• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

*NEW* AKG K702 has been measured by Oratory!

OP
Robbo99999

Robbo99999

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
6,874
Likes
6,672
Location
UK
No, the 702 has angled pads, not drivers. No?

I have no idea about the 712.
Oh yeah, you mean the K702, yes that one has angled pads....I thought you had been referring to the K712 which has flat pads.
Thanks for the info @Robbo99999 and @Jimbob54.
I'm looking for a headphone with a wider soundstage then HD600.
HD800s would be better, but don't want to spend that amount of money, so K702 will do nicely.

Regarding pads, I see that K702, K702 Anniversary, K701, Q701, K601, K712 Pro und 612 Pro all can use the same valour pads or gel pads.
Valour pads definitely seem to be angled, but gel pads not so much.
I think K702 is a good choice when used with the Oratory EQ or a slight variation thereof, if I was you I wouldn't boost the bass up to Harman levels all the way down to 20Hz, instead experiment with rolling it off at 35Hz.

The pads aren't all the same between the different models you list. K702 & K701 are angled, but maybe subtle differences between them, they're different colours anyway, ha! K712 are gel flat pads, I don't know about the others. Ah, K702 Anniversary pads are a bit different I remember, but can't remember in what way. But yes, get the standard K702, don't get the Anniversary Edition.
 

solderdude

Grand Contributor
Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
15,891
Likes
35,912
Location
The Neitherlands
Small correction: Not gel pads but memory foam. Indeed the K712/K7xx pads are not angled.
 
OP
Robbo99999

Robbo99999

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
6,874
Likes
6,672
Location
UK
(Putting this here as probably the most prominent K702 thread here on ASR and could be useful for K702 owners)

At all K702 owners, I urge you to buy the following aftermarket pads, they're a bit deeper than the stock pads that AKG ships on their headphones nowadays....AKG used to have deeper pads on the K702 but they seem to sell with shallower pads now, which means your ears are more likely to touch the drivers and therefore soundstage is worse on the more modern K702's. But if you buy the following aftermarket pads it'll return them to the deeper pad that AKG used to put on their K702's which will help soundstage, they're also a lot less money than the expensive genuine K702 pads. So these are the ones I recommend you:

I measured the frequency response of the above aftermarket pads vs the stock pads on my latest K702 that I bought (I have 3 units of K702 ranging from yrs 2015 through to 2020, through to 2022). So following is a measurement of the aftermarket pads linked above vs the stock pads on my latest K702 bought in 2022 (blue line is stock pads):
K702 Unit 3 Beige Pads vs Stock Pads ii.jpg

Don't worry about the strange peakiness you're seeing, as this was measured on a miniDSP EARS rig and not on the GRAS measurement rigs that Oratory & Amir uses, so the frequency response will look different, however we're focussing on the comparative difference between stock pads and aftermarket pads here, there's not much difference. This is an average of 10 measurements, so the data is good, it's not just a cherrypicked measurement. Yes, so not much difference, I urge you to buy the aftermarket pads praps even if you have the stock pads on at the moment, due to their slightly deeper nature which could improve the soundstage for you.

I think given that the differences are small that you could use the Oratory EQ along with these aftermarket pads with confidence.

EDIT: I think these aftermarket pads are even better than the expensive genuine AKG pads you can buy from Thomann, because the genuine pads from Thomann created channel imbalance issues in my headphones, a strange dip in one of the channels in the treble and an imbalance below 1kHz too, following are the Thomann supposedly genuine pads, notice the channel imbalance:
K702 Unit 3 Thommann pads All Measurements.jpg



Yes, so instead definitely go for the aftermarket pads I linked you at the Amazon link.
 
Last edited:

Oscarilbo

Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2021
Messages
20
Likes
3
(Putting this here as probably the most prominent K702 thread here on ASR and could be useful for K702 owners)

At all K702 owners, I urge you to buy the following aftermarket pads, they're a bit deeper than the stock pads that AKG ships on their headphones nowadays....AKG used to have deeper pads on the K702 but they seem to sell with shallower pads now, which means your ears are more likely to touch the drivers and therefore soundstage is worse on the more modern K702's. But if you buy the following aftermarket pads it'll return them to the deeper pad that AKG used to put on their K702's which will help soundstage, they're also a lot less money than the expensive genuine K702 pads. So these are the ones I recommend you:
Do you recommend the pads even for a couple of months old K702s ?
 
