AKG K 701 WHITE HEADPHONES

by AKG

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 19 x 16 x 5 inches ; 8.3 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B000EBBJ6Y
• Item model number: K 701
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 17, 2003

Product Description

%3Cfont size%3D%222%22%3EWhether you prefer the holistic approach or like to listen analytically%2C the K 701 will turn perception into pure enjoyment%2EAKG is the first manufacturer in the world to use revolutionary flat%2Dwire technology in headphones%2C namely%2C the K 701%2E The result is a truly dramatic sound that places every musician at their correct location with pinpoint accuracy%2E This kind of agility%2C spaciousness%2C brilliant highs%2C and velvety%2C punchy bass is simply miraculous%2E These superlative open%2Dback dynamic headphones provide an outstandingly accurate sound and excellent imaging%2E Try the K 701 and find out what ingenious headphone engineering can do for you%2E%3C%2Ffont%3E

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new contender from AKG doesn't disappoint, May 12, 2006

By 

RT "gadget guy" (Canada) - See all my reviews

The AKG K701 is the latest headphone from AKG which takes place at the top of their line. Their previous top end headphone is the K1000 "ear speaker" which has now been discontinued. This headphone has some fancy new technical features, such as their new Varimotion diaphragm and flat wire coil, which is unique to this model and its baby brother K601, features that are supposed to give it better sound.

Let's get to the meat of this review. The two most important things: the comfort and the sound.

Comfort:

The headphone is very comfortable, the soft ear pads surround your ear. The headphone top headband is made out of leather, and self adjust to the size of your head. Even with my size 7 1/2 hat size, I find the headphones comfortable for more than 2 hours of listening, the clamping force is strong but not overly so. In comparison to the popular Sennheiser HD580/600/650, I find the clamping pressure to be more tolerable. However, I do find the pressure of the knobs under the top of the leather band to give the top of my head a burning sensation due to the pressure. The headphone is lighter than it looks, overall I rate this headphone among the top candidates for comfort, with only the headband issue detracting.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Sound:
This headphone has a very neutral "audiophile" sound, there is no part of the frequency spectrum that sounds overly forward, that is, the bass is balanced with the midrange, and the treble is not overly prominent or dominant. I do feel the bass is a tad bit light. If the recording is bass light, these headphones might sound a bit thin. The depth of bass is very good, the headphone has good bass response down to 25Hz as I verified for myself by running test tone sweeps, so the bass is there, just not as much "in your face". The midrange sounds excellent, and the headphone does vocals really well, especially female voice, with good body, airiness, and clarity. The headphone does a reasonably good job of handling sibilance, without emphasizing it unduly. This is the headphone's primary strength, clear luscious and fluid sounding midrange, it seems to work well for female voice and recovers the detail and texture in the singer's voice. If your recordings are harsh sounding, the headphone doesn't try to hide it, the headphone isn't really well suited for low quality MP3 listening. Unlike some of the Sennheiser headphones like the HD600, I find this headphone to have a more "airy", "lively" sound with cymbals with a more convincing metallic shimmer, but without too much treble energy that gives me a headache after long periods of listening. It's somewhere in between the Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic models for treble presence. Strings and acoustical instruments are very well rendered, with good details that lets you here every nuance of the music. Piano sound very realistic, carrying the richness of the harmonics very well.

Soundstaging/imaging is something that is quite contrived with headphone listening in general, but for the most part, there is less of that "in your head" feeling with these headphones. The performers seem to be more well spaced in good live recordings, and you feel like you are sitting further back rather than being right in the middle of the band.

The only real issue is that the bass is about 10% too lean from what I perceive as perfectly neutral tonality. Maybe turning the bass control up a couple of notches is all that is needed to get perfect sound.

As far as sensitivity, these headphones do require a decent amp. It might be too much of a stretch for some portable devices to handle the load, but out of an iPod even, the sound is still quite pleasant, altough it is a bit weak in volume. These are headphones that work better with a home stereo system or a separate headphone amplifier.

As this is a premium product, most people who aren't critical listeners might be better off with some of the cheaper and still very capable headphones like the Sennheiser HD580, but for a person who has a great high grade stereo system and takes their music listening seriously, these are the real deal. If most of your music is 128kbps MP3s, I say don't bother. I'd suggest that the rest of your system should be of a pretty high grade also, these capability of these headphones is a bit wasted unless you listen to good quality recordings regularly and have a good CD/SACD/DVD Audio player. Also look into buying an outboard headphone amp with this headphone.

Overall sound quality: 9 out of 10.

Conclusion: one of the best headphones under $500. If you are a discriminating listener, these are well worth it. I personally prefer it to any other dynamic headphone under $1000 (includes all the current Grados, Sennheisers, Beyerdynamic, Sony and Audio Technica models). Just
be aware that these aren't very bassy headphones.

96 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Closest thing to the sound of live instruments, November 4, 2007

By 

K. Swanson (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

How much do you like music? Do you ever shut off your life entirely so that you can listen to your favorite music alone in a dark room for hours at a time and let your mind float away to a more perfect world?

If music is your joy, your balm, your solace, your raison d'etre, then I can't think of a better way to spend 270 bucks. In fact, after owning the 701s for a year, I'd say that I would gladly pay a grand for these and not mind at all.

I was a Sennheiser man for over 25 years, as AKG cans always sounded a little too processed for me. I preferred the open soundstage and realism of the Senns. But these 701s quite frankly blow away the Senn 650 and 600, the other top-end audiophile phones that, along with Beyer, comprise almost all of the headphone market for those who demand the very finest musical reproduction available. At that level, these are beyond a bargain. They are a gift.

