[DefectiveAudioComponent]

At the headphone store, they only had a brand new AGK701.
From the test CD, the sound appeared to be very detailed, but also awfully bright. Is that the case also from a well-burned-in 701?

 

[Golden Monkey]

You'll find the same thing with the Senn HD650's as well...yes, massive amounts of burn-in are required before they actually have some bass. At first, detailed like crazy, but a very brittle sound. The 701's are a good can, no doubt, but one of the knocks on them is some people feel they are light on the bass regardless of burn-in. Recabling them is a good idea. Ori (Oritek Audio) offers some 701's he's recabled, and they sound great!

 

[Carmantom]

I remember I burned and burned, and although they were delightfully revealing, they were too bright for me. Always seemed a little weak in the bass. I painfully parted with them because they did so many things right.

 

[sikki-six]

K701s have a bright sound, there's no two ways about it. Actually because of this, they are very revealing when mixing or mastering music - they reveal basically everything - except the lowest of lows... The burn-in seems to do wonders though, you should keep at it.

 

[Rednamalas1]

couple them with good tube amp

after burn in.

For me, I'm not sensitive to sibilance at all ( I find my 325is have edgy highs, but not bothersome enough - I actually like it quite a bit) and I love bright cans

 

[xFih2]

When I first listened to my K701s they actually hurt my ears at some points, quite bright. After burn in the same songs that hurt my ears are fine now. Burn in will help tone down the brightness quite a bit IME.

 

[Happy Camper]

Feed them pink noise a couple weeks in the sock drawer or sofa. It won't change them into something they aren't, but they will sound fuller than when new. They have the impact of an electrostat (which isn't much).

 

[fdhfdy]

yes it isn't not a bassy can, it would be more balanced after few weeks burn-in.Probally tube amp would bring some warm feeling to it. good luck

 

[alitomr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golden Monkey /img/forum/go_quote.gif You'll find the same thing with the Senn HD650's as well...yes, massive amounts of burn-in are required before they actually have some bass.

What!!? I came to read this thread and let know the OP that the HD650 is extremely bassy even muddy out of the box. I have seen that a lot of it has to do with low quality recordings and obvious amplificaton flaws but it is still a very dark headphone.

On another note, there was a thread with several pink noise files that were very useful when ibought my HD555s. Does anyone have a bookmark? because i cant find them.

 

[nikongod]

there are a couple places to download noise tracks, but i cant think of them at the moment.

You can create whatever color of noise you want with audacity. Fun&absurd sweeps too. Applying the warble filter to noise is cool. layering noise over the 1/3 octave stepped tones, also good.

Playing the "music between the stations" (static noise) on an fm radio also works well.

 

[rapier84]

Give em time to loosen up, they'll sound real sweet.... But they need a couple of hundred hours to really shine

 

[Golden Monkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alitomr /img/forum/go_quote.gif What!!? I came to read this thread and let know the OP that the HD650 is extremely bassy even muddy out of the box. I have seen that a lot of it has to do with low quality recordings and obvious amplificaton flaws but it is still a very dark headphone. On another note, there was a thread with several pink noise files that were very useful when ibought my HD555s. Does anyone have a bookmark? because i cant find them.

I'm not following you...what do you mean? I was just saying that my brand spanking new HD650's sounded bright and brittle out of the box. Playing them for less than six hours relieved that immensely as the drivers loosened up. I'm not saying the 701's and the 650's are similar in any other regard.

For a good tone generator, take your pick: LINK

 

[MD1032]

If you think the K701 is too bright now, you will feel mostly the same way three months from now. I would try a different headphone altogether. For people like you and me, the K701's are just not our headphone. I actually prefer the HD650's by a significant margin. They also reveal a lot of detail, but they're fuller-sounding as well.

 

[Rednamalas1]

^ precisely.

Burn-in is not going to make a bright headphone into a bass monster. effect of burn-in is sometimes over-emphasized.

IF you don't like K701's brighter presentation, you might need to look at different headphones

 

[lucky]

Yup; they start bright, and that doesn't change after hundreds of hours. If you like the brightness, it's great. If you don't, new phones are in order.