[Bilavideo]

I've owned a pair of K701s and I really liked them for what they did.  They were beautiful headphones, extremely comfortable and they had a Grado-like playfulness in the treble.  Where they came up short was in the bass.  You need a strong amp with a good bass boost.  It will level out the presentation.  The K701's achilles heel is its lack of a headphone shell with any real ability to amplify the bass.  I think the disc design is actually tried and tested.  You see pictures of Beatles wearing these designs (something preceding the K701 by decades).  The K701s are airy and sparkly but you really need to compensate for the lack of bass.  If you can do that, you'll have a very nice set for a modest price.  If not, you'll watch your ears bleed from cranking the master volume in the vain effort to get enough bass.

 

[moaksb]

Quote:

...I  wanted to "upgrade" from the hd595, and experiment a different sound from sennheiser, but lot of people  seem to have a preference for sennheiser. 

...My budget is 250 euros max, amp or not amp included.
 

I had the exact same reason for buying the k701 and haven't regretted it yet

.
Why not buy the hp first and save up for an amp?
 

 

[Acix]

 
Quote:

I bought AKG k702 before getting on headfi, my reference point was sonic similarities with Adam A5 monitors, and I'm very grateful for that 'cause I would definitely skip such a good 'phone reading those comments. Enjoy your journey
 
 

Same here, with A7. The K-702 are a real studio reference headphones.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

 
 
Hmmm ok, I'll ignore then  all the curious hate toward the k701.

@Elija
Quote:

Try some OST music, like HP Half Blood Prince OST.

Seems interesting music of my taste. I listen to a lot of OST, ambient, background music.
But someone said that these phone are literally butchering the title
"heart shaped box" from nirvana, and I  enjoy this kind of music too .
By the way,  you said on a thread that you are enjoying these phones directly from realtek
onboard sound, which is a bit unusual.


@loopfreak
Quote:

my reference point was sonic similarities with Adam A5 monitors

Seems a great reference, although I've never heard them.

@BWV988
Quote:

why not pick up a used K501 from ebay for around 90 Euros, and spend the rest on a good amp ?

I've never bought anything from ebay, but in fact that's a bit complicated to buy something online in my case (I'm in north africa). Delivery in France, but to a parent , that will take soon the plane, and bring me back the things I want.

I was curious,and searched the k501 on ebay. That seems a rarity, none are currently  sold. And by the way, it's a very bad deal to buy the k701 at ebay, when I see the prices.
 
 
@Bilavideo
Quote:

Where they came up short was in the bass.

I'm not impressed at all by the bass of the hd595, (even my little senn IE7, allow
to get more "thumping" bass). I'm wondering how the k701 could be worse than the hd595,
regarding the bass. Beside electronica , ebm, I do not listen to lot of music with ton of bass.
And I  suppose this can't be corrected  with eq ?

My biggest concern regarding the k701, is I  think the soundstage. I'm not sure what people are exactly complaining, but I  plan to use a kind of crossfeed plugin (not exactly, but a chain of vst, that removes the music "on your face" feeling).

@moaksb
Quote:

Why not buy the hp first

I'm considering this amp (millenium hp 1). I  like that they announce in advance the power
(350 mw, should be enough to fry the k701; but at the same time I  must be careful
to not push the volume knob too far), and also there isn't much useless features. But ...
1) How heavy is exactly this amp, because I  need someone to bring it on plane (no direct delivery to my country).
2) will the HP 1 add something to the built in amp , I  find in the xonar stx ?
3) I  don't understand, why there's four entries behind the HP 1. Which cables I  need to buy, I plan to test it on xonar stx , but on the realtek onboard sound too.

 

[colmustard]

if your concerned about the bass on the k701 and don't know what to expect, this is how I described it in my review.
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/538660/akg-k701-reference-headphones-review-number-100-000
 
 
Bass:

For bass I choose to listen to “What to Say” by the Born Ruffians, “Our Swords” by Band of Horses, and“Loaded Painted Red” by 764-Hero. Now if your familiar with any of these songs, you might be wondering how in any way are these bass heavy songs? Well they arn’t in fact, but they all have an easily distinguishable bass guitar in them. Starting with What to Say, the bass is initially very weak but very easy to pick out. Then the song picks up and it becomes a little bit stronger. The thing about the K701 that I’ve noticed is that you don’t experience or feel bass like you would with any bass head equipment. Instead you listen to the bass, and appreciate it. This is exactly how I felt listening to this song, the bass was easily distinguishable throughout the entire song, and even the light taps to the kick drum were easily identifiable even as the guitar and vocals picked up. The detail of the bass guitar though is what is most striking about this song. With many other headphones the bass is loud and muddied, here you can hear the individual strum of the bass guitar and it actually sounds like a real string instrument (as it should)! I experienced much of the same listening to Our Swords. The bass guitar was easy to distinguish throughout the song, although there certainly seems to be much less of an emphasis on the lower bass notes than there are on the rest of the frequencies. That being said, the bass still goes very very low. You can easily hear the individual strings vibrate through the recording room, unlike any bass I have ever heard before. Loaded Painted Red I was surprised to find out was the same story. I was expecting the bass guitar to be difficult to pick out, however this was not the case. I could easily discern the strumming of the bass guitar underneath even as light as it is. Another thing I noticed was just how deep the kick drum goes in this song. The kick drum certainly sounds different on these headphones than on anything else I’ve ever listened to. Once again it sounds like a real instrument and a part of the song as opposed to just a muddied beat. Overall I was very happy with how analytical the bass was, and the response and depth of the notes simply blew me away. Don’t expect to be head banging with the K701, but expect to truly hear the lower registry for what it is.

