AKG Debuts New K702 Headphones

Boy, am I glad I started this thread.

 

Sennheiser HD 600 HARSH?! Dear Lord...

 

Don't get me wrong, the K701 is a pretty good set of cans, I just think that they have flaws which, when you look at other options available in the market, can be avoided.

 

Maybe that powerful amp can help the confused and boosted bass of the HD600's? Let me know

Could the Sennheiser be the only headphones in the world that include "room mode" type bass resonance as an added bonus to the sound?

I mean... this is just a classic situation. What do 99.9% of headphone users look for in the first place when they evaluate a set of headphones? They want BASS.

It's as simple as that! Any manufacturer knows that by adding a bit of bass to their HP's... most users will like it.

I just didn't expect it to be the rule here in SHF...

 

Just skip all these and go directly the the Stax Omegas, I say!

 

You really think the HD600's are boosted in the bass area?


Harsh??? Never. I'd be the first to complain.

 

I haven't heard the 600s again for a long time now... but that's the way I remember them, harsh sounding, overwhelming bass, quite uncomfortable sounding in general. I was really not impressed.

Later I tested the 650's, and even If the bass was still boosted, the overall sound was not harsh, at least didn't make my head hurt

However... when I heard the 701's, everything changed. First the soundstage is so much BIGGER, it almost feels like listening without headphones

Then the natural and effortless flow of sound... so sweet and easy... the bass is distinct all the way down, not just a "low frequency cloud", but you can hear the notes hit the bottom of the frequency range clearly and with all their natural presence. The mids (specially vocals) are ultimately real and can get scary to have such real voices in your head The highs are detailed but silk smooth.

For me the K701's are in a totally different and much better league. There is no comparison. Sennheiser is "in the box sound", small, resonant, unavoidable (if you know what I mean).... AKG 701's are completely out of the box, free sounding, natural...

 

As an Omega 2 owner, I could not agree enough. Finest set of headphones there is. Shame that Stax seem to have fouled up a good thing with the recent design upgrade.

 

x2.

ALO lol.

Your headphone amp is a Heed Canamp, unless your profile is out of date. Hardly a powerful enough headphone amp for you to be throwing around blanket remarks about the unworthiness of the HD600 or HD650. It is a well known fact in the headphone discourse community that the upper echelon dynamic Senns require tons of reserve power to tame the bass.

I hate to play the "mine is bigger" game, but when it comes to reviewing headphones, it pays to have a powerful amp like my balanced Beta 22.

Personally I'm not a fan of the K701, but plenty of folks whose opinions I respect enjoy it.

Agreed.

 

I wouldn't say that HD650 is bloated in the bass, but they roll off a little early. I Love'em, but the K701s are more neutral and open. The thing is though.. they need a really good source and an even better headamp. There's no way you'll be able to run the properly on a 500$ cd-player or a standard integrated amp with headphone output. You need a dedicated headphone amp, or you will not be able to hear their potential. Plugging a pair of K701s into your stereoreciever just won't work.

 

Agreed, although the Sigma/404 has a certain cosmetic charm don't you think (see my photo)

 

"ALO lol"? What's your beef with them?

 

Duggeh,

See my equipment list. I have never heard of the Benchmark being described as warm sounding. The TT set up neither.

Also, you initially mentioned the K701 wasn't worth listening to (which I thought was a load of bollocks) and then later modified that to say you think they are pretty good after all but have flaws. They are contradictory statements.

I heard loads of headphones last year at the Manchester head-fi meet as well as having owned/own all the ones I mentione in my initial post and stand by my initial observations. Agree to disagree and all that.

 

Personally, I find them overpriced and cosmetically unattractive, with an appeal driven purely by marketing hype. Any DIYer worth his salt could provide you with a far superior cable for much less cash.

 

MarkyM, I think SH's headphone setup was a gift from ToneAudio. A free gift.

And FWIW, a $550 cable replacement for a $495 MSRP headphone is just... ridiculous. A cable cannot change the sound that much to justify the additional (more than 100%) expense - I challenge you to find me an audiophile with speaker cables that cost more than his/her speakers. They are a distinct minority, and for a good reason too.

And if one needed to spend that much to 'change the sound', then perhaps that headphone never really was suited for that person. Or that good to start with. It's like buying amazing (and expensive) rims for a Lada to 'improve its performance'. Or buying an amazing $200 pure silk tie to go with your $200 cheapo polyester suit - it just doesn't make sense.

