Mio(s) and AKG K701
Thu 2010/02/25 18:28 JST
Figma Mio finally comes home and joins Nendo Mio but first she wanted to get back to her AKG K701 headphones. Nendo Mio is more interested in jamming not knowing the AKGs were plugged into the Amp.
Poor Mio...
No Shimapan Shots!!!
nice, proud owner of one of the best headphone ever...^^
What kinda amp you hooked it up too?
I thought of asking the same thing lol, the AKG is a studio monitor headphones so although it sounds great with one of the widest soundstage it tends to be flat and uncolored, which can be a good or bad things depends on the listener. In the latter case, pairing this with a fine tube amp will be good.
Im pretty interested to know the gusto amp powering it and the amount of hours burnt in. ^^;
OK, so first off, I'm not an audiophile so I'm still new to the high end audio field. I am a bit of a headphone and earphone fanatic and I've been lusting after the K701s since my boss got a pair 1.5 years ago. Seeing it on K-On kinda pushed it over more to the must get category. Having said that, I do love these headphones but I only have a few dozen hours of burn in. I cant wait to experience them after a couple hundred hours. I also cant wait to get a great AMP and DAC and have a really high end system. It's not easy to afford good audio gear and still collect figures.
I've been looking at Headroom amps and dacs but also have been recommended to get a nice tube amp. New or used. I'd love any recs and suggestions. I listen to a very wide range of music but I'm really looking to get the most out of the jazz, soul, blues and R&B that I listen to.
I humbly welcome any suggestions.
Right now I am using a Heed Canamp which seems like the FOTM over on Head-fi for use with the 701s. Compared to my Luxman the Heed evens out the highs a bit and adds a bit more to the bottom line. I also hear the Darkvoice 336 pairs nicely with it. Also, OTL tube amps are generally frowned upon when used with the 701s. Something about not enough power but I am no expert.
Also, if you have not already, register with www head-fi org
Oh and my setup right now is Keces DA-151 DAC (or my wonderful Denon DCD-1520 CDP) into either my Heed Canamp or Luxman SQ507X Integrated.
Darkvoice 336! Got it! need to look for it.
Not sure if anyone will see this late reply but I've picked up an amp finally.
I was trying to get a Heed Canamp and even sent payment but it got returned to me as the seller apparently had gotten another buyer in the 1.5 hours between the email asking for payment and when I sent the paypal :-p
But a couple days later a Darkvoice 336SE was available and I picked that up. It has Tung Sol tubes and its sounding pretty good. The headphones have around 100 hours on them so it's still a work in progress but I'm really enjoying them. Like most reviews I've seen it does seem a little light on the bass but then again I've probably been listening to head/earphones too heavy on bass until now.
Thanks again for all the advice from everyone and looking forward to see how it'll sound after a couple hundred more hours of use.
@OP: Somehow this thread got shot up on google search result with anything K-701 and or any mentioned headamp in search term, so here I am :D. Anyway in case you need to burn in more, just let it run off your head with music a little louder than your normal listening level or you can use the burnin app from here http://www.burninwave.com/ . I use mostly pink noise with the aforementioned volume level.
Ooh thanks for that link. I'll have to try it out. I'm already trying to fight the audiophillia and try out different dacs and stuff. Must hold off for a little bit and replenish the funds first.
Yea it cracked me up and also annoyed me when I was doing research for amps and the K701 this page kept coming up high.
I've got it all up and running and I'm really enjoying it. Here's teh amp all lit up. :)
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/copperchef/4425932181/" title="DV336_Lit by Copperchef, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2789/4425932181_16e5e8018a.jpg" width="433" height="500" alt="DV336_Lit" /></a>
yah, im kinda on the same boat, but i do love my music experiences aswell.
ive been thinking of picking up some AT cans aswell...mmm
so far, everyone i know says tube amps are the way to go... but who can really justify those kinda prices for tubes now adays... you might wanna try some DIY and create your own amp for a fraction of the cost.
Meh, the price difference between solid states and tubes for the most part is negligible. Especially nowadays with the fairly cheap offerings from Woo Audio, LD, and DV (now Figaro?).
Oooh, K701s out of a non-amped source... ouch. Really they're not a headphone that should be run without one... many headphone amps have trouble driving them properly so...
