[Brooko]

Hey 62ohm - we really need to organise a NZ meet sometime early in 2014.
 
I have an RS1 classic (buttoned) + the NFB12 (I answered in your other thread).  Would be good to compare some different gear if we can get a dozen or so people together.

 

[Chris_Himself]

   
Thanks for the input mate, much appreciated.
 
I tried the RS-2i, and I have to say I preferred it more than the HD650, though not sure how much it differs with the RS-1.

 
RS-1 has slightly deeper cups. I have RS-2i and I have no problem squeezing the extra $200 for RS-1 but I don't think it's actually worth it so RS-2 is the end of the line for me.
 
Try HE-400 too. It's that really energetic headphone but without some of the uncomfortable brightness Grados can throw out with some SS amps. Grados are so OK without an amp that introducing one sometimes risks it not sounding great LOL.
 
Really the HE-400 is probably the best value in headphones today, HE-500 needs an amp but otherwise that'd be the next one. 400 is the energetic and efficient 500. 500 has a little more darkness/warmth/bass which gets a bit lifted when paired with a nice amp to become a really well-rounded package.

 

[62ohm]

  Hey 62ohm - we really need to organise a NZ meet sometime early in 2014.
 
I have an RS1 classic (buttoned) + the NFB12 (I answered in your other thread).  Would be good to compare some different gear if we can get a dozen or so people together.

 
Count me in, would be nice to have a NZ Head-Fi gath 

 

   
RS-1 has slightly deeper cups. I have RS-2i and I have no problem squeezing the extra $200 for RS-1 but I don't think it's actually worth it so RS-2 is the end of the line for me.
 
Try HE-400 too. It's that really energetic headphone but without some of the uncomfortable brightness Grados can throw out with some SS amps. Grados are so OK without an amp that introducing one sometimes risks it not sounding great LOL.
 
Really the HE-400 is probably the best value in headphones today, HE-500 needs an amp but otherwise that'd be the next one. 400 is the energetic and efficient 500. 500 has a little more darkness/warmth/bass which gets a bit lifted when paired with a nice amp to become a really well-rounded package.

 
Well HE-400 does cost a lot less than HD650...

 

[ThurstonX]

   
RS-1 has slightly deeper cups. I have RS-2i and I have no problem squeezing the extra $200 for RS-1 but I don't think it's actually worth it so RS-2 is the end of the line for me.
 
Try HE-400 too. It's that really energetic headphone but without some of the uncomfortable brightness Grados can throw out with some SS amps. Grados are so OK without an amp that introducing one sometimes risks it not sounding great LOL.
 
Really the HE-400 is probably the best value in headphones today, HE-500 needs an amp but otherwise that'd be the next one. 400 is the energetic and efficient 500. 500 has a little more darkness/warmth/bass which gets a bit lifted when paired with a nice amp to become a really well-rounded package.

 
Having started years ago with the Grado SR-225, then ventured into AKG land, and finally landed with the HE-500, I can say the Grados are good, but not great.  I'd love to hear the HE-400, just to compare, but after modding the pads, the HE-500 is great.  A little annoying that such effort has to be spent to get them up to their full potential, but it was worth it.  But yes, they need a solid desktop amp to drive them.  Love them on the Schiit Lyr (currently with Matsu****a PCC88 tubes).  Very musical, and less fatiguing than the Q701, at least for rock.
 
So yeah, if you can find the HE-500 used, and you have a worthy amp, they can be a really good deal.
 
But as Chris said, you're not likely to change the Q701 signature significantly with an amp.  Don't sweat it, though.  Just give yourself an honest assessment of how the Qs do with a good cross-section of your music collection/tastes.
 
 
Or, as Alex Lifeson said when being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame...
 
"Blah blah blah blah?"
 
"Blah blah blah BLAH!"
 
(which is how I tend to feel after opining, which, it seems, is a compulsion

 

[Evshrug]

By the way Evshrug, do you listen with the Bass Boost on with the E12+Q701, or with it off?

I like being a purist too, but sometimes I like extra bass. With the E12 I have, I usually leave the boost on, because the boost only registers way down low where the Q701 starts to roll off below neutral anyway. If it affected the mid bass and other freq's more, I probably wouldn't use the bass often.

The problem with that, of course, is that there's no way to guarantee you'll get the "real" K712 pads.  If I'd known that, I probably wouldn't have bothered, and thus wouldn't have ended up with the Annie pads.  C'est la vie.

The "solution" would be for someone with the K712 and an unmodded Q701 (or the willingness to reverse the mod) to compare them with various pads (Ks on Q, Qs on K).

Guess that's me? I keep getting pulled away to do other shiiite. Mom's boyfriend is asking me to help him bring in a big package/box, I bet she asked him to help me get out of the house, and they're going to try and keep me out as long as possible. They don't understand, when I work standing all day long, sometimes I don't want to be walking and dancing and prancing about.

 

[62ohm]

   
But as Chris said, you're not likely to change the Q701 signature significantly with an amp.  Don't sweat it, though.  Just give yourself an honest assessment of how the Qs do with a good cross-section of your music collection/tastes.
 

 
I really like it for slow acoustical songs, but not so much for rock...

 

[koiloco]

   
I really like it for slow acoustical songs, but not so much for rock...

