[derbigpr]

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After 100 hours + of break in...my M-Stage finally came in.  Loving it.  It seems like it changes the character of the headphone.  It tames the highs and forwards the mids a bit it seems.  Unfortunately, I'm running it through my Fiio E7 that's also doubling as an amp.  So its being amped by the tine E7 and the M-Stage.  I forgot to buy the L7.  But yeah..definitely better than the E7/9 combo.  It should sound even better when I get a dedicated DAC.  Hoping to get the HRT Streamer II soon

What does the M-stage do with soundstage and bass? Does it add some depth to the soundstage?

 

[danielbarakat]

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What does the M-stage do with soundstage and bass? Does it add some depth to the soundstage?

It definitely widens the sound stage, and increases the clarity over the E9..especially where the mids are concerned.  These aren't bass heavy headphones to begin with..so if the bass is unsatisfactory for you now, the M-Stage won't fix that.  I for one like the level of the bass.  But it's most noticeable in the mids. 

 

[derbigpr]

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It definitely widens the sound stage, and increases the clarity over the E9..especially where the mids are concerned.  These aren't bass heavy headphones to begin with..so if the bass is unsatisfactory for you now, the M-Stage won't fix that.  I for one like the level of the bass.  But it's most noticeable in the mids. 

 
I think bass is decent on Q701's when its present and audible. But the problem for me is, once I increase the volume enough for bass and lower mids to be on satisfying level, highs are too fatiguing.
 

 

[danielbarakat]

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I think bass is decent on Q701's when its present and audible. But the problem for me is, once I increase the volume enough for bass and lower mids to be on satisfying level, highs are too fatiguing.
 

Yes!  Completely agree.  The M-Stage definitely helps a lot though but doesn't completely eliminate the over brightness.  I find myself constantly raising and lowering the volume throughout songs
 
 

 

[Chris J]

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This thread is so full of controversy, I just had to buy a pair.
 
Besides, the white version is just too sexy to pass up, don't you think?
 
So anyways, I received them two days ago. I got them used, but they have very little play time, something around 25 hours. After a careful but thorough cleaning, I put them on my head...
 
Wow, those are light! Compared to the Shure, those are feathers on your head. 

 The clamping force is close to not existent. Then the bumps under the head band started digging holes in my skull and the ear cushions (At this size, it would be more appropriate to call them pillows) made themselves felt on my bones. I just don't know what AKG thought when they designed those bumps under the head band. As for the cushions, they are not really hard. The issue is the sum of a few facts. First, the clamping is very light and Second, the contact area of the pads is huge. Put this together, and the pads don't "squish" on your head. They simply hold on to the angles of your bones. That said, they are still more comfortable than my Shure and I had no troubles wearing them for a few hours straight. With the Shure, I continuously have to resit them as the weight and the clamping force gets overbearing.
 
I listened to the Q701 directly trough my Audio-GD NFB-12. My first impression on the sound was that it was very distant, at least compared to the Shure. With the SRH-440, it's very obvious that you have a driver less than an inch from your ear. Vocals sound like the singer is speaking directly in your ear. All the sounds come from inside your head. It's actually worse than sitting in the middle of the stage. When I put the Q701 on, I feel more like I'm sitting a few rows back in the crowd. It sounds more like I'm listening to speakers than headphones. I must admit though that this sound left me underwhelmed at the Q701. I don't hear anything special about them. So far, I found them more "laid back" than my Shure. Since those are my first open cans, can I conclude that what I hear is a normal open headphone sound?
 
I listened to Electronic, Rock and Metal so far. I can see how so many people claim the Q701 are bass light. Even my SRH-440 has better bass than them... which I totally didn't expect when I looked at the FR charts. Kick drum sounds SO much different between those to cans. Q701: "tud tud". SRH-440: "bang bang". Weird. From the many live kick drums I heard, I'd say that the Shure has a more realistic representation of them. I'll have to listen to more albums and do so A/B testing before I conclude on that though.
 
I haven't had my NFB-12 for a while either, and I'm still testing the different filters. So far, I found that the filters with treble roll off sound smoother with the Q701. I'll be listening to them more and post my findings later. I watched a few movie trailers and was quite impressed. They pull out impressive sub-bass. I can't wait to watch a movie with those.

Interesting, the bumps do not bother me in the least.
Like my DT880s, I think Q701s are ultra comfortable.
I think the distant sound is basically part of the nature of any open 'phone.
I agree, Qs are bass light.   But I think the sound is very special overall. And their sub bass is impressive. 
 
I have played drums for many years (not for money! I'm an amateur!)
A real bass drum sounds quite different than what you hear thru a sound system or on a recording.
A real bass drum has a lot more midrange presence. That's just my opinion  YMMV
 
 

 

[lejaz]

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I think bass is decent on Q701's when its present and audible. But the problem for me is, once I increase the volume enough for bass and lower mids to be on satisfying level, highs are too fatiguing.
 

 


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Yes!  Completely agree.  The M-Stage definitely helps a lot though but doesn't completely eliminate the over brightness.  I find myself constantly raising and lowering the volume throughout songs
 
 

So I thought the k702 was supposed to be brighter than the 'Q' version....and you're both saying the 'Q' is overly bright. Maybe the 'Q' and the 'K' aren't so different after all. To my ears, the 'k' version is almost shrill on some material.

 

[shorke]

 
I agree, these do have some pretty impressive sub-bass, especially considering how light the rest of the bass frequency region is. It brought some serious rumbles out when I was watching films on these last night, and a few games show off the sub-bass too. Now only if the rest of the bass range was as well represented in these, then they would be perfect.


