[mrk]

Hmm I guess you're right, leaving as is!

 

[kleefurd]

 
Just got mine delivered about four days ago.

When new from box, the highs were killing me. So ran them through the burn in track for four straight days.

Now they sound fabulous through the TEAC HA-P50 amp that I have. Not too bad on my FiiO E17/E09k dock. On the TEAC it sounds beefier. The lows are tighter in my opinion.

They are thinner in the mids as compared to the DT1350 or Westone W40. But the K7XX is growing on me.

One thing for sure, they are indeed very very comfortable for long sessions of listening. Glad I managed to grab a pair through Massdrop. Very pleased with this value for money purchase. When factoring the cost of the K7XX, this is a 5/5 product. Nothing much to complain about. No rattling issues, everything working perfectly so far.

Listened to many genre of music on the K7XX and I like what I hear. A good overall performer. Nothing very special about these cans. They are just "workhorse" nice. It is like driving a Lexus. Gets the job done, but it does not get you excited (like driving a Mustang or a Ferrari) neither does it ooze luxury (like a Rolls Royce or Bentley. But once again, at the price it was sold, I cannot and will not complain.

 

[kid vic]

 
 
Just got mine delivered about four days ago.

When new from box, the highs were killing me. So ran them through the burn in track for four straight days.

Now they sound fabulous through the TEAC HA-P50 amp that I have. Not too bad on my FiiO E17/E09k dock. On the TEAC it sounds beefier. The lows are tighter in my opinion.

They are thinner in the mids as compared to the DT1350 or Westone W40. But the K7XX is growing on me.

One thing for sure, they are indeed very very comfortable for long sessions of listening. Glad I managed to grab a pair through Massdrop. Very pleased with this value for money purchase. When factoring the cost of the K7XX, this is a 5/5 product. Nothing much to complain about. No rattling issues, everything working perfectly so far.

Listened to many genre of music on the K7XX and I like what I hear. A good overall performer. Nothing very special about these cans. They are just "workhorse" nice. It is like driving a Lexus. Gets the job done, but it does not get you excited (like driving a Mustang or a Ferrari) neither does it ooze luxury (like a Rolls Royce or Bentley. But once again, at the price it was sold, I cannot and will not complain.

 
I agree, the treble is pretty wrenching straight out of the box but I find that out of my AKG stable these might be the most exciting pair. Using your car analogy these are like a Lotus, exciting by being just enough to get the job done while being luxurious enough to be forgiving. The only thing I don't like is how the lack deep bass, especially in comparison to the K612's. 

 

[Gloomy Moonie]

 
 
Just got mine delivered about four days ago.

When new from box, the highs were killing me. So ran them through the burn in track for four straight days.

Now they sound fabulous through the TEAC HA-P50 amp that I have. Not too bad on my FiiO E17/E09k dock. On the TEAC it sounds beefier. The lows are tighter in my opinion.

They are thinner in the mids as compared to the DT1350 or Westone W40. But the K7XX is growing on me.

One thing for sure, they are indeed very very comfortable for long sessions of listening. Glad I managed to grab a pair through Massdrop. Very pleased with this value for money purchase. When factoring the cost of the K7XX, this is a 5/5 product. Nothing much to complain about. No rattling issues, everything working perfectly so far.

Listened to many genre of music on the K7XX and I like what I hear. A good overall performer. Nothing very special about these cans. They are just "workhorse" nice. It is like driving a Lexus. Gets the job done, but it does not get you excited (like driving a Mustang or a Ferrari) neither does it ooze luxury (like a Rolls Royce or Bentley. But once again, at the price it was sold, I cannot and will not complain.

 
Could you elaborate on what tracks did you use for burn in?
 
And what do you guys think of Audio-gd NFB-15? NFB-11?

 

[kleefurd]

   
I agree, the treble is pretty wrenching straight out of the box but I find that out of my AKG stable these might be the most exciting pair. Using your car analogy these are like a Lotus, exciting by being just enough to get the job done while being luxurious enough to be forgiving. The only thing I don't like is how the lack deep bass, especially in comparison to the K612's. 

