[Smugsie]

  Pads = very little clamping pressure for me.  I'd actually prefer just a bit more.  Q pads on my HE-500s = best HE-500 sound from the many pads I've tried.  That's a real Qoup... errr, coup 

 
Bumps = death to my (mostly) bald head, so I sliced them off, split a bandana in two (corner to corner), folded it a few times, then wrapped it around the headband.  Perfect and dirt cheap.  It's even black on white, so it matches my white Qs 

  There are a few pix in this thread.
 
Best/worst Q moment: when one of the little screws fell inside the cup during an iteration of the bass port mod 

  How the hell it got in there, I don't know, esp. since I couldn't shake it out.  Ended up breaking connections (wires soldered to posts) in order to free the driver, in order to get that damn screw.  Avoided the temptation to defenestrate said screw, soldered the wires back on (a very tidy job of it, too!), et voila!  my Qs are as good as new.  So I count that as best and worst, but it serves as a tale of caution to us crazy modders.
 
Curious to hear anyone else's best/worst moment(s) with their Qs.

Man. If that even happened to me, I'd have to shake mine to death. Not willing to solder headphones anytime soon

The only freak moments I had with the Q's is dropping them.. Luckily they landed headband first!

  When i get tired with my Q i switch to my Dt 880 now that's what you call comfy.

I switch to my a900x

Pads have a large surface area and the wing system has a different contact area on my head compared to the Q's.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

When i get tired with my Q i switch to my Dt 880 now that's what you call comfy.

go to my esw9 if I want more laid back or go to the he4 if I want more reference. The Qs are somewhere in between with a tilt towards reference.

 

[Exodus121]

Hi everybody!
 
So, I'm a long time reader and visited to know what's good and what's not and I finally jumped in the pool!
 
I picked myself up a pair of AKG q701's and 363D Senns.
AKG's are for listening and enjoying.  Senn's are my travel for lanning and if I have to online talk.  
I baby the AKG's.  Senn's are the ones that might get scuffed while being lugged around in my pack.
 
So I'm in the situation of looking to spend money to make my q701's shine and the bass mod does not seem too complicated so
I will attempt it tomorrow some time.  
 
Now, I'm aware to make these things shine I need other pieces of equipment and my budget is pretty loose so any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
From what I've garnered because these will be plugged into my PC pretty much only I should get:
 
a. Titanium HD sound card.
b. something called O2?
 
Now am I missing something?  I have some idea of what I need but it's never been really broken down for me and the why and what it does.
 
This is a great community where AVS is for televisions this place is my go to for well informed hammered out information on great audio headphones.
 
Thank you

 

[Solrighal]

Some questions first...

1. Are the Q701's to be used purely for music? If so I can maybe help. If it's for gaming I'm out.

2. Windows or Mac?

3. Crappy mp3 files or flac or other lossless formats?

4. If it's for music playback what are your musical preferences?

 

[Solrighal]

No man lol, bat onesie.... vampires up at night




And actually the pad I was thinking of was this, for some reason I got the sellers mixed up. Although I believe fortunecat sells it as well (at least at one point):
http://www.amazon.com/Headphone-Headband-Replacement-Protector-Logitech/dp/B00IRC1JPI/ref=sr_1_22?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1396563251&sr=1-22&keywords=headphone+headband+cushion





There's another pic with that wrap on a Q701 but I can't find it atm.

I want that so much but the seller will not ship to my address. Damn it!

 

[Solrighal]

Has anyone got any idea if this pad below would fit the Q701?

http://turbulentlabs.com/beyer-onyx/

 

[Chris J]

:rolleyes:

I'll have a comparison up tomorrow morning (my tomorrow).
What? The difference is massive! I'd say night & day.
Far too fragile for me I'm afraid.
I still don't understand the bat **** (see what I did there?).
You are clearly deaf. The difference is vast! I'd say night & day.
What? You'll have to shout from way over there!

:rolleyes:

 

[Stillhart]

  Hi everybody!
 
So, I'm a long time reader and visited to know what's good and what's not and I finally jumped in the pool!
 
