[Lurkumaural]

Quote:

 
Is that a portable amp? ^
 

 
 

 
If you remove the equalizer, I don't see why not.
 
And maybe the wood.
 
 

 

[soundlikes]

Yeah  I agree the thing is huge but it really drives theses cans well. This is a really good reference point for my future more portable amps. LOL My cell phone from that time would have been like a brick if I could have afforded it.

 

[b0000]

long time lurker here.
i got my white q701's a few days ago and very pleased, even though i dont even have a dac or an amp yet 

(running through laptop onboard most of the time , sometime on my cowon s9)
 
I've had the HD448s and  etymotic HF5s (yea im a midrangehead 

) for a while now, and i must say the soundstage is awesome and the detail is quite good, even compared to the etys.
 
also,  am now  a believer in burn in since the treble of these raped my ears for the first two days but it's now smooth and fatigue free. can't comment on the bass or soundstage since i didnt really pay attention to them.
 
as for the amp, im considering an e17 first when i can get my hands on them , so i can upgrade it by adding the e9 at a later time. im wondering though how much improvement there will be. For example, if the q701's are running at 50% maximum potential through my laptop onboard, how much better will the q701's be with the e17, or perhaps with the e10? and then how much better will it be once you add the e9 to either of those two? Also, what are other good alternatives? keep in mind the price since thats why i dont even have a basic amp or dac right now since im broke 

. its also why im looking at fiio, since people seems to agree that they have good bang/buck performance.

 

[KimLaroux]

I know I'm running through the no-man's-land here, but this still bugs me. When I read Headroom's Q701 page, especially the "what we think" tab, they make it kinda obvious that the Q701 were tuned to sound different...
 

[...] Quincy's signature influence offers a smoother tone and great low-end response with magnificent detail and huge soundstage depth surpassing that of any mere "studio" headphone. [...]
 
[...] The Quincy Jones AKG Q701 headphones are very similar to the AKG K701 on which they are based with perhaps slightly more controlled highs right out of the box versus their famous counterparts. Quincy has also brought his own world-famous smooth-toned sound signature to the K701's top-end brightness which may be considered a good thing for reference listeners finding the laser-like detail resolution of the K701's uppermost highs overly strident or sibilant. [...]

 
I dug through AKG's website, read their publications and brochures, but cannot find any place where they say that they were tuned or "influenced". I'm really curious about those claims that Headroom makes. Surely they must have sources that we don't have access to, right? I mean, it's not like they would be lying just to sell more of them... Or would they? 

 

[Magick Man]

I don't see how they're lying, their observations are identical to my own (along with several others in this thread).

 

[50an6xy06r6n]

Quote:

I know I'm running through the no-man's-land here, but this still bugs me. When I read Headroom's Q701 page, especially the "what we think" tab, they make it kinda obvious that the Q701 were tuned to sound different...
 
 
I dug through AKG's website, read their publications and brochures, but cannot find any place where they say that they were tuned or "influenced". I'm really curious about those claims that Headroom makes. Surely they must have sources that we don't have access to, right? I mean, it's not like they would be lying just to sell more of them... Or would they? 

http://us.akg.com/akg-product-detail-us/q701blk.html? Also look at the Amazon page...

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Shouldn't that pretty much confirm what we've been saying? They ARE different. If they weren't, they sure as hell are now. It doesn't take an audio engineer to notice the difference. To me, it was simple. I HATED the K701 for music. Didn't like it, AT ALL. The Q701 was love at first listen. If they were the same, I wouldn't have had such a huge difference in how I perceived them.

 

[asek2]

Quote:

I've heard that too. I'd be happy to report back. Hopefully the comparison with the HD 650s will give me a good point of reference. I'm pretty psyched on the whole thing.
Should have something up by Fri at the very latest.

How is it going pairing the Q701 with the Lyr? I'm using that setup as well since I don't think my FiiO E11 is enough to drive this can. Just curious with your impression.
 

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

also,  am now  a believer in burn in since the treble of these raped my ears for the first two days but it's now smooth and fatigue free. can't comment on the bass or soundstage since i didnt really pay attention to them.  

 
That's just your ears adjusting. Same as when turning the volume up a lot, it will be fatiguing for a few minutes but after you get adjusted, its gonna be fine.

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

Shouldn't that pretty much confirm what we've been saying? They ARE different. If they weren't, they sure as hell are now. It doesn't take an audio engineer to notice the difference. To me, it was simple. I HATED the K701 for music. Didn't like it, AT ALL. The Q701 was love at first listen. If they were the same, I wouldn't have had such a huge difference in how I perceived them.

I wouldn't believe what headroom says because they're a store. They want people to think Q701's are different and better, so that people will buy them. AKG on their own never said there was any difference, in fact, when they get asked, they say there is no difference.
 
I don't know whether there really were different version of K701's out there, but I'd put my both in hands in fire if the Q701 and K701 (both brand new) weren't identical in terms of sound.
 

 

[shamrock134]

Still can't decide on an open headphone...
 
Q701 or Beyer T1?

 

[b0000]

 
Quote:

 
That's just your ears adjusting. Same as when turning the volume up a lot, it will be fatiguing for a few minutes but after you get adjusted, its gonna be fine.

perhaps. i didnt hear any changes on my s4's, hd448, and hf5's. especially the klipsch, their sibilance never went away
 
edit: any help on the relative improvements adding the e10, e17, and e17+e9 over my laptop onboard/ipod/cowon s9?
 

 

[Neosk]

The treble on the Q701 also "raped my ears" in the beginning. I heard a lot of sibilance and harshness on poorly mastered vocals.  I guess I was too used to headphones with a rolled off treble.
I did decide to mod these by adding more dampening and after taming the treble a bit, I grew fond of the Q701s to the extent that these became my favorite headphones.
 
Thanks headfi.
 

 

[chicolom]

Q701 never once raped me or even touched me down there.  In fact, I thought the treble was pretty smooth and slightly rolled off out of the box.  Adding nicer DACs and Amps made it a little colder, but that is fine with me.

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

Still can't decide on an open headphone...
 
Q701 or Beyer T1?

Haven't heard the T1 but they're probably in a completely different league compared to Q701's so if you can afford them...