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Yes and Uncle Erics description is the best way of putting it. The treble sounds bright and hollow with certain recordings, like you hear it is there but there is no sense of impact or texture from the treble (especially with vocals) to the ears, just a bright shrilling sounding treb range. People who use to say you need beefy $1k+ amp's to tame down the sound of the K701 is on crack, as amplification can't fix a engineering defect either with the way AKG tuned the drivers or the housing.
 
My blame is on the housing. 

OK. I am using a 200 dollars amplifier with my K701 and they sound just marvellous. Easily the best sound out of my headphones and better than many more expensive headphones I've heard. I am not really sure what you mean by missing impact from the treble in vocals. There is absolutely nothing shrill or srange with the treble from k701. I have HD650 and appreciate K701 airy presentation more. It is remarkable that almost every member on this site is a better engineer than the actual experts who work on AKG, Sennheiser, Grado etc. 

 

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Yeah, everything was better before. Isn't your purpose on this forum to persuade everybody else that is true?

 
I hope I won't persuade everyone of it even if I do discuss the topic openly. I rather love having headphones that only cost 15 € due to lack of interest outperform a modern flagship.

 

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It is remarkable that almost every member on this site is a better engineer than the actual experts who work on AKG, Sennheiser, Grado etc. 

And you're forgetting that no headphone is engineered to be perfect.

 

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And you're forgetting that no headphone is engineered to be perfect.

No I am actually not. But you are describing k701 as a malfunctioning headphone which it is not.

 

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My K 701 on my hardware (tried two different sources and amps) certainly sound like they're malfunctioning. Way too much treble and on top of that it's a grainy treble too. Sadly, they measure more or less the same as other K 701s, which leads me to believe they don't malfunction any more than the average pair. But who knows.

As I say, I certainly could get used to the offensive sound they seem to produce, but luckily I have some other phones to fix me.

Though having said that, I quite like the AKG K 250 that are very bright too. Not as good as the K 701 technically for sure, but more enjoyable to me and with crisper imaging if a smaller soundstage. More neutral mids, too.

It is a very peculiar statement to say that k701 are malfunctioning headphones or that they measure as ones. They don't measure more incorrect than any other headphone in their class for sure. Goldenears gave them G.E.R.I and they did very well on Innerfidelity. They are still one of the most recommended headphones bellow 500 dollars on Headroom and one of the most praised headphones on headphoneinfo. There is nothing near malfunctioning in any measurement on k701 besides your interpretation. Everything stated above only makes your opinions completely unreliable. And for the amps and sources, what were those you used in your tests?

 

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It's curious you should mention Golden Ears, since their measurements of the K 701 embody what I though sounded wrong about those phones. In other news, Golden Ears subjectively rate the vintage HD 540 above the K 701 in resolution and transparency, and I find it no wonder having heard the very similar HD 530.

 

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No I am actually not. But you are describing k701 as a malfunctioning headphone which it is not.

I'm just interpreting what they sound to me I never said they were malfunctioning headphones my suggestion with the mods is that it could be due to the housing or the way it's tuned. Look at the Sennheiser HD555/558 line they have that foam disc inside that when removed improves sound greatly. Same can be said for the K701.

 

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It's curious you should mention Golden Ears, since their measurements of the K 701 embody what I though sounded wrong about those phones. In other news, Golden Ears subjectively rate the vintage HD 540 above the K 701 in resolution and transparency, and I find it no wonder having heard the very similar HD 530.

There are just some minor differences on their subjective scale (orders of 0,1) between k701 and hd540 (and even HD650 and LCD 2 for that matter) so I beleive Golden Ears consider all those headphones as highly transparent and highly resolving.. I also agree that hd540 is a great headphone (I have not heard HD530). 

 

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I think the best K series probably goes to the original K501 and 601's with the former being my personal favourite that does everything right. Haven't heard the K1k so cannot comment on them but the general consensus with them is they are very very good. Some of the NOS think 80's 600ohm 240 Monitors are good too. They are widely used in radio broadcast stations nowadays. 

 

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I think the best K series probably goes to the original K501 and 601's with the former being my personal favourite that does everything right. Haven't heard the K1k so cannot comment on them but the general consensus with them is they are very very good. Some of the NOS think 80's 600ohm 240 Monitors are good too. They are widely used in radio broadcast stations nowadays. 

Too much of vodka, rakija, beer, single malt whiskey and scotch maybe? 

 

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I think the best K series probably goes to the original K501 and 601's with the former being my personal favourite that does everything right. Haven't heard the K1k so cannot comment on them but the general consensus with them is they are very very good. Some of the NOS think 80's 600ohm 240 Monitors are good too. They are widely used in radio broadcast stations nowadays. 

But seriously, do you really think that k601 is a better headphone than k701? k501 is of course a very close match and maybe even better, but k601?

 

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I'd rank my AKGs past and present like so, most enjoyable to least so:
K 314 P
K 250
K 501
K 240 DF
K 241
K 340
K 601
K 141 ('70s)
K 701
K 271 S
K 260
K 160
K 315
 
Then there was the Sextett, but they had problems with the other driver so I won't say much about those.

 

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I'd rank my AKGs past and present like so, most enjoyable to least so:
K 314 P
K 250
K 501
K 240 DF
K 241
K 340
K 601
K 141 ('70s)
K 701
K 271 S
K 260
K 160
K 315
 
Then there was the Sextett, but they had problems with the other driver so I won't say much about those.

 
OK. K 314 P is an earbud costing £30? Is that correct? Like these here: http://www.amazon.com/AKG-K314P-BLACK-Headphones-In-Line-Control/dp/B000MVU32W/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt

 

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Discontinued earbuds, sure.