New appreciation for the "new" AKG sound.

[granodemostasa]

I had suspected this for quite a while, but I've only been able to say it a few times. At the Los Angeles Meet, after I had heard everything I wanted to hear, I picked up Headroom's K701 and tried to find the perfect SE amp for it. the idea was that eventually I'd find the perfect synergy, and I did. No, it wasn't some maxed SP amp or that lovely ZD, or even the powerful blockhead... but, a humble DIY dynahi that really brought it up to life.

fast forward about a year... Over this summer i've been blessed by the opportunity to baby sit Humanflyz's GS-X. It really did some amazing things to the HD650 (fully balanced of course, with Daba's Benchmarck Dac-1). And that is when the thought hit me. I called Kitaoji, and she graciously let me borrow the K701. Now, i've hated this can for quite some time, I've called it dead, dry, analytical, unexciting and so forth, but this was totally different. Several people have told me the Zana Deux is as good as the K701 gets, but i'm now sure it isn't. While with the Zana Deux the K701 expresses a bit of dryness and musical-yawning, it comes to life on the GS-X. The difference isn't even close, the HD650 is the one that sounds a little dry and un-musical on the GS-X in comparison to the K701.

What i'm hearing is certainly new. The soundstage expresses a "completeness" that I haven't heard from the HD650, and the bass is actually warm and well textured..... while i can't claim it's better than the K1000, it certainly does things the K1000 could only wish doing.

[humanflyz]

Dude are you kidding me, the K701s aren't even in the same league as the K1000s; it ain't even the same fucking sport, and this is coming from me who used to really like the K701s.

The only real thing that the K701s have over the K1000s is bass extension. I'm really hard-pressed to find any other area in which they are better.

[humanflyz]

Oh yeah, heard the K701s on the dynamight balanced; probably the best I've heard it, but still not up there in the TOTL level.

[Nanoha]

I loved the K701 but still firmly believe it to be a third tier headphone at its best (rests dead in the fourth tier territory with most amps). The best I've personally heard it was with a Luna and while it was quite wonderful, it pales in comparison with what the K1000 can do. The K701 may be a jack of all trades, but it doesn't have anything special or awe-inspiring in my opinion.

[aerius]

Clearly, Head-case members are being taken over by the alien pod people.

[postjack]

Clearly, Head-case members are being taken over by the alien pod people.

Sure. I only like it here because everyone likes the same gear I do. I fear different tastes and opinions. All this appreciation for new gear has me suspicious.

If it wasn't made in the early 90s or earlier, or if it wasn't a piece of gear greatly misunderstood and underappreciated while it was in production. its got NO place at head-case, IMO. Unless it is a source with an MSRP > $4,000, of course.

[granodemostasa]

what, no K701 love here?

[n_maher]

I had a balanced pair for about a month (maybe a bit longer) and I can see why some people would like them, they sounded pretty good until I put my 650s back on (also balanced at the time). To me they reminded me quite a bit of the K501s that I had early in my journey, sort of like full sized Etymotics. Being slightly thin is something that I can forgive with IEMs since most of the time (for me) they're not used for super critical listening, but when I sit down at the big rig with big cans I expect more than the 701s could offer.

[JBLoudG20]

I happen to be pretty fond of mine out of my SOHA. I do think they need tubes to shine though, and the SOHA is known for a deep tube sound.

[DigiPete]

I've always thought the K701s sound better than the 650s, at least on my setup.

But I understand people have different preferences, and different rigs give different results.

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

what, no K701 love here?

None here.

Biggie.

[postjack]

None here.

Biggie.

lol

[Ben Gramain]

It didn't occur to any of you to move them around a bit?

[n_maher]

It didn't occur to any of you to move them around a bit?

On the advice of another experienced K701 user I did play around quite a bit with position/fit. This was actually another one of my major gripes with them, the sound could be changed significantly by relatively small changes in position. And find the right spot was fussy business whereas my HD650s just get put on and stay there.