OP
Robbo99999

Robbo99999

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
6,874
Likes
6,672
Location
UK
Do you recommend the pads even for a couple of months old K702s ?
I think if you've got one of the newer K702 that have been manufactured over the last 2 yrs then I think they are the ones with thinner pads. Looking back at my amazon order info, I bought the first one in 2015, second one in Jan 2021, and third one a few months ago - these last 2 units had thinner pads than I remember on my first K702, and they're thinner than the "genuine" K702 pads you can buy from Thomann. I don't recommend the Thomann pads though because they're silly expensive and they also messed up the channel balance......so instead it's better to get the aftermarket pads that I linked in my last post. So, yeah, if you've got a K702 that you've bought in the last 2 yrs I think it will have the thinner pads, and so you could benefit from those aftermarket pads I linked. Essentially those aftermarket pads meant that my ears don't touch the drivers anymore, which is how I remember it with my first K702 I bought back in 2015. Can you feel your ears touching the drivers with your stock K702 pads? If they don't, then might not be worth getting the aftermarket pads, but if you can feel your ears touching could be worth trying the aftermarket pads I linked.
 

Oscarilbo

Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2021
Messages
20
Likes
3
I think if you've got one of the newer K702 that have been manufactured over the last 2 yrs then I think they are the ones with thinner pads. Looking back at my amazon order info, I bought the first one in 2015, second one in Jan 2021, and third one a few months ago - these last 2 units had thinner pads than I remember on my first K702, and they're thinner than the "genuine" K702 pads you can buy from Thomann. I don't recommend the Thomann pads though because they're silly expensive and they also messed up the channel balance......so instead it's better to get the aftermarket pads that I linked in my last post. So, yeah, if you've got a K702 that you've bought in the last 2 yrs I think it will have the thinner pads, and so you could benefit from those aftermarket pads I linked. Essentially those aftermarket pads meant that my ears don't touch the drivers anymore, which is how I remember it with my first K702 I bought back in 2015. Can you feel your ears touching the drivers with your stock K702 pads? If they don't, then might not be worth getting the aftermarket pads, but if you can feel your ears touching could be worth trying the aftermarket pads I linked.
Thank you Robbo... and yeah, my K702 are new and in fact my ears do not touch the drivers, so I think I'm safe then.

Btw I'm considering getting the K712 just to listen that "a tad of added warmness" to the AKG sound (which I like) that may fit my taste even better. But I was wondering... what if I can achieve that added sense of warmness with just swapping pads? Are there any pads for the K702 that may do this? I've read the original K712 are very expensive and maybe dont even fit perfectly on the K702
 
OP
Robbo99999

Robbo99999

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
6,874
Likes
6,672
Location
UK
Thank you Robbo... and yeah, my K702 are new and in fact my ears do not touch the drivers, so I think I'm safe then.

Btw I'm considering getting the K712 just to listen that "a tad of added warmness" to the AKG sound (which I like) that may fit my taste even better. But I was wondering... what if I can achieve that added sense of warmness with just swapping pads? Are there any pads for the K702 that may do this? I've read the original K712 are very expensive and maybe dont even fit perfectly on the K702
You could just use EQ. The K702 needs EQ anyway....you could try the Oratory EQ to start you off......although I recommend removing his Filter #1 which is the 24Hz Low Shelf, I think it's kinda crazy to put in a Low Shelf that low down in the bass that's gonna cost you another 5dB negative preamp, not to mention the extra stress it puts on the driver.....so I think best to just remove Filter#1.

