[EdibleStereos]

 

[Solrighal]

Are they not returnable?

 

[ZALHERA]

I bought the Sound Blaster Z after watching this video about a half dozen times using my Q701, M-100 and XS on both my PC and Galaxy S3 through various DACs and amps. SBX, to me, sounds the best and has the 2nd best positional accuracy. The others sounded as follows:

Dolby Headphone: decent positional accuracy, too much reverb
CMSS-3D: best positional accuracy, treble heavy "hot" sound
Razer Surround: worst positional accuracy, and smallest sound stage but sounds more natural than DH and CMSS. A bit bassy. (*Note: the bass boost can be turned off in the application. I found this sounded way better.)

This is how it sounds to me through my headphones and your experiences may differ, but this video was the deciding factor for me.

I was looking for a card with CMSS-3D as it seems to be the best, only to find that the X-Fi Titanium HD is no longer available anywhere near me. Looks like I will be settling with the Sound Baster Omni.

How well are your Q701s powered by the Sound Blaster Z alone though? Does it get loud enough?

 

[GoldenboyXD]

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

 

Seems fine with me as long as there is no rattling sound. Mine has some bubbles too.

 

[Stillhart]

I was looking for a card with CMSS-3D as it seems to be the best, only to find that the X-Fi Titanium HD is no longer available anywhere near me. Looks like I will be settling with the Sound Baster Omni.

How well are your Q701s powered by the Sound Blaster Z alone though? Does it get loud enough?

 
It gets loud enough, but there's headroom for improvement in the sound quality with an amp.  It doesn't sound BAD without the amp but it sounds BETTER with.

 

[EdibleStereos]

They are, and I will be. It seems from elsewhere I have posted this is a common problem. Especially with the Chinese built AKG.

The plastic molds have a lot more "flash", and the plastics aren't mixed properly, giving the inside an uneven appearance.

With these being so common, not many quality AKG headphones to choose from.

Despite what some people say about the bubbles in the membranes being only cosmetic, I doubt that. Air inside the plastic changes its structural properties. Making it behave it ways properly formed plastics wouldn't.

If they can't even managed plastic forming anymore, makes you wonder about how controlled they are when wrapping voice coils and doing driver matching.

 

[kman1211]

They are, and I will be. It seems from elsewhere I have posted this is a common problem. Especially with the Chinese built AKG.


The plastic molds have a lot more "flash", and the plastics aren't mixed properly, giving the inside an uneven appearance.


With these being so common, not many quality AKG headphones to choose from.


Despite what some people say about the bubbles in the membranes being only cosmetic, I doubt that. Air inside the plastic changes its structural properties. Making it behave it ways properly formed plastics wouldn't.


If they can't even managed plastic forming anymore, makes you wonder about how controlled they are when wrapping voice coils and doing driver matching.

Bubbles in the driver is quite normal for the K7xx series. Ive seen bubbles in many of the K7xx I've seen in person both old and new and countless pictures of bubbles in the drivers. Driver matching in AKGs has been some of the best I've experienced of any manufacturer. Though all the pairs of K7xx I've used and seen are Austrian made. I haven't seen the dented driver issue before.

 

[TsukiNick]

  I bought the Sound Blaster Z after watching this video about a half dozen times using my Q701, M-100 and XS on both my PC and Galaxy S3 through various DACs and amps. SBX, to me, sounds the best and has the 2nd best positional accuracy. The others sounded as follows:
 
Dolby Headphone: decent positional accuracy, too much reverb
CMSS-3D: best positional accuracy, treble heavy "hot" sound
Razer Surround: worst positional accuracy, and smallest sound stage but sounds more natural than DH and CMSS. A bit bassy. (*Note: the bass boost can be turned off in the application. I found this sounded way better.)
 
This is how it sounds to me through my headphones and your experiences may differ, but this video was the deciding factor for me.

DH only has too much reverb on DH-3 mode On DH-1 there is hardly any reverb and DH-2 adds just the right amount.

 

[Ryuzaki564]

I've had these headphones for around a year now, I recently took off the bumps around 2 months ago.
 
The bumps left marks on my skull, and they don't seem to show any sign of going away, or maybe they do and i'm just being impatient.

 

[chewynuts]

Hi Guys,
 
Looking for recommendation for an amp to pair for my Q701.
Tried the Matrix HPA-2 but did nothing for me versus direct output from my X-Fi Titanium HD.
 
