Forgive me if this is a repeat, I pretty much skipped well over 100 pages after getting tired of reading the same posts over and over...
Until this morning, I thought this was just a FOTM can. With the price of the HD650s right now, I wasn't too sure if this headphone was worth my purchase.
So far, of all my equipment, there's been little to no synergy between my K7xx and any of my gear. So I had been on the fence about selling them. I was never really moved by the K7xx. The only impressive pairing, to my ears, was with my Gen.4 iPad. It sounded descent enough with my phone (Sammy, Note3), but certainly nothing worth posting about. But paired with the iPad, wow!
I don't know how I feel about this. This almost makes all my expensive headphones and gear redundanct. Well, I won't go that far... it is an impressive pairing.
Reently, I have purchased a slew of new cans that are a fair bit different from my traditional sound signature, to test how my tastes have changed. So I'm currently in the process of selling my unused gear. I only bring this up since it's forced me to listen to headphones that I haven't worn in ages. The K7xx seems just smooth enough that it doesn't fit into my typical V-shaped or treble-forward niche. I blame the K7xx for pushing my curiosity to venture outside of my comfort threshold.
Now I'm not saying that the K7xx is relaxed, dark, or even laid back. But compared to all my HE-4 and HD800, the K7xx seems warm and congested. This is heightened by my warm AudioGD dac/amp. I would consider the k7xx just slightly tilted towards warm, but not quite there, when paired with a cold ir clinical dac. Paired with something already warm, the sound gets too syrupy for my liking. Not sure if anyone has similar impressions with these cans?
As for the treble, I never found it bright, unless the amp or recording were overly bright. But depending on the amp, I felt my K7xx's treble could go from buttery smooth all the way to impactful, with much authority.
Ultimately though, it seems the mids are really where this AKG's strengths really shine. The mids seems very focused and forward to my ears, without congestion or hollowness I normally get with other mid-centic cans.
I haven't taken the time to do any critical comparisons, but I feel it necessary to say the K7xx are certainly worth their asking price, as well as being a very well balanced headphone, in terms of value and all-rounder-ness (made up words kick butt!). I don't know if I would ever described it as neutral like I keep seeing popping up... but rather, natural. The sound is organic, without being laid-back.
My only real concern is, of the half-a-dozen configurations (dacs, amps, etc) I tested the k7xx with, I just cannot find a pairing that beats it paired with my ipad. This cannot be right, right? I just cannot see any practicality with spending gobs of cash to try to find a TOTL setup to run these, just to best my iPad!
What I discovered this morning blew my mind when I sat down to watch my Sunday morning shows on Netflix. Not sure if the earpads finally broke-in, if the headphones "fully" burned in, or if trying out all my old cans changed my impressions of the K7xx... there was just some magic that I cannot explain. Until this morning, I was on the fence about selling these and passing them along to a new home... but just cannot see selling these with such synergy.
Before this morning, I wasn't too sure what all the fuss was about. I thought the K7xx was just FOTM. But I'm not so sure any more. I'm looking forward to retesting some dac and amp combos. It may be too early to tell.. but these cans could be the another HD650 or HD800 and just be pick as hell with source.
FOTM or not... I like these stealthy little things!