I picked myself up a pair of AKG q701's and 363D Senns.
AKG's are for listening and enjoying.  Senn's are my travel for lanning and if I have to online talk.
I baby the AKG's.  Senn's are the ones that might get scuffed while being lugged around in my pack.
 
So I'm in the situation of looking to spend money to make my q701's shine and the bass mod does not seem too complicated so
I will attempt it tomorrow some time.
 
Now, I'm aware to make these things shine I need other pieces of equipment and my budget is pretty loose so any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
From what I've garnered because these will be plugged into my PC pretty much only I should get:
 
a. Titanium HD sound card.
b. something called O2?
 
Now am I missing something?  I have some idea of what I need but it's never been really broken down for me and the why and what it does.
 
This is a great community where AVS is for televisions this place is my go to for well informed hammered out information on great audio headphones.
 
Thank you

 
 

Some questions first...

1. Are the Q701's to be used purely for music? If so I can maybe help. If it's for gaming I'm out.

2. Windows or Mac?

3. Crappy mp3 files or flac or other lossless formats?

4. If it's for music playback what are your musical preferences?

 
I can help with computer questions, but these are all important questions to help get you the best info.  FYI, the 363's have a built-in cound card so buying an extra sound card for your computer isn't going to help them any.

 

[Exodus121]

1.     The Q701's are for any time I don't have to skype/ventrillo/teamspeak/mumble.  80% of the time.  So music and gaming.
 
2.     Windows.
 
3.     I'm not going to pretend on this I dominantly listen to mp3 files.  If I really like something though and I can get more out .flac I'll get them and I think good headphones may lead me that way.
 
4.     My musical preferences are all over the place.  Monday I start it off with kpop/mashups, tuesday it's between the buried and me, skeleton witch, wednesday it's 90's hip hop, thursday it will be techno/electronica and guilty pleasure friday is pop music because it's the weekend.  Every now and then I bust out classical and just listen because I am a piano player and I miss the old music.
 
Also, I have found the bumps on the headphones to be a little irritating.
I have been combating this by wearing my toque(canadian) but it feels like I am muffling the sound.  That picture of the wrapped headphones.  That is purchased from a baby store?

 

[Exodus121]

Yep I know the 363D's have a built in soundcard of some kind but the sound card I want to buy is for my q701's as well as all the other things that will allow me to get the
most out them.  
I will be getting a laptop soon so the laptop will be benefitting the most from the sennheisers.
 
EDIT: also just figured out where the edit button is.
 
So basically I need a shopping list.  I'll be performing the mod over the weekend. god help me it in attempting this I do not want to scratch them!

 

[Stillhart]

If you want 3D positional sound from your computer while gaming, you'll want a sound card like the Titanium or the Sound Blaster Z.  I suggest looking up "The Nameless Guide to PC Gaming" for info on that.  I can defintiely tell you that the Q701 will be hard to beat for gaming.  They're top notch.
 
If you don't care about 3D positional sound, you can just get an amp and DAC that runs off your computer via USB.  There are a lot of suggestions on what pairs well with these so a budget would be really helpful.  I think a couple cheap options are the O2+ODAC or the Modi+Vali.  Some Googling on those will tell you all you need to know.  They can generally be found used in the classifieds here since they tend to be "starter" equipment and people resell them as they move up.
 
If you want the 3D sound for gaming AND the best music, you'll eventually want a sound card + a DAC that has an optical input + an amp.  I'm still researching the best DAC to use for this, since this is the setup I'm building.  I already have the sound card (Sound Blaster Omni) and an amp (Matrix M-Stage).
 
With your musical preferences, you might want more bass.  I suggest the bass mod or the K712 Anniversary pads.  Right now, I am beyond pleased with the Q701 and the bass mod.  I can't imagine buying another open dynamic headphone that I'd like more.
 
Good luck with your research!

 

[Exodus121]

  If you want 3D positional sound from your computer while gaming, you'll want a sound card like the Titanium or the Sound Blaster Z.  I suggest looking up "The Nameless Guide to PC Gaming" for info on that.  I can defintiely tell you that the Q701 will be hard to beat for gaming.  They're top notch.
 
