[rhodan818]

Im really enjoying Queen Live Magic on the Q701 with a Fiio e11 tethered to an apple nano line out. There is a difference besides volume, I feel like the regular jack holds back the Q701 and it sounds distant, it might just be a placebo effect from the much higher volume off the amp. 
 
This is really tempting me to get a more powerful desktop amp, the e11 but i want to find out if there is really more to these phones than I have heard. 

 

[KimLaroux]

You guys are spending a lot of time talking about amps on this thread. Makes me hesitate. The Q701 are on my to-buy list, but I have no headphone amp, so I need to put a dac/amp on this list as well.
 
The Audinst HUD is my #1 choice as of now. It seems well regarded for it's price. Any comment on powering the Q701 with this unit? I don't want to invest money in something that won't be good enough for the Q701. But I don't mind if it's not the best option available... I'd just get a Yulong D100 if I was going that route. 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

The Q701 sounds good off decent portable amps. However, they do scale with better amping. I enjoy it off the E9, but they sound even better with the NFB5 which has considerably more power than the E9.

And the K and Qs are weird in how hard they are to drive. They almost need as much driving force as 600ohm Beyers to sound proper to me. hell, even my NFB5 needs to be on high gain, as low gain is almost maxed out for the Qs.

 

[Dubstep Girl]

ipods can drive a k701, but it sounds terrible.
 
from my experience, the k701 are almost as hard to drive as DT 990 - 600 ohm and slightly harder to drive than LCD-2.
 
out of the WA6-SE, they just sound amazing, powerful, good bass, and have good dynamics. they improve significantly with the WA6-SE over using portable amps and less powerful amps.
 
 

 

[EinZweiDrei]

people who don't like the k701 say they sound like plastic.
can any1 here describe what plastic sounds like?
i have no idea what they mean by plasticy sound.

 

[Dubstep Girl]

neither do i.
 
i want to sell them and give the q701 a try since its warmer, but i like my k701 so much!
 
when i'm in town again i think ill give them a listen. theres a home theater store near me that sells them.

 

[GamerOne]

Quote:

people who don't like the k701 say they sound like plastic.
can any1 here describe what plastic sounds like?
i have no idea what they mean by plasticy sound.

With "plasticky" I think they mean cold/dry/emotionless/lifeless basically. This is also how I experience the K701's to sound.. Hopefully I'll be getting my Q701's this week though <3

 

[Chris J]

Quote:

Probably because people have other difficult to drive headphones and the Q701 just sounds better out of high powered amps. This has been my experience.
If we listened to all the technical "advice" here or the science guys, we'd be all listening to a K701 out of an E10 only or similar portable device.  Who wants to do that?
The Q701 out of portable amps doesn't sound that good (despite being "properly" driven. My Airhead can drive it with ease, but it's just not the same.
 
It seems nobody has figured out why the K702/K701 is so hard to drive. Same reason nobody can figure out why the K501 is one of the most difficult to drive headphones. I think the whole power requirements of the K501 are a bit overblown.
I think I once read that no SS amp can drive the K501 properly. What non-sense!
 
Now, I don't always believe you need amp overkill, but the Q701 almost always sounds better without messing with the sound signature. If I use high gain on my Q701 I only need to put the volume at 40% on my Micro Amp.
I could probably blow up my Q701 if I wanted to.
 
I haven't been a believer that plugging in my KRKs or other easy to drive headphones will automatically ruin it's sound signature on higher powered desktop amps. People on here lately seem to think this is always going to happen, but I never had this experience.
 
I do however think many portables sound awful out of the E9. I really do think it's best for the harder to drive headphones. My DJ100 sounds pretty bad from the E9. Very bloated bass etc.
 
BTW I cringe everytime I hear someone suggest you should not use the Q701 with a desktop amp, but instead use it with an amp with a 1ohm output such as an E5 or E7. Have they even tried this?! That doesn't work very well. IMO the E7 is basically like an E5 with a built in DAC.
Could barely drive my DT-770 Pro 80.
 

I would agree with approx. 80% of what you are saying. You seem to have a good grasp of the fact that Power = Volume.  You can't break the laws of physics.
 
I suspect the whole "hard to drive" thing really means that the K70x and Q701 series are very revealing of the source. 
I suspect all these high powered amps are just very high quality amps that happen to have high power output. 
Sure, I can listen to my Q701 thru my iPod, iPad and HP computer headphone jack, but to varying degrees they just don't sound as good as a quality amp.
 
 
 
 
 

 

[jimibird]

Hello!
 
Thought I would chip in. Got a pair of K702's a couple of weeks ago and am really enjoying them, had a pair of HE-500's before which are now with my dad. Driving them with a Darkvoice 337se, M2Tech Young DAC and a Squeezebox Touch on the front. Still burning the 702's in but they sound great with the 337 which has plenty of power. A great combo IMHO. Still miss my K1000's though, I should never have sold those!
 
jimi  

 

[yakapo]

 
Newbie here.  I just sold my old HD 280 pro's and was looking to upgrade.  I bought some HD 518's and also ordered some Q701's (both headphones are on their way now).  I'm assuming I can use the 518's w/o amplification on my phone / laptop and use the q701's with my receiver (Pioneer VSX 1120).  I'm also going to return my Turtle beach X41's and buy a cheapy used yamaha receiver that has the "silent cinema" feature built in for gaming.   
 
If I have to buy an amp for the q701, what's the best entry level choice?  Will a E9 or E10 work?  If it has to be a desktop amp, what are some alternatives (if any) to the E9?   
 
I'm not deterred by the complaints of "anemic bass" that I've read elsewhere about the Q701's.  I don't mind a little bass now and then (that's what the HD 518's are for) but for the most part I like to listen to music flat.  What I'm looking forward to is a big soundstage.  
 
I originally posted this in the K701 thread (sorry mods).

 

[dL.]

I loved my Q701 so much that I decided to go all in and ordered the Cardas Fat Pipe from HeadRoom and it has just arrived. Woot woot!
 
More impressions later after burn in.
 
dL
 
 

 

[GamerOne]

Got my Q701's today! Damn they look beautiful in black

 I've listened to them a bit and already I can tell that they do indeed sound a bit warmer and softer than the K701's. Though I do also experience them to sound a bit muffled compared to the K701's, but I guess they just need some playtime to open up

 This is quite strange actually, when my K701's were new, they were almost the exact opposite and sounded very bright and harsh.
 
I also discovered something else really nice about the Q701's; the headband is significantly softer than on the K701's! At least on my copy. Hopefully it'll become even softer with time.

 

[Dubstep Girl]

Quote:

I loved my Q701 so much that I decided to go all in and ordered the Cardas Fat Pipe from HeadRoom and it has just arrived. Woot woot!
 
More impressions later after burn in.
 
dL
 
 

very nice!
 
 
 

 

[Geared4me]

I would be very interested to see what you have to say about the new cable.
Quote:

I loved my Q701 so much that I decided to go all in and ordered the Cardas Fat Pipe from HeadRoom and it has just arrived. Woot woot!
 
More impressions later after burn in.
 
dL
 
 

 

 

[dL.]

Just curious, anybody got their Q701 with the AKG logo slightly slanted?
 
dL