So I ordered my AKG Q701 the other day and had been having a love hate relationship with them... until this mod.
On one hand they made all my other headphones including a set of Sennheiser 558 I ordered the same day, sound like muffled garbage. They made music an ethereal experience... in fact the first night I had them I stayed up til 3 in the morning just trying out different songs. They ruined my ears for all my other headphones. But I didn't hold that against them.
On the other hand I was just not having "fun" with them in terms of bass. They prevented me from tapping my foot because I was too distracted by the low impact of the bass. It sounded tight, but had no thump, no soul. I really wanted to use them for gaming as well, mostly for Battlefield 4. I was coming from using a wireless set of Corsair Vengeance 2100 for gaming, which have unrealistic, but THUMPING bass, which made gunfire and explosions crazy amounts of fun, but music was grainy and unnatural.
Since my main use was going to be for gaming, I had all but decided that they were not worth the 200 dollar investment solely for music purposes. I'd been reading these forums and various mods for the Q701 even before I ordered them, so the idea was not new to me, but I began listening to music with them again shortly before boxing them back up... and they won me over again. I figured screw it, I may as well give the mod a shot to see if it could give me the bass I craved.
It did not disappoint. Nice pronounced thumps for both gaming and hip hop. Though I do have to say as a disclaimer, I'd started becoming accustomed to the lack of bass from the stock Q701 and feel it helped me "refine" my palette from the rattling loose bass I was accustomed to. Now the bass not only fills every void it had left before, but turning on bass boost (I know start cringing audiophiles) is almost unbearable because of the vibrations (not rattling) the Q701-m sends into my ears. Thanks so much for documenting this mod on here, you guys rock!
I have to say, the blooming audiophile in me is noticing a bit of muddiness in the mid bass that was not previously there. Almost like I have a tiny tiny bit cotton in my ears. This could also be due to the fact I was blasting a .50 cal sniper rifle at relatively high volumes in game prior to listening to my music again. I will have to report back in the morning after my hearing returns to normal.
Thanks again everyone in this awesome community, especially
tdockweiler. Your devotion to the Q701 astounds me, and is one of the main reason I decided to give the mod a try. I figured anyone that can post that much about a single headset must have a damn good reason, and I am a firm believer now that you are correct in doing so.