcomings of the source rather than the headphones themselves. As many K701 owners will attest, too, 300 hours is the necessary minimum before these headphones begin to come into their own.

Sorry if that wasn't clear. What I meant was when you are listening to low bit rate recordings. The SR225 makes them sound pixilated and soft compared to a higher quality version of the same song. With the K701, the lower quality version sounds like the soundstage has shrunk and lost some high and low end detail by comparison to the higher quality version. I don't think you notice reduced soundstage with the 225... since there is none to begin with

I was expecting the K701 to sound worse with poor recordings since they are more revealing but found them much better than the pixilated experience on the 225.

The pain issue is definitely going away with burn-in. Early on I couldn't even listen to Within Temptation at any volume, now I can listen to it at reasonably loud volume without pain.

 

[Rednamalas1]

I felt tiny bit of pressure on the side of my head (near the jaws) but that went away after wearing them for a bit - pads softened up and are extremely comfortable now...
Now I just need RS1 for rock listening and DT880s...I'm all set

 

[rohanjd]

Thanks for the excellent review. Planning to buy another amp for the K701s so this helped big time.

 

[dgbiker1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rohanjd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the excellent review. Planning to buy another amp for the K701s so this helped big time.

Thanks, my experience with the MKIII definitely confirmed what many people have said about tube amps complimenting the K701s very well. It does add a little life to the sound. Now I need to start tube rolling

 

[FrederikS|TPU]

Nice review! Thanks for sharing.

 

[ethebull]

Thanks your thoughts on the AKG K701 / Little Dot MkIII combination. I own and enjoy the same exact set up.

My experience with them mirrors yours. The 701’s right out of the box sounded good, but there was an unnatural glare to the treble. They were clean and detailed but pinched - overly tight and controlled with a metallic edge. Before I had even 10 hrs on them, I recabled the phones with Mogami 2893 mini quad. 200hrs later, they’ve freed up nicely and the glare is no more. The detail is still there, but everything has balanced considerably. I really like the bass as presented. - articulate and linear is how I’d describe it. I might enjoy more weight and impact here, but not at the expense of what they get right. The amp/phones have outrageous midrange. Vocals are sweet, detailed, staged properly, organic, - hard to imagine it any better.

All in all IMHO this package is a giant killer, for only about half a kilo-buck.

 

[dgbiker1]

Did you do the Mogami mod yourself? I'm definitely thinking of doing some kind of recabling myself. Did you notice much of a difference before/after? If I can do it myself for $0.50 a foot with good results that seems like a better route than paying someone $300 to do it

 

[ethebull]

Yes I did the recable myself. It’s not terribly difficult if you are handy. I’m an incurable tinkerer so I had to give it a go.

This thread was an excellent primer:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/gui...abling-225819/

I didn’t do balanced, nor will you, so here’s the basic procedure:

Solder the two grounds (black and clear) and the copper shielding wires in one twisted bundle to the base of the phono plug. Solder the red wire to the center pin and the blue to the secondary pin.
Cut to desired length for your yolk position.
Prep two lengths for your upper L&R
I ran full jacketed shielded runs in the upper to maintain the shield and used all four conductors by doubling up in the individual L/R wires.
At the end where the cables enter the phones, pull back the shield wires and shrink wrap or tape them.
Open the K701’s as shown in the link.
Cut the old cable out and solder in the new.
I cut the non-slotted plastic piece on a cut-off wheel and shaped the notch with a rat tail file.

As to sound quality, I really can’t say. I knew I wanted to do this and some people say cables benefit from burn-in. I didn’t want to lay burn-in cycles end to end. The Mogami is well engineered, fully shielded (the factory cable has no shield) and I doubt an uber expensive aftermarket option could top it, though perhaps the 100% silver wired unubtainium vunderhose with pixie dust jackets would smoke’em.

 

[ethebull]

It was 8 days ago when I did the rewire. Right after is did it I wrote this in the "Guide to balanced thread":

cotdt - thanks so much for the detailed photos and explanation of how to access the inner workings of the K701's. I am not going balanced at this point, but I made some new cables out of Mogami 2893 mini quad and installing it was easy with your helpful photos and descriptions.

The sound is richer and has better impact right out of the gate! Additional burn-in should prove to make things that much better - Thanks again,

Cheers,

E

It didn't stick in my brain but I guess the rewire did have an immediate possitive effect. At this point, other than some further tube rolling, I'm nearly done with tweeking things. In a month I'll probably stop visiting this site altogether! Afterall, the last time I bought headphones I used and enjoyed them without a thought for 25 years!!

E

 

[One Fan To Another]

Hello. First post, here.

This site was one of many I read through to decide on which headphones to replace my Sennheiser PX100s (I don't have places to test much of any headphones so I have to risk basically every high end electronic purchase). I ordered the AKG K 701 and just got them yesterday.

Now, I know I'm 'supposed' to give them time to break in but as an "straight out of the box" review I have to say my 701s sound pretty bad. They sound, as ethenbull wrote, "...there was an unnatural glare to the treble... pinched - overly tight and controlled with a metallic edge." They serious lack much of any level of bass - It's actually a little hard to make out bass drums sounds in heavy rock music. I had to EQ the hell out of them to get a listenable sound with a lot of music and even then they don't even sound as good as my cheap-o PX100s. The sound seperation is good, but these literally remind me of my friends closed-back Sony headphones one can buy from Wal-Mart.

Oh, and sibilance?.. Got that in spades unless play with the 8-10k frequency range.

At first I almost felt like I may have gotten a fake pair but I bought them through a respectable dealer and everything about them and their packaging was as genuine as can be. But considering the almost unanimous praise of these cans I feel almost disillusioned by the idea that $200-$300 headphones are that much better than a $50-$80 pair of Sennheisers... or hell, even my old MP3 player favorite the Koss Porta-Pro (don't take my liking of the Koss Porta-Pro to think I'm some audio newb

They just work really well with cheap MP3 players).

I hope these get better with age but they'd have to change a HELL of a lot to become satisfying and considering a lot of people don't even believe in burn-in I'm thinking that that's simply not going to happen.

This is just my opinion of course. I'm not trying to flame on anyone who has these phones