If you don't care about 3D positional sound, you can just get an amp and DAC that runs off your computer via USB.  There are a lot of suggestions on what pairs well with these so a budget would be really helpful.  I think a couple cheap options are the O2+ODAC or the Modi+Vali.  Some Googling on those will tell you all you need to know.  They can generally be found used in the classifieds here since they tend to be "starter" equipment and people resell them as they move up.
 
If you want the 3D sound for gaming AND the best music, you'll eventually want a sound card + a DAC that has an optical input + an amp.  I'm still researching the best DAC to use for this, since this is the setup I'm building.  I already have the sound card (Sound Blaster Omni) and an amp (Matrix M-Stage).
 
With your musical preferences, you might want more bass.  I suggest the bass mod or the K712 Anniversary pads.  Right now, I am beyond pleased with the Q701 and the bass mod.  I can't imagine buying another open dynamic headphone that I'd like more.
 
Good luck with your research!

 
My budget is $400-$800.  
 
I want the sound card, the dac with the optical input, and the amp! I want the whole 9 yards as well.  
 
So am I wrong in looking for the Titanium HD or is there a better one I should be getting?  
And, with that budget what should I be looking for in regards to DAC w/ optical input and amp?

 

[Stillhart]

   
My budget is $400-$800.
 
I want the sound card, the dac with the optical input, and the amp! I want the whole 9 yards as well.
 
So am I wrong in looking for the Titanium HD or is there a better one I should be getting?
And, with that budget what should I be looking for in regards to DAC w/ optical input and amp?

 
I suggest going to the Nameless guidde I mentioned earlier for advice on a sound card.  My understanding is that, if you're just using it as a DSP with a separate DAC and Amp, you don't need the high end stuff like the Titanium.  Something like the Sound Blaster Z will work fine.  Unless you have a preference on your surround processing (CMSS-3D vs SBX).  Sounds like you don't.
 
As to the DAC and amp, I can't really help too much there.  You're out of my price range.  I have a soft spot in my heart for Schiit so I'd get a Bifrost and Valhalla if I could afford it.  There are plenty of used Valhallas around (not sure if that's a good sign or not) but not many Bifrosts.  I can't speak to how well they pair with the Q tho.  Maybe a Bifrost+Vali also.
 
Honestly, if you're looking at spending that much money, you're probably under-spending on the headphones.

 

[Exodus121]

Alright

   
I suggest going to the Nameless guidde I mentioned earlier for advice on a sound card.  My understanding is that, if you're just using it as a DSP with a separate DAC and Amp, you don't need the high end stuff like the Titanium.  Something like the Sound Blaster Z will work fine.  Unless you have a preference on your surround processing (CMSS-3D vs SBX).  Sounds like you don't.
 
As to the DAC and amp, I can't really help too much there.  You're out of my price range.  I have a soft spot in my heart for Schiit so I'd get a Bifrost and Valhalla if I could afford it.  There are plenty of used Valhallas around (not sure if that's a good sign or not) but not many Bifrosts.  I can't speak to how well they pair with the Q tho.  Maybe a Bifrost+Vali also.
 
Honestly, if you're looking at spending that much money, you're probably under-spending on the headphones.

Welp, these are my first real headphones that I've spent over 200$ on.
 
Realistic budget is $500.  This is for all 3 of the pieces of equipment that I need to get the most out of my headphones.  It's not a stretch to me and makes perfect sense like cameras and lenses.
 
You have to understand these are my entry headphones.  I will go for better ones somewhere later down the line but I'd like to tread water first and know what I am doing before I commit larger amounts of money.  

 

[Stillhart]

  Alright
Welp, these are my first real headphones that I've spent over 200$ on.
 
Realistic budget is $500.  This is for all 3 of the pieces of equipment that I need to get the most out of my headphones.  It's not a stretch to me and makes perfect sense like cameras and lenses.
 
You have to understand these are my entry headphones.  I will go for better ones somewhere later down the line but I'd like to tread water first and know what I am doing before I commit larger amounts of money.

 
And you have to understand that I can't and won't just tell you what to buy.  You need to look into the recommendations and do your own research and educate yourself.  You've gotten more than enough information to start researching and determining whether those suggestions will work for you.
 
If you have specific comments on any of the suggestions, ask away and I'll try to help.