AKG K-701 5-stars Reviews

Awesome cans!

Great quality sound, playback could be called a little sterile but for critical listening and mixing these are great. Comfy to wear, but a little fragile in a bag, best to get a dedicated case if travelling with them. Pro headphones but are for mixing in quiet environment, don't provide any isolation from outside noise and sound from them will spill into microphones, these are designed to be open at sides so sound is natural not meant for recording purposes.

Simply super...

Would buy another anytime when needed.

Excellent

Very pleased with these headphones for mixing and listening to music. They seem neutral and to give an accurate representation of the source material. They're comfortable to wear for long periods as well. Note that the open design means they're not great for recording with a mic, as there's a fair bit of leakage (which benefits the clarity - they're just not designed for recording).

Finally found my desert island headphones

After using these headphones for quite some time, and having been through many others before and after, I can happily say they are the best headphones for me for use in sound design and late night mixdowns.

These headphones have a bright top end sound that takes a while to settle down from new. The high end tends to soften/mellow with many hundreds of hours use and now they are giving me the most accurate sound I have had along with a comfort level that means I can wear them without issue for hours on end.

As I mentioned in the title these are my desert island headphones, after years of searching, and if they ever get lost (I can't imagine them failing as they are seriously well built) I will buy another pair in a heartbeat.

Great for mixing, not so great for listening

The AKG K-701 headphones are a superb set of headphones. They are permanently in resident in my studio as my go-to headphones when mixing.

They give a faithful and slightly unforgiving (which is what you need) sound and a precise soundstage for panning and getting levels right in a mix. Because of their unforgiving nature they can almost sound a little sterile sometimes, but this is not a bad thing. If you can get a mix sounding good in these headphones then they invariably sound great on monitor speakers / hifi / other headphones.

You could of course use these for listening to music and some would probably like their response in that respect. Personally I prefer LISTENING on my Audio Technica ATH-M50 which are far more forgiving and engaging.

Wearability-wise (I'm sure that's a word) they're nice and comfortable for long stints of headphone wearing as the cups go around your ears and not squash them like smaller cans can.

Recommended.

transparent fidelity

These cans are a joy. They have deep, faithful bass and smooth highs. Whilst they exclude most background noise, the fact that they are open backed is useful in lots of situations. They are comfortable to wear, of high quality and highly recommended.

Hervorragende Kopfhörer

Die Kopfhörer sitzen nicht nur gut und machen einen extrem stabilen Eindruck. Sie Übertreffen auch Klanglich alles was ich zuvor in diese Richtung ausprobieren durfte. Ebenso wie der Klang gefällt mir auch der Design und die Abschirmung.

Daumen Hoch TechNick

AKG = listening the truth

Since I bought this headset I really have the fidelity with the artist as I do on my Hifi system.

Not charming, no heavy bass, sparkling sound.

Can be used on anything, but compare with the Iphone 4 s, the 5s give mutch better output level.

AKG -K701

Comfortable headphones that look and sound really good. Chose these mainly to mix with and they do a pretty good job. Really good for classical and acoustic stuff, but can sometimes lack a little in the bass department. To get the best out of these they really need to be driven by a good headphone amp. All in all, great value for the money and can compare with other much more expensive models.

A quality product

I bought these 'phones after reading many reviews and I have not been disappointed.

The sound is quite flat and, to my ears, a faithful reproduction of the source sound. They excel particularly with classical music, though I have been delighted with many other genres including, rock, pop, folk and Americana. They do not have a thumping bass, but it is there and sounds full enough to me.

I have had about 40 hours use since purchasing them and I have noticed that the sensitivity has increased noticeably in this time, so I presume that they are breaking in.

The build quality is second to none and they are extremely comfortable and easy to wear over a couple of hours without ant fatigue.

Overall, I would highly recommend these 'phones.

AKG K701 White

AKG K701 (Open)

Powerful amp required to make these come alive. No EQ / colouration - Pure flat-line reference phones ; what you hear is what’s on the CD / music.

Very capable of giving high impact bass, sub-bass, and treble. Mids and vocals are excellent too. Separation of instruments is amazing, you can sense the space between the different instruments / sounds.

Due to no colouration they may seem dull compared to other non-reference, more coloured phones as these are reference in the truest sense of the word.

Due to their precision and lack of colouration other genres may sound more clinical, harder to enjoy, I put this down to the mastering process of music simply mismatched for these headphones. Suits ALL genres provided they are well produced, with jazz, classical and vocals it is supreme.

Music has a crystalline sparkling clearness and power that engages and enthralls, and is the closest headphone I have ever heard that makes me feel actually there with the artist/s. Just for perspective I have tried the Sennheiser HD800’s and they are given a run for their money by the K701’s. Considerably less expensive at about ? of the Sennheisers.

I have trouble finding an adjective to sum them up, the closest I can get to a description is spacious, crisp, punchy, phenomenally articulate / lively and an absolute pleasure to listen to.

I think they are from an advanced alien civilization, absolutely awesome!

Uncomfortable for baldies, sound great

These headphones sound excellent when driven by a good amp and look quite stylish in a retro kind of way. They are only 62 ohm impedance so they need plenty of current. A decent solid state amp with low output impedance is ideal (I use the open source O2 from Epiphany Acoustics) - a tube amp with high output impedance could interact with the low impedance of these headphones and cause anomalies.

The only criticism I have concerns the headband as many have commented on before. The underside has eight hard bumps which start to dig into my bald head after a while and become uncomfortable. I corrected this by sticking some light foam over the central few bumps which contact the head and they are fine now. Comfort rating is 2 stars vanilla and 5 stars after my low tech mod. Non baldies probably won't notice anyway.

The sound signature is very different from my Sennheiser HD650 - the K701 is much "clearer" to me. They have a reputation for being bass shy but if properly driven (see above) there is plenty of deep bass when needed. Both headphones sound great, just very different. I like the K701 particularly with smooth jazz, acoustic guitars and vocals. They are also good for games as the transients have great "punch" for gunfire and explosions. Sonically the K701 is the same as the K702 and Q701 just different aesthetically and with a fixed cable.

Hope this helps Christopher