[shinndigg]

I think I found a silver lining with the whole distant vocals issue. I was listening to a favorite album of mine, and suddenly found myself with goosebumps. Every other time I had heard a certain song, the vocals were SO forward that it caught 90% of my attention. On the Qs, it balanced out, and I heard things I had never noticed before. The swell of the strings made me feel like I was rising and falling with the music. 
 
I think for that reason, I'm probably going to keep them. Although the 598s will likely remain my primary cans, I find it interesting to hear songs a whole different way, if not always the way I prefer. Hopefully I can add another amp to my collection soon and then reevaluate the Qs. 

 

[Brooko]

Good to hear shinndigg
 
Whilst I don't have the Q701, I do own the K701 (along with the HD600 and DT880).  Each headphone has it's own strengths and weaknesses - but I love them all.  Definitely switching between them, there is often (initially) a period when there is something that takes a while to 'gel'.  I have my HD600s on now - listening to Feist - and after spending the day at work with my DT880s - I initially found the HD600s subdued (not enough sparkle).  But once I listened to them for 15 minutes, my ears adjusted - and they just sound wonderful again.
 
I'll get the same thing if I go to the K701s later tonight.  The mids will sound distant and they will be terribly bright.  But after 15 or 20 minutes - I will once again appreciate them for the strengths they have.
 
BTW - if you are looking for an SS desktop amp/dac (sub 250) which will drive anything from low impedance, or right up to my 600 ohm Beyers - I'd recommend the Audio-gd NFB-12.  It has low output impedance, plenty of power, a lot of inputs, and I think it pairs pretty well with all of the cans I have (especially the K701).

 

[genclaymore]

Yea the Audio-GD NFB 12 is a great dac amp,took me long enough to actually get one my self. As I kept putting it off. You might get lucky and find some one like i did selling their's on the forums.

 

[shinndigg]

Seeing as I'm pretty happy with my V-DAC II, I'm looking more fore standalone amps. In the $250 range I'm thinking either the V-CAN II to complement the V-DAC, or a Matrix M-Stage, as someone said earlier in the thread it plays very nicely with the Q701. Although what I really want is a tube amp. 

 

[genclaymore]

I forgot to mention I usually sees the NFB-12 selling on the forums around 150-160, which is better then the 215 price of it not including the shipping gettng it from china directly.

 

[Brooko]

Quote:

Seeing as I'm pretty happy with my V-DAC II, I'm looking more fore standalone amps. In the $250 range I'm thinking either the V-CAN II to complement the V-DAC, or a Matrix M-Stage, as someone said earlier in the thread it plays very nicely with the Q701. Although what I really want is a tube amp. 

 
Can understand that - I love my LD MKIV especially with the K701 and DT880.  Unfortunately it's just a little out of your budget.

 

[Lorspeaker]

+1 LDMk3....+2 LDMk4SE 

 
but i am currently happily suffering the Q701 with my X can V3 ..
just find some tubes somewhere to put into the Q701 and u will be a happy man. 

 

[tdockweiler]

I keep forgetting about the O2! That's under $150 and might work. I haven't heard it yet.
 
Does anyone know how the K702 (preferably the Q701) sounds on the E9 versus the O2?
I think the soundstage of the Q701 on the E9 is very large and often it made me wonder if it's TOO large with that amp.
It feels like it makes it bigger than it should be on any amp. Don't know how.
 
It'll be nice to compare the E9 to the O2 and see if it's as neutral as people say. Some people have said the E9 is warm and I can't agree with this at all!
 
BTW before bed I was listening to all my headphones using a Sansa Clip+ to Total Airhead. All of them sounded very, very good.
I compared the soundstage of my Q701 and the HD-598 and the Q701's was slightly larger. The difference isn't huge though. Strangely the Q701s soundstage wasn't suffering with the Total Airhead. At times it felt like stuff was coming from behind me

When switching to the HD-580 you could definitely tell it had much more mid-bass and had the fullest mids, but sometimes I don't like this. When switching to my DJ100 I didn't get an instant downgrade in sound.
Between the HD-598, DJ100, HD-580, Q701 and KRK KNS-8400, the 8400 sounded the worst, but was still decent. It sounded quite a lot thinner than everything else. I think that thing has way more sub-bass than mid-bass!
I mostly only listened to the Buena Vista Social Club in FLAC. Sounds amazing on the DJ100 and Q701. The HD-598 has slightly fuller sounding mids than the Q701. The DJ100 had the 2nd most bass. With the M50 pads I seriously can barely tell that the HD-580 has a larger soundstage. Seems like it's only a tiny bit larger. The HD-580 almost feels like a semi-open headphone at times. It's hardly fair since I was using a portable amp (that drives the HD-580 with ease). What's interesting is that all of these headphones didn't change the songs much in any major way. It would be nice to know for sure what this band/cd would sound like in real life.

 

[Chris J]

Quote:

 
Well that's too bad. The Q701 is a fun headphone to me and many others.
This same thing happens in many other threads. This is why I tried to stop over-analyzing my headphones. I stopped caring about which is best.
The longer I compare headphones the more I hate them. Ruins the fun of just listening to your music.
The best headphones are the ones you try to review and analyze, but keep finding yourself getting distracted by the music

My DJ100 and HD-580 are like that.
 
Just look at those fun old threads about the K701 vs DDT-880 and which is more neutral. People will argue over which has most non-fatiguing treble.
Then the lovely M50 hate threads, where people seem to think the M50 is the world's worse headphone..yet they love a headphone that sounds nearly the same.
 
