[ThurstonX]

How do you like the Lyr back at home?

 
I'm in tube rollin' heaven, esp. now that my four '74 Voskhod Rockets arrived from Russia 

 
And it's fun to have a little project which involves two different pairs of tubes + the Q701s, and the C5 thrown in the mix for comparative purposes.  I'm forcing myself to listen to some favs for which, normally, I would not use the Q701s.  Some are surprisingly good, others, I still won't be reaching for the Qs.  But it's all fun.

 

[Ashade]

I'm in tube rollin' heaven, esp. now that my four '74 Voskhod Rockets arrived from Russia 

And it's fun to have a little project which involves two different pairs of tubes + the Q701s, and the C5 thrown in the mix for comparative purposes.  I'm forcing myself to listen to some favs for which, normally, I would not use the Q701s.  Some are surprisingly good, others, I still won't be reaching for the Qs.  But it's all fun.

Nice! Looking forward to your impressions!

In fact, I'm using E12 DIY with Q701, and have tried several combinations of buffers and op-amps. But my impression is that the soundstage is not deep enough, which Q701 should have if it is amplified properly. So, I guess portable amps do not have sufficient power for Q701. Personally, I won't recommend E12 for Q701. I think people should get a desktop amp instead for Q701.

Could the recommenders also give some brief impressions for your suggested amp? I will link your impressions to that list.

By the way, did you try the high gain? Apparently it has more dynamics than the low gain. I've tried it in the E18 and I can indeed tell the difference.

 

[duyu]

Nice! Looking forward to your impressions!
By the way, did you try the high gain? Apparently it has more dynamics than the low gain. I've tried it in the E18 and I can indeed tell the difference.

 
I agree that E12 sounds not bad. It may be a great pair for travel.
But I assumed that normally we use Q701 at home. If that's the case, perhaps a cheaper Vali or Magni can do a much better job than E12? 
Hope some headfiers who own both amps can do a comparison. 

 

[Output]

Ok so this is really confusing for me. I am a new audiophile and am about to purchase my very own q701. But there are just so many amp options I don't know what to do. I saw the list thing posted a couple pages ago but it didn't really help.

 

[CCXR594]

  Ok so this is really confusing for me. I am a new audiophile and am about to purchase my very own q701. But there are just so many amp options I don't know what to do. I saw the list thing posted a couple pages ago but it didn't really help.

Honestly, I'm new to the game too, and my Q's just arrived today. I already had a FiiO E07-K and thought it'd be enough, but I've pretty much got to max it to get decent sound. So, I'm in the same boat as you pretty much. It would seem that Schiit amps/dacs are pretty highly regarded around these parts, so one of their base models should do fine?
 
On another note, GOOD GOD THESE ARE AMAZING!! Jumping up from my XB-500s, there's a world of difference. Listening to them fresh out of the box, and the bass seems acceptable. deadmau5's "cthulhu sleeps", the bass is definitely there. It's not head smashing like the Sonys, but  it's plenty defined. Will do the bassport mod as soon as I can though, can't ever have too much bass. Also, I found several tracks in my iTunes library are now un-listenable. Blue Oyster Cult's songs have a really audible background hiss, as well as several other oldish rock albums. 
 
Also downloaded a sampler from HD Tracks, and those sound (again) worlds apart from my iTunes stuff. Never honestly believed I'd be able to tell the difference between actual quality of the files themselves, and not just the recordings. These have opened my eyes, and also closed them to some other music that was recorded sloppily.
 
EDIT: just thought you guys would like to know, ordered my Q701's from Amazon on the night of 12/30 and got Austrian made ones

 

[ThurstonX]

  Ok so this is really confusing for me. I am a new audiophile and am about to purchase my very own q701. But there are just so many amp options I don't know what to do. I saw the list thing posted a couple pages ago but it didn't really help.

 
Think about how you'll use the amp, and where you'll use the Q701s.  Will you use the Q701s mostly at home?  Do you have other headphones that you'll be amping (I gather not, for the moment ?  Do you want an amp or amp+DAC combo that you can travel with (plug an iPod, iPhone, other portable DAP into)?
 
If you'll never travel with your amp and cans, you can get a desktop amp.  You can get solid state or tubes, or a hybrid.  The Schiit "budget" line might be good for you.  Or maybe the O2 (JDS Labs sells a nice build).
 
For portable, maybe try the FiiOs first, as they're not too expensive, and many recommend them.  I'd probably get the JDS Labs C5 or C5D (the latter, if I wanted an amp+DAC combo), but that's me.
 
Keep following this thread and see what duyu does.  He's got a list running.

 

[duyu]

  Ok so this is really confusing for me. I am a new audiophile and am about to purchase my very own q701. But there are just so many amp options I don't know what to do. I saw the list thing posted a couple pages ago but it didn't really help.

 
For the 100-150 range, a number of amps have been recommended by different head-fiers. It seems that no one has done a comparison among them. But all of them are quite well-regarded amps at that price range.
 
You may wait for ThurstonX's impression on Lyr and C5. A number of people said that Lyr and Q701 is a great pair.

 

[Output]

hmmm. thanks. I will probably be using them pretty much entirely at home. For me the price does matter, honestly the q701s themselves are pushing it. I will try to follow this thread closely in order to make a good decision.

 

[Ashade]

hmmm. thanks. I will probably be using them pretty much entirely at home. For me the price does matter, honestly the q701s themselves are pushing it. I will try to follow this thread closely in order to make a good decision.

