Headphone Heights

In praise of the AKG K-701s

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This is not a review, it is simply a warning to those who steer clear of the 701s due to the bad press they have received on a well known headphone site. For an alternate set of comments -- favorable -- look at the URL I have posted.

I have not tried a large number of headphones, but I have tried many. In the last 6 years, I have bought and sold around 10 pairs of headphones in the EU. I currently own a pair of K-701s and Audeze LDC-2s.

From the posts I read here, I get the impression that the AA headphone addicts do not have bundles of money to spend on their headphones systems. With that in mind, I think that the K-701s have the virtue of being the best, moderately priced, headphones on the market.

Why? Because they reproduce music better than any headphone I have heard (remember I haven't tried that many) except for one -- which I do not own and which will remain nameless due to its high price and the fact that, at 3 times the price (or is it 4x?) the additional sonic benefits -- largely in the bass -- do not justify the additional cost.

The K-701s are well balanced; they are neutral; they have very good channel separation (some call this sound stage) and I think they work fantastically on all kinds of music I listen to, which includes not only the "little girl with a guitar" type acoustic music, but also (and more importantly), very dynamic symphonic music from the likes of Sibelius, Mahler, Stravinsky, Bruckner, etc., on which they do not strain at all.

The only two caveats I would offer is, first, that they do not accentuate bass notes. The bass is tight and fast, but does not over-power the rest of the presentation. Second, they take a long time to even out. I can't say, how long exactly, because I don't remember. It just happened that after a long time, I went from thinking that these are very good headphones to these headphones are perfect for me.

Finally, I would suggest you get them re-cabled so that they feed both drivers directly and that could mean buy a pair of 702's. However, I don't own a pair and have never heard the 702s so I can't state that categorically.

If you can get down to a store that has a demo pair, listen. If not, then I would take a gamble that I am not the only person who loves these headphones and, if you don't believe me, look at the URL I have posted.
"You don't need to be a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows"


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