As for K712, I wouldn't really recommend them because they don't have angled pads, which I think is one of the ingredients associated with a good soundstage. You could try buying some non-angled pads for your K702 if you wanted, but I don't think that will get you all the way to the K712 tuning. EQ is the best way to go with headphones and the K702 is no exception to that....in fact it's more at the extreme end of necessary with the K702, lol!
 

Oscarilbo

Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2021
Messages
20
Likes
3
You could just use EQ. The K702 needs EQ anyway....you could try the Oratory EQ to start you off......although I recommend removing his Filter #1 which is the 24Hz Low Shelf, I think it's kinda crazy to put in a Low Shelf that low down in the bass that's gonna cost you another 5dB negative preamp, not to mention the extra stress it puts on the driver.....so I think best to just remove Filter#1.

As for K712, I wouldn't really recommend them because they don't have angled pads, which I think is one of the ingredients associated with a good soundstage. You could try buying some non-angled pads for your K702 if you wanted, but I don't think that will get you all the way to the K712 tuning. EQ is the best way to go with headphones and the K702 is no exception to that....in fact it's more at the extreme end of necessary with the K702, lol!
Thank you. The thing is, I dont use a computer for my desktop listening. I'm still a bit old fashion; my Onkyo CD player as source for my CD collection, into a Schiit Modi3+ Dac and a Magni Heresy amp. How can one EQ in a set up like that?
 
OP
Robbo99999

Robbo99999

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
6,874
Likes
6,672
Location
UK
Thank you. The thing is, I dont use a computer for my desktop listening. I'm still a bit old fashion; my Onkyo CD player as source for my CD collection, into a Schiit Modi3+ Dac and a Magni Heresy amp. How can one EQ in a set up like that?
Well, you can get something like the miniDSP 4HD (reviewed here on ASR) to do the EQ for you but it replaces your already good DAC, and also it doesn't measure fantastic and it's not particularly easy to use. Quidelix 5K is a DAC/amp and does EQ but it's probably not compatible with your CD player in terms of connections and as I said you've already got your good DAC so I suppose you don't want to replace it. I think your best bet is just moving with the times and ditching the CD player, there's nothing good about them - instead you can rip all your CD's to disk (lossless so the quality is not reduced) and play them from a laptop or PC or some kind of music player device, it's far more convenient and the quality of the playback does not deteriorate over time like it would with scratched CD's or skipping CD players. Plus you have all your music at your fingertips and create playlists, it's just a lot more flexible. If you use a PC/laptop then you can use EqualiserAPO for unlimited EQ ability, which is a free program too....or you can buy any number of music player software that has parametric EQ included. You'll get your best listening experience from using parametric EQ and you'll get a more flexible & easier control of your music playback.....I would strongly advise you to look at & think about changing your "playback system" to give you flexibility/ease & EQ.
 
Last edited:
OP
Robbo99999

Robbo99999

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
6,874
Likes
6,672
Location
UK
Hi All, an update on Oratory's EQ, he's released another updated measurement & EQ of the K702 which he released back in October, I've only just realised he's updated it, here's the link to the file:

Basically the new measurement is showing the K702 to have more bass and be a warmer headphone than the previous published versions, so I'm guessing he's measured a few more K702 and therefore changed his published measurement. Therefore his new EQ will make your K702 sound noticeably brighter. I imported his latest measurement into REW to compare against one of his older published measurements, here you can see the difference:
K702 v4 26.10.22 vs earlier versions.jpg

The brown line in the above graph is the latest published measurement (named in the graph as "K702 v4 normalised"). You can see the main change is below 555Hz, where you can see he's described the K702 as now having more energy below 555Hz - so he's basically saying the K702 is a warmer headphone than previously thought. Of course this will make your EQ sound brighter if you use Oratory's latest EQ, as he's not boosting the bass as much and is also providing a bigger cut in the muddy regions of 100-300Hz. He's also decided not to boost the bass all the way down to 20Hz so he's got rid of that silly 24Hz Low Shelf Filter he used to have in there, so now he's only boosting parts of the bass area by +5.5dB rather than the silly +10dB he had before - (note: he was only boosting the very low subbass areas by +10dB before rather than the 5.5dB he's doing now so the audible difference between the two is not quite as large as it seems on the surface). I recommend you try out his new EQ as it is significantly different! (because he's changed the energy below 555Hz in a broad & significant manner) Here are his latest filters and a link to the file directly again:
Oratory K702 v4 EQ Filters 26.10.22.jpg
 
