[Chris J]

Quote:

Because it gets your feet tapping?

 
So what do Orthodontic headphones do?
 
And are they hard to drive?

 

[Evshrug]

They're very soothing, though they lack impact, their quality is very addicting. They don't require much power at all, and make great portables.

You can demo their sound even with the more conventional Q701 in this special video, at time stamp 7:46 onwards (start there, but I encourage you to listen to the whole vid). G'night!
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5Fye-l7-_A&sns=em[/video]

 

[Evshrug]

Double post

 

[redmagic]

What is a good desktop amp for the Q701s that is $500 and under? I plan to use the amp with some HE-500s in the future so if it could work with them that would be great.

 

[Evshrug]

I don't know the entire breadth of the market, but I enjoy my FiiO E12 solid state amp (powerful portable, optional bass boost is a good match for countering the bass roll-off without obscuring the rest of the freq range by over boosting) and the custom tube hybrid amp made for me by Zigis. In fact, now that I've finished my E12 review, I'm going to listen to the tube amp some more.

 

[1-MiC]

Well fellas i've joined the Q701 club. Mine should be here sometime today, but my Schiit Magni won't be here till tuesday. I really was about to talk myself into buying the Annies, but i decided on the Q's for 2 reasons. 1.) I will be using these to mixdown some recordings and as someone pointed out it seems the Annies are a little colored in comparison. 2.) Price... Annies are $400 at the cheapest and these seem to be more bang for the buck.

Anyways thanks to the other Q701 owners for providing good information in this thread. 

 

[Chris J]

Quote:

What is a good desktop amp for the Q701s that is $500 and under? I plan to use the amp with some HE-500s in the future so if it could work with them that would be great.

 
The Matrix M Stage is a real favourite with Q701 owners.
I have one.
My only complaint is I think I need a better DAC to compliment the amp!

 

[J Bones]

Quote:

I don't know the entire breadth of the market, but I enjoy my FiiO E12 solid state amp (powerful portable, optional bass boost is a good match for countering the bass roll-off without obscuring the rest of the freq range by over boosting) and the custom tube hybrid amp made for me by Zigis. In fact, now that I've finished my E12 review, I'm going to listen to the tube amp some more.

 
Do you find that even with the gain setting at it's highest on the E12 that the Q still isn't loud enough? I don't listen to my music at skull crushing decibel levels but I still feel that at max power it isn't as loud as I expected. It surely is a heck of a lot better than any amp inside a DAP and/or my A/V receivers amp but I think that a tube amp would be the only way to really achieve the levels I'm looking for. But for now the E12 does do just fine (it does bring about the right amount of bass though for sure, I don't think having a tube amp would really make it much better). Do you get any more power through your hybrid vs. the E12?

 

[Chris J]

Do you find that even with the gain setting at it's highest on the E12 that the Q still isn't loud enough? I don't listen to my music at skull crushing decibel levels but I still feel that at max power it isn't as loud as I expected. It surely is a heck of a lot better than any amp inside a DAP and/or my A/V receivers amp but I think that a tube amp would be the only way to really achieve the levels I'm looking for. But for now the E12 does do just fine (it does bring about the right amount of bass though for sure, I don't think having a tube amp would really make it much better). Do you get any more power through your hybrid vs. the E12?

I'm curious as to why you would think that a tube amp would be better than a solid state amp driving the Q701s?
For example, I have a Matrix M Stage. That amp drives the headphones to a louder volume than I would want to listen to.
Theorically, the E12 should easily drive the Q701s to ear crushing volumes.

 

[jasonb]

If you are maxing out an E12 when listening to the Q701 either your source is really weak, or you are listening etremely loud. Im not even using half the power of my E17 on my Q701.

 

[Evshrug]

Do you find that even with the gain setting at it's highest on the E12 that the Q still isn't loud enough? I don't listen to my music at skull crushing decibel levels but I still feel that at max power it isn't as loud as I expected. It surely is a heck of a lot better than any amp inside a DAP and/or my A/V receivers amp but I think that a tube amp would be the only way to really achieve the levels I'm looking for. But for now the E12 does do just fine (it does bring about the right amount of bass though for sure, I don't think having a tube amp would really make it much better). Do you get any more power through your hybrid vs. the E12?

I matched (approximately, by ear) the output volume of my Recon3D surround processor to my iPod line-out, and my E12 is only turned up to about 11 O'clock on the dial (a bit less than half volume setting) on the low gain mode. Are you using a line out?
Tube amps CAN output a lot of gain, but that's generally unnecessary. My tube amp is a little more powerful, about 10:30 O'clock on the potentiometer dial is a good listening volume (and max vol is at 6 o'clock, instead of like 4:30 on the E12), but I've never felt lacking in power.

 

[potatoos]

Want to know. Is there a way to use the E12 like a desktop amp. By that, I mean can you plug it up to a power source and let it stay plugged up without worrying about blowing the battery inside, or can you take the battery out to avoid that?

 

[Chris J]

Tube amps CAN output a lot of gain, but that's generally unnecessary. My tube amp is a little more powerful, about 10:30 O'clock on the potentiometer dial is a good listening volume (and max vol is at 6 o'clock, instead of like 4:30 on the E12), but I've never felt lacking in power.

I suspect you mean your tube amp has a lot of gain.
Gain is not power, it's an increase in in the output voltage from your source.

Anyway, I have a tube amp that has the same "problem": I can't turn the volume past 9 o'clock!

 

[Evshrug]

Yeah, sorry, I meant tube amps have the gain to go up to excessively high volumes for most headphones, just by merit of how much voltage is sent through the tube's heaters and how far the volume dial can go. And yet, the solid state amp segment of a tube hybrid affects this as well... And as I like to repeat, I'm still learning the effect of the "current" aspect of power. Even not fully understanding though, it is immediately obvious that both the E12 and my tube hybrid have more than enough

 

[Chris J]

Quote:

Yeah, sorry, I meant tube amps have the gain to go up to excessively high volumes for most headphones, just by merit of how much voltage is sent through the tube's heaters and how far the volume dial can go. And yet, the solid state amp segment of a tube hybrid affects this as well... And as I like to repeat, I'm still learning the effect of the "current" aspect of power. Even not fully understanding though, it is immediately obvious that both the E12 and my tube hybrid have more than enough

 
Hey, great to hear that the E12 will drive the Qs! Can't wait to get my hands on one.
 
This may help you understand the "current" aspect of power:
http://www.head-fi.org/a/headphone-impedance