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DArn, I guess Dave is off the hook for now....lolOne thing I love is how they put two different length cables in there. I have extensions for all my phones...I even had Drew at Moon audio fashion me a T1 extension out of some extra T1 cable he had on hand and it worked out great. I love to watch movies from bed and I don't feel like moving my gear around to accommodate, so the longer lengths are great. Nice touch, AKG. (Germans are so smart!! haha)
Check the box, Alex. The Q701 is made in Austria, or were you making a funny?Dave
Dave,Been listening to the cans for 2+ hours.At first thought they were on the light side, but nope, its all there and its wonderful so far.Been trying on all my pc's, amps and dacs.These indeed are specail cans and all that you have been saying I can confirm.Airy, light, fast, clear, just to die for accuracy to me..a wonderful pairing with the ODAC and O2 amp.At first I was listening for faults and them I quickly found that I was so caught up in the music, the wonderful detail, wonderful sparkle..seriously these cans are a standard.Diana Krall, Roberta Flack, Dido, Regina Spektor, Allison Krauss, all my RMAF demo disc's just so special and very revealing and such a wonderful soundstage and imaging...piano sounds so great.....I dont know why I sold my 702's but I am thankful that you discovered these cans and I got to relive the experience again.Bottom line these cans are not for sale, they are keepers for sure...The cord is a little light but doesn't seem to have any negative affect on the sound.For the price one can have world class sound, accuracy, timbre etc for $250 or so, and another $250 for a O2 AMP/ODAC and be very, very content....They weigh next to nothing on you head and are very comfortable and the cable does come of easily.I will wait for a few weeks and see how I feel about these and the LCD2's may find a new home!All the best Alex
Hi Dave,It wasnt me asking about where they are made etc....think ajzepp was referrring to those clever "Germans"...Its not only on the box but on the left can exterior as well. "Made in Austria"Sitting here playing with the 2 cables to see again if there is any real difference....so far I dont hear anything I can humanly discern.Also playing with running the O2 Amp wide open on volume and using the software volume to act as a control but making sure that the OS and player is set to 24bits first so we dont loose anything with our 16 bit stuff.....tip from the NWAVGuy...Alex
eclien...I had 702's about a year ago....sold them when I got the LCD2's.I liked them alot but the bass on the LCD2's was just "more" deeper and very controlled...That said I wish I had kept them.Lately the LCD's on the high end started to seem a little lacking ...missing that sparkle and the grados I got reallyaccentuate the high end and wow I was taken aback..Then Dave discovered these Q701's and they peaked my interest for sure.Oh...how do they sound!!The are different from the LCD2's and from the Grados for sure...They are very detailed, wonderful soundstage...imaging is excellent, and voices are spot on..piano is crystal clear and sounds like a piano...The are very pleasant to listen to....at times I forget they are there and the music just floats in and around yourhead....easy to get lost in the music again...this is a good thing.The bass from instruments is very tonally accurate and uncanny...the real low, low end stuff is a but lacking but thereisnt many instruments that go down there etc..This isnt to say the bass in bad. Drums, percussion are fast and staccato....bongos etc simply amazing...wire brushes sound like wire brushed...the timbre of instruments come out clearly.When you play a recording that is well mastered the soundstage is BIG...where the grados are nice, just less in width.Diana Krall, Allison Krauss, Linda Rondstadt, Llyod Cole, Cowboy Junkies, LeAnn Rimes, Larry Coryell all are superb...and sound so clear and open...all those little sounds that are hidden or muffled come out very clear and you dont have to strain to here the "small" stuff....makes the experience more immersive..Bass guitar in Regina Spektor..Fidelity song in her "Begin To Hope" CD...will make you a believer that these cans can belt out bass with authority, fullness and accuracy....Till The Sun Turns Black CD by Ray LaMotagne...is open and spacious and these cans make this cd a extremely awesome experience...stuff coming from all sides, the middle and a depth of sound....layers and his voice is inside your head and its a treat..Michael Jackson's Thriller is just marvelous as well...the footsteps walkingthru your head...and the explosive sounds in opening, wolves howling...holy cow its really neat....just like Quincy Jones would like it to be.. LOL.Melody Gardot...Singing Over the Rainbow melts in your mouth...The cans seem to let the music spread out and sound like a performance to me...spacious...airy..More like being there.I have no earthly idea why I got rid of the 702's wish I could have compared the 2, but from all I have read they are similar for sure....end of that story.Dave found a real gem here...any serious headphone audiophile would enjoy these immensly....they provide an intimate experience with music.If you cant afford $500 or $1K cans your not missing much with these AKG's and I would say your getting things that are missing with some of those cans as well....They are keepers.Alex
Hi Dave...Yes I understand that....but I would hope a serious audiophile that has an open mind would give these cansa chance...being a serious audiophile myself I am enamored with the sound of these cans as I am with the Grados and LCD2's and some others as well...yes they all play and reproduce sound diffently..These cans are indeed in a class all their own.We can fault them surely, but I am beyond that even with the deeper less roll-off on the LCD2's these cans provide a realistic experience...even on the low end.I was looking for the one and only one set of cans and with the LCD2's I thought my journey was done..onl;y to kick the can down the road to the Grado's and now these!Who knows there may be others in the future but that wont take away from the experience with these for me...and thats good! Whats neat is to listen to these for several hours then put on one of the others.....wow what a difference..All the bestAlex
I think most of us are eager to find perfection and jump on the bandwagon..thinking that this next onewill be the best...With all the positive things about the LCD's I jumped....Then after a year or so and reading about the highs are recessed etc....you start thinking...gee did I do the right thing and at what cost...reading about your speaker experience etc.I have for the most part stayed within my financial limits and usually sell something to help finance the nexttoy...Lyr gone Q701's in...The LCD2's were really a jump for me for that audio gold ring.Thats why these cans at their rather low cost and the O2 and ODAC are so neat....great performance without spending real mega-bucks!But hindsight is perfection...I probably would do it all over again the same way!!Question for you Dave, are you playing the Q's with low or high gain??All the bestAlex
Then after a year or so and reading about the highs are recessed etc....you start thinking...gee did I do the right thing and at what cost...reading about your speaker experience etc.
What you read is marginally relevant at best. What matters is what you hear. Do the LCD2s please you? If so, they are good. I used to own Sennheiser 580s way back when (also sometimes criticized for a 'recessed' high end, aka the 'Sennheiser veil'). I currently have Senn 555's which I picked for their brighter highs. The upshot? I usually run them with some treble cut, probably splitting the difference, but pretty close to the old 580s. I heard the LCD2s recently at Capitol Audio Fest and liked them a lot. Whether I'd feel the same way after listening a few weeks, I cannot say.Bottom line, what your ears tell you is the only thing that matters. If you want more highs, I hear (I mean "read") that the Hifiman HE400 has plenty.