Last edited:
OP
Robbo99999

Robbo99999

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
6,874
Likes
6,672
Location
UK

isostasy

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2022
Messages
354
Likes
628
What stands out for you about these headphones? £79 is certainly a big discount (though they seem to have gone up to £99 now), but the measurements I've seen don't impress me particularly. I'm happy with my HD6XX but if I were on a budget would not the HD560S be worth saving up for, or waiting for a sale price to bring it down a little?
 

xavx

Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2021
Messages
67
Likes
38
What stands out for you about these headphones? £79 is certainly a big discount (though they seem to have gone up to £99 now), but the measurements I've seen don't impress me particularly. I'm happy with my HD6XX but if I were on a budget would not the HD560S be worth saving up for, or waiting for a sale price to bring it down a little?
Having both K702 and 560S, you're honestly not missing on anything. The K702 has a wider soundstage but the 560S is better on all other aspects in my view. Even at 80£ or 90€, I find the K702 overpriced. Note the deal posted by Robbo still remains a good one for people interested in this headphone.
 
Last edited:
OP
Robbo99999

Robbo99999

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
6,874
Likes
6,672
Location
UK
What stands out for you about these headphones? £79 is certainly a big discount (though they seem to have gone up to £99 now), but the measurements I've seen don't impress me particularly. I'm happy with my HD6XX but if I were on a budget would not the HD560S be worth saving up for, or waiting for a sale price to bring it down a little?
Well, I've got both the K702 and the HD560s - I've been a bit nutty about them and I have 3 units of HD560s and 4 units of K702 now (after buying another one today at £79)! :facepalm: Mainly I bought another K702 because Sean Olive posted a measurement for a K702 that he bought recently and it totally tracked the Harman Curve, so I wanted to see if the new ones being produced now have been changed in frequency response (I have a miniDSP EARs that I can measure them on, and because Oratory has measured one of my units of K702 that I sent him then that means I can do a valid & accurate conversion curve just for that one model of headphone - conversion curve from miniDSP EARs to GRAS). Here's the Sean Olive measurement of K702 that he bought recently:
K702 Sean Olive frequency response.jpg

You can see that looks nothing like the K702 measurements that we know! So I definitely wanted to buy a new K702 and then measure it to find out if it's the same or not. I also thought that even if it measures similarly to my other K702 units then it would be interesting to see the unit to unit variation after having measured 4 seperate units of them.

About your question though, "what stands out for you about these headphones"? I think the soundstage is fun, it's wide, I also think they do really well with female vocals - note I'm talking about after EQ to the Harman Curve. I think the bass on them after EQ is adequate/good, and they're very comfortable to wear. To be fair, I think I've got enough units of HD560s and K702 to last me through the zombie apocalypse, or if they just stop making them eventually, lol - which is more likely!?

Having both K702 and 560S, you're honestly not missing on anything. The K702 has a wider soundstage but the 560S is better on all other aspects in my view. Even at 80£ or 90€, I find the K702 overpriced. Note the deal posted by Robbo still remains a good one for people interested in this headphone.
I agree that HD560s is a more sensible headphone to choose for a purchaser, as they don't have the solder reliability problems of the K702 and the HD560s has better unit to unit variation and better channel matching. I also agree with you that the HD560s does a few things better than the K702, the bass is noticeably more defined in the HD560s - talking after both have been EQ'd to Harman Curve of course. I also agree with you on your perception that the soundstage of the K702 is wider than that of the HD560s. In the past I've noted that the imaging is a bit better on the HD560s, ie the imaging within the soundstage is more precise than that of the K702 - normally assessed for me by listening to smoothness of panning effects as they move around and also through fps gaming (locational sound through Virtual 7.1 Surround Sound in fps gaming). I personally think the K702 is definitely worth £80 if you're using EQ - and if you're not afraid of using a soldering iron on the wires when they will likely fail after 1 or 2 yrs (sometimes sooner). The K702 frequency response though is very easy to EQ to the Harman Curve, so you don't have to be that concerned by the unconventional stock frequency response, the reason it's easy to EQ is that it's very smooth in it's undulations, so you don't have to use narrow filters on them (pic from Oratory's EQ):
K702 smoothness, easy EQ.jpg
 
