K701 insanity spreading over at head-fi

[guzziguy]

It couldn't possibly be a matter of people's brains getting used to a new sound.

No-sir-bob. That's just crazy talk.

Heresy! Heresy! Get the stake and wood. Hmm, that would make an interesting emoticon too.

[aerius]

For the most part, an apt description but the right amp can make them sound like an entirely different set of cans. A change for the better IMHO.

Someone needs to tell me what these miracle amps are, I've yet to hear the K701 sound decent on anything I've heard to date.

[guzziguy]

Someone needs to tell me what these miracle amps are, I've yet to hear the K701 sound decent on anything I've heard to date.

As I said in an earlier post in this thread, Voltron's SDS-XLR qualifies. The K701 was recabled and balanced though, so maybe that's not fair.

[morphsci]

Someone needs to tell me what these miracle amps are, I've yet to hear the K701 sound decent on anything I've heard to date.

Well I certainly like my 701's out of a Headamp GS-X. I agree that amps make a difference, but to me the biggest improvement comes from doing a dual entry recable (I don't even care what cable you use ... Oh no heresy ). I think the engineering genius who thought up the single entry system on the 701 should be forced to listen to a stock 701 out of an ipod shuffle until their internal auditory meatus falls into the nether regions of their arsehole. After the dual entry recable, balancing helps to deliver more power which certainly helps. Of course that raises the real price of the K701 to a somewhat higher level . Almost everyone at the Chicago meets have been favorably impressed with the balanced 701's out of the GS-X, including a few who sold their stock 701's because they couldn't stand them. I guess it's not really rocket science, do what you can to get a clean, powerful signal to those drivers.

Oh and I think headphone burn-in is partially the drivers burning in as well as the owner acclimating to the sound. Sometimes the acclimation never comes (Can you say U-l-t-r-a-s-o-n-e? I thought you could, but that is another thread entirely )

[Pars]

I listened to Morphsci's K-701s at a Chicago meet and they did sound good from his GS-X. They were still reminiscent of my K-601s from my Gilmore V2 DIY, just more fleshed out.

For the record, I have never owned Senn HD600s or HD650s and have only listened to them at meets, but I have heard them balanced via a Dynamight and SE via KGs Dynahi, and I would have to say I don't care for them. I know, heresy...

VILLAGER #1:

We have found a witch. May we burn her?

BEDEVERE:

So, why do witches burn?

[pause]

VILLAGER #3:

B--... 'cause they're made of... wood?

BEDEVERE:

Good! Heh heh.

So, how do we tell whether she is made of wood?

BEDEVERE:

Does wood sink in water?

VILLAGER #1:

No. No.

VILLAGER #2:

No, it floats! It floats!

BEDEVERE:

What also floats in water?

ARTHUR:

A duck!

CROWD:

Oooh.

BEDEVERE:

Exactly. So, logically...

VILLAGER #1:

If... she... weighs... the same as a duck,... she's made of wood.

BEDEVERE:

And therefore?

VILLAGER #2:

A witch!

VILLAGER #1:

A witch!

CROWD:

A witch! A witch!...

VILLAGER #4:

Here is a duck. Use this duck.

[quack quack quack]

The Senns are very polite cans, but toss some large symphonic on them (Mahler, and loud) and they just turn into mush, balanced or not. Of course, this was at a meet, so some more time might be in order. I can see where you guys might like them for jazz though. For now I'll take the AKGs, thanks.

[Beefy]

Oh and I think headphone burn-in is partially the drivers burning in as well as the owner acclimating to the sound.

Oh, absolutely. Any movable material in the driver will soften up with physical stress. I just have a hard time believing this takes longer than a few hours for 99% of it to occur..... or that an individual can remember exactly what their headphones sounded like 600 hours ago.

Funnily enough, I'm having this exact conversation with someone over at the other place.....

[Pars]

People always toss out driver burn-in (or break-in) as a given, but there was a guy on the newsgroups (rec.audio.?) that said he had done mucho testing on loudspeakers and that after being played, the speaker went back pretty much to the state it was in before being played, or at least alot closer than you would think. You would think that sooner or later, the coefficient of elasticity, etc. would be permanently changed. Dunno, just thought I would toss that out there.

[luvdunhill]

People always toss out driver burn-in (or break-in) as a given, but there was a guy on the newsgroups (rec.audio.?) that said he had done mucho testing on loudspeakers and that after being played, the speaker went back pretty much to the state it was in before being played, or at least alot closer than you would think. You would think that sooner or later, the coefficient of elasticity, etc. would be permanently changed. Dunno, just thought I would toss that out there.

perhaps what you're thinking about is after loudspeaker break in, the individual Thiel-Small parameters vary (often a lot), but the the ratios of said parameters always stay pretty much in step.

[Pars]

Could be, its been a few years since I read it. He was arguing against driver break-in though IIRC. Seems like it was Tom Noussaine, but its been awhile (he is/was a columnist in the Sensible Sound I think). And I'm not saying I buy it either; just throwing it out there

[luvdunhill]

Could be, its been a few years since I read it. He was arguing against driver break-in though IIRC. Seems like it was Tom Noussaine, but its been awhile (he is/was a columnist in the Sensible Sound I think). And I'm not saying I buy it either; just throwing it out there

I've measured a few drivers in my day and this is definitely true. After around 24 hours of 10-20Hz the driver is pretty much ready to measure and simulate. For example, assuming you're talking about a nice Danish driver, things become real stable after this period. Given good mic calibration and good software, the predicted graphs get frighteningly close to the measured response once it's all said and done. Even measuring 6 months - 12 months later, things don't change all that drastically. Dunno about the cheaper drivers where the QA/QC process is not all that stable/