My advice is: Just buy used your first amp if possible. If you don't like it, sell it and get another one. But don't worry very much about it, most of the solid state desktop amps at that price range should be similar (this means the difference should be less than changing headphones). Just choose whatever you like the most in regard to their features and what you think you are going to be using.

 

[ThurstonX]

   
For the 100-150 range, a number of amps have been recommended by different head-fiers. It seems that no one has done a comparison among them. But all of them are quite well-regarded amps at that price range.
 
You may wait for ThurstonX's impression on Lyr and C5. A number of people said that Lyr and Q701 is a great pair.

 
Sneak Preview: even with these fairly bright and energetic Russian tubes, Steely Dan sounds great.  But... sounds great driven by the C5, too, without being overly bright (Qs don't really need any help in that dept.).  Still have another hour to listen to with these tubes (different bands; I'm being selfish and using this as burn-in time  Tomorrow I'll roll in my best tubes and have a listen to the same songs.  I think they'll pair up nicely with the Qs.  So, long-ass review will post tomorrow.

 

[djcarpentier]

If you can find them in your area, try a vintage receiver or integrated amp. I have a vintage Sanusi powering mine and they sound awesome. Lots of deep bass, very full sounding. Bought it locally for $50 off craigslist. Excellent value

 

[Rumrunner]

Just got my Q701's recently and thought I would share my opinion on them.  I am using these with an optically fed Fiio Taishan DAC and a Shiit Asgard 2 amp.  For anyone wondering how the Q701 + Asgard 2 work together, I will say it works fantastic.  Alot of body and some warmth, not fatiguing, and very pleasant. 
 
The higher mids and treble is absolutely outstanding on these.  With these, you don't hear cymbals, you hear drumsticks striking cymbals.  Does that make sense?  These headphones have me excited, things like a snare drum have so much detail and information, I believe I can tell if it is a persimmon or metal snare lol.  That can be hard to tell live but you get my drift. 
 
I love the soundstage also, realistic, pretty spacey, and suspended in midair around you right out of the box without having to use software sound degrading processing to emulate soundstage. 
 
Comparing these to my DT990s I think these have better raw sound quality in the mids and treble, but the bass is not as detailed as the DT990s, I can't quite hear the air vibrating off the bass guitar as well as I can with the DT990s.  But the bass is definitely presented well as many others would say about these. 
 
These headphones work great for things like Eric Clapton and other classic rock, blues, anything with real instruments.  For things like Hip Hop they do great too, but the DT990 does better because of it's strength in the bass area. 
 
Comfort wise, the headband does not really bother me like it does others, I kind of like the way the headband is designed as a suspension system.  The clamp is a little tighter than I would like though, but I have a bigger head.  I could still wear them for hours. 
 
For the money these are a steal, but they of course need a decent amp to run properly.  I was lucky enough to get an Austria model, beware that a lot of these are being made in China now.

 

[noobandroid]

  Just got my Q701's recently and thought I would share my opinion on them.  I am using these with an optically fed Fiio Taishan DAC and a Shiit Asgard 2 amp.  For anyone wondering how the Q701 + Asgard 2 work together, I will say it works fantastic.  Alot of body and some warmth, not fatiguing, and very pleasant. 
 
The higher mids and treble is absolutely outstanding on these.  With these, you don't hear cymbals, you hear drumsticks striking cymbals.  Does that make sense?  These headphones have me excited, things like a snare drum have so much detail and information, I believe I can tell if it is a persimmon or metal snare lol.  That can be hard to tell live but you get my drift. 
 
I love the soundstage also, realistic, pretty spacey, and suspended in midair around you right out of the box without having to use software sound degrading processing to emulate soundstage. 
 
Comparing these to my DT990s I think these have better raw sound quality in the mids and treble, but the bass is not as detailed as the DT990s, I can't quite hear the air vibrating off the bass guitar as well as I can with the DT990s.  But the bass is definitely presented well as many others would say about these. 
 
These headphones work great for things like Eric Clapton and other classic rock, blues, anything with real instruments.  For things like Hip Hop they do great too, but the DT990 does better because of it's strength in the bass area. 
 
Comfort wise, the headband does not really bother me like it does others, I kind of like the way the headband is designed as a suspension system.  The clamp is a little tighter than I would like though, but I have a bigger head.  I could still wear them for hours. 
 
For the money these are a steal, but they of course need a decent amp to run properly.  I was lucky enough to get an Austria model, beware that a lot of these are being made in China now.

ah~ here comes the "made in china" debate again, lol, jk, among all my past headphones, i think the q701 could be one fine pick, besides the dt770 250ohm i had once

 

[LugBug1]

If you can find them in your area, try a vintage receiver or integrated amp. I have a vintage Sanusi powering mine and they sound awesome. Lots of deep bass, very full sounding. Bought it locally for $50 off craigslist. Excellent value

^^^This 

 

[Katun]

So, just got another Q701 today, and I'm detecting a few differences from previous Q701's I've owned.
 
- Is it just me, or did they actually make the bumps squishy? I thought they used to be filled with concrete, but now they compress very easily.
- The fit is much tighter than I remember. Even pulling the headphone down to full extent, they rest higher up on my ear that I'd like. 
- They sound warmer than I remember too. Perhaps it's the Vali, or maybe I just can't remember from my last pair.
 
They've also put plastic wrapping around the cups, and I can't remember them doing that before.