From everything I've heard, the K7xx is very similar to the K701, but not the equal of the K712. Worse yet, a lot of buyers got K7xx's with rattling drivers, and went through lots of hassle and delay getting replacements.
That's why I think the K7XX is a QC test for AKG. Get some out into the field and see how they fare out there in the real world. BTW Massdrop refers to the K702 Anniversary specifically as the base for the 7XX (supposedly identical to the 712) claiming the lows have been "jacked up by 3dB [compared to the 701] to provide totally immersive sound imaging" (whatever the hell that means). Your report of QC issues doesn't inspire confidence, but it may support my theory that the 7XX is a QC trial run before shutting down the Austrian lines and pink-slipping all the workers there. Also may be noteworthy that the AKGs keep turning back up on Massdrop although always in relatively small production runs whereas the Sennheiser drop is rather large ( >5000 units IIRC.)
As much as I like to believe in miracles, I feel confident that the HD6xx will not be the quality equal of the HD650, although it hopefully will have a similar sound. Again, not to be pessimistic, but the smoothness of sound of Sennheiser's 600 and 650 have a lot to do with the workmanship and materials in those earcups that dampen out resonances etc., and at $200 and built in Ireland for the HD6xx, they have to cut a few corners. I hope to get one, so I'm switching to optimistic right now.
Good point. Probably won't be. One struggles to imagine how they could provide equivalent quality at < half the price. However, Sennheiser must have long since amortized their R&D and tooling costs on these models. But if they were just giving you a better deal on the same headphone' it would be the
same headphone- not one with cosmetic changes (
any changes to a production line cost
something to implement.) As Dale speculates, what non-cosmetic shortcuts have been taken? One place they could cut corners would be substituting conventional plastic in areas where carbon fiber is used in the 650 (noting your point about resonance control.) Another easy 'cut' would be less fastidious driver matching. A lot of listeners wouldn't notice these effects unless they were severe.
It would be interesting to get a 7XX and a 6XX into Innerfidelity's lab and see how they compare on the dummy head to the 'real deal' products. Wonder if Tyll would be interested. Maybe I'll email him.