Read that I will get more out of an amp upgrade from the Matrix to something better rather than from the Q701 to HD800.
So going to go down this route first.

 

[62ohm]

  Hi Guys,
 
Looking for recommendation for an amp to pair for my Q701.
Tried the Matrix HPA-2 but did nothing for me versus direct output from my X-Fi Titanium HD.
 
Read that I will get more out of an amp upgrade from the Matrix to something better rather than from the Q701 to HD800.
So going to go down this route first.

 
IMO it's the other way around, you would get more from upgrading to the HD800 (or K812 if you want to retain the AKG house sound) than upgrading your amp for the Q701. The order of significance is usually Headphone > Amp > DAC.

 

[EdibleStereos]

Bubbles in the driver is quite normal for the K7xx series. Ive seen bubbles in many of the K7xx I've seen in person both old and new and countless pictures of bubbles in the drivers. Driver matching in AKGs has been some of the best I've experienced of any manufacturer. Though all the pairs of K7xx I've used and seen are Austrian made. I haven't seen the dented driver issue before.

The issue is with the Chinese manufacturing, the leather is not as nice, the plastic quality is lower, the actual molds themselves aren't set up properly, these driver issues, they just seem less refined.

I owned K701s 7 years ago, and they were worlds better in quality. no bubbles in the drivers, no dents, nice leather, nicer earpads.

I don't think AKG can consider Q701's in the same league as the previous Austrian K701's. Maybe if they get the build quality back up, but where it is at now, they are inferior.

I've mentioned these problems elsewhere, and people have reported the bubbled and dented drivers in there pairs from china. As well, all the photos I've seen on the inside of the Q701's from china show the same plastic problems, flash and splay.

A guy who works with injection molding(and an austrian q701 owner) looked over the photos and commented how incredibly poor the plastic finishing was.

 

[kman1211]

The issue is with the Chinese manufacturing, the leather is not as nice, the plastic quality is lower, the actual molds themselves aren't set up properly, these driver issues, they just seem less refined.


I owned K701s 7 years ago, and they were worlds better in quality. no bubbles in the drivers, no dents, nice leather, nicer earpads.


I don't think AKG can consider Q701's in the same league as the previous Austrian K701's. Maybe if they get the build quality back up, but where it is at now, they are inferior.


I've mentioned these problems elsewhere, and people have reported the bubbled and dented drivers in there pairs from china. As well, all the photos I've seen on the inside of the Q701's from china show the same plastic problems, flash and splay.


A guy who works with injection molding(and an austrian q701 owner) looked over the photos and commented how incredibly poor the plastic finishing was.

Sounds like the build quality went downhill. My K712(Austrian made) has bubbles in its drivers but it's build quality is noticaebly better and sturdier than the Austrian made Q701 I compared it with and the pads and leather was of higher quality. Sounds like the Chinese Q701 are made quite cheaply. Reminds me of what happened with the K240, the Chinese pairs are cheaper and flimsier than the Austrian pairs.

 

[Stillhart]

  Hi Guys,
 
Looking for recommendation for an amp to pair for my Q701.
Tried the Matrix HPA-2 but did nothing for me versus direct output from my X-Fi Titanium HD.
 
Read that I will get more out of an amp upgrade from the Matrix to something better rather than from the Q701 to HD800.
So going to go down this route first.

 
If you didn't hear any difference, then you're in luck!  You just saved a few hundred bucks!  But the M-stage is a very good pairing with the Q701 so if you didn't hear any difference, upgrading the amp isn't going to get you much of anything.  I agree that going with better headphones first will be a good start.  
 
I don't know that you need to jump to the $1500 price bracket, but whatever floats your boat!

 

[Chris J]

Hi Guys,

Looking for recommendation for an amp to pair for my Q701.
Tried the Matrix HPA-2 but did nothing for me versus direct output from my X-Fi Titanium HD.

Read that I will get more out of an amp upgrade from the Matrix to something better rather than from the Q701 to HD800.
So going to go down this route first.

Can you tell us what you were hoping to hear from an amp upgrade?
Compared to all the other amps I've tried, I prefer the sound of my Q701 out of the Matrix M Stage amp myself, but no matter what amp I've used, the Q701 still sound like Q701s.