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• AKG K 701 Headphones

• Price Range

  $269.00 - $269.0
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• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: djbob1858

  Updated:06-11-08

  Duration of ownership:1 Months

  Strengths: Comfortable, Well built, Sound is Fantastic!

  Weaknesses: None

  Overall Evaluation: I have either owned or auditioned numerous high-end headphones and the AKG K701's are the best overall so far. The balance is perfect. No overbearing Bass or shrill highs on this phone. My listening preferences vary from Classical, Celtic, Instrumental, Classic Rock, Hard Rock and even Country. The K701 handles them all very well. They are especially good with female vocals. No matter which genre you prefer, you will notice things in songs you are familiar with that you never knew were there.Some "experts" recommend "burning" these in for at least 300 hours before listening to them, in order to develop their full sound. I, however, believe one should just start listening as soon as you receive them. I found the sound right out of the box to be truly spectacular. If they do get better with extended play, Great. But go ahead and enjoy them while they age to musical perfection.One consideration to keep in mind though. The K701's do benefit from a dedicated Headphone Amp.(I highly recommend one) You can listen out of a portable source, but an Amp will bring out their full potential. I particularly like them with a nice tube amp, but solid state sounds great as well.

• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: Entertainer

  Updated:01-29-08

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: Extremely well balanced, natural and transparent sound

  Weaknesses: Not as comfortable as Sennheiser 600

  Overall Evaluation: These headphones provide a very natural , balanced and transparent sound. The superb midrange is extremely realistic . Highs glisten. The taut bass is fine. Of course the bass is not going to have impact of a speaker. These headphones have a great spacial effect. Instruments are well placed and they appear like they are outside one's head ( unlike the sound is in your head , like most headphones ) . They are somewhat less comfortable than the Sennheiser 600, but the AKGs have far superior sound. They make the Sennheisers sound rather muted and lifeless , by comparison. The AKGs need to be broken in, and they do best with a headphone amp. I'm using the Musical Fidelity V3 cans.

• Overall Rating
  4 Star Review

  Reviewed by: linkai8424

  Updated:01-03-08

  Duration of ownership:2 Months

  Strengths: wide open sound fieldclear sound

  Weaknesses: do need a headphone pre-amp to driveopen design so sound leaks

  Overall Evaluation: At this price range, this headphone is for serious music lover. I like the sound it produces so far. Highs are very smooth, midrange is great, and bass is well defined. The headphone is not suitable for portable use. It needs a pre-amp to drive for portable devices such as ipod or you have to crank up the volume. Plus it's an open can, the sound does leak. Therefore it's only good for home use where you pair it with amps with beautiful sound. It's quite a comfortable headphone also. It's the best headphone I have had so far, and pretty satisfied with this product. But the price is definitely for everyone!

• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: Ranyuncho

  Updated:12-31-07

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: good highs and mids

  Weaknesses: bass not that great

  Overall Evaluation: these are pretty good sounding for mids-highs although bass is a little lacking comfortable but slide if you move your head forward too much. sound seem slightly louder on the left thats just the way they are whatever you do dont try to send them in for service thinking that might be a problem with them what a nightmare that was. stereophile guy says these are the best cans ever but i have to disagree they are not any better that sennheiser650 they just present a different sound more mid-high oriented while the 650 are mid-low oriented. either one is best in class

• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: emlippa

  Updated:03-18-07

  Duration of ownership:45 Days

  Strengths: Daynamic contrast, top end extension, transparent voice and low end punch.

  Weaknesses: NONE

  Overall Evaluation: These headphones take about 100 hours to break in. Out of the box they sound bright and lacking low end punch. After 40 hours the top end becomes smooth and open with just a shade of brightness. The low end is good with a hint of better things to come. At 120 hours you are transported into the recording studio and can hear everything that is going on there with full dynamics from the lowest lows to the most transparent midrange and top end you could ever wish for. These headphones work ok with the headphone output of most audio gear but they need more power in order for you to hear what they can really do, so a good headphone amp is strongly recommended. In a nut shell, these are the best headphones I have ever owned. They are in the same class as the Stax electrostatic ear speakers. I am a long time audiophile with over $95,000 invested in home audio and the K 701's are a welcome addition.

• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: hoppergrass14

  Updated:11-04-06

  Duration of ownership:2 Weeks

  Strengths: soundstage, mids, comfort

  Weaknesses: long burn in time (300 hrs), bass is SLIGHTLY understated for my taste, need for a headphone amp to fully appreciate quality

  Overall Evaluation: still a new product for me. i let them burn in for 300 hours before use because they sound very flat out of the box. still less than 325 hours use but they sound great now. i hear they are not fully burnt in until around 1000 hours. i'm currently pushing them with a lower end headphone amp (practical devices xm3, US$130) and it does a decent job. currently shopping for a nicer amp as i hear it will make quite a difference.

