[Bajitopelu]

  Lol.  I will be using it w/ my Theorem 720 as portable dac/amp.  For my main setup, I have SqueezeBox Touch -> Theta Va DAC -> Antique Lab Tube Headphone amp.
I am very curious which setup will sound better.  So far I am getting very good sound from my portable. 

 
I'm fairly new to the audiophile world, at the moment I don't have a proper setup for headphones at the moment, my HD 598 is connected to my Sound card ( Sound Blaster Zx). Now i got a good reason or excuse to start one jajajaja.

 

[jasonb]

  I just wanted to share something that I mentioned in another AKG thread. Its about the amp matching and troublesome peak at 2 Khz. This is the only thing stopping this headphone being pretty much perfect. Perfect for what it is anyhow. Obviously there are better headphones out there these days but in all seriousness you do have to drop about 3 months wages to afford them. 
 
After many many experiments with equalizing/not equalizing/ equalizing/changing amps/sources blablah. Less is more. If any of you use foobar then great. It may save you a fortune. 
 
Access the equalizer and take 1.8khz one notch down. The 2.5khz two notches down. It's as simple as that. You haven't touched the very linear and brilliant treble that these hp's are capable of. You've only corrected the inherent mid peak that causes all the probs (nasal, plastic etc.) You can lower these settings even more if you wish, but I would advise against it after lots of experimenting myself. Other good headphones have a much lower dip in this area but I would try and keep the AKG's as flat as possible because this is where they excel in contrast to other more colored sound signatures.
Of course this pesky little peak can easily be forgotten about without EQ as you adjust to their sound. But as soon as you listen to another quality headphone it becomes apparent again. I use the HD800 as a reference to how good headphones can be in regards to transparency, realism, tone etc. I'm not an HD800 fanboy by any means (I'm not a fan of how they look for a start!) but whether I like it or not - they have set a standard in SQ. AKG fanboy yes I am! So it makes sense to try and perfect these amazing bargains. 

The little rise at 2K is really pretty small. The response at 2K is only 2-3db louder than the response at 1K. If the dip between 3-5K wasn't there then it would look even better. I guess if this 2-3db rise at 2K wasn't there then the response would look even smoother up to about 5K, but I just don't consider 2-3db to be a big deal, or even a small deal. The frequency response according to this graph of the Q701 is +/- 5db all the way from 18hz up to 10K, so in reality the balance is really pretty good, at least in my eyes and to my ears. After the bass port mod, I'm confident that it would be more like +/- 5db from 12hz up to 10K.

 

[sean76]

  The little rise at 2K is really pretty small. The response at 2K is only 2-3db louder than the response at 1K. If the dip between 3-5K wasn't there then it would look even better. I guess if this 2-3db rise at 2K wasn't there then the response would look even smoother up to about 5K, but I just don't consider 2-3db to be a big deal, or even a small deal. The frequency response according to this graph of the Q701 is +/- 5db all the way from 18hz up to 10K, so in reality the balance is really pretty good, at least in my eyes and to my ears. After the bass port mod, I'm confident that it would be more like +/- 5db from 12hz up to 10K.

 Lol it's okay you don't need to explain.

 

[jasonb]

 

 Lol it's okay you don't need to explain.

Whats that mean? 

 

[LugBug1]

  The little rise at 2K is really pretty small. The response at 2K is only 2-3db louder than the response at 1K. If the dip between 3-5K wasn't there then it would look even better. I guess if this 2-3db rise at 2K wasn't there then the response would look even smoother up to about 5K, but I just don't consider 2-3db to be a big deal, or even a small deal. The frequency response according to this graph of the Q701 is +/- 5db all the way from 18hz up to 10K, so in reality the balance is really pretty good, at least in my eyes and to my ears. After the bass port mod, I'm confident that it would be more like +/- 5db from 12hz up to 10K.

All the other frequencies are fine to my ears and agreed the balance is exceptional. Also, we deal in subtleties in this hobby and a couple of decibels is a lot! It's such an important area in the FR, guitar, violin etc all sound a little too brittle/hard without the EQ imo. 

 

[jasonb]

All the other frequencies are fine to my ears and agreed the balance is exceptional. Also, we deal in subtleties in this hobby and a couple of decibels is a lot! It's such an important area in the FR, guitar, violin etc all sound a little too brittle/hard without the EQ imo. 

I'm fine with them as is. Are they the flattest sounding headphone, no, but for the money its close enough. Im just not a big fan of eq, and I cant always use one anyway.

 

[ThurstonX]

   
Yeah pretty much. Although I have different views on cables but yeah we're about eye to eye on this.

 
LOL, I bet you do!  

   FWIW, I definitely notice a difference between my stock and custom cables on my Q701 and HE-500.  I'm very curious how the tiny HiFimeDIY DAC will stack up against the Bifrost.  Different chips, which I'll be happy to have.
 
