[Soymilk]

558 owner here

Q701s sound thinner, but clarity, soundstage are far better. Quality bass, but lower in quantity. Not good for long listening sessions.
Hd558 really forgiving, smooth, but veiled sound, I guess you could say slower soundjng, more bass quantity, but less quality. Very good for long listening sessions.

are you comparing with the stock q701 or modded? thanks for the input

 

[Fuzziekiwi]

Stock

 

[tdockweiler]

  No, the Q701 has never been accused of being warm.  When people say the mod moves it in the warm direction, it does... but it's starting from so far on the bright side that it's still bright, just not AS bright.  They're very clean and sparkly and detailed, but they're not warm.  The bass port mod + a warm amp is what you want to get the best out of these for music IMO.  I'm sure others will chime in with their opinions too, don't just take my word for it.
 
I can definitely vouch for how good they are for gaming.

 
Definitely would have to disagree with this. For ME the Q701 has always been warm. No doubt about it. On the O2 and Magni + a bright source (such as an Ipod Touch 2G) it's much less warm and more sparkly and thinner.
If I ever find the Q701 NOT warm then I know something is wrong. Possibly bad DAC and Amp combination. None of my gear is dark or warm really at all.
 
I think the modded Q701 (the above notes were stock) is very close in sound to my HD-650, but the HD-650 is still a little warmer. Much less treble and a tad more bass than bass modded Q701.
 
BTW the K702 to me even has a touch of warmth. Barely detectable and it's not enough for me to call it a warm sounding headphone.  It's warmer sounding than the DT-880 though.
 
HD-598 is definitely warmer than the stock Q701 though. I don't really care though. I sure wish I didn't destroy my HD-598 with mods. Removing the fabric cloth behind the grill destroys the sound!

 

[Soymilk]

   
Definitely would have to disagree with this. For ME the Q701 has always been warm. No doubt about it. On the O2 and Magni + a bright source (such as an Ipod Touch 2G) it's much less warm and more sparkly and thinner.
If I ever find the Q701 NOT warm then I know something is wrong. Possibly bad DAC and Amp combination. None of my gear is dark or warm really at all.
 
I think the modded Q701 (the above notes were stock) is very close in sound to my HD-650, but the HD-650 is still a little warmer. Much less treble and a tad more bass than bass modded Q701.
 
BTW the K702 to me even has a touch of warmth. Barely detectable and it's not enough for me to call it a warm sounding headphone.  It's warmer sounding than the DT-880 though.
 
HD-598 is definitely warmer than the stock Q701 though. I don't really care though. I sure wish I didn't destroy my HD-598 with mods. Removing the fabric cloth behind the grill destroys the sound!

so it seems like it stock it's on the colder side but the bass port mod moves it to the warmer side? sounds pretty good to me
 
have you tried the bass port mod combined with k712 pads?

 

[Stillhart]

  so it seems like it stock it's on the colder side but the bass port mod moves it to the warmer side? sounds pretty good to me
 
have you tried the bass port mod combined with k712 pads?

I just want to clarify that that's definitely not what I was saying.  This is literally the first time I've ever heard someone describe these as warm and it makes me question my understanding of the definition of the word.

 

[Za Warudo]

Yeah everyone has their own definition of neutral. Judging from his comments his neutrality would lean toward bright for a lot of us.

 

[Fuzziekiwi]

This headphone has the capability to fatigue quickly with badly mastered music. I would say it has a tinge of warmth but overall a bit on the bright side. 

 

[Soymilk]

i'll probably just buy them soonish and see for myself, i dont think there's anywhere i'd be able to try them around where i live. there's only so much that can be conveyed through words

 

[Solrighal]

I just want to clarify that that's definitely not what I was saying.  This is literally the first time I've ever heard someone describe these as warm and it makes me question my understanding of the definition of the word.

I agree. I would never describe the Q's as warm. My bass modded Q's are about as far removed from my HD 650's as it's possible to get imo.

 

[Chris J]

Definitely would have to disagree with this. For ME the Q701 has always been warm. No doubt about it. On the O2 and Magni + a bright source (such as an Ipod Touch 2G) it's much less warm and more sparkly and thinner.
If I ever find the Q701 NOT warm then I know something is wrong. Possibly bad DAC and Amp combination. None of my gear is dark or warm really at all.

I think the modded Q701 (the above notes were stock) is very close in sound to my HD-650, but the HD-650 is still a little warmer. Much less treble and a tad more bass than bass modded Q701.

BTW the K702 to me even has a touch of warmth. Barely detectable and it's not enough for me to call it a warm sounding headphone.  It's warmer sounding than the DT-880 though.

HD-598 is definitely warmer than the stock Q701 though. I don't really care though. I sure wish I didn't destroy my HD-598 with mods. Removing the fabric cloth behind the grill destroys the sound!

Methinks the DT880 leans toward the analytical, and the Q701 leans more towards the bright but musical. If I was a poet, I could explain this better, but I'm not.

