The AKG K712 Pro Support and Impressions Thread
Sep 9, 2014 at 11:26 AM Post #3,331 of 6,341
How to they scale to amping, Rob80b?

All quality headphones appreciate clean amplification, but the K712s along with its previous stalwarts like the 702s. 701s and K501s do not really open up to their full potential, especially with regards to the bass, unless given enough wattage and current. The best I’ve heard them was using my Bryston BHA-1 as a pre powering a Bryston 2BLP pro for amplification or even an old vintage receiver where the headphone out was just a headphone socket powered from the speaker amp but with a resistor in place to lower the output.

 
The HD700s on the other hand are IMO more dependent on the quality of the source to reveal their capabilities, garbage in garbage out and as long as the amp can supply enough clean power they should be fine and as where the K712s sound great off an old vintage receiver the HD700s will tell you...... it’s an old vintage receiver.
redface.gif
 
 
Sep 9, 2014 at 11:51 AM Post #3,332 of 6,341
Hey guys I received my k712pro's and ran into a quality control issue. Wonder if anyone else has run into this. The female mini xlr input on the headphone itself is loose. Whenever I tried to remove the cable by pressing down on the pin and pulling, the innard piece came out of place very easily. I've had a q701 before this purchase and never encountered this before.

Wish mine came like this, would make balancing them a snap.
tongue.gif
 
Anyway, from looking at the photo it appears that the socket may be a screw in as opposed to being glued or both, anyone know if that's the case?
 
 

blowup of roman797's photo
 
Sep 9, 2014 at 11:59 AM Post #3,333 of 6,341
   
I've been looking at the Peachtree Dac-IT X for some time. Generally excellent reviews, $299 on Amazon. All the inputs you need. 

 
I will take a look at that DAC. Thanks for the suggestion.
  Reviewer say that when the remote dies, you can't switch input anymore. I prefer USB powered DAC though since I don't need another wall plug, and it can definitely make my K712 sound very loud and distortion free.
 
I have the Meridian Explorer (newer version without the 50 ohm output impedance) which I paid for $150 sale brand new last year. It was a heck of a deal that I couldn't let pass.
 

The thing is I do game quite a bit (non-competitive PVPs though) so I already have an internal soundcard in my PC. I would like a DAC with an optical/SPDIF input to allow me to use both the DAC and soundcard.
 
You are correct about having another wall plug. My surge protector is at capacity, so the Stealth DC-1 looks attractive for my needs.
 
Sep 9, 2014 at 4:28 PM Post #3,334 of 6,341
I ordered these from ebay and the seller gogalaxy61 sent me 612 instead and refuses to send me a replacement or refund me until he gets back the wrong item and he initially said he would ship out a replacement once he sees that ups picks it up.  So if I waited for him to get it and ship me a replacement it would take just over a month from when I won the auction and paid immediately after winning.  This guy Herbie Colon has no customer service at all.  I get screwed because he made a mistake.  I just want to get a refund and buy them from amazon even if I have to pay more.  He shipped the wrong item 4 days after payment and he took 2 days to contact ups to pick up his mistake. Then he says he doesn't trust me because he doesn't know me so I have to wait.  Everyone else I have dealt with would have issued me a refund or a replacement once they saw that the package was being sent back.
 
Sooooo these are worth it right?  Good for metal?  
 
Sep 9, 2014 at 4:31 PM Post #3,335 of 6,341
Damn this is why I avoid ebay like the plague. I actually won an auction with him, but I had my doubts and just didn't pay for the item. Sorry to see you not have any luck. For the short time that I owned the K712, I loved them, but had to go back to Sennheisers.
 
Sep 9, 2014 at 8:43 PM Post #3,336 of 6,341
  Wish mine came like this, would make balancing them a snap.
tongue.gif
 
Anyway, from looking at the photo it appears that the socket may be a screw in as opposed to being glued or both, anyone know if that's the case?
 
 

blowup of roman797's photo


Looks completely fake! Mine is basically a snap on with no threads. Same as the included black coiled cable. Even the box pictures online has no threads! Well now we know there are fake K712s on the wild.
 

 
Sep 10, 2014 at 12:11 AM Post #3,340 of 6,341
Does anyone feel that the K712s became brighter/more detailed sounding with much more controlled bass after using it for more than a week of listening? It might be just the effect of the pads getting used to my shape, making a tighter seal or it's just that my ears are getting used to the sound.
 