 
I listen to them like I would with bookshelf speakers. The bottom end is there, but not big.

 

[kleefurd]

   
Could you elaborate on what tracks did you use for burn in?
 
And what do you guys think of Audio-gd NFB-15? NFB-11?

Go to your local hi-fi store and check with them about burning in tracks. It is just different pulses and frequencies and blips, you can play back Aphex Twins, some of their tracks can be quite similar. ^_^

I have no experience with Audio-gd NFB-15 or 11 so I am of no help here.

 

[ZoNtO]

No reason to go anywhere when you can download/burn for free: http://www.jlabaudio.com/pages/audio-burn-in
 
(just one example)
 
Burn-in files are just frequency sweeps, pink and white noise, and silence usually.

 

[Oktyabr]

   
Could you elaborate on what tracks did you use for burn in?
 
And what do you guys think of Audio-gd NFB-15? NFB-11?

Most reviewers don't believe in any benefit to burning them in.  I am NOT one of those.  I suspect burn in is likely good for any electrical component, open backed headphones (and similarly, dipole loud speakers, for the same reasons) even more so.  A few years ago I bought a lightly used pair of AKG K701 as my first taste of open backed cans.  The guy I bought them from said he probably had around 100 hours on them.  I listened to them for a day or two and some of my favorite songs sounded too detailed and possibly too bright.  I literally plugged them into a source+amp, put them around the listening level I would normally enjoy and stuffed them in a mostly empty dresser drawer for a solid week (168 hours).  A very noticeable improvement on my test tracks.  Songs that had too much sibilance on my first listen were now decidedly much tamer and easier to listen to.  The rest of the frequencies seemed to blend better together as well, a smoother transition perhaps.  A year later, when I sold them (the bumps hurt my head), after hundreds of more hours, the K701 were the best sounding headphones I had heard to date.

I'm an old muscle car guy.  When you build an engine and fire it up for the first time how you run it is critical.  After it's first oil change or three, when you are truly ready to "break it in" one school of thought says "drive it nice".  I'm not from that school.  The way I break in engines is to drive it the way you will in day to day use.  If it's going to spend it's life on the drag strip then you break it in on the drag strip.

For me headphones are like that, especially open backed cans, possibly even more so when it comes to the AKG seven series.  Some will say pink noise is what you should use.  You can actually buy CDs of tracks "designed" for headphone burn in.  My opinion?  Put on what you listen to, put it on shuffle and repeat, set the volume where you would normally listen.  Burn them in.  Just my US$0.02 worth.

 

[cdma2k]

 

Most reviewers don't believe in any benefit to burning them in.  I am NOT one of those.  I suspect burn in is likely good for any electrical component, open backed headphones (and similarly, dipole loud speakers, for the same reasons) even more so. 

It is about the magnetization of the driver.

 

[plakat]

  It is about the magnetization of the driver.

Hm, no.

 

[Oktyabr]

  It is about the magnetization of the driver.

That's possibly part of the equation, for sure.  Electrostatics don't actually have magnets but may still benefit from a break in period, for example.  It also has to do with mechanical energies in things that move.  Brand new, from the factory, anything that moves is going to have very different characteristics than the same device after it's had a good deal of use.  In the case of headphones closed cans are subject to a semi-sealed bass reflex condition, like a speaker built into a box...  The energy from the back of the diaphragm helps "spring" the driver back into it's neutral position.  Open backed headphones loose some of this characteristic by design and may take much longer to exhibit the same sort of 'break in' in the driver and diaphragm itself.  

 

[kleefurd]

 

Most reviewers don't believe in any benefit to burning them in.  I am NOT one of those.  I suspect burn in is likely good for any electrical component, open backed headphones (and similarly, dipole loud speakers, for the same reasons) even more so.  A few years ago I bought a lightly used pair of AKG K701 as my first taste of open backed cans.  The guy I bought them from said he probably had around 100 hours on them.  I listened to them for a day or two and some of my favorite songs sounded too detailed and possibly too bright.  I literally plugged them into a source+amp, put them around the listening level I would normally enjoy and stuffed them in a mostly empty dresser drawer for a solid week (168 hours).  A very noticeable improvement on my test tracks.  Songs that had too much sibilance on my first listen were now decidedly much tamer and easier to listen to.  The rest of the frequencies seemed to blend better together as well, a smoother transition perhaps.  A year later, when I sold them (the bumps hurt my head), after hundreds of more hours, the K701 were the best sounding headphones I had heard to date.