The Q701 really came together for me when I performed the infamous, legendary bass mod.
But that's just my dumb, uneducated opinion! :wink_face:

 

[tdockweiler]

  so it seems like it stock it's on the colder side but the bass port mod moves it to the warmer side? sounds pretty good to me
 
have you tried the bass port mod combined with k712 pads?

 
You could say that, but stock it's never really cold/analytical itself. The bass mod definitely made it sounds much fuller in the mids. Graphs seem to say otherwise, but that's what I hear!
 
This stock Q701 with a good amp/dac can be sort of chameleon like (but NOT like the DT-880!). Sometimes how warm/cold it is depends on the actual recording. I've always said that sometimes with REALLY horrible tracks it can sound like an AD700(!) and on others almost like an HD-650. It's that accurate to me. The KRKs were also like this. The stock Q701 is nice because it doesn't seem to add much warmth to recordings that are already warm. For example, some of the Pearl Jam stuff or even Buena Vista Social Club. I didn't really notice all this much until I upgraded from the Modi/ODAC to the Micro DAC (which is very very revealing IMO). ODAC and Modi are not as revealing as I once thought, which is a HUGE plus. This is probably one reason the Modi might take sort of an edge off the T90 or HD-800. The T90 was almost annoying on my Micro DAC, but quite musical on the Modi! This was actually the first time I felt the Modi wasn't enough for a headphone and sort of held it back. Modi is great though still.
 
Very warm recordings often seem congested on my HD-650, but that's rare. Sometimes when I listen to the Q701 it's almost like you can hear the equipment/room/mic that was used to make the recording. Not as easily as the T90 or DT-880 though. With those I found a massive variation between songs due to just that. Usually when I found myself disliking the DT-880 it was due to a poor recording that sounded too flat/dull. Like the life was sucked out of the track. I can't really explain it well. I think it had to do with bitrates which made the recording sound worse. Almost like it compressed things that should be more audible. Ever notice that some tracks have like NO soundstage in the recording?
 
Harsh/fatiguing material is actually made a LITTLE easier on the ears for me with the Q701. It's not what i'd call a forgiving headphone but I never found the Q701 to fall under the analytical category. Maybe a mix between that and sometimes more musical like the HD-650. The Q701 sounds more like a mix of the HD-650 and OLD K702! Bad/harsh tracks sound bad on it but not made any worse (for me).
 
Oh and strangely enough the modded Q701 sounds more detailed and revealing to me than stock. I'll never be able to explain that one! It also sounds much clearer, yet it's even fuller sounding! Those two things don't always go together. Definitely not with the HD-650!
 
As for the K712 pads on the modded Q701..it was TERRIBLE! Warmth overdose (very congested), but with some music it sounded great. It might be perfect for rock music or something. If I was not comfortable modding the Q701 the K712 pads might get you close to the sound! You should mod the stock Q701 further to perfect it's sound with K712 pads. My idea was to make it a little less open. Maybe sort of like blocking off a tiny more air getting to the driver. I'd experiment but the K712 pads are too expensive and probably not in stock.
 
K712 is still fuller sounding than the modded Q701, but just barely. The K712 seems just a tad better with some vocals. Modded Q701 sounded smoother overall to me though

At least when it came to treble and upper mids. People say that the K712 has less upper mids and treble than the Q701 but I don't agree! Depends on the tracks. Some stuff is annoying on the Q701 and other stuff only on the K712. I never knew this, but even too forward low mids can be fatiguing for me. I've only heard this once or twice. It was the Sennheiser PX100-II and Philips Downtown. Oh and the "Annie" sometimes. Makes sense because of the flatter pads.
 
EDIT: My Q701 could have been smoother only due to having 1000000 hours of use on it. Let's not go there though!

 

[Za Warudo]

So I was watching a really old film from the 30's with the Q701, and the voices were unbearably silbilant during some parts of it. I think I'll use my X1 or A161p next time.

 

[tdockweiler]

So I was watching a really old film from the 30's with the Q701, and the voices were unbearably silbilant during some parts of it. I think I'll use my X1 or A161p next time.

 
The worst thing is watching a video on youtube and the sound gets all garbly/garbled. I think the uploader accidentally set the audio compress to 4kbps or something.
 
The worst experience on a "regular" movie was watching all 20+ hours of "World at War" on DVD. I had to adjust the EQ just to hear the dialogue of that.
 
They even put that movie onto blu-ray! I hope they fixed it.
 
The worst sibilance I ever got was on a DT-990. Got tons of the SSSsssss sounds on female vocals. It's in the recording but nearly inaudible on most headphones.
 
Or there is the original gold SR-325is. Worst headphone I ever heard, but it was straight from an Ipod.

 

[Solrighal]

For nearly 40 years I've thought I've known the difference between cold & warm. And I do. The Q701 is cold. The HD 650 is warm.

 

[gyx11]

a bit of a lazy post:

can anyone recommend me an aftermarket cable for the Q701? I'm a little short on cash, so my budget would be $50. it doesn't have to be the best, so as long as there's an improvement in the stock ones. thanks!