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Interesting, the bumps do not bother me in the least.
Like my DT880s, I think Q701s are ultra comfortable.
I think the distant sound is basically part of the nature of any open 'phone.
I agree, Qs are bass light.   But I think the sound is very special overall. And their sub bass is impressive. 
 
I have played drums for many years (not for money! I'm an amateur!)
A real bass drum sounds quite different than what you hear thru a sound system or on a recording.
A real bass drum has a lot more midrange presence. That's just my opinion  YMMV
 
 

 

 

[danielbarakat]

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So I thought the k702 was supposed to be brighter than the 'Q' version....and you're both saying the 'Q' is overly bright. Maybe the 'Q' and the 'K' aren't so different after all. To my ears, the 'k' version is almost shrill on some material.

I think they are atleast 98% the same.  It's mostly just style.  Regardless of the extreme brightness, I still love these.  I sometimes hear some harmonics in some songs that just aren't possible in headphones around the price. 

 
 

 

[chicolom]

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So I thought the k702 was supposed to be brighter than the 'Q' version....and you're both saying the 'Q' is overly bright. Maybe the 'Q' and the 'K' aren't so different after all. To my ears, the 'k' version is almost shrill on some material.

 
The pair I tested was.  They were clearly different sounding from my Q701s.  But this has been discussed a lot, and it's possible that some of them sound the same.... =\

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Q701 and impressive sub bass = does not compute. That is their weakest area, easily. Mid bass is the area in bass I find them to do well in.

But ok.

 

[tdockweiler]

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I think they are atleast 98% the same.  It's mostly just style.  Regardless of the extreme brightness, I still love these.  I sometimes hear some harmonics in some songs that just aren't possible in headphones around the price. 

 
 

Have you tried both at the same time? I would say this pair is a 10-15% improvement over the K702 I had. It's almost as if AKG spent some time researching complaints people had about the K702 and fixed them. Sort of a more musical and fun flavor of the K702.
 
This pair definitely has less treble than my old K702 (it seems like). However it doesn't "tame" any recordings or make anything easier on the ears. For that I have an HD-600. Garbage tracks are still garbage. They're NOT made any worse though.
 
I love how the Q701 is much warmer and fuller sounding in the mids. On any desktop amp. Just enough to make it much more fun to listen to. You can even add in a warm amp to make it even better. Slightly warm amp (Micro Amp or maybe M-Stage?) and the HRT Music Streamer II and it's very musical.
 
K702 = very much close to cold and analytical, I would say a touch of warmth.  Q701 = no way I'd ever describe it as thin, cold. Maybe slightly analytical. Maybe a K702 with some of the things I love about the HD-598 and K601.
 
I would say my K702 was warmer than the DT-880 and a tiny bit more forgiving. On the DT-880 it's stupid easy to pick apart garbage tracks. It almost required zero effort.
 
I'm also impressed with it's sub-bass. I remember the first time hearing low bass rumbles and I just couldn't believe I was getting that from my Q701! I had the DT-770 600 at the same time too and it had way less sub-bass. Bass light version I guess.
 
Hopefully AKG can figure out in the factory why some pairs sound different. Hopefully more people will be able to scores the ones that have the very good bass and fuller mids. If I get a pair that was identical to the K702, I'd return it.
 
I think the upper mids aren't as peaky, but female vocals (and even male vocals) somehow seem much more up-front and never distant sounding. It seemed like the K702 had this soundstage that wasn't accurate to the recording as it could be.
Never liked the K702 for female vocals, but this pair is perfect. Obviously, if they ever sound far away, that's how it's recorded.
 
 

 

[chicolom]

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Q701 and impressive sub bass = does not compute. That is their weakest area, easily. Mid bass is the area in bass I find them to do well in.
But ok.

Compared to D7000?

 
I will say for an open headphone I think their bass, in general, is quite good.  They have a good openness to bass ratio (O:B ratio).

 

[tdockweiler]

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Q701 and impressive sub bass = does not compute. That is their weakest area, easily. Mid bass is the area in bass I find them to do well in.
But ok.

Don't agree at all. Sure, it's not majorly elevated like on some headphones, but it's more present than the K702. That alone is good enough for me.
What's funny is that if you compare the stock HD-600 with the Q701 side by side, the Q701 has better (and more) sub-bass. I'd say it's basically neutral bass, maybe with a slight boost.
 
Now the Q701 won't appeal to bassheads for sure, but that should be obvious!
 
Well......don't know if I'd agree with impressive, but it's definitely a huge improvement for me. Even just the fact it can pick up the low bass rumbling sounds in games...
 

 

[nsx280ps]

I just got the M-Stage a few days ago, and I must say I am impressed, I got the version with the USB dac and Im pretty happy, theres finally a satisfying amount of bass and a lot more detail compared to my AVR.  I was surprised on how much a USB cable mattered, the Mstage did not come with a USB cable, only the power cable.  At first, I used a cable that came free with my printer the DAC kept cutting out, to the point where win7 though it was an unknown device, to a dac, to an unknown device again, over and over again.... and it would be okay for a few minutes, I almost thought my MStage was defective.  Then switched to a cable that came with a USB HDD.  This cable did not cut out any longer, but had some weird artifact noise in the background on quiet recordings.  I finally found a high quality USB cable that I bought long ago and there are no more noise or cutting out..... I always though cables did not matter when the signal was digital?  I guess I learn something new everyday...

 

[derbigpr]

 
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What's funny is that if you compare the stock HD-600 with the Q701 side by side, the Q701 has better (and more) sub-bass.
 

There's not much between HD650's and Q701's either in terms of sub bass. I'd even say the Q701's have better extension, although bass on HD650's is a bit more present overall, especially in terms of mid bass punch.