Right out of the box, night and day difference from the K601's...Huge! Extremely comfortable to wear, the sound is just morethere! The air around the physical parts of the instruments, don't get me started the human vocal cords...
...this is just from the mighty Sanyo A35. Jerry, is the headphone amp tied to the MOSFET main amp? And buddy, still beyond in LOVE with the tri-green/amber/red output meters you did for me 
, anyhoo, I can hear it straining a bit on the top end...but...then, they are just here, they need about 300 hours to break in the massive magnets. I sooo impressed just as they are now.
I haven't gotten the dual WE-405A tube/hybrid headphone amp yet
Little Dot 1+, that just might make me crap my pants 
My first 'phones were the best of the best in 1979, the AKG K-340 Electrostatic/Dynamic's, unreal sound...these K701's just might be a bit better, they should for the $$'s and increase in knowledge of how sound should sound...
I agree with the following review of the K701's, they will show anything as recorded...(remember, mine are not even close to being 'broken-in' yet)!!
the review,
t's in the midrange that you'll realize why you fell for the K701s. As with most upper end AKGs, the midrange is magical. Vocals, either male or female, come across as three dimensional and realistic. Intruments, especially acoustic, are portraied with all the tonal and timbral accuracy you could desire. Piano is very well handles, the K701s giving both a sense of size as well as making it sound like the percussive instrument it is. Orchestral muisc is a delight through the K701s - they allow you to hear the full orchestra in a well balanced presentation, from deep bass to the richness of the cellos to the silky ssstring sound of the violins.
The treble is well extended, detailed and smooth. The K701s will let you hear out as far as you ears will allow while never sounding strident or peaky. There's plenty of space and an excellent deliniation between notes that makes it seem the music is emerging from a jet black background.
The only nit I can pick is that the K701s are not the most immediate sounding set of headphones available. They offer a slightly more distant presentation - more midhall than front row. Oh,and give them plenty of time to burn in - on the order of 300 or more hours before passing any judgement. If you don't, you'll probably dismiss the K701s - and you'll miss out by never knowing what you really had.
One other very important thing I'll add is that many, many people consider the K701s thin (I've even heard the term threadbare) and uninvolving. Let me clarify both points in one way. The K701s are the most accurate headphone available today. Others may sound better with certain types of music, but are not accutate - they color the sound, thereby appealing to biases of the listener. The K701s don't do that. They tell you in excruciating detail how good a job the engineer did recording the music (or how good or bad your source/amp are). No sugar coating, no added colorations, no tailoring of the sound to fit certain types of music. Like buying any good audio gear, one should be looking for the most accurate so that you're hearing only what was on the recording, not some prettied up version of it - unless inaccurate sound is what you want (in which case why are you reading any of this?).
To sum things up, the AKG K701s live up to their roll as AKGs new top-o-the-line headphones and also live up to AKGs heritige of producing some of the best headphones available. Highly recommended.
I can't wait till Lee and Jani hear them as I'll have them set up and all broken in, tubes, solid state, cables and footers... Hehehehe!
...this is just from the mighty Sanyo A35. Jerry, is the headphone amp tied to the MOSFET main amp? And buddy, still beyond in LOVE with the tri-green/amber/red output meters you did for me , anyhoo, I can hear it straining a bit on the top end...but...then, they are just here, they need about 300 hours to break in the massive magnets. I sooo impressed just as they are now. I haven't gotten the dual WE-405A tube/hybrid headphone amp yet
Little Dot 1+, that just might make me crap my pants My first 'phones were the best of the best in 1979, the AKG K-340 Electrostatic/Dynamic's, unreal sound...these K701's just might be a bit better, they should for the $$'s and increase in knowledge of how sound should sound...
I agree with the following review of the K701's, they will show anything as recorded...(remember, mine are not even close to being 'broken-in' yet)!!
the review,
t's in the midrange that you'll realize why you fell for the K701s. As with most upper end AKGs, the midrange is magical. Vocals, either male or female, come across as three dimensional and realistic. Intruments, especially acoustic, are portraied with all the tonal and timbral accuracy you could desire. Piano is very well handles, the K701s giving both a sense of size as well as making it sound like the percussive instrument it is. Orchestral muisc is a delight through the K701s - they allow you to hear the full orchestra in a well balanced presentation, from deep bass to the richness of the cellos to the silky ssstring sound of the violins.
The treble is well extended, detailed and smooth. The K701s will let you hear out as far as you ears will allow while never sounding strident or peaky. There's plenty of space and an excellent deliniation between notes that makes it seem the music is emerging from a jet black background.
The only nit I can pick is that the K701s are not the most immediate sounding set of headphones available. They offer a slightly more distant presentation - more midhall than front row. Oh,and give them plenty of time to burn in - on the order of 300 or more hours before passing any judgement. If you don't, you'll probably dismiss the K701s - and you'll miss out by never knowing what you really had.
One other very important thing I'll add is that many, many people consider the K701s thin (I've even heard the term threadbare) and uninvolving. Let me clarify both points in one way. The K701s are the most accurate headphone available today. Others may sound better with certain types of music, but are not accutate - they color the sound, thereby appealing to biases of the listener. The K701s don't do that. They tell you in excruciating detail how good a job the engineer did recording the music (or how good or bad your source/amp are). No sugar coating, no added colorations, no tailoring of the sound to fit certain types of music. Like buying any good audio gear, one should be looking for the most accurate so that you're hearing only what was on the recording, not some prettied up version of it - unless inaccurate sound is what you want (in which case why are you reading any of this?).
To sum things up, the AKG K701s live up to their roll as AKGs new top-o-the-line headphones and also live up to AKGs heritige of producing some of the best headphones available. Highly recommended.
I can't wait till Lee and Jani hear them as I'll have them set up and all broken in, tubes, solid state, cables and footers... Hehehehe!
, worth every penny, I haven't heard a more accurate sound in decades. The Hill Plasmatronics speakers I heard in '78 will hold that record still (only in the mids and highs, the bass lacked).
, the tubes soften that crap out
!!