I can vouch for Keces's DACs, I'm using the DA-131 (plugs into an SDPIF port rather than USB) with the OP amps rolled to National units. However I think the latest version comes with those anyway. For the music you're listening to, a tube amp is probably a good way to go, less clinical than solid-state. Just be warned though: tube amps are a bit more work than solid state. You need to give them warm-up time, let them cool off from time to time and never run them without load.
The Darkvoice gets very good writeups. I'm using a Little Dot mkIVse (but with Tung-Sol driver tubes) with HD595s. Gives good sound, but you've GOT to have clean power going into it. So far I've had to send two back that were destroyed by the dodgy power out where we live. The third one I plugged into a UPS and so far haven't had any trouble with it. Can't fault Little Dot's customer service though. They were very fast, very helpful and even refunded my shipping both times.
Let us know how the 701s go after burn in and once they're amped though. Been considering as set of K702s myself.
*Achem* Not amped Mio's MacBook *Achem* *HandPhone* *Achem* >_<
Man! Loads of expensive gear in here =( I feel dwarfed since my headamp can barely drive the 701s.
=[ Get a decent SS and the soundstage will blow your mind. I normally listen to classical/female vocals on the 701s but I was feeling wild one night and listened to "Leif Erikson," by Interpol one night and I swore I was in an aircraft hangar.
...which was a bugbear when watching K-On! I will admit =P
This thing needs around 300hours of burnt in according to a fellow audiophile I am a friend of. I confirmed that the Darkvoice 336 goes very well with the AKG K701, only listened a few hours from it though as the set was his :D.
As I'm also just getting into audiophilia illness, and I still want to jug my stuffs around I use the JAVS DAC-1 Overture (ESI Dr.Prime) DAC/headamp combo with Denon D5000 or Sennheiser HD595 (50OOhms ver). If I really needs to be portable I use my KOSS PortaPro.
Well audiophilia is an psychological illness that causes you to always find reasons to justify buying new stuffs.
I hear you. Good choice with the 595s btw, a friend has a pair and they are definitely alot nicer for rock music imo. I was thinking of an EF2/DV336/LDMKIII feeding a pair but now I am eyeing the Hi-Fi EF5 --> HE-5 which I am pretty sure would murder either setups.
"Well audiophilia is an psychological illness that causes you to always find reasons to justify buying new stuffs."
well...isent that the truth...haha
Sadly, nothing in life is free nor cheep...
Thanks for all the suggestions!
Yea I heard it needed some (lots) of burn in so I figure that I'd get them first and let them start the burn in first until I get my amp for more of the full effect. So I'm looking at the Darkvoice 336, the Heed CanAmp. Still considering the Headroom stuff but looks like alot of research ahead of me. I did register with head-fi, oh boy another million posts to read :D I'm have a hard time finding the Heed for purchase. Must research more. Good thing its a slow, snowy day today.
"Well audiophilia is an psychological illness that causes you to always find reasons to justify buying new stuffs."
I'm HOPING to avoid this once I get a proper setup. But I said the same thing with figures "Oh I just want to get a Saber lily nendo" =_=
Nice photos!! I want the figma, nendo, and the headphones!!! Sooooo Jealous!!! (>_<)
PAIN!
Classic.
shimapan!!! yay
Srsly. Why do I see now so much Mio's these days.
Starts to get damn annoyning. But the headphones are nice.
great series of photos!
Nikon D700 @.@
Now that you mentioned it, ZOMG D700.... How'd you balance the cost of Gear in photography and Audio?!
Hehe You Metadata peepers.
The D700 is for work. Its what I use to shoot to earn my money for my hobbies ^^ I almost dont want to mention my gear in here because these are "hobby" shots that I do on the side and more often than not way too late at night simply because I have an idea and want to shoot it. I see way too many flaws with these shots and will redo it when I have a chance. The figures take alot of my spending money. The audio gear... yea that's the hardest part. I'm just getting into it and will slowly build up the gear.
wow! AKG K701 !!!
I wish to have one for myself, one for DD, one for figma and one for nendoroid mio!!!!
I also have this headphone the sound is no good on the laptop so i order a single device for DAC/headamp/pre amp combo.I know separate device is better but but mine budget with shipping cost is between 300 EUR. the device i order was Audio-gd Fun