Glad I got it right.  I appreciate your knowledge and posts.  It was late and I was about done for the day when I wrote it.

 

[ThurstonX]

  I just wanted to share something that I mentioned in another AKG thread. Its about the amp matching and troublesome peak at 2 Khz. This is the only thing stopping this headphone being pretty much perfect. Perfect for what it is anyhow. Obviously there are better headphones out there these days but in all seriousness you do have to drop about 3 months wages to afford them. 
 
After many many experiments with equalizing/not equalizing/ equalizing/changing amps/sources blablah. Less is more. If any of you use foobar then great. It may save you a fortune. 
 
Access the equalizer and take 1.8khz one notch down. The 2.5khz two notches down. It's as simple as that. You haven't touched the very linear and brilliant treble that these hp's are capable of. You've only corrected the inherent mid peak that causes all the probs (nasal, plastic etc.) You can lower these settings even more if you wish, but I would advise against it after lots of experimenting myself. Other good headphones have a much lower dip in this area but I would try and keep the AKG's as flat as possible because this is where they excel in contrast to other more colored sound signatures.
Of course this pesky little peak can easily be forgotten about without EQ as you adjust to their sound. But as soon as you listen to another quality headphone it becomes apparent again. I use the HD800 as a reference to how good headphones can be in regards to transparency, realism, tone etc. I'm not an HD800 fanboy by any means (I'm not a fan of how they look for a start!) but whether I like it or not - they have set a standard in SQ. AKG fanboy yes I am! So it makes sense to try and perfect these amazing bargains. 

 
Excellent post.  Thanks for sharing your experience with EQing the Q701.
 
I found myself EQing my HE-500s last night listening to Steely Dan.  It wanted a little more bass.  Admittedly, I was driving them with my JDS Labs C5 while my Lyr is out for repairs, but it's a competent stand-in.  That got me thinking about the best way to EQ the AKG.  This gives me a perfect starting point.  I really like the expanded frequency range and finer control the Graphic EQ component adds to foobar2000.  And as you noted, less is certainly more.  It didn't take more than 1.3dB to get what I wanted.  I'll have to try it later today on the Qs.
 
Cheers  

 

[LugBug1]

   
Excellent post.  Thanks for sharing your experience with EQing the Q701.
 
I found myself EQing my HE-500s last night listening to Steely Dan.  It wanted a little more bass.  Admittedly, I was driving them with my JDS Labs C5 while my Lyr is out for repairs, but it's a competent stand-in.  That got me thinking about the best way to EQ the AKG.  This gives me a perfect starting point.  I really like the expanded frequency range and finer control the Graphic EQ component adds to foobar2000.  And as you noted, less is certainly more.  It didn't take more than 1.3dB to get what I wanted.  I'll have to try it later today on the Qs.
 
Cheers  

Good stuff cheers  

 

[koiloco]

   
LOL, I bet you do!  

   FWIW, I definitely notice a difference between my stock and custom cables on my Q701 and HE-500.  I'm very curious how the tiny HiFimeDIY DAC will stack up against the Bifrost.  Different chips, which I'll be happy to have.
 
Glad I got it right.  I appreciate your knowledge and posts.  It was late and I was about done for the day when I wrote it.

Oh ThurstonX, what have you got yourself into?  

 

[ThurstonX]

  Oh ThurstonX, what have you got yourself into?  

 
LOL.  The "simple" pursuit of perfection.  It's all about the journey, after all, not the goal.  The goal just serves to get our feet moving on the path.  But don't forget what Krishnamurti said:
 
Truth is a pathless land.
 

 

[Evshrug]

LOL.  The "simple" pursuit of perfection.  It's all about the journey, after all, not the goal.  The goal just serves to get our feet moving on the path.  But don't forget what Krishnamurti said:

Truth is a pathless land.

Everybody starts on the light side, but many fall to the dark side. I'm not worried yet, not till I see you employing magic crystals wrapped around your cables and stuff like that.

 

[jimmers]

  The problem for me with a portable player is that it makes the Q701 too thin and fatiguing!

For me the Q701(bass mod) has sounded the best ever from the Fiio X3.

 

[62ohm]

I think it is safe to conclude that the Q701 sounds exceptional with classical (Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mahler) but not so great with classic rock (GnR, Deep Purple, Led Zepp). At least, that's what I think of them..

 

[ThurstonX]

Everybody starts on the light side, but many fall to the dark side. I'm not worried yet, not till I see you employing magic crystals wrapped around your cables and stuff like that.

 
Stop peeking through my windows!!
 
Hmmmm, I do have a salt crystal "planet" lamp (ambiance, man... ambiance), and I do have this funky crystal sitting on a shelf, along with other interesting rocks and three trilobite fossils.  Maybe I'll put the crystal on the Lyr when I get it back.  You know, to enhance the tubey goodness  

 
And yes, Luke, I am your #$%&@*! father.