[i luvmusic 2]

 I opened my email today and guess what i've got,A shipping confirmation from BH for my CRACK and SB.......YAY i'am soo excited

now i don't need to wonder that long how would the Q701 will sound like with the CRACK,I know CRACK is not design for Lower R HP but i want to try.

 

[larken]

 
Alright, so I received my magni today and I can't tell a difference with or without it. There MIGHT be a slight difference but I'm not confident I'd be able to identify with or without in a blind test.
 
The AD700's just seem much clearer and open and larger sound stage?, while the q701 feels compressed, contained, and muffled in games.
 
I found an audio track that I feel is really appropriate for testing: m83 - skin of the night. Mp3 v0.
 
So I'll probably just return the magni and sell the q701.

 
I haven't tried the q with a magni, but when I first got a dedicated amp for the q701 vs using the integrated amp on my essence stx, the difference was night and day. I went from hardly using the q701s to using it most of the time, neglecting the dt880s that I had preferred before purchasing a proper amp.
 
I concur with the few other posters expressing surprise at your impressions of the q701. It is rather unexpected as the soundstage and clarity are two of the areas the q701 really excel in.
 
If anything, the soundstage is often a little too big for certain music I listen to. The main complaint I would have about the q701 is the harshness of the treble in certain songs, and a mild lack in the bass (which is easily corrected with the bass mod). A friend of mine tried my bass-modded set a few weeks ago and commented that the bass was a little overpowering, which rather surprised me as he owned the Philips X1 and DT880, both of which had boomier/deeper bass/sub-bass than the q701s.

 

[Solrighal]

I have to agree with larken. The soundstage on the Q701 is huge. I also agree with him about the peaky (2k) treble which is why I hardly ever use them any more.

 

[MaxKohler]

   
I haven't tried the q with a magni, but when I first got a dedicated amp for the q701 vs using the integrated amp on my essence stx, the difference was night and day. I went from hardly using the q701s to using it most of the time, neglecting the dt880s that I had preferred before purchasing a proper amp.
 
I concur with the few other posters expressing surprise at your impressions of the q701. It is rather unexpected as the soundstage and clarity are two of the areas the q701 really excel in.
 
If anything, the soundstage is often a little too big for certain music I listen to. The main complaint I would have about the q701 is the harshness of the treble in certain songs, and a mild lack in the bass (which is easily corrected with the bass mod). A friend of mine tried my bass-modded set a few weeks ago and commented that the bass was a little overpowering, which rather surprised me as he owned the Philips X1 and DT880, both of which had boomier/deeper bass/sub-bass than the q701s.

Is the essence stx amp more powerful than the titanium HD?
 
I can't think of anything that could be faulty... I mean they didn't sound broken or anything... The amp got louder as I turned the dial up, so it was working...
 
Also, we might be talking about different things here. When listening to music it sounded normal/fine (but no difference with addition of amp). It's when playing counter-strike 1.6 where it's significantly more compressed, contained, and muffled than the AD700.
 
To me it's just definitely not an upgrade from an AD700. If in a blind test I was told that the AD700 was a $1500 headphone and the q701 was a $60 one it wouldn't surprise me at all.
 
They sound more similar/equal for music though.

 

[larken]

I couldn't definitively say its more powerful, but as far as internal soundcards are concerned, the STX was one of the most well regarded cards of its time, so I would guess it might be somewhat better than the Titanium HD (really hedging here, as you can see).
 
I haven't heard the AD700, so I can't comment on that, but I'd say that the q701 sounds amazing playing shooting games in terms of positional sound (for the games that support it; an example would be the Borderlands series), but its exceptionally loud soundstage does cause the sensation of things sounding further away than usual, which would mean that in CS, the shots fired by other players would actually sound fainter in comparison to, say, the DT880. It is certainly less in-your-face compared to the DT880, I'm guessing here - I can't be sure, but that could be the reason you would find it 'muffled'.
 