A good tube amp with the right "tubes" will smooth out the Q701 and warm it up a touch but you are still talking about not a huge amount of warmth here.  On my friend's Lyr with stock tubes, I didn't hear any improvement vs a decent solid state amp.  To my ears, that Lyr was actually harsher than my cheap Fiio E17/E9K combo to which I am listening right now.  I am not sure about what option you have between Lyr and higher end tube amps, but with Woo WA22 and the current tubes, the Q701 is sublime for most genres I listen to.  It can't beat HE500 when it comes to rock, though.

 

[62ohm]

Guys what do you make of this
 

 
Good thing, or bad thing?

 

[koiloco]

If you are a purist and wanna judge your HPs honestly, then turn off all enhancements and boosts.  Use that as your baseline and go from there.
For me, it's not a bad option to have.  I don't mind EQing when needed but I no longer need to do so after modding the bass port.  

 

[tdockweiler]

  Guys what do you make of this
 

 
Good thing, or bad thing?

 
Believe it or not i've never used an EQ for the Q701. I'd suggest modded your pair if you're comfortable with opening it.
 
At this point I don't think I could get the Q701 to sound any better. Maybe with K712 pads and modding the grill and removing the foam.
 
BTW unrelated but I was listening to a docked Ipod Touch 2G to E17 yesterday. Sounded rather thinner sounding than I'm used too, but not horrible. For some reason the E17 seems to do a better job of driving headphones when it's connected to my computer as a DAC/Amp! The E17 seems kind of weak but is enough to make my HD-650 sound good, but that's not hard.
 
The Airhead does a better job with it for sure but probably not as well as the E12, C5 or whatever else is out there.
 
My DJ100/K400 and Q701 are much harder to get to sound good than the HD-650

 
HD-650 does sound darker and more closed in when it's under-amped. This is very noticeable when I use it with my TV's headphone jack.
 
BTW I think one thing the modded Q701 probably does better than the K712 is in creating good soundstage depth. Maybe it's also a lot to do with the DAC/Amp too.
I noticed an improvement when modding it in this area and it threw me off a bit. I bet you can hear it against a stock Q701 with ease.

 

[koiloco]

^ At work, I used E17 as DAC feeding the E9K > Q701.  For the $, it's really decent SQ.  That combo does give a touch of warm to the Q701.  I am tryin to set a time to meet up with my buddy as we speak to test his HD800 on my WA22 an compare it to the Q701.  This should be interesting at the least.

 

[tdockweiler]

  ^ At work, I used E17 as DAC feeding the E9K > Q701.  For the $, it's really decent SQ.  That combo does give a touch of warm to the Q701.  I am tryin to set a time to meet up with my buddy as we speak to test his HD800 on my WA22 an compare it to the Q701.  This should be interesting at the least.

 
Yeah I think the E17 is great for the money and I got it for the DAC mostly. It's DAC is pretty good. My guess is that this touch of warmth is from the E9. I never really noticed it until I compared it to the Magni and my other amp.
E9 seemed to be good for everything I had and wish I had kept it.
 
I'd probably take the E9 for the Q701 over the Magni for the Q701, but maybe not the O2.
 
Strangely I went from E9 > Magni > E17 (kept) > O2 > Asgard 2. Should have kept the O2 danngit!
 
Right now I use the E17 in my bedroom for movies etc. Having optical input is nice and it's actually good enough for my HD-650.

 

[Chris J]

Yeah I think the E17 is great for the money and I got it for the DAC mostly. It's DAC is pretty good. My guess is that this touch of warmth is from the E9. I never really noticed it until I compared it to the Magni and my other amp.
E9 seemed to be good for everything I had and wish I had kept it.

I'd probably take the E9 for the Q701 over the Magni for the Q701, but maybe not the O2.

Strangely I went from E9 > Magni > E17 (kept) > O2 > Asgard 2. Should have kept the O2 danngit!

Right now I use the E17 in my bedroom for movies etc. Having optical input is nice and it's actually good enough for my HD-650.

And your next amp is?

 

[Chris J]

Having started years ago with the Grado SR-225, then ventured into AKG land, and finally landed with the HE-500, I can say the Grados are good, but not great.  I'd love to hear the HE-400, just to compare, but after modding the pads, the HE-500 is great.  A little annoying that such effort has to be spent to get them up to their full potential, but it was worth it.  But yes, they need a solid desktop amp to drive them.  Love them on the Schiit Lyr (currently with Matsu****a PCC88 tubes).  Very musical, and less fatiguing than the Q701, at least for rock.

So yeah, if you can find the HE-500 used, and you have a worthy amp, they can be a really good deal.

But as Chris said, you're not likely to change the Q701 signature significantly with an amp.  Don't sweat it, though.  Just give yourself an honest assessment of how the Qs do with a good cross-section of your music collection/tastes.


Or, as Alex Lifeson said when being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame...

"Blah blah blah blah?"

"Blah blah blah BLAH!"

(which is how I tend to feel after opining, which, it seems, is a compulsion

You forgot the other 357 blah, blah, blahs!

 

[ThurstonX]

You forgot the other 357 blah, blah, blahs!

 
Any attempt to duplicate that bit of demented genius would've fallen flat on its face