[Rhamnetin]

So, upon plugging these in for the first time with no burn in or anything, I already like what I'm hearing.  That's all I'll say before burning it in though.

 

[shuto77]

So, upon plugging these in for the first time with no burn in or anything, I already like what I'm hearing.  That's all I'll say before burning it in though.

Enjoy! I'll be surprised if you prefer your DT880s after these burn in.

 

[Rhamnetin]

I'm expecting the K7xx to be more transparent, and transparency is one of my most valued aspects of a headphone.  I have to say, the DT 880 does crush the K7xx as far as external build quality goes, but then again it crushes plenty of $1000+ headphones in the same way.

 

[shuto77]

I'm expecting the K7xx to be more transparent, and transparency is one of my most valued aspects of a headphone.  I have to say, the DT 880 does crush the K7xx as far as external build quality goes, but then again it crushes plenty of $1000+ headphones in the same way.

I'll grant you that on the build quality. That's my main gripe with them.

Give them--and your brain-- a chance to acclimate.

What source, amp, and music are you playing?

 

[jnunz]

I came home to a MASSive  surprise today !!
 
My K7XX are here !!!!!!!!!
 
Just plugged them in and starting with some lossless Judas Priest - "Hell is Home" off of Demolition. Ripper sounds very clear, much like the AD900X in that regard. The bass is a little stronger and feels a little closer to my ears, which is a huge positive for me (was one of my only complaints with the AD900X).
 
I'm running these with no amp and my Xonar DX as a DAC. The volume difference is extremely noticeable -- I had to turn my windows volume up to 44% and Windows Media Player volume to about 75%. With the AD900X, I had windows volume at ~30% and Windows Media Player ~20%, so that's a huge difference in volume. This is obviously because of the lack of an amp .. but that will be fixed shortly
 
Bass sounds so ******* crisp and gorgeous with these cans. My lorddddddddddddddd I'm in love.
 
Also, the build and overall looks of the headphones are dropdead gorgeous. They look really, really good. Also very comfortable without needing any silly mods like the AD900X rubberband mod.
 
EDIT:
 
Bass is WAY stronger than the AD900X. The beginning to Machine Man has a great bassy beginning and the K7XX nailed it with ease, while my AD900X struggled.
 
I'm actually extremely excited to pair these cans with an amp and see how much further they can go.

 

[Rhamnetin]

I'll grant you that on the build quality. That's my main gripe with them.

Give them--and your brain-- a chance to acclimate.

What source, amp, and music are you playing?

 
I'm using an upgraded Maverick Audio Tubemagic D1 as my DAC and amp.  Don't let the name fool you though, the headphone amp and DAC are 100% solid state.  From what I understand the amp outputs 1W into 32 Ohm.  I will most likely get a Parasound ZDac v.2 in December, unless I find a sweet deal on something better.
 
I was playing various classical albums through it before, without actually listening most of the time.  I just had the headphone propped up on its stand playing music to burn in.

 
Quote:

  I came home to a MASSive  surprise today !!
 
My K7XX are here !!!!!!!!!
 
Just plugged them in and starting with some lossless Judas Priest - "Hell is Home" off of Demolition. Ripper sounds very clear, much like the AD900X in that regard. The bass is a little stronger and feels a little closer to my ears, which is a huge positive for me (was one of my only complaints with the AD900X).
 
I'm running these with no amp and my Xonar DX as a DAC. The volume difference is extremely noticeable -- I had to turn my windows volume up to 44% and Windows Media Player volume to about 75%. With the AD900X, I had windows volume at ~30% and Windows Media Player ~20%, so that's a huge difference in volume. This is obviously because of the lack of an amp .. but that will be fixed shortly
 
Bass sounds so ******* crisp and gorgeous with these cans. My lorddddddddddddddd I'm in love.
 
Also, the build and overall looks of the headphones are dropdead gorgeous. They look really, really good. Also very comfortable without needing any silly mods like the AD900X rubberband mod.
 
EDIT:
 
Bass is WAY stronger than the AD900X. The beginning to Machine Man has a great bassy beginning and the K7XX nailed it with ease, while my AD900X struggled.
 
