Author Topic: AKG K 701 vs Sennheiser HD 598 (Read 6234 times)

Saras · « **Reply #20 on:** July 18, 2012, 07:45:53 PM »

What concerns outdoor use. If you intend to use full-open phones outdoors, I will bludgeon you with an axe... personally.

kitamesume · « **Reply #21 on:** July 18, 2012, 07:55:56 PM »

^ personally i don't find headphones outdoor usable at all, they're either too bulky or too hard to use. earphones or hook-on tho makes a fine outdoor... i wonder what term should i use on this, lol.

edit: is there any people here that wears eye-glasses? how the heck do you guys get to wear both the glasses and headphones without getting uncomfortable o.o

NaRu · « **Reply #22 on:** July 19, 2012, 12:18:08 AM »

If you want to get any of those headphones you need a amp. Another thing as mentioned above those are open head phones which means they don't block the sound leaving the headset. Everyone around you will hear it.

vuzedome · « **Reply #23 on:** July 19, 2012, 08:00:40 AM »

Quote from: NaRu on July 19, 2012, 12:18:08 AM

If you want to get any of those headphones you need a amp. Another thing as mentioned above those are open head phones which means they don't block the sound leaving the headset. Everyone around you will hear it.

Don't spoil the fun just yet, we want to be able to say "sorry about your wallet" punch line.

Nyking754 · « **Reply #24 on:** July 19, 2012, 05:40:15 PM »

I usually dont bring my headphones outside but sometimes i do and seeing how i can change the cables on the sennheiser seems to do it for me

Tri_Edge · « **Reply #25 on:** July 21, 2012, 07:09:17 PM »

Those headphones are good and all and I might buy one of them myself.

*edited*

vuzedome · « **Reply #26 on:** July 22, 2012, 12:56:51 AM »

Audioengine has a great line up. Don't know about their A2 but the A5 is crazy.
At the least Audioengine won't blow a hole in your pocket.
But if you want to go all the way for your desk and you have enough room, Paradigm Atom and a Onkyo amp.

This is definitely not the place to be asking for Hi-Fi advice.

Tri_Edge · « **Reply #27 on:** July 22, 2012, 01:48:43 AM »

Quote from: vuzedome

This is definitely not the place to be asking for Hi-Fi advice.

I know, and BTW I just got me AKG K701 from amazon, I can't wait to try them on.

raandomer · « **Reply #28 on:** July 27, 2012, 12:55:40 AM »

Quote from: Tri_Edge on July 22, 2012, 01:48:43 AM

I know, and BTW I just got me AKG K701 from amazon, I can't wait to try them on.

So whats your first impressions like? Personally I think they suck for listening to music

pingryanime · « **Reply #29 on:** July 28, 2012, 05:06:25 AM »

I've been using AKG's for the past few weeks as I'm doing university level music stuff over the summer, but to be honest, for their price, I'm a bit iffy... I personally only own a Sennheiser HD280, which is only ~$100, but for the AKG 701's costing almost 3x more, I honestly don't hear THAT much of a difference to warrant the huge price difference. Of course, I might not have the most gifted ears in the world, but having been listening to delicate music (eg, classical) for my entire life, I consider myself pretty damn good at noticing minute differences and all that jazz. I'm not saying the AKG's are bad persay, just that the AKG701 specifically(since I haven't used many other AKGs) in my personal opinion aren't worth the price.

Gamerzhell · « **Reply #30 on:** July 28, 2012, 07:17:49 PM »

@pingry: k701s need a fairly good amp/dac setup with good source material to reach its full potential, straight out of a computer/ipod it isn't gonna sound much better than the hd280. if past listening with sennheisers is anything to go by though, there should literally be a night and day difference between the k701 and hd280. the k701s are renowned for their extremely neutral sound, while sennheisers generally come slightly bass heavy and being closed should make them even more bassy.

@nyking: hd598 is a better allround headphone which can be driven to near full potential out of just about anything.

pingryanime · « **Reply #31 on:** July 28, 2012, 11:23:20 PM »

Fair enough. I'll go try the headphones in the recording lab when I next get a chance. Those are hooked up to the an entire rig so I ought to be able to hear the difference.

kitamesume · « **Reply #32 on:** July 29, 2012, 06:25:08 AM »

i still don't understand whats the need of an amp, if you'd ask a real electronics engineer they'd say "thats BS, it shouldn't up the sound's quality rather they'd introduce distortion"

simply put an amp is an amplifier not an enhancer, so that would mean if the power of the output from the source is loud enough without distortions and loud enough to make you deaf for the headphone then whats the point of adding an amplifier?

vuzedome · « **Reply #33 on:** July 29, 2012, 08:39:09 AM »

If they're actual E&E engineers then they'd probably say something about impedance, and the need of a suitable amp to drive the heavy impedance headphones.
And then there's the sensitivity of the headphone drivers and other technical facts.

Well I'm not an engineer but if an actual engineer were to dismiss these objective facts then well, better hope they're not responsible for safety hazards in our cars.