I look forward every single day to putting these on. They are not for ipods unless you have a decent little pre-amp, like the HeadRoom series. But plug 'em into a good component system and they will change the way you think about recorded music. They have deep, tight bass...real bass, not a simulacrum. I can hear Jaco's callouses on the strings, no joke. Classical recordings come alive to the extreme, as the mids are so sweet and rich that a good string section becomes a sensual delight. The top end is likewise astonishingly present and forward but always relaxed and welcoming. In short, these present perfectly balanced musical sound. The better the recording, the more they shine. My best pieces of vinyl have never sounded better. They are also the quietest cans I've ever (not) heard; nary a hum or crackle to be found.

One major caveat: they MUST be broken in for at least 300 hours before their true glory becomes apparent. I put my 701s in a drawer, covered 'em with sweaters and left Oregon's Out Of The Woods on repeat, loud, for 10 days when I got them. The harsh, brittle sound that made me cringe when I first heard them out of the box was replaced by shimmering joy. I was in heaven (that sublime album had something to do with it as well). Little did I know that there is an upper deck in heaven, and it showed up at about 500 or maybe 600 hours of playing. My friends the 701s now have over 1,000 hours on them, and as I listen to them at this moment I can truthfully say that only seeing a band live or playing my guitars gives me the same visceral musical thrill. I love good speakers, and a sub will give you bass that headphones never could, but the intimacy and sparkling detail of the 701s is untouched by even the finest electrostatic speaker.

Speaking of e-s, in the 70s and 80s e-s 'phones were the ne plus ultra. I heard many models, and not even the best pair for thousands of dollars sounded as clear and clean and warm and above all enticing as the 701s. These headphones remind me why I love music so much, and why it makes me so happy. And they do it every day, for hours. They also make dvds sound absolutely incredible; 24-bit recordings sound even more indescribably luscious. They sound great with all music, but well-recorded acoustic music, jazz, classical, bluegrass, opera, doo-wop, etc, truly comes alive in a way I had not experienced until I heard the 701s.

And did I mention that they are easily the most comfortable cans I've ever worn? I often forget I'm wearing them, even after 4 or 6 hours at a stretch. They look ok too, but who cares what headphones look like? It's all about the sound, and the magnificent engineers at AKG dialled it in right this time around.

I think that not only are the 701s the finest headphones you can find, but that at 270 dollars they represent value that is almost non-existent these days.

My very highest recommendation.

61 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best new headphone on the market, April 3, 2006

By 

Amazonian (San Francisco<P>San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

The competitive mid-range in stereophile headphones includes fine products like the Sennheiser HD-650 and the austere Beyerdynamic DT-880. The AKG K-701 fits between these two headphones sonically, and as you can imagine, each product has its vocal adherents. The 701 has enough outstanding points to deserve careful consideration when shoppoing for a mid-price headphones.

The K-701's white exterior has a white iPoddish look - which some may not care for - but the construction is solid. It's distinguished by the two radial adjusting bars along the top of the phones (making for an automatic fit), and a contoured leather strip underneath. The outside of the ear cups have a wire mesh center, allowing for some free flow of sound - and creating the phones' typically bright, crystalline sound signature. The cups are lined with a comfortable velour, which can be worn easily for hours without fatigue. Indeed, there are times when you forget you're wearing headphones, though there can occassionally be pressure on the top of your head. They come with their own custom headphone stand for easy retrieval. Their straight gray cable terminates in a 1/4" jack, though a 1/8" adapter jack is included for use with portable gear.

Because of their semi-open design, they aren't your preferred design if sound leakage is an issue.

Personally, I think the 701 are an extremely attractive headphone, but ultimately it's all about sound. These headphones require an unusually long break-in period of 300 hours (or longer) to achieve their best sound. (I just tossed them in a drawer for a few days with my iTunes collection playing through them.) At first, the 701s will lack bass articulation and smoothness, and will have some sibilance; with break-in, these faults gradually vanish as the phones settle into their mature sound.

Preferences for a particular headphone sound are as individual as a pair of ears. The AKG K-701 headphones have a sound that combines characteristics of the HD-650 and DT-880. It has a preferences for the upper range, with a sweet middle and an integrated bass sound. You won't get the smoky, deep bass feel of the Beyers, nor the visceral lows of he Senns; instead, there's a feeling that bass is an natural and integral part of the recording. Still, it's fair to say that confirmed bass-heads need not apply.

The 701 exhibits a respectable soundstage, pleasing but never "in your face."

The AKG K-701 have a nice balance out of the box, but profit handsomely from a complementary headphone amplifier. Favored amps include the Woo 3 tube amp, Larocco Pocket Reference II, and Meier Aria, all of which have proven synergy with the 701. As the 701 doesn't have a powerful output without some kind of amping, it's something you'll want to think about investigating down the line. On the other hand I'm listening through the sound output of my iMac (which has iTunes as an equalizer), and the volume is perfectly satisfactory. (Headphone amps not only increase volume, but increase articulation and punch.)

If you like a clear, sparkling sound with good articulaton and a somewhat light, integrated bass, the AKG K-701 may be the headphone you're looking for. Each headphone has a serial number, and there can be a waiting list. This limited supply only adds to the 701's mystique, and it's doubtful you'll ever find them in your local stereo store.