[Bubblejuice]

  what does 'too colored for music production' mean? they reproduced classical music great for the year plus that I used them as my primary cans.

Lol I have absolutely no idea, but that's what I keep reading.
 
All I have are super warm colored cans, minus my HD 595s. 
 
I'm looking for a more analytical, flat headphone that I can confidently use for recording and master music since speakers are not really an option for me atm.
 
I've been getting into amateur music production, but my LCD-2.2f, B&O H6 gen 2, DT 770 pro, etc just won't cut it for accurate reproduction... or so I've been told (Other than for 2, 3, and 4th references).
 
I found a pair of Q701 for a pretty great deal so I'm wondering if these would be what I need, mainly for making music, everything else is secondary since I have other headphones for pure listening.

 

[kman1211]

  Lol I have absolutely no idea, but that's what I keep reading.
 
All I have are super warm colored cans, minus my HD 595s. 
 
I'm looking for a more analytical, flat headphone that I can confidently use for recording and master music since speakers are not really an option for me atm.
 
I've been getting into amateur music production, but my LCD-2.2f, B&O H6 gen 2, DT 770 pro, etc just won't cut it for accurate reproduction... or so I've been told (Other than for 2, 3, and 4th references).
 
I found a pair of Q701 for a pretty great deal so I'm wondering if these would be what I need, mainly for making music, everything else is secondary since I have other headphones for pure listening.

The Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro(specifically made for mastering but not cheap, if you can get these for a good price I wouldn't hesitate to get them) or the Sennheiser HD 600 are good options for mastering.
 
The Q701 has a good deal of energy in the upper midrange around the 2khz region, I would factor that in if you are mastering with them. The K712 is probably the best of the K7 series for mastering as it's the most neutral and natural sounding of the bunch. 

 

[Slaphead]

Some people say they are still too colored for music production, what do you think?

All headphones are coloured in some way or another, but the Q701 remain one of the more neutral headphones out there. There's no reason why they couldn't be used in a music production, but you do have to be aware of what they do and don't do well.

I'd agree with kman1211 in that the DT1990 are a fantastic choice for music production, but they are quite expensive. The DT880 is still around and I always found them to be a truer headphone than the Q701 in that my mixes translated better, and it's also phenomenal value for money - just watch out for the treble peak.

 

[Bubblejuice]

  The Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro(specifically made for mastering but not cheap, if you can get these for a good price I wouldn't hesitate to get them) or the Sennheiser HD 600 are good options for mastering.
 
The Q701 has a good deal of energy in the upper midrange around the 2khz region, I would factor that in if you are mastering with them. The K712 is probably the best of the K7 series for mastering as it's the most neutral and natural sounding of the bunch. 

That makes a lot of sense. Yeah, I'm not sure I can justify spending that much on 1990s just yet. lol I've yet to make money off of this. But I'll definitely put them on my "To hear" list for the future. It's awesome that there's a pair specifically for that.
 
The reason I say the Q701 is just because I found a good deal on them. They are "more" neutral than my current headphones, but I'm just not sure if they are neutral enough. But that makes a lot of sense, I can just adjust for the peaks and valleys accordingly since the Q701 shouldn't have too many I guess.
 
I've also heard that the Shure srh840s are recommended for this, what do you think?
 

All headphones are coloured in some way or another, but the Q701 remain one of the more neutral headphones out there. There's no reason why they couldn't be used in a music production, but you do have to be aware of what they do and don't do well.

I'd agree with @kman1211 in that the DT1990 are a fantastic choice for music production, but they are quite expensive. The DT880 is still around and I always found them to be a truer headphone than the Q701 in that my mixes translated better, and it's also phenomenal value for money - just watch out for the treble peak.

 
That's very true. That's why I would have extra references!
 
I'm actually pretty sensitive to treble peaks, otherwise I would probably have considered the DT 880s from the start. I hope the Q701s don't have similar peaks. 

 

[kman1211]

@Bubblejuice

I understand that, it's expensive for just a tool alone, thankfully it's a real joy to listen to in general listening too as that's all I use it for and it's my most used headphone for listening pleasure. I may not be in music production myself but I know enough people in it and enough listening experience to be quite confident in my suggestions. Though I would definitely take the advice of someone who actually masters over my own opinion. I'm really just an enthusiast trying to find the highest fidelity sound that I can without breaking the bank.