Now anyone can claim that listening tests are all bull shit but from past experiences, some headphones do require an appropriate if not efficient amp to drive them. Take it or leave it kitamesume but until you've tried the AKG's with a decent headpone amplifier in between the headphone and an ipod, you won't know.

As I've said from the beginning, try it before you buy it.

kitamesume · « **Reply #34 on:** July 29, 2012, 08:59:30 AM »

i can say there are headphones that do require amps, usually those headphones have more than 200ohms of impedance where as the 2volts Vrms isnt enough to drive it since the total power output wouldn't be over 20milliwatts which is really low for a headphone. headphones that are well under 100ohms on the other hand shouldn't need amps, although some transducers which are stiff as leather would need more than 100milliwatt to be as loud as a sensitive transducer at 20milliwatts.
so if the headphones has either a stiff transducer or high impedance, maybe even both, then i don't see the point of having an amp, a simple test is to use the raw output of the unit and see if it's max volume can reach the maximum loudness of the headphone without distorting the sound, if it does then the output shouldn't be needing any amplification.

xShadow · « **Reply #35 on:** July 29, 2012, 10:37:25 AM »

From what I've read up through google (being a comp e major I'm a bit interested), yeah most earphones that don't have high input impedance don't really need an amp, and probably won't benefit much from one. I think the issue is that some devices don't have enough power to fully drive whatever earphones you're using, so maybe some low sounds and whatnot may not properly make it through the input impedance to the transducer.

Also, I'm nowhere near an expert on this side of things (I prefer digital circuitry to analog circuitry and all of its wonderful Laplace transforms), so feel free to correct me... but this is also another thing that I'm wondering about: what happens when you turn up the volume to a level where the earphones respond well enough for you to hear what you want (ie you hear it at the volume you want), on any normal device? There has to be an increase in power somewhere, and that's in the device you're using. But what if sound reproduction on the device gets worse as you turn volume up? In other words, more distortion, clipping, etc. in the sound as you jack the volume up to the levels you want. This device would be fine powering some crappy iPhone earphones or something because you could probably keep the volume relatively low and be fine (granted the quality wouldn't be that good anyway with those earphones), but when using your higher quality earphones you need to turn the volume up to hear everything well.

I would guess this is where an earphone amp would come in, because you could keep the volume the same on your device, but the amplifier would make the output sufficient for your earphones, with minimal distortion. Heck, it might include signal processing units to filter out noise and whatnot, too. This would be a lot better than increasing the volume on your poor iTouch or whatever you've got. My guess is that the sound would be much more clear, too, because the device is outputting at a comfortable range.

vuzedome · « **Reply #36 on:** July 29, 2012, 11:12:09 AM »

Quote from: kitamesume on July 29, 2012, 06:25:08 AM

i still don't understand whats the need of an amp, if you'd ask a real electronics engineer they'd say "thats BS, it shouldn't up the sound's quality rather they'd introduce distortion"

Here's what I'm offended about, because it's engineers who are making the amps and not just some DIY hobbyist with great marketing sense.

kitamesume · « **Reply #37 on:** July 29, 2012, 01:41:12 PM »

^its because whenever i try to look up for a reason as to why do you really really need an amp i can't find any thing other than "it makes it sound better", i asked some of the E&E professors when i had a fieldtrip to a technical collage and they told me that it really isn't likely other than the reasons i gave above, at most these amps will introduce distortions due to their designs and specially the parts used, which could be misinterpreted as a perk of the amp, you can hear them if you inter-change the amps being used at the same volume levels, as some will sound brighter or boomy due to their feedback.

vuzedome · « **Reply #38 on:** July 29, 2012, 03:58:25 PM »

Obviously those E&E professors don't really enjoy using headphones.
Some people like to add some flavour to their headphones, hence the distortion, others just want to be able to get the best out of their headphones.
It definitely does not enhance the listening experience, that is unless like I've stated above that you want some flavour or colouration.
Again, it comes down to personal preferences. But you'll never know until you try, it's just sad that some people dismiss certain facts when it goes against their beliefs.

Tephnos · « **Reply #39 on:** August 05, 2012, 05:10:56 PM »

I've never heard the HD598, but I do use the HD650.

The 650 is probably one of the best headphones I've ever listened to. It continually scales in quality with better amps, and it's a great laid back headphone. Most of the time when I listen to music, it's for background noise while I do something else. The 650, being so laid back and friendly, is perfect for long listening sessions without fatigue. Their ability of masking badly mastered tracks is a bonus.

The K701 sounds unnatural to me - the soundstage is far too huge. I could never really get into it, and the headband bothered me.

Since I've already done 2 of the 'golden three' I'll add in the DT880. This one, coupled with the 650 are probably a perfect match. The 650 is very laid back and chill, whilst the DT880 is very forward and engaging due to the increased treble. A side effect of this however is that you can't really listen for long - it's a very fatiguing headphone. I personally love listening to orchestrals and acoustics on the 880, while the 650 makes short work of anything else.

Amping is a definite must though - really brings out the 'flavour' in the music, so to speak.