The fact that it doesn't sound any different with a magni however, is interesting. From all I read about the Schitt Magni, my impression was that it was a decent amp; but I'm not sure how it measures up against the one in the Titanium HD. For my own case, going from the STX amp (rather well regarded one as mentioned) to the Littledot MK III made a significant difference in taming the treble spikes, and made the music sound much better to my ears. It was night and day.
 
The Q701s have a rather unique sound signature imo. It is magical for certain kinds of music, but it is not as all-rounded as my other headphone, the DT880, when listening to multiple genres.
 
From my own observations, it excels in music with emphasis on vocals, and strings are just magical, while it is not that exceptional for synthesized sounds.

 

[jimmers]

...the peaky (2k) treble which is why I hardly ever use them any more.

Same here

 

[Nymrej]

  its exceptionally loud soundstage does cause the sensation of things sounding further away than usual, which would mean that in CS, the shots fired by other players would actually sound fainter in comparison to, say, the DT880. It is certainly less in-your-face compared to the DT880, I'm guessing here - I can't be sure, but that could be the reason you would find it 'muffled'.
 

 
I'd be curious, Max, if you think larken got this right.  I'm not a gamer, but I was comparing the two headphones last night while listening to Mozart, and larken's analysis seems to explain matters. 
 
Even with the bass mod, the Q701s are on the thin side of things.  The AD700s are fuller sounding (not ortho or HD650 full, but fuller), and maybe that helps to contribute to a more distant presentation on the Q701s.  IOW, does any of this explain the lack of clarity you're heading?  I don't think it can be detail-retrieval since you can hear things on the Q701 you simply can't on the AD700.
 
Again, the AD700 was one of the great values in hifi, so I'm not going to argue with your impressions.  However, with its current discounts, the Q701 is surely now one of the great values in hifi.  It'll be useful for people looking to make the upgrade you did to have as much analysis as possible, even if it is to say there is no upgrade at all.

 

[Nymrej]

   I opened my email today and guess what i've got,A shipping confirmation from BH for my CRACK and SB.......YAY i'am soo excited

now i don't need to wonder that long how would the Q701 will sound like with the CRACK,I know CRACK is not design for Lower R HP but i want to try.

I'd be pretty excited too.  I've been wanting to get a tube amp that would work with both the HD650 and Q701.  If BHC works, I'd want to hear about it.  It does seem an odd match.
 
In the meanwhile, does anyone have recommendations below Lyr-level that would match up well with the two headphones?  I see the original Valhalla at a little bit of a discount.  There are a few mentions of the pairing here and there in the forum, but nothing detailed.

 

[larken]

 
I'd be pretty excited too.  I've been wanting to get a tube amp that would work with both the HD650 and Q701.  If BHC works, I'd want to hear about it.  It does seem an odd match.
 
In the meanwhile, does anyone have recommendations below Lyr-level that would match up well with the two headphones?  I see the original Valhalla at a little bit of a discount.  There are a few mentions of the pairing here and there in the forum, but nothing detailed.

 
You could take a look at Project Ember. I have heard neither, but while searching for a tube amp in the past (and settling on the LD MK III), I did quite a bit of reading. This thread especially caught my interest.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/666703/project-ember-garage1217-vs-schiit-lyr/15
 
The Ember seems to be rather well received compared to the Lyr - and HD650 is mentioned to pair well with it too. No idea about the q701 however.

 

[i luvmusic 2]

 

   I opened my email today and guess what i've got,A shipping confirmation from BH for my CRACK and SB.......YAY i'am soo excited

now i don't need to wonder that long how would the Q701 will sound like with the CRACK,I know CRACK is not design for Lower R HP but i want to try.

I'd be pretty excited too.  I've been wanting to get a tube amp that would work with both the HD650 and Q701.  If BHC works, I'd want to hear about it.  It does seem an odd match.
 
In the meanwhile, does anyone have recommendations below Lyr-level that would match up well with the two headphones?  I see the original Valhalla at a little bit of a discount.  There are a few mentions of the pairing here and there in the forum, but nothing detailed.

