Quincy Jones is a musical legend! If he puts his name on a product, one can expect this product to be of the highest quality.
In my search for the best headphones for the bucks,I was looking into buying a headphone from AKG to see what that famous brand has to offer. What decided me for this model was the endorsement by Quincy, alongside with the nicely discounted price.
I have had the phone since just about a week. I have already started to take it through a burn-in phase but right out of the box, the set impressed me and also my colleagues. They have had a few occasions to try the headphones I buy (I own more than a dozen) and they told me this set impressed them the most.
So what's to like?
Let's start by the first impression when putting them on. They feel extra light. The cups are huge, so is the set; yet the weight is not really felt. The pressure is not on the ears but around it and it is highly bearable. I almost feel that my medium head and ears are too small for this headphone.
It is still a bit early to judge the quality of the sound but yet, the first impression was of detail, clarity and more specifically of a large soundstage.
I have read on some other models that the bass is lacking; not here... Fans of exagerated bass should keep on searching, actually, I could advise them the Ultrasone HFI-780S which has a powerful and still clean bass. In any case, the Q701 do provide a nice bass which I believe will get better with time.
I rejected previously the Sennheiser HD-595 because of the lack of bass and the open design and yet, the Q701 are very reminiscent of this model. Same amazing comfort, same leaking sound but better bass, much better bass...
Right now, I put them in competition with the ATH-A900 for first place in my collection.
The pros:
- Excellent sound overall. I will leave it to the audiophiles to expand on that.
- Very nice soundstage.
- Very natural sound.
- Very comfortable.
- Two detachable cables.
The cons:
- Not meant for portable systems, unless you have a headphone amp.
- Leak sound quite a lot in both directions. Better use alone and indoor.
- Almost impossible to wear large frame glasses in the same time.
- May need up to 400 hours for burn-in.
- Bulky (but still light)
Compared to:
- Audio Technica ATH-A900 (both as comfortable, similar sound qualities and performance, open design). Not portable outside.
- Ultrasone HFI-780S(much less comfortable, more bass, more sibilant,more portable, less soundstage, closed design)is more oriented for DJ.
- Sennheiser HD-595 (As comfortable, worse bass, open)
- Sony MDR-V6 (comfortable, sound quality excellent but still one notch below, very easy to drive with Iphone but coil cable make it better indoor, closed design).
Conclusion:
A very good buy for indoor use and with a good amplifier. I have to push my amp significantly higher to get the same sound level as the other headphones I own. As others users said, beware of the 68 Ohms, this set feels like a 250 Ohms maybe.
While listening to music with some other models, I can have the feeling that the singer is singing inside my head. With the AKG-Q701, it feels like the singer is in the room with me. There is a feeling of lack of agressivity coming from these headphones, making them maybe less tiring. In any case, it provides for an excellent listening experience.
Yet, for the moment (prior to a serious burn-in) the ATH-A900, for 2/3rd of the price is delivering better and is a closed design. I am expecting the AKG to start shining soon and surpass the ATH-A900. I will definitely post some updates after the burn-in.
As a final note, it is always important to remember that the perceived quality will be of the weakest link. People who listen to MP3 on a phone or small music player should not expect high end headphones to perform as good as they are advertised.
It is actually a waste of money to go for high end headphones for use with highly compressed mp3 and no amp. The results may even be worse than with cheap headphones because all the defects and artifacts in the recording will appear with good phones.
Update 11/27/2011
That's it, I think I have burned them in well enough. I must be around 120 hours of use with them. These headphones have become the best of my collection.
I would still describe them as demanding and rewarding in the same time. Demanding because of the amplification needed to power these cans but rewarding because they sound simply marvelous. I was listening to the Pink Floyd Pulse concert, then some Vivaldi yesterday and the precision was simply overwhelming. Perfect rendition of the recordings, excellent soundstage.
Some may find them too analytical or lacking emotions but not me.
I am using them all the time. To listen to music, to play video games (excellent localization) and watch movies...
One huge drawback for someone who owns many headphones... After using the AKG Q701 for a while (and after burn-in); even the ATH-A900 sounds muddy in comparison... My Ultrasone HFI-780S seem harsh and without any finesse...
Update 01/16/2012
These headphones must have now more than 300 hours of use and they are shining better than ever. When I want to carry them around to give a demo to someone, I have to use a headphone amplifier. I am currently using a FiiO E-11 which works well enough with it.
When I give a demo, using a binaural recording coming from the Ultrasone Demo CD, the listeners never fail to turn their head in the direction of the sound. Almost every one is bluffed by the quality of this headphone and its head stage.