Last edited:

isostasy

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2022
Messages
354
Likes
628
@Robbo99999 Thanks for the explanation and sharing the graph, that certainly is weird and very different to other measurements of the K702 I've seen. It looks most similar to the one in Crinacle's database, though even that has a prominent peak at 2.2kHz and nowhere near as good bass extension/elevation as that. I would still expect it to sound 'bright' considering the positive slope and the elevation around 6kHz however.

K702.png


Please let us know when you get your new copy and share impressions and most importantly graphs! Would be really interesting to see if it's a silent revision or unit variation.

I didn't let on, but a part of me is considering getting a K702 just to try out this 'soundstage' thing everyone goes on about. I consider my HD6XX pretty much perfect but have always been interested in the 2 factors people tend to mark it down for, that is bass, and soundstage. Bass is sorted by EQ for me because I never turn it up enough to distort, and I'm skeptical of the concept of 'planar bass'. Soundstage, however, though I've never been bothered by the HD6XX necessarily, has got me curious simply because it's a concept I'm yet to experience. I'm unwilling to buy a HD800(S), but sorting the Rtings soundstage score places the K702 as the best value for this metric.
 

xavx

Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2021
Messages
67
Likes
38
@Robbo99999 Thanks for the explanation and sharing the graph, that certainly is weird and very different to other measurements of the K702 I've seen. It looks most similar to the one in Crinacle's database, though even that has a prominent peak at 2.2kHz and nowhere near as good bass extension/elevation as that. I would still expect it to sound 'bright' considering the positive slope and the elevation around 6kHz however.

View attachment 264573

Please let us know when you get your new copy and share impressions and most importantly graphs! Would be really interesting to see if it's a silent revision or unit variation.

I didn't let on, but a part of me is considering getting a K702 just to try out this 'soundstage' thing everyone goes on about. I consider my HD6XX pretty much perfect but have always been interested in the 2 factors people tend to mark it down for, that is bass, and soundstage. Bass is sorted by EQ for me because I never turn it up enough to distort, and I'm skeptical of the concept of 'planar bass'. Soundstage, however, though I've never been bothered by the HD6XX necessarily, has got me curious simply because it's a concept I'm yet to experience. I'm unwilling to buy a HD800(S), but sorting the Rtings soundstage score places the K702 as the best value for this metric.
Honestly, soundstage is a big word with very subjective meaning. I bought the K702 based on Rtings soundstage score + overall score, coming from a closed HP. I don't believe many headphones manage to do soundstage properly. If you want real soundstage, buy speakers. The K702 has wider soundstage than typical headphones because of the large earcups.
Rtings rating of soundstage is inaccurate as they score it based on frequencies which you will end up EQing anyway. Soundstage (as pointed by solderdude) is rather dependent on earcup size and distance between ears and speakers. For the K702, you get these big earcups but the speakers are (almost) touching your ears, resulting in a wider but flat stage. The overall sound is not layered, no sense of depth and sound position lacks precision. From what I've read here, the HD800 + some big expensive planars are the only ones able to give soundstage, layering and keep accurate sound positioning.
Best is probably for you to try with Amazon and return if it's not convincing. If you want change, you could also try the planar route for deep bass that don't distort and layered sound.
 
OP
Robbo99999

Robbo99999

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
6,874
Likes
6,672
Location
UK
@Robbo99999 Thanks for the explanation and sharing the graph, that certainly is weird and very different to other measurements of the K702 I've seen. It looks most similar to the one in Crinacle's database, though even that has a prominent peak at 2.2kHz and nowhere near as good bass extension/elevation as that. I would still expect it to sound 'bright' considering the positive slope and the elevation around 6kHz however.

