[WhiteCrow]

 
Quote:

I did see your post, I even once had that sound card, but I don't know about it's sound quality because I was never into that sort of thing back then, it was just bought for hardware sound processing for games to improve performance. I think I still have it but back in China.
The one I have now is the x-fi extreme audio, after reasons your post I am fairly confident, however I could consider getting a better sound card or just an amp, I'll see for my self when I receive my 701s.
However I just read on a Japanese blog and the guy was saying in you need an amp of at least $250 to $350 to get the most out of your k701. Now I'm confused.

 

Yes, that's some joke.
Putting a price tag where a power rating should go.
So the Grado amp will power them really well according to that post. It's about $300...but wait it's just a $60Cmoy amp in a wooden box. It's all about the Current an amp will supply OR if it's a high impedance phone the Voltage swing. The 1+ amp pushes about 700mw of power at 32 ohms. the NFB12 pushes about 2Watts, the 1+ is about 150+shipping where as the NFB12 is $200+shipping. Price plays NO roll in sound quality!!!! well not an objective roll. 

 

[Chris J]

 
Quote:

Hi I read all of your replies, thanks.
I found some of your replies puzzling howevere. For example one of you talked about how your iPod can barely give you enough volume. I take it as you actually use your iPod to drive your cans? If it's just a problem of volume then I am not at all concerned because my sound card is considerably louder than my on-board integrated sound card which is probably most people refer to as a "computer", since everybody talks about amps and nobody talk about sound cards. Currently i run my 40ohm headphones at 20% volume, I still have a lot of room.
Speaking of sound cards, why is it nobody cares about sound cards? If I could use a sound card why would I bother with two other boxes on the table? It just sounds like marketing hype to me, like having two separate boxes separates you from the rest of those who don't know anything about sound quality and directly connect their cans to their computers.
As for DAC I recognize what it does, but I'm just asking why do you want a separate DAC since then you need a piece of analog wire to connect it to your amp, shouldn't that give you more signal loss than just an amp with built-in DAC?

 
Not too sure if you meant me, but you can drive your Q701s with an iPod or an iPad.
Neither sounds amazing and neither will go very loud, but you can certainly listen to music using either one and Q701s.
For $275 I picked up an iBasso D12 (which is a combination DAC and Amp) and I get mucher better sound out of my computer using the D12.   Obviously this is just my opinion, YMMV.

 

[PurpleAngel]

 
Quote:

I did see your post, I even once had that sound card, but I don't know about it's sound quality because I was never into that sort of thing back then, it was just bought for hardware sound processing for games to improve performance. I think I still have it but back in China.
The one I have now is the x-fi extreme audio, after reasons your post I am fairly confident, however I could consider getting a better sound card or just an amp, I'll see for my self when I receive my 701s.

However I just read on a Japanese blog and the guy was saying in you need an amp of at least $250 to $350 to get the most out of your k701. Now I'm confused.

I'm sure an Asus Xonar Essence STX (or ST) sound card would do a fine job of driving your AKG K701.
 
"You need an amp of at least $250 to $350 to get the most out of your k701".
A $250 to $350 headphone amplifier will get the most out of just about an headphone, not just the K701.
 
 

 

[Snag1e]

There are cheep amps that will drive the k70x fine. Look into the O2... You can get them fully assembled from JDS labs.

 

[obobskivich]

The Asus amp soundcards and Fiio E9 share their amp stage (it's a chip) with a number of $400-$600 amplifiers, FWIW. 
 
Price tells us nothing.
 
 

 

[Chris J]

The Asus amp soundcards and Fiio E9 share their amp stage (it's a chip) with a number of $400-$600 amplifiers, FWIW. 
 
Price tells us nothing.
 
 

Just to play Devil's Advocate, it is quite possible that the $400-600 amps have a far better power supply implementation.


BTW, does "price tells us nothing" apply to Scotch, laddie?

 

[obobskivich]

Sure, but it's just as possible they're worse and simply cost more due to brand labeling, production volume, etc. I don't mean to go back and forth - my point was more against the "you need to spend at least $1000 US to get quality" argument; there's plenty of cheap kit that rocks, and plenty of expensive kit that's garbage (and of course the other way works too). 
 
As far as Scotch (or hooch in general) - roughly the same argument could probably be made. 
Quote:

Just to play Devil's Advocate, it is quite possible that the $400-600 amps have a far better power supply implementation.
BTW, does "price tells us nothing" apply to Scotch, laddie?

 
 

 

[headphonatic]

Yeah, don't listen to those Japanese forums, we're always right. I have the O2, it doesn't color the sound, not sure if that'[s a good thing or a bad thing. But it does smooth out the spectrum, and vocals.

 

[Chris J]

Yeah, don't listen to those Japanese forums, we're always right. I have the O2, it doesn't color the sound, not sure if that'[s a good thing or a bad thing. But it does smooth out the spectrum, and vocals.

I agree, we're always right!

 

[kiteki]

 
Hi Jacob Gong,
 
An amplifier isn't only about volume, and a DAC isn't only about converting digital data to an anaog electrical signal.  the D/A conversion process has seen hundreds or thousands of chips, it's a complicated process with lots of R&D.
 
