[elee703]

I have a plethora of headphones (to date, I own around 18 or so ranging from the porta pros all the way up to the auteurs). I have kept most headphones that i've purchased bc I enjoy variety, financially i can afford it, and even if it isn't a sound that I particularly enjoy i usually am able to find a genre or even a list of songs i can enjoy with them . I am very much a person who tends not to return things but I have had a few headphones that I just couldn't get into

The 2 headphones I just couldn't stand were the Dan Clark Audio Aeon RT Closed and the AKG K372. I was really disappointed in the DCA because they might've been the most boring headphones I've ever heard, especially for a planar. I usually LOVE the planar. There is nothing necessarily that I could identify that the DCA did bad. It just made music actively more boring to me.

The AKG K372 had various issues mainly being fit (it has horrible QC and the fit is cool if you have a rectangular shaped head). But the sound was incredibly hollow (even though it fit the harmon curve pretty true....even though that's not my preferred sound).

What are yours and why?

 

[Redcarmoose]

Years ago I purchased the AKG k701. It is actually the very reason I’m here. I was researching it right before purchase and I saw Head-Fi. So.....to try and make a long story short, I purchased it and had a love hate relationship with it. So much so that in 2009 I purchased my 2nd pair as a back-up. The first pair was purchased in 2006, along with the wrong amp for it, a Woo Audio 3.

I could actually not done any worse if I tried. I knew nothing and only hooked up headphones to receivers and random tube amp before with better results. The Woo could not even start to drive it. So I was left with a tube amp I could not use, but a headphone that kind of worked out with other amps I had. Finally in 2009 I purchased the WA 5LE to try and truly hear what the k701 was. I used it almost exclusively for a year. Still I was missing bass.

All and all it lead me to other sound signatures that I would not have found out about? I probably would not like the Noble Audio K-10 Encore IEM, if it wasn’t for the k701. Even upon first reading the review of the Encore, he was in a rough way describing the wild mid peak of the k701, as well as the diminished bass effect. The airiness of the Encore and k701 are the same, but the Encore is an improvement. So the slight warmth (everywhere) of the Encore made the k701 a steppingstone really?

 

[Reputator]

Years ago I purchased the AKG k701. It is actually the very reason I’m here. I was researching it right before purchase and I saw Head-Fi. So.....to try and make a long story short, I purchased it and had a love hate relationship with it. So much so that in 2009 I purchased my 2nd pair as a back-up. The first pair was purchased in 2006, along with the wrong amp for it, a Woo Audio 3.

I could actually not done any worse if I tried. I knew nothing and only hooked up headphones to receivers and random tube amp before with better results. The Woo could not even start to drive it. So I was left with a tube amp I could not use, but a headphone that kind of worked out with other amps I had. Finally in 2009 I purchased the WA 5LE to try and truly hear what the k701 was. I used it almost exclusively for a year. Still I was missing bass.

All and all it lead me to other sound signatures that I would not have found out about? I probably would not like the Noble Audio K-10 Encore IEM, if it wasn’t for the k701. Even upon first reading the review of the Encore, he was in a rough way describing the wild mid peak of the k701, as well as the diminished bass effect. The airiness of the Encore and k701 are the same, but the Encore is an improvement. So the slight warmth (everywhere) of the Encore made the k701 a steppingstone really?

Sort of the same for me. I got the revision of that, the K702, thinking I might not like it but that its different sound signature from other headphones I had would give it a unique take on music. Even with different amps I just found there really wasn't any music I liked on them. They were seemingly lacking the complete picture of the music in a very unsatisfying way.

I think by that point I decided I wouldn't buy any headphone I had to "fix" either with EQ or a bass boost toggle or mods. If I'm spending decent money they better just sound good on their own.

 

[SilverEars]

Most of them I got rid of right away:

Ditto with DCA with the original Aeons (the new one that looks like Aeon 3 is $4k? I dunno. lol), ZMF Auteur (No more ZMFs thank you), AKG K712 Pro, TH900, Sony Z7, Audioquest Night something, pretty much all Beyers except DT770, HE560, ATH-MSR7 (too much treble), 1AM2, ATH M40X, ATH-AWKT, AirPods Max, Shure Aonic 50, verum one, Meze 99, Audeze Mobius, there's probably a lot more

 

[Redcarmoose]

Sort of the same for me. I got the revision of that, the K702, thinking I might not like it but that its different sound signature from other headphones I had would give it a unique take on music. Even with different amps I just found there really wasn't any music I liked on them. They were seemingly lacking the complete picture of the music in a very unsatisfying way.

I think by that point I decided I wouldn't buy any headphone I had to "fix" either with EQ or a bass boost toggle or mods. If I'm spending decent money they better just sound good on their own.

I was finally able to demo the k702 in Japan of all places. And while it seemed on paper to be an improvement, still to me and with the demo front end, there still WAS something missing? So....I respect people that like or love them, but for my music (the k701) don’t really work. Though on a side note, they are totally wonderful for movies and dialogue! So that’s how they get used nowadays.