View attachment 264573

Please let us know when you get your new copy and share impressions and most importantly graphs! Would be really interesting to see if it's a silent revision or unit variation.

I didn't let on, but a part of me is considering getting a K702 just to try out this 'soundstage' thing everyone goes on about. I consider my HD6XX pretty much perfect but have always been interested in the 2 factors people tend to mark it down for, that is bass, and soundstage. Bass is sorted by EQ for me because I never turn it up enough to distort, and I'm skeptical of the concept of 'planar bass'. Soundstage, however, though I've never been bothered by the HD6XX necessarily, has got me curious simply because it's a concept I'm yet to experience. I'm unwilling to buy a HD800(S), but sorting the Rtings soundstage score places the K702 as the best value for this metric.
Nice, good call on the Crinacle graph for K702! I'd completely forgotten that his graph lacked the 2nd peak in the treble (at 5.5kHz), in fact back in May 2021 I overlaid Oratory & Crinacle K702 measurements and this is what I got:
K702 Oratory & Crinacle.jpg


And you're 100% correct that the Crinacle K702 graph looks a lot like the Sean Olive measurement in my prior post! This is indeed very interesting. I will see if my new K702 (4th unit) arriving with me this week, I'll see if it measures the same as my other 3 units. There is something going on seeing as Sean Olive's and Crinacle's measurements are so close. I may try some EQ's based on amalgamation of Crinacle's and Sean Olive's measurements, and it would be interesting to overlay Sean Olives & Crinacle's measurement on the same graph in REW (in the same manner that I showed in the graph in this post). But first port of call will be to see how much my new incoming 4th K702 (yr 2023) will measure vs my other 3 units that range in purchase dates from yr 2015, 2021 & 2022. (Quick idea: unless the American (Sean Olive) and Asian (Crinacle) K702 tends to measure differently to the European ones - not that I'm aware that there's a distinction, and they're all made in China right - so there shouldn't be a distinction, I mean I think that's unlikely).

EDIT: re you mentioning "planar bass" in your purchase considerations - I've got an HE4XX (Drop Hifiman), and the EQ'd bass on that is indeed very good, nice definition in that bass EQ'd up to Harman Curve. For me though it lacks in the other areas. It does sound tonally very good after EQ, but as soon as I swap to my EQ'd HD560s or EQ'd K702 I then realise the overall level of clarity is not the same in the planar HE4XX - it just lacks a bit of clarity overall. Soundstage of HE4XX I noted as being smaller than K702, maybe the same as HD560s, but I don't think I had my HD560s when I was doing my most detailed comparisons of HE4XX with my other headphones. In fact, my detailed comparisons of HE4XX were vs K702 / HD600 / NAD HP50, and at that point I rated soundstage of those headphones as follows from best to worst: K702 -> HE4XX -> NAD HP50 -> HD600. Going quickly back to planars, I'm not that sold on them, your average planar has a lot of fine grass small/sharp deviations & sharp jaggedness going on in the high mids & treble (everything above 1kHz really), and I think that negatively detracts from the experience, I think it reduces overall clarity, that's just an intuition, not a proven fact.

Honestly, soundstage is a big word with very subjective meaning. I bought the K702 based on Rtings soundstage score + overall score, coming from a closed HP. I don't believe many headphones manage to do soundstage properly. If you want real soundstage, buy speakers. The K702 has wider soundstage than typical headphones because of the large earcups.
Rtings rating of soundstage is inaccurate as they score it based on frequencies which you will end up EQing anyway. Soundstage (as pointed by solderdude) is rather dependent on earcup size and distance between ears and speakers. For the K702, you get these big earcups but the speakers are (almost) touching your ears, resulting in a wider but flat stage. The overall sound is not layered, no sense of depth and sound position lacks precision. From what I've read here, the HD800 + some big expensive planars are the only ones able to give soundstage, layering and keep accurate sound positioning.
Best is probably for you to try with Amazon and return if it's not convincing. If you want change, you could also try the planar route for deep bass that don't distort and layered sound.
The bit I bolded in your post, that doesn't align with my experience of K702 at all - not after EQ at least, so I thought I should highlight that. Generally though, I'd say that HD560s sound positioning is a bit more precise than K702 though - which agrees a bit with one of your points there.
 