Sep 10, 2014 at 7:23 AM Post #3,341 of 6,341
  All quality headphones appreciate clean amplification, but the K712s along with its previous stalwarts like the 702s. 701s and K501s do not really open up to their full potential, especially with regards to the bass, unless given enough wattage and current. The best I’ve heard them was using my Bryston BHA-1 as a pre powering a Bryston 2BLP pro for amplification or even an old vintage receiver where the headphone out was just a headphone socket powered from the speaker amp but with a resistor in place to lower the output.

 
The HD700s on the other hand are IMO more dependent on the quality of the source to reveal their capabilities, garbage in garbage out and as long as the amp can supply enough clean power they should be fine and as where the K712s sound great off an old vintage receiver the HD700s will tell you...... it’s an old vintage receiver.
redface.gif
 

    Your suggestion or shall I say assumption that the quality of sound from an old receiver is less than acceptable is unfounded. I have a restored concept 16.5 vintage receiver and it sounds awesome on the hd700 . Not all vintage receivers are the same . I have heard  my audeze lcd2s on the bryston headphone amp and my concept 16.5 can more than hold its own on driving the lcd2. In fact the tonality of the concept 16.5 is superior and the power of the bass on the bryston is nowhere near as powerful as the concept 16.5 . The sound of the bryston is bleached and analytical in comparison.
 
Sep 10, 2014 at 7:30 AM Post #3,342 of 6,341
  Does anyone feel that the K712s became brighter/more detailed sounding with much more controlled bass after using it for more than a week of listening? It might be just the effect of the pads getting used to my shape, making a tighter seal or it's just that my ears are getting used to the sound.

 
 
  Not sure if it’s the new cable, or for those who believe in break-in or just my ears but the K712s have taken on new strides and have appeared to have opened up quite nicely in the last day through constant playing, imaging is better focused with increased depth and bass seems tighter.


Who knows as we appear to have experienced the same transformation? Hard to dismiss that it is quite possible for new driver membranes to loosen/open up a bit after a day or so of use, how much they further change character over extended time is hard to say. But as the pads will eventually change through use/age there will also be further changes.
 
Sep 10, 2014 at 8:56 AM Post #3,343 of 6,341
      Your suggestion or shall I say assumption that the quality of sound from an old receiver is less than acceptable is unfounded. I have a restored concept 16.5 vintage receiver and it sounds awesome on the hd700 . Not all vintage receivers are the same . I have heard  my audeze lcd2s on the bryston headphone amp and my concept 16.5 can more than hold its own on driving the lcd2. In fact the tonality of the concept 16.5 is superior and the power of the bass on the bryston is nowhere near as powerful as the concept 16.5 . The sound of the bryston is bleached and analytical in comparison.

You sir, have made my observations abundantly clear, and no I’m not dishing vintage receivers (loved my Marantz 1070 as a head-amp) but we do then get into subjective preferences.
The AKGs as I stated (this is the AKG K712s thread) will be more than happy to receive extra wattage and current which most vintage receivers supply in abundance and less finicky if the amp is warm or “bleached and analytical” as you say, the HD700s will easily IMHO reveal an amps character and is more temperamental (no where near that of the HD800 though)
 
Curious if the lcd2s were balanced when using the Bryston BHA-1 as I find that my K712s do fall short, especially bass, with the single ended connection and a single ended source (not enough juice), a balanced source such as my Bryston BCD-1 does add an additional 3dbs and helps but the HD700s balanced sound very good.
 
Sep 10, 2014 at 10:30 AM Post #3,344 of 6,341
  Damn this is why I avoid ebay like the plague. I actually won an auction with him, but I had my doubts and just didn't pay for the item. Sorry to see you not have any luck. For the short time that I owned the K712, I loved them, but had to go back to Sennheisers.

 
Which senns did you go with?   I owned the HD650 for a short time, but didn't like that the bass couldn't keep up with metal or other fast hard hitting music.  But I did use it with a tube amp at the time so that could be a factor why it couldn't keep up.  Now that I am using a solid state amp, maybe it would fair better.
 
Sep 10, 2014 at 10:58 AM Post #3,345 of 6,341
   
Which senns did you go with?   I owned the HD650 for a short time, but didn't like that the bass couldn't keep up with metal or other fast hard hitting music.  But I did use it with a tube amp at the time so that could be a factor why it couldn't keep up.  Now that I am using a solid state amp, maybe it would fair better.

I had the HD700 for a while, they were definitely much quicker (closer the HD800) in responsiveness, but the sharp sting from the upper spikes were painful to my ears over an extended period. I went back to the HD650, but that is because it works fine with my preference of music.
 

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