The Q701 isn't bad, just mentioning one of their problems. All headphones have problems of course. Sadly the headphone audiophile community are quite prone to the hype machine which makes searching for relevant information rather difficult at times due to the noise.

Sadly I don't have much experience with Shure headphones.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Get the q701. For the price they're best in class. Perhaps a bit rolled off in the bass but EQ can fix that.

 

[Bubblejuice]

@Bubblejuice

I understand that, it's expensive for just a tool alone, thankfully it's a real joy to listen to in general listening too as that's all I use it for and it's my most used headphone for listening pleasure. I may not be in music production myself but I know enough people in it and enough listening experience to be quite confident in my suggestions. Though I would definitely take the advice of someone who actually masters over my own opinion. I'm really just an enthusiast trying to find the highest fidelity sound that I can without breaking the bank.

The Q701 isn't bad, just mentioning one of their problems. All headphones have problems of course. Sadly the headphone audiophile community are quite prone to the hype machine which makes searching for relevant information rather difficult at times due to the noise.

Sadly I don't have much experience with Shure headphones.

Yeah, I had someone in another forum tell me that my LCD-2f are neutral enough to substitute monitors for. I know he meant well, but I understand where you're coming from thanks to that comment.
 
The only headphones I've seen being used were the Shure's I mentioned, but they were used for monitoring. I don't know what they used for editing.
 
I'll probably end up getting them. It's probably better than what I currently have for this, and it's a start. Especially for the money.
 
 

  Get the q701. For the price they're best in class. Perhaps a bit rolled off in the bass but EQ can fix that.

 
I actually don't mind rolled off bass, so long as it's present and does it's job of what I like to call "Filling the cracks".

 

[LajostheHun]

Quincy Jones thinks these are good for monitoring hence his endorsement.

 

[DavidRoss007]

Just got a WOO WA6 with the Sophia Princess upgrade and I feel I am now hearing my Q701's for the first time (had a little dot +1) the

little dot was great for what it is but the woo is making my Q701's sing. I'm still having a little problem with some hardness in the upper range but that may go after the WA6 settles in. I am very happy now.

 

[i luvmusic 2]

I used to have the same upper range issue until i got this.......

 

[Devodonaldson]

Just got a WOO WA6 with the Sophia Princess upgrade and I feel I am now hearing my Q701's for the first time (had a little dot +1) the little dot was great for what it is but the woo is making my Q701's sing. I'm still having a little problem with some hardness in the upper range but that may go after the WA6 settles in. I am very happy now.

If you feel the sound is a little peaky, on eBay they have replacement foam rings. Comes in a 3 pack, and I use the most dense ones. Helps a good deal

 

[Bansaku]

In my opinion the bass mod cannot be reproduced using bass boost or any other tricks on amplifier.

I will counter your opinion with my own; You are wrong. As someone who has done numerous bass mods on various headphones from Grado, beyerdynamic, Sennheiser, and AKG including my currently owned Q701, I can tell you first hand that if I had my micro iCAN SE at the time of owning them, I would have spent more time enjoying the music and zero time pissing around with foam, felt, sticky tack and the likes. I am fortunate that I picked up my Q701 after obtaining the micro iCAN SE. Truth be told, after hearing the K701 if it weren't for the iCAN SE and it's magical XBass I would not have considered purchasing the Q701 at all; Glad I did, phenomenal headphones, and I only paid $150 CND! Using the lowest XBass setting has far better control, impact, and sub bass weight than the mod which in comparison sounds muddy, boomy, and alters the rest of the sound presentation to the point that (IMO) they aren't the Q701 any more. Sorry, but losing some depth and midrange is unacceptable! On a side note, using the highest XBass setting, the Q701 takes it like a boss with excellent control vs other headphones in my inventory (such as the HD 600). I will say this, digital bass boost and tone controls are less than stellar. My 2 cents.