 

[moaksb]

 
Quote:

@moaksb
I'm considering this amp (millenium hp 1). I  like that they announce in advance the power
(350 mw, should be enough to fry the k701; but at the same time I  must be careful
to not push the volume knob too far), and also there isn't much useless features. But ...
1) How heavy is exactly this amp, because I  need someone to bring it on plane (no direct delivery to my country).
2) will the HP 1 add something to the built in amp , I  find in the xonar stx ?
3) I  don't understand, why there's four entries behind the HP 1. Which cables I  need to buy, I plan to test it on xonar stx , but on the realtek onboard sound too.

1) thomann.de has the hp 1 (and the k701)
2) I have no idea
3) I think it can also be used as a preamp

 

[extrabigmehdi]

@moaksb
Yep I know, but direct delivery in my country is complicated to keep things short. Anyway I think getting the hp 1 is not worth it, because I already use speakers on the rca port of the xonar stx,and people say that you must use the rca port for the amp (or s/pdif , but then the advantage of the xonar stx dac is canceled).
 
@Elija 
Quote:

 and maybe have pleasing distortion

ouch, this hurt,  "pleasing distortion" looks like an oxymoron. But I  know that realtek offers currently perhaps the best onboard sound, that's why I've avoided asus motherboard, when building my rig. I recommend using wasapi plugin in foobar, this helps a bit too.
 
 

 

[extrabigmehdi]

@Elija
The advantage of wasapi over asio (or disadvantage), is that it cut the sound from every source , except foobar (or any player that use wasapi). Wasapi is only available with win7 or vista. Asio don't work with realtek onboard sound, so in this case, I use wasapi. But asio works fine with the xonar stx.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

I've been reading compulsively what everyone was saying regarding k701 bass. I guess the problem regarding the k701 is about the "thumping" or impact, or slam of bass, or whatever you call it. I can live without that, I'm not using headphones to dance like in a discotheque. I enjoyed particularly this thread: AKG K701 Pictures and Opinions . Now , I'll have to wait to get my k701.

 

[thelsuman]

Quote:

I've been reading compulsively what everyone was saying regarding k701 bass. I guess the problem regarding the k701 is about the "thumping" or impact, or slam of bass, or whatever you call it. I can live without that, I'm not using headphones to dance like in a discotheque. I enjoyed particularly this thread: AKG K701 Pictures and Opinions . Now , I'll have to wait to get my k701.

Once again, IMO the K701 is a terrific headphone.  It is my "go to" HP (preferred over my Senn HD650s) for small group & live acoustic music such as Jazz & chamber music.  I find the reproduction of upright bass to be very satisfying on the K701.  However, just as a caution, I should say that for electronic music, rock, pop as well as some symphonic music, I prefer the Senn HD650s because of the warmer, more visceral experience provided by these HPs.  The sound just seems more rich/relaxed, albeit less detailed than the K701s.  However, if faithful reproduction of texture/detail & a large soundstage are your thing, then I think you'll be very pleased with the AKG K701.  Good luck in your journey & enjoy!!
 

 

[dazedbus]

I think with and without good amplification and sources the K701/2 has similar bass except when the source and amplification are improved that everything is spread out and more evened out so that it is much more enjoyable to listen to.  I've listened to the K701 off of a musiland 01 USD, direct headphone jack and my home setup (USB -> MUSILAND 01 US(transfer) -> OMZ DAC -> PPA amp).  Definitely there is a small difference between the musiland and directly off the computer but not by much.  Everything is presented together and all of the sound is somewhat clumped together with the MUSILAND spreading out the sound a little bit.  I think at that point the bass is somewhat lackluster since all other sounds overwhelm the impact of the bass and that may be something that many people point out.  On another note, some people claim that the k701s require a significant burn-in time, but as I bought mine used I cannot really comment on that.  But I think once the K701s get a better source and are amped to a certain degree the bass is much better since the impact of the bass isn't muddied out by other sounds around it.  Overall, everything about the K701 benefits from a better source and amplifier, but if you're on a budget this might be something you should consider if you ever plan to upgrade in the future.  In terms of the sennheiser line I thought that the K701s were much better than the hd555s on my home setup (that isn't a very fair comparison seeing that hd555s are entry level headphones) in terms of imaging, soundstage and dynamics.  This might be useful when you first listen to them when you get your headphones
 
Quote:

I've been reading compulsively what everyone was saying regarding k701 bass. I guess the problem regarding the k701 is about the "thumping" or impact, or slam of bass, or whatever you call it. I can live without that, I'm not using headphones to dance like in a discotheque. I enjoyed particularly this thread: AKG K701 Pictures and Opinions . Now , I'll have to wait to get my k701.