I'm an old muscle car guy.  When you build an engine and fire it up for the first time how you run it is critical.  After it's first oil change or three, when you are truly ready to "break it in" one school of thought says "drive it nice".  I'm not from that school.  The way I break in engines is to drive it the way you will in day to day use.  If it's going to spend it's life on the drag strip then you break it in on the drag strip.

For me headphones are like that, especially open backed cans, possibly even more so when it comes to the AKG seven series.  Some will say pink noise is what you should use.  You can actually buy CDs of tracks "designed" for headphone burn in.  My opinion?  Put on what you listen to, put it on shuffle and repeat, set the volume where you would normally listen.  Burn them in.  Just my US$0.02 worth.

I have to agree with the "break in according to what works for you". There is no one way being the right way. More importantly, if you tried something and it works, that is your way.

 

[cdma2k]

  That's possibly part of the equation, for sure.  Electrostatics don't actually have magnets but may still benefit from a break in period, for example.  It also has to do with mechanical energies in things that move.  Brand new, from the factory, anything that moves is going to have very different characteristics than the same device after it's had a good deal of use.  In the case of headphones closed cans are subject to a semi-sealed bass reflex condition, like a speaker built into a box...  The energy from the back of the diaphragm helps "spring" the driver back into it's neutral position.  Open backed headphones loose some of this characteristic by design and may take much longer to exhibit the same sort of 'break in' in the driver and diaphragm itself.  

the diaphragm driver is magnet, the paramagnetism/ferromagnetism is further reinforced by magnetic field induced by the current pass thru.

 

[Liu Junyuan]

Just got mine delivered about four days ago.


When new from box, the highs were killing me. So ran them through the burn in track for four straight days.


Now they sound fabulous through the TEAC HA-P50 amp that I have. Not too bad on my FiiO E17/E09k dock. On the TEAC it sounds beefier. The lows are tighter in my opinion.


They are thinner in the mids as compared to the DT1350 or Westone W40. But the K7XX is growing on me.


One thing for sure, they are indeed very very comfortable for long sessions of listening. Glad I managed to grab a pair through Massdrop. Very pleased with this value for money purchase. When factoring the cost of the K7XX, this is a 5/5 product. Nothing much to complain about. No rattling issues, everything working perfectly so far.


Listened to many genre of music on the K7XX and I like what I hear. A good overall performer. Nothing very special about these cans. They are just "workhorse" nice. It is like driving a Lexus. Gets the job done, but it does not get you excited (like driving a Mustang or a Ferrari) neither does it ooze luxury (like a Rolls Royce or Bentley. But once again, at the price it was sold, I cannot and will not complain.

I do not agree with all of your impressions (but that is okay). These are exciting for their soundstage and their ability to analyze sounds in detail (instrument separation), while offering an overall balanced signature than that of the other AKGs in the K7 lineup (though I still love my Q701s for their airier signature and their even more expansive soundstage). When complementing other headphones, such as my HD-650s or HE-500s, these are special to me indeed. I have nott listened to my other headphones at all since they arrived. IMO of course

 

[santacruise]

  Hello santacruise, I'm an Italian guy and I was the 95th participant in the drop; Massdrop recently did communicate me, by email, that my AKG K7XX has shipped and should be arriving soon.
Contextually, they explained  me the reason of the lack of a tracking number; I do the copy-paste:" In order to keep international shipping costs low, the UPS-MI service does not offer tracking updates for packages sent outside of the USA. We are looking into other cost effective methods to ship internationally and plan to offer more options in the future."
I hope this information will contribute to make less heavy your waiting. Happy new year!

Thank you for your info.
I still haven't received any info from massdrop what so ever. 

Happy new year to you.