First Impressions of My New AKG K701s

[Ajani]

I got my AKG K701s yesterday and spent last night listening to them instead of testing out a new bed with the wife (much to her obvious disapproval)... I drove the 701s directly from a Squeezebox Classic (playing Apple Lossless files) as I don't have a headphone amp yet (I'm considering either a Benchmark DAC1 or Musical Fidelity X-CAN V8)... I also tried driving them with the headphone output of my laptop, but it sounded vastly inferior to the Squeezebox ... To say that I'm thoroughly impressed with the 701s so far is a major understatement... I finally understand the reason some people prefer headphones to loudspeakers as the value for money is so much better...

I'll save giving a proper review until the phones actually have sufficient hours of break-in... but I will say that I have NEVER heard so much detail while listening to music before... not even in $10K systems (using Floorstanders) that i auditioned.. which is exceptionally impressive given that the Squeezebox Classic and AKG K701 retail for a mere $750 total...

Before you decide to sell your expensive speaker setups there are a few caveats I must mention: 1) Headphones are detail masters, but soundstage can be beaten easily by loudspeakers 2) While headphones can produce the deepest bass (10hz on the K701s), they can't give you that kick in the chest that deep bass on a huge floorstander/sub would - since the sound is going directly to your eardrums... 3) You look like a tool with a massive pair of headphones on your head....