• Overall Rating
  4 Star Review

  Reviewed by: Asrale

  Updated:07-23-06

  Duration of ownership:3 Months

  Strengths: Versatility for multiple music genres, air & openness, layer separation

  Weaknesses: Bass may be anemic for most people, a somewhat sterile sound

  Overall Evaluation: Bass on the K701 is very tight, very controlled. It goes relatively deep, but loses signal strength somewhere in the 40 Hz region. It's not quite low enough for electronic music that uses low-pass sweeps and rolls, such as Massive Attack and The Crystal Method. Unlike a lot of other headphones that allow bass to "boom" and retain a sense of some flabbiness, the K701 maintains full control over the entire low frequency range, holding it back to give a sound that's distinctly non-bassy. Bass is simply [i]there[/i] - no more, no less. It's simply a toned, almost rounded bass that can reproduce nearly every kind of bass note with convincing realism. The mid-bass is fully controlled too, almost to the point of restraint. There's little sense of an impact to bass notes - it lacks force, fullness, and energy. And although the bass is very well controlled, there's not a whole lot of quantifiable texture to it. Bass is "shaped" on this headphone more than it's "defined," leading to often vague-sounding notes. Kick drums specifically aren't very well defined - they tend to sound like generic bass notes rather than the textured punch that they really are. So it's not a headphone for any kind of bassy music, and this includes breakbeat electronic, heavy rock, metal, and industrial (to generalize of course, there may be some exceptions in those genres).As for the mids, they're slightly warm and have a very pleasant, easy-to-listen-to sound, with a very natural presentation. The wide array of instruments that reside in the mid region sound fully clear and discrete. Male and female vocals are reproduced with an accurate, if not total, realism. There's a very slight grain to the edges of male vocals, making them sound a tiny bit fuzzy. However, there's an overall spike in the region of the female voice, making it sound distinctly powerful and sultry regardless of what the mastered mix intends. Upper-range female singers in the category of Jewel, Liz Fraser, Enya, etc, get brought to the forefront and receive an extra attention to detail in the process. The subtleties in female vocal performances are easily noticeable, like throat-catching, slight off-key notes, and half-whispering. The K701 is even detailed enough to almost get noises like coughing and the sense that the female singer's mouth is drying up. Even sopranos like Sarah Brightman get added power.When it comes to the highs, the K701 gets most of it - up to about 16 kHz. Signal strength rapidly falls away starting at 18-19 kHz. It tries to compensate for this a bit with a quick attack, which helps a little but not much. Classical music works for the most part, but on a good recording, the limitations on the highs start showing up. It tends to gloss over violins - the violin sections tend to get portrayed more with a "sweet" sound rather than the gutsy sound a wooden instrument should exude. Some people might prefer this sweetness, but ultimately that's not a realistic portrayal - gritty performances on a finely-crafted instrument should be conveyed realistically as well.Soundstage is open and wide with lots of airiness. It's so open that the edges of notes sound like they trail a bit into a vanishing airspace. It also has a nice ability to sort out instruments from a mix and place them within their own space without much interference from each other, so the ear can easily hear everything going on in the music without having to turn up the volume. Stereo-channel separation is excellent as well. If something is supposed to come from the left channel, it actually sounds like it, and is even placed a bit back too.Imaging is nicely 3D but a bit more vertical than horizontal - the image is more up and down than anything else.In terms of amplification, the K701 distinctly benefits from lots of power. A high-powered receiver or dedicated headphone amplifier is recommended, as it's very demanding - it may be rated at 62 Ohms but it drives more like a 250 Ohm headphone. When using dedicated headphone amplifiers, higher-powered op-amps are recommended. The headphones will take full advantage of any power being given to them. A tube amplifier is recommended for those who want a punchy bass and overall realism; and a solid-state one recommended for those who want a balanced, precise sound.Overall the K701 is a fine headphone, although it's more suited for "reference" purposes than anything else. It has lots of air for those who like an airy presentation, but it's not so great at conveying emotion and passion in performed music - the frequencies that give body and fullness are severely lacking. It seems to work best with rock, pop, ambient electronic, trip-hop, jazz, acoustic, New Age, and nearly anything with a female singer. A good all-rounder at this price point.

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AKG K 701 Headphones

$269.00(1 sellers) • Avg User Rating •Specs