Speaking of iFi, while the pairing of the micro iCAN SE and the Q701 is fantastic, adding the micro iTube2 into the chain is nothing short of magical! I am not going to spoil too much because I want to save the good stuff for it's review, but I will say that the iTube2 in conjunction with the lowest XBass setting is extremely satisfying adding both impact and weight as well as texture! The added warmth and air both tamed and opened up the treble, taking down the edge a notch yet expanding the spectrum! And mids... wow... simply put, gorgeous! Not to mention the expanded depth. My iFi stack and the Q701 is a match made in heaven!

And while I have ya all reading, I may as well mention the mods I have done. The first one is a simple one; Doubling up the foam ring. This helps take the edge off the upper mids and lower treble, the area I am sensitive too. The second was upgrading the cable to a better quality and more manageable length. I got a nice silver 1.5m 5N OCC copper cable which definitely sounds a touch better than the horrible unusable length stock cables. But the biggest change was this:

So what I did was cut out the stupid raised bumps with a surgical scalpel and carefully cleaned up the area. I then took 1/8" craft felt with an adhesive backing and traced out the shape of the headband. After I took that shape and traced it out onto the genuine high quality leather I picked up at a craft store. I had black but it wasn't as rugged as the dark green (which looked like it was recycled from a couch factory). Anyway, I used brush on rubber cement and put a thin layer on the top of the felt and underside of the leather and joined the two. While the glue was still wet I pulled off the backing of the felt and placed it on the headband, and let it dry overnight. The result is like over 9000% increase in comfort! I figured using a layer of padding in between the headband and the leather would add to the comfort and I believe I made the right choice. Plus, at any time I want to upgrade the pad or swap out after wear I can easily do so because the adhesive on the felt is strong enough to indefinitely hold the pad on with normal use, yet it's bond is weak enough I can easily peel off and would probably have no damage to the headband's leather. Booya! Screw you Quincy Jone and AKG for your stupid decision to add bumps! I showed you!

 

[RollsDownWindowsManually]

I might have a problem. I think I like my Q701 more than my HD800. When I go back to the HD800, there seems to be less bass, and it sounds sucked out and missing midrange. Really makes me question why I spent $1200 on the 800, haha. I am liking the Q701 better for everything, rock, classical symphonies, heavy metal, electronica. There is a slight bit more clarity and soundstage/imaging precision with the HD800. The Q701 is ever so slightly grainer than the HD800, but because of its frequency response, it just seems to have a more pleasing sound. I have the ridiculous looking green ones, and they're awesome. Could be that my ears are so used to my etymotic ER-4, and that the AKG Q701 is closer to the revealing deatail of the Ety than the HD800, which is a lot more recessed in the midrange/presence regions to my ears, and leaner on bass. It's also more comfortable than the HD800.

Also the Q701 is my newest headphone so it could be my personal FotM, we'll see how it holds up over time I suppose. I power them with a Headroom Micro Amp and the source is a headroom Micro DAC. Really not understanding the advertised lack of bass on the AKG Q701. It goes pretty low and has ample impact to my ears, more than the HD800 for sure, and compares favorably with some closed headphones that are known for bass, like the beyer DT-250. Maybe AKG has tweaked the tuning on the 70X series over the years, or the Q701 has had more all long than the original K701.

 

[jaco61]

... I also rarely miss bass with top recordings through my K702 (2017). Most of the time I hear in direct mode not missing anything. If a little more impact makes sense or some grumble in the very lowest region just +1 x-bass on my IFI ican (non se) is doeing the job simply amazing. It is supposed that there was some hidden update in the whole akg 7xx line also.

A modification in terms of bass for me therefore is obsolete. Pretty much here! Some mod for personal taste in damping around 2,3 khz could be installed easily (e.g.double foam rings or inlays).

For some comparable reasons like the nice post above with the Q701 and the HD800 I sold my HD650 at the end ...

 

[eldus]

Is an E17k (Alpen 2) sufficient? Ive had my eye on the Magni 3 or an 02 for awhile, but haven't bit the bullet. I'm just wary of the few posters who say that the magni and the 02 sound 'thin' with the Qs. Does the Magni 3 do these cans justice?