Consider too the whole new world of headphones that opens up at the $1000 mark, which is what one would have to pay for an "ALO 702". Or one could put the $1000 into his/her rig, so that the sound can be tweaked a LOT more.

So to reiterate, I just don't see the point of the ALO upgrade. It just sounds like an opportunistic cash grab to me. What's sad is that there are people out there who will go for it.

 

It won't even change the basic tonality of the phones or fix the problems with the 701s. A duller sounding headphone amp and maybe an EQ can tame them but short of that they're going to sound like Yamaha NS-10s. Where do I put the toilet paper?

 

Exactly right.

This brings to mind a pretty funny story I once heard - it may be apocryphal, but what the heck.

So there was this guy who just raved about his NS-10s. They were amazing, they were the best, blah blah blah. But when one of his tubes in his amp gassed out and he needed to swap out the pair, the sound changed... for the worse. He then realised something - his tube amp had been rolling off dreadfully as both the output tubes were just about carked. They (the dying tubes) had 'compensated' for the upper-midrange lift the NS-10s had by rolling off badly, causing his rig to sound just right. Who says 2 wrongs can't make 1 right?

 

I don't have any experience with ALO headphone cables, but I do have one of Ken Ball's (ALO) iPod docks and I want to counter the above post with my support for ALO.

ALO use Jena Wire for almost all applications, and that is not cheap wire.

And as far as DIY goes, there is no doubt in my mind that Ken's soldering skills are first rate. I tried to make a male adapter for my iPod dock for burn-in and I did not have the skills to solder even the finest silver wire to the tiny pins inside a male iPod dock (the females have slightly more space). I asked Ken for some advice on how to do this - which he provided (remove all the pins you don't need; bend the three that are left slightly apart).

He's a friendly guy who has to do most of his work himself because he cannot find help that can work to his high standards. This adds to the cost. ALO is pretty much a one-man band with no economy of scale, so their stuff is somewhat expensive - but the quality is first class.

My cable from ALO (iPod sock to miniplug) in my travelling headphone system has performed faultlessly for a couple of years now, over 200 flights.

My personal opinion is that ALO is not driven by marketing hype, but by a desire to assist audiophiles get the best out of their portable systems and (of course), to grow and prosper as a company.

You can think what you like, naturally.

 

.

 

As I said before, I realize that 701's seem to be a take it or leave it situation. With respect to the ALO the cable is not the only part of the modification, there are internal tweaks that IMHO further improve or, if you prefer, tame the 701's. I think I understand where you guys are coming from, the first time I listened to my "fresh out of the box 701's" I was ready to return them, however, each time I listened to them again they got better and then the cable mod made them just wonderful.

As to the cost of the cable compared to the cost of the cans versus the cost of the cable compared to speakers, that is easy to explain. Basically the material and workmanship needed to make a cable whether it is for headphones or speakers is about the same (i.e. within a factor of 2 or so), however most speakers that audiophiles use are 5X, 10X or even more than the cost of headphones.

 

Fair enough, Tony Plachy. I suppose as long as there are happy customers, a purpose has been served.

 

I too would rather listen to my Omega 2 than the K701

 

I've found this is very true of all setups. Is it not true of RIAA equalization? I've found headphones to be very dependent upon the amp and source. What is tough about the NS-10s isn't that they need to be properly paired to tame them, but when someone matches them to harsh solid state equipment. The same can happen the other way round as people turn the sound into rolled off mush down the line.

 

Jamie, I'm really sorry that you've had a bad experience with your K701's...

I can assure you that mine don't have the problems you mentioned before, and I know perfectly what I'm listening to. If they had those symptoms... I would be the first to dislike them. Heck... those very same problems (except for the bass issue) are the reasons why I quit on the Sennheiser HD600.

So, definitely something is wrong. Either I did not listen to the Senn's in the best conditions... or you didn't listen to the AKG's in the best conditions.

Or... and I can accept this... my 701's set for some reason does not have the problems other people mention... could they be different? Like "secretly" upgraded or something?

One thing is for certain... my 701's are not boosted in the mid/highs, and are in no way what I would describe as "lean bass"... The richness and deepness of the bass information on these babies is just impressive

I use them with the Heed Canamp headphone amplifier and a Linn Ikemi CD player.