I'm actually extremely excited to pair these cans with an amp and see how much further they can go.

 
Yeah the K7xx is even more comfortable than my DT 880, which itself is very comfortable.  I'm loving the memory foam pads, although DT 880 velour is slightly softer not that it really matters in this case.  I'm surprised the K7xx bass sounds much more crisp than your AD900X bass; I know right out of the box, bass often doesn't sound as crisp as after burn-in with new headphones, and then the lack of an amp which the K7xx really needs unlike the AD900X.
 
I had the closed version of the AD900X before, the A900X.  Even that was noticeably more bass light than both the DT 880 and K7xx.  I can't speak for quality yet, although as far as bass crispness and tightness goes the A900X and DT 880 were about equal, with the DT 880 having much better extension and more bass presence/forwardness.  I'm expecting even more bass presence with the K7xx, and extension close to the DT 880.
 
The K7xx supposedly benefits a lot from higher end amplifiers.  I'm sure mine doesn't do it justice.  If I get the ZDac v.2 it will be interesting to see how much it improves.
 
- EDIT: Using the bass and treble tests listed here:
 
http://www.audiocheck.net/soundtests_headphones.php
 
The K7xx seems slightly less extended than the DT 880, but the differences are negligible.  For bass, I can hear the DT 880 kick in right at the 20 Hz mark, and the K7xx closer to 30 Hz.  For treble, both are right around the 19 KHz mark although the K7xx slightly less.  Not that hearing 19 KHz is super important.

 

[mrk]

Anyone who has used these with the inner foam donut rings removed, noticed any difference? The outer cap foam pieces still installed of course.
 
I'm dicing between them on and off and it's very hard to notice the difference, but if my ears are not deceiving me, the donuts off = slightly more well defined higher details? I can't comment on bass difference as I'm port modded, so bass is still excellent.
 
A good song to observe this right at the very start: Hugh Laurie - The St. Louis Blues

 

[c61746961]

I wanted a share a mod that I am very happy with; grabbing inspiration from the latest HD800 modding efforts, I tried applying the usual ring mod but using a PVC foam mesh instead of felt.
To my ears the treble was smoothed, imaging improved and pushed forward; less 'hollowness' and diffuse center imaging, perhaps less width but better depth. Bass less boomy.
The mod is very easy to apply and is completely reversible, just use the stock foam circles that sit behind the pads as a cut-out template for the mat. The pads are easily removed by twisting counter-clockwise.

This is how it looks like:


Aditionally I put a 1mm thick hard felt ring behind to further tame the treble, this is optional.

The material came from a non-slip shower mat that I grabbed at my local supermarket, they are usually packaged like this:


The checkered pattern non-slip mats might work as well, haven't tried.

 

[Rhamnetin]

I'm too scared to mod any headphone, as easy as some of these mods look.
 
I have to say, the K7xx's sound stage is substantially bigger than that of the DT 880 Pro, primarily in depth and height.  It just sounds more open and three dimensional, and imaging is better too.  Even if I end up preferring my DT 880 for music, I'm keeping the K7xx for gaming, at least until I get the Stax SR-L700 in a few months... and even then I may end up keeping the K7xx just for games.
 
It has less clamp than the DT 880 Pro, seems to weigh less, and once it's on your head it weighs basically nothing due to the suspension headband.  No comfort complaints here, to say the least.

 

[c61746961]

I'm too scared to mod any headphone, as easy as some of these mods look.

Unless you are impaired in some way, there's virtually no risk to the ring mods, they boil down to removing the earpads and putting them back, which you will have to do once they wear down anyway.

 

[Rhamnetin]

Yeah, knowing my luck though I'll make it sound like crap.  Still, mods like that are worth trying since it looks very easy to reverse.  Thanks for sharing.