Yes, no EQ used here at all, too. Everything is the way the source/amp makes them sound.

 

[Reputator]

I was finally able to demo the k702 in Japan of all places. And while it seemed on paper to be an improvement, still to me and with the demo front end, there still WAS something missing? So....I respect people that like or love them, but for my music (the k701) don’t really work. Though on a side note, they are totally wonderful for movies and dialogue! So that’s how they get used nowadays.

Yes, no EQ used here at all, too. Everything is the way the source/amp makes them sound.

I don't think K702 changed the sound at all. They just improved the headstrap and made the cable removable.

 

[Redcarmoose]

I don't think K702 changed the sound at all. They just improved the headstrap and made the cable removable.

Oh. OK. Maybe I’m thinking of another model, that I tried?

 

[Reputator]

Oh. OK. Maybe I’m thinking of another model, that I tried?

Q701 maybe?

 

[Redcarmoose]

Q701 maybe?

Yes, probably.

But still I learned a lot from the k701 and I would never discredit the importance of it in my life. It was a learning experience and helped pave the way to understanding new signatures that I would never have tried. The k701 was close in a way, close but so far.

 

[Redcarmoose]

But the other main thing was the k701 showed me what was possible with damping. Meaning I feel there are all kinds of models of headphones that are put with the wrong amp. Very few amps in my experience are able to faithfully drive the k701. I knew nothing about such phenomenon before? So that was another learning experience. In fact at one place I had a $2300 (now like $3200) amp which was getting the damping right, and still there was only a few CDs that sounded right with the k701. It played and still plays guitar (guitar only) and vocals (maybe vocals and guitar) really really well! Just not the best for rock? It also had an ability to do electronic music well, not EDM but that artistic electronic music from the 1970s.

 

[elee703]

Most of them I got rid of right away:

Ditto with DCA with the original Aeons (the new one that looks like Aeon 3 is $4k? I dunno. lol), ZMF Auteur (No more ZMFs thank you), AKG K712 Pro, TH900, Sony Z7, Audioquest Night something, pretty much all Beyers except DT770, HE560, ATH-MSR7 (too much treble), 1AM2, ATH M40X, ATH-AWKT, AirPods Max, Shure Aonic 50, verum one, Meze 99, Audeze Mobius, there's probably a lot more

What do you normally listen with?

 

[FYFL]

K701 by a mile. Never warmed up to it. Actually still got them somewhere. They were personal pair of Vinny Rossi that I brought after one of my visits to his shop. So there is some sentimental value. Doesn't hurt that Vinny was (is) a pretty cool and chilled guy. Otherwise they would have got tossed in a trash long time ago.

 

[Reputator]

But the other main thing was the k701 showed me what was possible with damping. Meaning I feel there are all kinds of models of headphones that are put with the wrong amp. Very few amps in my experience are able to faithfully drive the k701. I knew nothing about such phenomenon before? So that was another learning experience. In fact at one place I had a $2300 (now like $3200) amp which was getting the damping right, and still there was only a few CDs that sounded right with the k701. It played and still plays guitar (guitar only) and vocals (maybe vocals and guitar) really really well! Just not the best for rock? It also had an ability to do electronic music well, not EDM but that artistic electronic music from the 1970s.

Another word for what you describe is synergy. You're right, the K701/2 exemplifies that problem perfectly.

 

[cwoo]

K701, DT-880, Elegia, and the RS1i.

The RS1i was the headphone I always wanted as a kid. When I finally got it, I really did appreciate what it was good at, but for the price, and with today's headphones, it just can't keep up.

The K701 and the DT-880 were probably some of my least favorites. I absolutely can not get into their sound signatures.

The Elegia seemed pretty exciting when I first got them, but they really are kinda fatiguing and they do not EQ well or respond well to changes in your source devices. I was hoping to get a bit more bass out of them. Ended up returning them during the 30 day return period.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Another word for what you describe is synergy. You're right, the K701/2 exemplifies that problem perfectly.

K701 by a mile. Never warmed up to it. Actually still got them somewhere. They were personal pair of Vinny Rossi that I brought after one of my visits to his shop. So there is some sentimental value. Doesn't hurt that Vinny was (is) a pretty cool and chilled guy. Otherwise they would have got tossed in a trash long time ago.

Still as a phenomenon it’s interesting. The k701 when it was introduced was something of trend. In fact my first visit to Head-Fi showed of all people; Tyll Hertsens with a pair of k701s on his head smiling? That was my first page I ever saw with a Google search for the k701. It was a Head-Fi meet. And there he was, I was like, wait they have a forum for headphones and they actually will meet up and socialize, and listen to them? Wow, these people are really into it. Little did I know that I would become one of them?

But after the K1000 it was like a trend to make that sound. And who is too say it’s totally wrong, I mean we now still have folks who like them. I’m just not one. Even the HD800 came close to the k701 sound to my ears, but I never owned a pair of HD800s, so this is just speculation. But others now (in hindsight) being that we are in the future, will lump the two together as having that late 2000 sound. With the k701 coming out in 2006 and the HD800 coming out in 2009.