Every digital device which makes sound has a D/A conversion, since the digital has to be converted to analog, so you can hear sound, this included mobile phones, mp3 players, etc.
 
Now, if you compare the sound quality of a walkman cassette tape player, a Sony discman, your mobile phone, and your sound-card, do you think they all sound the same?  If you do, you don't need a DAC, or an amp, or the K701 or Q701.  If you think they all sound 'very' different, then you'll appreciate the differences of a higher-end sound-card, or a higher-end external DAC (same thing pretty much).
 
Now, the controversy about the K701 is how to drive it, not how to get it to high volume.  You can reach extremely volume by compressing dynamic range and adding pre-gain via software, that doesn't mean the headphone will sound good.  You need the correct voltage and current, linearity, speed etc. in the amp section in order to make the drivers of the headphone move correctly, to the electrical signal of the music.
 
When you read comments about burn-in and $350 amplifiers to "make the K701 shine", it's an exercise in dozens of variables and percentages.  How much percent better will it sound, for an extra $50?  There is no answer to that, naturally, and price ≠ performance in audio, since audio is littered with glossy marketing, economies of scale, DIY projects, and so on.
 
If you're scared about the controversy of the K701, just get a different headphone which is easier to drive.  In my opinion it doesn't sound very good anyway, but since I didn't use the correct amplifier, my opinion is void, that's an example of politics and favoritism in audio, it's not all science, neither is cars and motorbikes, "Suzuki sucks" et cetera.
 
My opinion, if you're using your sound-card at 20% volume now and think it's of desirable sound-quality, keep it, and spend your money on the headphone.  For price to performance ratio, get a studio headphone, they tend to keep the sound-quality high and circumvent consumer marketing.
 
Example:  Shure SRH-940, Sony CD900ST, Fostex T50RP.
 
All very good sounding headphones.
 
IEM's have very good sound-quality too, competing with headphones.  You could start with the Vsonic R04 or Etymotic HF5.
 
 

 

[headphonatic]

 
Quote:

 
Example:  Shure SRH-940, Sony CD900ST, Fostex T50RP.
 
All very good sounding headphones.
 
IEM's have very good sound-quality too, competing with headphones.  You could start with the Vsonic R04 or Etymotic HF5.
 
 

 
Mod those t50rp's and it's a great sound headphones

 

[dazedbus]

 
Quote:

 
Hi Jacob Gong,
 
An amplifier isn't only about volume, and a DAC isn't only about converting digital data to an anaog electrical signal.  the D/A conversion process has seen hundreds or thousands of chips, it's a complicated process with lots of R&D.
 
Every digital device which makes sound has a D/A conversion, since the digital has to be converted to analog, so you can hear sound, this included mobile phones, mp3 players, etc.
 
Now, if you compare the sound quality of a walkman cassette tape player, a Sony discman, your mobile phone, and your sound-card, do you think they all sound the same?  If you do, you don't need a DAC, or an amp, or the K701 or Q701.  If you think they all sound 'very' different, then you'll appreciate the differences of a higher-end sound-card, or a higher-end external DAC (same thing pretty much).
 
Now, the controversy about the K701 is how to drive it, not how to get it to high volume.  You can reach extremely volume by compressing dynamic range and adding pre-gain via software, that doesn't mean the headphone will sound good.  You need the correct voltage and current, linearity, speed etc. in the amp section in order to make the drivers of the headphone move correctly, to the electrical signal of the music.
 
When you read comments about burn-in and $350 amplifiers to "make the K701 shine", it's an exercise in dozens of variables and percentages.  How much percent better will it sound, for an extra $50?  There is no answer to that, naturally, and price ≠ performance in audio, since audio is littered with glossy marketing, economies of scale, DIY projects, and so on.
 
If you're scared about the controversy of the K701, just get a different headphone which is easier to drive.  In my opinion it doesn't sound very good anyway, but since I didn't use the correct amplifier, my opinion is void, that's an example of politics and favoritism in audio, it's not all science, neither is cars and motorbikes, "Suzuki sucks" et cetera.
 
My opinion, if you're using your sound-card at 20% volume now and think it's of desirable sound-quality, keep it, and spend your money on the headphone.  For price to performance ratio, get a studio headphone, they tend to keep the sound-quality high and circumvent consumer marketing.
 
Example:  Shure SRH-940, Sony CD900ST, Fostex T50RP.
 
All very good sounding headphones.
 
IEM's have very good sound-quality too, competing with headphones.  You could start with the Vsonic R04 or Etymotic HF5.
 
 

 
Mostly very true indeed.  You should not put a price-tag on the amplifier as many users have mentioned the O2 amp is quite good and cheap and none of the amps that I use are expensive amplifiers and it doesn't make sense to require a large amount of money to amplify a signal cleanly from an engineering point of view, but instead that money should be spent on the headphone itself or into the DAC itself to provide a better signal.

 

[khbaur330162]

Nice post, kiteki.

 

[kiteki]

 
Thanks, nice to see I get positive comments sometimes =p