 

[shuto77]

I wanted a share a mod that I am very happy with; grabbing inspiration from the latest HD800 modding efforts, I tried applying the usual ring mod but using a PVC foam mesh instead of felt.
To my ears the treble was smoothed, imaging improved and pushed forward; less 'hollowness' and diffuse center imaging, perhaps less width but better depth. Bass less boomy.
The mod is very easy to apply and is completely reversible, just use the stock foam circles that sit behind the pads as a cut-out template for the mat. The pads are easily removed by twisting counter-clockwise.

This is how it looks like:


Aditionally I put a 1mm thick hard felt ring behind to further tame the treble, this is optional.

The material came from a non-slip shower mat that I grabbed at my local supermarket, they are usually packaged like this:


The checkered pattern non-slip mats might work as well, haven't tried.

Most of us rather enjoy the treble on these. May I ask what your primary complaint about it is?

My other can is a Philips Fidelio X2, so I'd only want to do a mod if it made the AKGs sound less like the Philips.

 

[shuto77]

I'm too scared to mod any headphone, as easy as some of these mods look.

I have to say, the K7xx's sound stage is substantially bigger than that of the DT 880 Pro, primarily in depth and height.  It just sounds more open and three dimensional, and imaging is better too.  Even if I end up preferring my DT 880 for music, I'm keeping the K7xx for gaming, at least until I get the Stax SR-L700 in a few months... and even then I may end up keeping the K7xx just for games.

It has less clamp than the DT 880 Pro, seems to weigh less, and once it's on your head it weighs basically nothing due to the suspension headband.  No comfort complaints here, to say the least.

I planned on selling these so I can try out more gear, but they're so comfortable, so good with gaming, and so sweet with orchestral music, that I'm finding it hard to part with them.

 

[c61746961]

Most of us rather enjoy the treble on these. May I ask what your primary complaint about it is?

Surely. The treble, while not sibilant, is kinda hot and peaky and I'm very sensitive to that kind of problem, makes some stuff like cymbals pop above all and my ears get fatigued after a while. Also, the bass is slightly boomy and somewhat ill-defined compared to other pairs including my modded $15 TH-02 (yep, for real). The upper midrange has a dip which in combination to the slightly boomy bass makes stuff sound 'hollow', and the soundstage, whilst spacious, is somewhat fuzzy on the midrange with a weak center image. I have to say that the felt rings mod alone didn't fix many of these issues for me, while the PVC foam did a much better job at it. Many of these issues kept me from enjoying the K7XX over my modded T50RP which is a bit more linear, but that trend has changed with this mod. The K7XX is quite resolving, dynamic and clean, but I feel it's held-back by some unadressed issues inside that huge ear-side chamber. There is some evidence of this on this K701 modification guide and analysis, spoiler: this guy gets the K701 FR almost as smooth as an HD650, if the driver was the culprit, this wouldn't be possible.

 

[Liu Junyuan]

Surely. The treble, while not sibilant, is kinda hot and peaky and I'm very sensitive to that kind of problem, makes some stuff like cymbals pop above all and my ears get fatigued after a while. Also, the bass is slightly boomy and somewhat ill-defined compared to other pairs including my modded $15 TH-02 (yep, for real). The upper midrange has a dip which in combination to the slightly boomy bass makes stuff sound 'hollow', and the soundstage, whilst spacious, is somewhat fuzzy on the midrange with a weak center image. I have to say that the felt rings mod alone didn't fix many of these issues for me, while the PVC foam did a much better job at it. Many of these issues kept me from enjoying the K7XX over my modded T50RP which is a bit more linear, but that trend has changed with this mod. The K7XX is quite resolving, dynamic and clean, but I feel it's held-back by some unadressed issues inside that huge ear-side chamber. There is some evidence of this on this K701 modification guide and analysis, spoiler: this guy gets the K701 FR almost as smooth as an HD650, if the driver was the culprit, this wouldn't be possible.

I know what you mean. If at all possible, try to pair these with a hybrid tube amp. When I owned the Lyr, the K7XX was sounding absolutely superb. The Gustard H10 is also great with it, but I have to admit the Lyr was almost magical. I am guessing the Project Ember would offer another solution. With the O2 amp, on the other hand, I did not care for the K7XX much at all. For some reason, the Q701 of the AKG line was much better for me out of the O2.