Last edited:

markanini

Major Contributor
Joined
Feb 15, 2019
Messages
1,718
Likes
1,768
Location
Scania
Well, I've got both the K702 and the HD560s - I've been a bit nutty about them and I have 3 units of HD560s and 4 units of K702 now (after buying another one today at £79)! :facepalm: Mainly I bought another K702 because Sean Olive posted a measurement for a K702 that he bought recently and it totally tracked the Harman Curve, so I wanted to see if the new ones being produced now have been changed in frequency response (I have a miniDSP EARs that I can measure them on, and because Oratory has measured one of my units of K702 that I sent him then that means I can do a valid & accurate conversion curve just for that one model of headphone - conversion curve from miniDSP EARs to GRAS). Here's the Sean Olive measurement of K702 that he bought recently:
View attachment 264550
You can see that looks nothing like the K702 measurements that we know! So I definitely wanted to buy a new K702 and then measure it to find out if it's the same or not. I also thought that even if it measures similarly to my other K702 units then it would be interesting to see the unit to unit variation after having measured 4 seperate units of them.

About your question though, "what stands out for you about these headphones"? I think the soundstage is fun, it's wide, I also think they do really well with female vocals - note I'm talking about after EQ to the Harman Curve. I think the bass on them after EQ is adequate/good, and they're very comfortable to wear. To be fair, I think I've got enough units of HD560s and K702 to last me through the zombie apocalypse, or if they just stop making them eventually, lol - which is more likely!?


I agree that HD560s is a more sensible headphone to choose for a purchaser, as they don't have the solder reliability problems of the K702 and the HD560s has better unit to unit variation and better channel matching. I also agree with you that the HD560s does a few things better than the K702, the bass is noticeably more defined in the HD560s - talking after both have been EQ'd to Harman Curve of course. I also agree with you on your perception that the soundstage of the K702 is wider than that of the HD560s. In the past I've noted that the imaging is a bit better on the HD560s, ie the imaging within the soundstage is more precise than that of the K702 - normally assessed for me by listening to smoothness of panning effects as they move around and also through fps gaming (locational sound through Virtual 7.1 Surround Sound in fps gaming). I personally think the K702 is definitely worth £80 if you're using EQ - and if you're not afraid of using a soldering iron on the wires when they will likely fail after 1 or 2 yrs (sometimes sooner). The K702 frequency response though is very easy to EQ to the Harman Curve, so you don't have to be that concerned by the unconventional stock frequency response, the reason it's easy to EQ is that it's very smooth in it's undulations, so you don't have to use narrow filters on them (pic from Oratory's EQ):
View attachment 264556
Seans Olives sample was unusually good. The set you receive probably wont sound good without EQ. I personally demoed a set around the time Sean Olive posted the graph. AKG K612 would be a better subjective performer at least.
 
OP
Robbo99999

Robbo99999

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 23, 2020
Messages
6,874
Likes
6,672
Location
UK
Seans Olives sample was unusually good. The set you receive probably wont sound good without EQ. I personally demoed a set around the time Sean Olive posted the graph. AKG K612 would be a better subjective performer at least.
I don't think random variation has got much to do with it given Sean Olive's was very similar to Crinacles. I don't think that 5.5kHz peak would just disappear, as it has been known to be a significant trait of this headphone. I think it's either regional design differences (which is unlikely), or down to some kind of differences related to the actual measurement of them, I think it's the latter. I don't think it's revisions over time because Crinacles measurement from 2021 (possibly earlier) didn't have that 5.5kHz peak - but I'll have to measure this new K702 that's incoming just to confirm if it measures the same as the other 3 units I have (dating from 2015-2022).
 
Top Bottom