At this stage, the only headphone I found capable of rivaling this one in this price range is the Beyer Dynamic DT880 Premium. It is slightly more expensive though.
Update 10/30/2012
I wanted to add something after reading some reviews on the subject. I am what you could call a careless user. I mean that I leave the kids use these headphones when playing on their computer. Age 8 and 12. So far, the headphones are as good as new. I carry them often in my backpack when travelling and I have no issue with their build quality whatsoever.
Also, I would not recommend their use in a plane because they leak sound, specifically when amped up. So by consideration to my neighbors, I would rather use an in-ear set.
To this day, the Q701 are still my best headset.
Update 04/01/2013
I am still using the AKG Q701 on a daily basis. These headphones still sound fantastic. I can be playing video games, watching movies or listening to music, nothing seems to phase them out. I also happen to have noticed an increase in the price as compared to when I did buy them. So the value is really not going down at all.
Update 06/29/2013
These headphones are still going strong. However, I have to report that I found their better in the AKG K702 65th anniversary edition. The latter are almost identical to the Q701 but have more bass. I am amazed to admit it but the overall result is even better. I actually cried while listening to Vivaldi the 4 seasons and Frank Sinatra (How insensitive) when I first tested them without any burn-in. I have not reviewed the K702 yet but I plan to do it soon and the point of comparison will be the Q701.
If you do not have almost $400 to spend, the Q701 are still my best recommendation...
Update 06/27/2014
It has been almost a year since my last update. The Q701 are still unchanged. I have to say that with the time, I realize that they are not "inferior" per say to the 65th anniversary edition, just different. In some ways, I think they may even give a larger head stage than the 65th. In conclusion, these are still worth every star they get.
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This Item  AKG Q 701 Quincy Jones Signature Reference-Class Premium Headphones - Black |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | — | -22% $179.95 List: $229.95 | -35% $129.95 List: $199.95 | $98.00 | $149.00 | $287.00 |
| Delivery | — | — | Get it as soon as Saturday, May 25 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 28 | Get it as soon as Saturday, May 25 | — |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Sound quality | ||||||
| Noise cancellation | ||||||
| Comfort | ||||||
| Bass quality | ||||||
| For gaming | ||||||
| Sold By | — | Buy Top Tech | BrandsWalk | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Tiamat Services |
| connectivity tech | Wireless | Wired | Wired | Wired | Wired | Wired |
| headphones form factor | Over Ear | Over Ear | Over Ear | Over Ear | Over Ear | Over Ear |
| connector type | wireless | 1/4-inch, 3.5mm Jack | 3.5mm Jack | — | 3 5mm Jack | gold plated stereo jack plug 3.5 mm (0.12-inch) |
| noise control | — | — | sound isolation | sound isolation | sound isolation | — |
| headphones jack | Jack | — | 3.5 mm Jack | 3.5 mm Jack | 3.5 mm Jack | XLR |
| cable feature | Without Cable, Detachable | Detachable | Detachable | Detachable | Detachable | Detachable |
Reviews with images
These put Q in Quality sound. Huge soundstage & lots of detail. Quality bass - just not a lot of it.
Q701s are great open-back headphones for reference & high detail listening. The amount of detail these extract is on par with Sennheiser HD600. These have a bigger sub-bass extension than HD600, but both headphones are held back on bass/low frequencies in comparison to mids & highs. This helps you hear more detail in music, because bass tends to drown out mids & highs. Q701s also has a huge sound stage, which makes it great for gaming (especially if you have a way to boost or bring up the bass some), this makes explosions & gunfire sound more realistic. This also makes them great for watching movies - big sound stage makes movies like Star Trek & Star Wars sound a lot more realistic & immersive, just make sure your source is high definition (ie. Bluray's).Now, these headphones do need to be amped to get anything above intermediate volume levels. Cellphones might not have enough juice to take these to their full potential. From my experience, PC jacks should have plenty of power to get these to loud volumes, but a dedicated DAC/AMP is probably better for sound quality.My pair was made in Austria, so I trust them to be better made then the ones made in China. Packaging is nice, but my headphones were crushed by UPS during shipping - headphones survived OK, but the transparent see-through window on the box got shattered, bringing down the resale value of the product, so maybe box durability could be improved. I would take the smashed packaging with made in Austria headphones, over made in China version with perfect packaging. All in all, I'm happy with the my Q701s.
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2011
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der mit Abstand klarste Kopfhörer unter allen getesteten.....
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