I'am more excited about the build than the sound.LOL

 

[turbobb]

Just got my Q701 about a week ago and am really enjoying them (just waiting for Aune T1 to come in). Decided to document the bass mod in a vid and highlight some things to watch for:

[VIDEO]http://youtu.be/d2DsUnutSzw[/VIDEO]

(Jump to 3:11 to dive straight into procedure)

 

[headphones1999]

   
Don't forget, you actually have to fit your head in there too...

this "mod" making the headphones really comfortable (like q701 with less pressure and DT880 headband

)
 
 
 

One word - why?

i really like the sound of the DT880 like this (in some genres), and i wonder what other people think about it...

 

[HiSenn5]

How about the headband? Still bumpy?

 

[MaxKohler]

  I couldn't definitively say its more powerful, but as far as internal soundcards are concerned, the STX was one of the most well regarded cards of its time, so I would guess it might be somewhat better than the Titanium HD (really hedging here, as you can see).
 
I haven't heard the AD700, so I can't comment on that, but I'd say that the q701 sounds amazing playing shooting games in terms of positional sound (for the games that support it; an example would be the Borderlands series), but its exceptionally loud soundstage does cause the sensation of things sounding further away than usual, which would mean that in CS, the shots fired by other players would actually sound fainter in comparison to, say, the DT880. It is certainly less in-your-face compared to the DT880, I'm guessing here - I can't be sure, but that could be the reason you would find it 'muffled'.
 
The fact that it doesn't sound any different with a magni however, is interesting. From all I read about the Schitt Magni, my impression was that it was a decent amp; but I'm not sure how it measures up against the one in the Titanium HD. For my own case, going from the STX amp (rather well regarded one as mentioned) to the Littledot MK III made a significant difference in taming the treble spikes, and made the music sound much better to my ears. It was night and day.
 
The Q701s have a rather unique sound signature imo. It is magical for certain kinds of music, but it is not as all-rounded as my other headphone, the DT880, when listening to multiple genres.
 
From my own observations, it excels in music with emphasis on vocals, and strings are just magical, while it is not that exceptional for synthesized sounds.

Is it possible that your amp just changed the sound signature of the headphones?
 
For example, when I had a ZXR it significantly changed the sound signature. It made my $20 speakers sound better on music than my current $100 powered speakers (av40) do with my TiHD.
 
Ok, I found a post that says they both have the same amp. So the difference is likely the amp you're using, unless there is something wrong with the magni I got..
 
EDIT: there seems to be conflicting info. This guy and others have said the TiHD has no amp, while the STX does have an amp. Either way I think we'd need someone who has a TiHD and both the AD700 and q701 to see if their experience equals mine.
 

   
I'd be curious, Max, if you think larken got this right.  I'm not a gamer, but I was comparing the two headphones last night while listening to Mozart, and larken's analysis seems to explain matters. 
 
Even with the bass mod, the Q701s are on the thin side of things.  The AD700s are fuller sounding (not ortho or HD650 full, but fuller), and maybe that helps to contribute to a more distant presentation on the Q701s.  IOW, does any of this explain the lack of clarity you're heading?  I don't think it can be detail-retrieval since you can hear things on the Q701 you simply can't on the AD700.
 
Again, the AD700 was one of the great values in hifi, so I'm not going to argue with your impressions.  However, with its current discounts, the Q701 is surely now one of the great values in hifi.  It'll be useful for people looking to make the upgrade you did to have as much analysis as possible, even if it is to say there is no upgrade at all.

I don't think so because sounds did not sound farther away; they sounded closer. The AD700s sound much more spacious and natural, while the q701 sounded confined and closed.
 
Listening to music isn't sufficient because the difference is primarily only apparent in the game I was playing.
 
I didn't really compare the ad700's and q701 on music. I mainly compared the q701 with and without the magni for music. Again, for music the q701 sounded fine/good but going ingame is when the difference became apparent.

 

[jimmers]

  Ok, I found a post that says they both have the same amp.
...
EDIT: there seems to be conflicting info. This guy and others have said the TiHD has no amp, while the STX does have an amp.

They both use JRC2114 as standard but not as the headphone output device.