[adydula]

I have had a set of audio technica ATH50's for several months for mainly pc sound and gaming, and they are not that bad for $100.

Having a really nice set of speakers and a really wonderful tube amp I have been spoiled listening to great 2 ch audio.

So I recently started researching headphones and dacs and amps and finally settled in on a set of AKG702s...after many, many hours of research.

Accuracy, tonality, great soundstage etc and to be 'affordabe' where atributes I was looking for, no boomy bass, etc...a guitar should sound like a guitar etc..a bass violin well like a bass violin. Wonderful harmonics, tight crisp highs etc..

Most headphone people seem to be playing songs from a pc via a external dac and or amp combo etc...

My situation is an already modded Oppo BD83SE with a great dac to a AVA Insight+ preamp that easily drives low impedance phones to painful levels if needed. lol...not for me.

I have only listened to one 'demo' cd, all redbook audio, 2 ch. from Jennifer Warnes, Norah Jones & Ray Charles, Nils Lofgren, The Blue Man Group, KebMo, and many others...I am totally blown away at how wonderful the sound is...with only 45 minutes of play time!
If these things get better over time this will be icing on the cake.

The strings are just so rich and wonderful harmonics, detail, soundstage, forceful guitar is dang ridiculous good. Voices are natural, Bass is there, tight, crisp, NOT boomy at all.

Its hard to imagine things better than this for this prce range...

Hearing things not heard before!

Life is good!
All the best
Alex
 

[saisunil]

I have AKG701 which have same sound quality ...
They open up quite a bit with 300 hours of burn in and become champs after recabling -- in a whole different league ...
 
Sounds like an excellent setup for headphone and home audio ...
 
Thanks for sharing ...

[adydula]

saisunil,

How do you use your 701's? Pc, dac, amp??

There are endless combinations of amps out there.

I would like to try others over time, but dont really know if would be cost effective from what I already am so fortunate to own and use.

Seems from all my reading and research, the AKG's seem to work well with the Matrix - M Stage amp, and the Burson HA160.

Alex

[saisunil]

AKGs like power ...
I have had a few headphone amps ... portable and desktop amps.
 
Right now the one I have is hybrid - EF5 from Hifiman - and I have a headphone out on my TRL solid state amp (basically - amp with 1K resistor)
 
You are welcome to borrow mine (recabled phones and amp) 11375 or listen to them at my place ...
 
The best I have heard them was with Woo Audio 5 with 300B tubes ...
 
Actually I hardly get to use them now - due to work / schedule - so I am mostly on my portable HifiMan 801 with in ears ...

[adydula]

Ok now I have grand total of abour 3 hours on these new cans. I have read that many people think these 702s are lacking in the bass dept.

Well I played Mino Cinelu:

http://www.amazon.com/Mino-Cinelu/dp/B000031WXD/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1292380859&sr=1-1

Track 6 Oncoming Horizons. One listen and the bass is there in spades, controlled, tight, massive, ACCURATE, taunt, very impressive. The best I have ever heard.

The AVA preamp is a wonderful match for these headphones and drives them very very well.

What a wonderful experience...

Aaron Copelands Fanfare for Modern Man...the tympani sound real and accurate..OMG its sweet.

Its a great Christmas here!!

All the best
Alex
 

[mobayrasta]

Very glad you are so happy. I find the 701/2's have plenty of great clean bass when properly amped. It sounds like they have great synergy with your AVA preamp. If you are happy with the combo stay away from Head-Fi meets and you should be ok!  I have a Matrix M-Stage and they do sound absolutely wondeful with it. I prefer them with my Bijou Tube amp though.....    http://www.cavalliaudio.com/bijou/main.php?page=overview . Enjoy

[adydula]

Your M-Stage, what op amp are u running and are u running Class A?

I was thinking of trying a Little Dot III or Matrix M for 'grins' and see if there is any real need to upgrade anymore than I have now.

Thanks
Alex

[saisunil]

If you are happy with the combo stay away from Head-Fi meets and you should be ok!  . Enjoy

The best piece of advice ...
I wish to go back to that ... I am trying ... 
 
Your happiness is all that matters ...

[adydula]

I listened for 2 hrs last night across three new cd's with the AVA Insight+ Preamp.....I have read so much stuff about these cans not having any bass.....not even close.

I have noted that on a pc with on board sound, the power to drive these lower impedance is an issue....

But with good amplifcation they have some of the most accurate bass i have ever heard.
Really tight and accurate, great tonality..the harmonics flying off instruments are gorgeous.

I was listening to the 1994 Eric Claptons "Unplugged", A collection from a group called "WAR" and finally Doc Powell guitar stuff....All very different and quality of recording as well from mediore to really good.

The neat thing is even with the crappy sounding cd;s u get the most out of whats there good or bad, what it sounded like when the cd was recorded etc....its another amazing side of audio.

I listened to these cds on my Salk SongTowers with a Tube amp AVA Ultravalve and they are really nice, very accutate and tonality to die for....and them listened to the 702's with the same cds....

Both are great, more detail from the cans, and the soundstage is different, I cant really make any binary decision between which is better....if on a budget these cans with a good amp and source should make any buffing audiophile smile!!

Thats if they really like music and want to understand etc.

All the best
Alex