I do miss the K701 vs HD-600 threads with special guest Mr. Plastic.

 
 
Ahhh yes, the K70x vs. DT880 wars!
Or Q701 vs. DT880 wars!
The good olde days!
 
You are right, some folks get so cussed dogmatic about the their treble impressions and the Q701 vs. DT880.
I suspect there must have been some running production changes in BOTH headphones to get such extreme reactions from people.

 

[Chris J]

Quote:

 
All Graphs show basically the same plus a different aproach of stretching the Graph and a different equation from raw- to percieved Graph.
 
Almost perfect? on which Graph? They look the best on the inner-fidelity-graphs... but there is a -5db dip from 2k to 3k which continues to 6.Xk followed by a +5db bump... this isn't almsot perfect.
 

 
You need to chill out, man.
 
I plead guilty to some artistic hyperbole, but personally, they look like 3 slightly different headphones to me.
 
If I didn't know they were three different headphones, then I would be tempted to say I prefer the Headroom versions.

 

[TMRaven]

Quote:

 
It'll be nice to compare the E9 to the O2 and see if it's as neutral as people say. Some people have said the E9 is warm and I can't agree with this at all!
 

 
 
How will you be able to tell which one is more neutral though?  There is no perfectly flat headphone out there to tell you otherwise.  All anybody could describe would be comparisons between their two sound signatures in relation to one another.

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

 
 
How will you be able to tell which one is more neutral though?  There is no perfectly flat headphone out there to tell you otherwise.  All anybody could describe would be comparisons between their two sound signatures in relation to one another.

 
That's the difficult part. My only guess is to compare both amps and see which ones make the headphone sound EXACTLY like they should without adding any coloration or as little as possible. I don't need the amp to be dead neutral really I guess.
I've tried the Q701 with quite a few amps and have a good idea when something is off and how it SHOULD sound. Even more so with my DJ100. My goal is basically to NOT have the DAC or my amp change my headphones sound signature. People say they generally don't, but i've not quite found this to be the case. It does seem like when your amp or dac is slightly colored or not as neutral as they should be, the Q701 and K601s sound much worse. It's easy to make the Q701 fatiguing with the wrong amp. Maybe I just have bad luck.
 
I definitely agree that no headphone is perfectly flat. Not even the HD-600. I think that my Q701 is no more colored than that thing, but that discussion won't ever turn out good!
 
You know what... figuring out the sound signatures of amps is annoying. My Micro Amp doesn't seem to have one and changes it's sound slightly with whatever is connected to it. Now the E10..that's another story. Sometimes I feel it's easier to tell the difference between cables. I don't want to open up that can of worms

 
NOTE: I just bought an ODAC. I can't wait to hear it's warm and musical sound signature. Ok, i'm kidding.

 

[TMRaven]

How would you know if your headphones sound EXACTLY like they should?  Maybe they're naturally fatiguing? 
 
I think you should just stick to saying which presentation you like better with which amp and dac.  

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

How would you know if your headphones sound EXACTLY like they should?  Maybe they're naturally fatiguing? 
 
I think you should just stick to saying which presentation you like better with which amp and dac.  

 
Well, you can use the DJ100 and Q701 with half a dozen amps and they generally don't change that dramatically as long they're driven properly. That's usually the case unless the amp is very colored, which seems rare somewhat. I've had bad luck though. The Q701 is picky with amps though.
This is what would give me an idea of what they're probably supposed to sound like. Sometimes with the HD-580 I don't even have a clue! I would say it's not EXACTLY how they're supposed to sound, but just a general idea.
 
I've rarely got the Q701 to sound fatiguing. Only time I did was with maybe an E10 (in the mids) or some full sized CD player I have. The Q701 is also more fatiguing without an amp or a weak one of course. I don't know why, but my Ipod Touch dock makes my Q701 more fatiguing in the treble than it should be. Did you know the Apple docks have a DAC in them? No idea why or if this is really true. Maybe my dock is bad, but it sounds fine when using just a LOD cable. I did have to resolder a connection on it.
 
I use the DJ100 with a Sansa Clip+ that measures ruler flat and it sounds similar to that (but even better) with any other fairly neutral amp i've found. My onboard Realtek HD and this X-Fi Go Pro (that also measures flat) sounds nearly as balanced.
I get really annoyed when I connect my DJ100 up to a new amp and it sound signature is much different. I got that with the E10 and E11, but not so much the E5 (except a little in the bass) and E9.
 
My opinion right now is that the Q701 and DJ100 are pretty smooth sounding without any parts jumping out at ME too much. The only time it would is maybe in very bad garbage tracks. The DJ100 is a little more forgiving of those.
The O2 or ODAC might be a good reference to use.
 
The K601 has been good for me because if it ever sounds fatiguing it's probably caused by the amp or DAC i've used.That thing HATED my Asgard. I wish I could have figured out why. I switched to the E9 and then for the Micro Amp. K601 is perfect with the Headroom Micro Amp and sounds quite balanced. That lower treble peak is maybe why the Asgard was a bad match it for. Maybe the Asgard has one too? I'm also recently discovered that my HRT MSII hates the K601, but not too much.

 

[shinndigg]

If its the best for tis price, the LD MKIV would likely be squarely in my price range come Christmas. Should I order it early? It looks like the kind of thing that would become hard to find around the holidays.