As I was getting back into phones and shopping for some new headphones, I spent quite a bit of time exploring various threads herein. In the past I was an avid headphone enthusiast but had drifted back to my first love, a regular 2 channel analog stereo. My Audio Note E SPx speakers in a predominantly Audio Note system kept me pretty busy as I have limited free time due to work and family responsibilities. In the past, though, I had Sennheiser HD 600 and 650s, AKG K601 and 701s, and currently have Grado SR 125s and Audio Technica ATH AD 700s. I recently tried AKG K240's and while they were enjoyable, they seemed closed in and veiled, even after break-in. They were returned. Some good soul on this site posted that there was a good deal on Amazon for Q701s( the lime green ones, Gosh I love that color!) After reading about them and becoming very interested because of my prior experiences with the K701s (but too thin in the bass and a little too much treble), I jumped on them. They were returns to Amazon Warehouse Deals and were $146 and change. What a deal! Well, they arrived the other day and to my disappointment, they were without the shorter cable and adapter. I contacted Amazon and they wowed me with amazing customer service and offered me an additional 25% off. So I got what looked to be an as new AKG q701s for about $110 shipped. Double wow on that deal! But the really good news is that I love the sound of the Q701s and would love them even if I had paid close to list price. To my memory, they have many of the traits I admired about the K701s without the characteristics I hated. They sound great with my Marantz 2230 receiver and Bravo v2 12au7 amp. They seem fairly easily driven with both of these amps and have satisfying but not overwhelming bass, great midrange, excellent detail, are almost as spacious as my AD700s in soundstage, and I find them musical, natural, and non-fatiguing. They are fairly comfortable, much more so than the Grados, but somewhat less so than the AD700s. They seemed to benefit a little from break-in but only a bit. After 96 hours I really haven't heard much change. I was prepared for these to be fairly finicky about amplification but even with my Qinpu hybrid, they sound pretty good. These are overall the best headphones I've yet owned, or possibly more correctly, the most enjoyable. And, in the final analysis, isn't that the bottom line? For me, at least, it is!