AKG K701 Headphone Reviews (China and Austrian Made)

[amirm]

So we are to assume that everyone i have seen was extremely lucky or amirm extremely unlucky? if oratorys k702 does show up similar to amirms k701and both use the same measurements rig, others that dont show this dont. Maybe that is the difference?

His rig is not identical to mine. He uses the same coupler and artificial ear but he has made his own fixture around it (to make it portable). So in this regard where slight pressure difference and fitment could impact bass, it is possible that there are differences.

Also, I think usage of these headphones may make them change their shape enough to make a difference there. With no adjustment on the headphone, it is hard to get a good handle on this.

 

[amirm]

I'd have investigated the headphones myself had I found such channel imbalance. Amir most likely does not have the time for this.

Bingo! I am anxious to pack and ship them to the owner. These have been here for a long time.....

 

[oneman]

I wonder if there's an issue with the cabling to the right headphone drivers in these AKGs. Both headphones exhibited exactly the same disparity. Consider the cabling comes in on the left and an extra run of wire runs through the headband to the right driver.

AKG K701/2 - it's a very poor construction.
There is no cable going from left to right driver. Signal goes through steel wire.

 

[Robbo99999]

His rig is not identical to mine. He uses the same coupler and artificial ear but he has made his own fixture around it (to make it portable). So in this regard where slight pressure difference and fitment could impact bass, it is possible that there are differences.

Also, I think usage of these headphones may make them change their shape enough to make a difference there. With no adjustment on the headphone, it is hard to get a good handle on this.

I think you're talking about Crinacle rather than Oratory.

 

[amirm]

I think you're talking about Crinacle rather than Oratory.

Ah yes. Sorry about that. Oratory has a slightly different model as well. No?

 

[_thelaughingman]

Ah yes. Sorry about that. Oratory has a slightly different model as well. No?

Crinacle uses a Gras 43AG-7 whilst you and Oratory use Gras 45CA. Though Oratory' Gras may be different based on his setup.

 

[restorer-john]

AKG K701/2 - it's a very poor construction.
There is no cable going from left to right driver. Signal goes through steel wire.

Surely that dreadful soldering is not factory?

 

[Chyżwar]

Notice that the headband has bubbles in it which I found more comfortable.

 

[musicreo]

The channel difference up to 1kHz for the Austrian model is to big to be true. This would shift the phantom center for voices to the left and should be audible immediately.

 

[restorer-john]

The channel difference up to 1kHz for the Austrian model is to big to be true. This would shift the phantom center for voices to the left and should be audible immediately.

I agree. The output converges immediately above about 1.2kHz and tracks after that. There's just no way a single pair of drivers will have such divergent responses below a single point and then miraculously fall into line. I'm calling it measurement anomalies.

 

[Bleib]

I had a pair of these from 2007 (new) to 2015.

My listening impression was extremely revealing but bass-light to listen to, so much so that the sum result was too tiring. As a result, I didn't use them an awful lot.

I guess the measurements above explain some of my personal experience. Perhaps it actually was in the sound waves! LOL

cheers

This is my impression as well. Superbly comfy but lacks bas so it quickly becomes fatiguing. Bought them...maybe 2014?

 

[Robbo99999]

Ah yes. Sorry about that. Oratory has a slightly different model as well. No?

Crinacle uses a Gras 43AG-7 whilst you and Oratory use Gras 45CA. Though Oratory' Gras may be different based on his setup.

Oratory uses GRAS 45BC most of the time, which is the version with the full head, following is what he writes on his pdf's as the total signal chain:

"measured on GRAS45BC-10 KEMAR GRAS KB5000/5001 anthropometric pinnae APx515 or APx526 Signal Generator/Analyzer APx1701 amplifier"

 

[Robbo99999]

Surely that dreadful soldering is not factory?

It's true that the K702 and I guess K701 have soldering issues, as in the solder or wire snaps and comes loose - you have to open up the earcup and solder it back on. I've done that on my 2015 K702 due to the factory solder failing on all the wires in the right earcup, so I've now soldered all the wires back on in the right earcup as well as replacing one of the wires as it becomes too short if it cracks off & fails from both ends. None of my soldering has needed replacement so far. That is a design and/or production QC issue with this headphone. The first failure was about 1.5-2yrs after me first buying them, but I did use them everyday.

In the pic, that doesn't look like factory soldering. Factory soldering is just a little blob of solder joining the wire to the post - they don't heat up the wire and post much by the looks of it so the solder stays as a blob rather than soaking in. That's probably part of the failure problem. (Also they use white & red wire from the factory, and in that pic the wire colour is different so that's been modified by the owner I would say).

 

[Atratusnex]

I used to have an original pair of these and the bass side of things was very poor.
Supposedly there's a bass port on the driver that had a sticker over it. There's a mod to remove that sticker, which I did and it improved bass to the point where it was audibly better. I wonder if these cans have the same port/sticker and if this mod was applied.

I would really don't recommend removing the sticker. It raises not only the bass, distortion raises too. Even more than if you just EQ them.

When that sticker, purposely placed there by AKG, is removed something else besides the amount of bass also changes. And not for the better. The distortion, especially the more audible 3rd, 4th and 5th harmonic.
At 40Hz the 3rd harmonic increases from 0.5% to 4.5% ! (disregard 50Hz, there is a hum component in the measurements)
This can’t be explained by increased bass amplitude as the plot also shows a distortion plot taken using the old analog equalizer (Realistic) which even extends bass even further. That distortion is hardly higher with EQ.
So those contemplating whether or not to perform the ‘bass port mod’ I would say don’t. AKG engineers aren’t idiots and installed that damping material with good reason.
diyaudioheaven

 

[milosz]

They are very comfortable. You can cut the cable off and wear them in winter weather to keep your ears warm.

 

[restorer-john]

They are very comfortable. You can cut the cable off and wear them in winter weather to keep your ears warm.

No need to be so stoopid as to 'cut the cable off', just unplug the mini xlr if you really can't afford some ear warmers...

 

[Atratusnex]

No need to be so stoopid as to 'cut the cable off', just unplug the mini xlr if you really can't afford some ear warmers...

The k 701 have no detachable cable. You're thinking about the k 702.

 

[Atratusnex]

I voted "Poor", as headphones with such big variations are useless for upmost users, except a very tiny minority who have a decent headphone measuring rig to adjust the EQ for each side.

It's not that likely that this -5 db channel imbalance measurement is representative for other akg k 701. It's the worst we have ever seen for a k 701, like as far as I can tell, really ever. Might be defective.

 

[CedarX]

They are very comfortable. You can cut the cable off and wear them in winter weather to keep your ears warm.

Actually, the opposite, making your ears too warm and sweaty is a real comfort Issue on some headphones. The K701 may fare good for comfort, not so much for winter! And now the science question: is the heat isolation of a headphone correlated to its acoustic isolation? I would answer no… except for the obvious closed vs. open back criteria.

 

[restorer-john]

The k 701 have no detachable cable. youre thinking about the k 702.

True. I'm thinking of my 702s.