Wednesday, October 30, 2013

AKG Q701

Well, as a start, I can say that most people, if not all, know AKG one way or another, so I will cut the history and all those things, and go straight to what I have with me here, the AKG Q701 Quincy Jones series.
Q701 Lime Green

A little conflict

Before we head into the main review, just a little side note for all you readers, there are 2 manufacturing line to the Q701 as of now, the (used to) made in Austria and the (now) made in China line up. This has been verified by a couple of head-fiers. AKG stated that rest assured as the driver used and materials are still the same, just they shifted to China to reduce manufacturing cost, but then to me the "Made in Austria" embedded in the sides of the can makes it just a tad more awesome and precious.Mine is made in Austria.

Packaging

What do you get? not a lot, only these:
One pair of AKG Q 701 headphones
two single sided detachable cable
sone jack adapter
one storage cradle 
Storage cradle, as they call it


Comfort

Some people may find the Q701 headband quite uncomfortable, due to the design, which has bumps along the headband, which I, myself also don't get the reason behind it. It, to me, is quite uncomfortable after some really long hours, and get some headache due to pressure from the bumps, and will make your hairstyle look wavy~

The earcup is velour and is very comfortable, nuff said.
WTF? @@

Sound

Treble

The high notes on the Q701 is very nice, accurate and crispy. It is not overdone and will seldom hear clippings. All the cymbals and high hats from the drum can be heard quite clearly, which is nice.

Mid Vocals

Vocals are quite forward sounding and to me, is quite suitable for the rock genre and maybe even punk? Guitars excel in the Q701 as you "almost" can hear the plucking of the guitars, and made the guitar seems like it is singing. Main vocalist and background singers are separated quite cleanly.

Bass

Bass on the Q701 is quite subjective. When the genre demands for some powerful bass, it fails to achieve the required task.It has a "barely there" level of bass, which is just about enough to fill the music and not overdo it. To bassheads, move along now, nothing to see here.

Bass mod

I have researched around and found a bass mod that can be done to K702 and also the Q701, and might be to all x7xx series of AKG. Below is what I done:






Special thanks to krizar of headfi, his post is here: http://www.head-fi.org/t/582276/q701-appreciation-thread/4560#post_9960711

Soundstage

Soundstage is where the Q701 is critically acclaimed for, and is famous in it. I have to agree to a certain extent on that, why? Well. the soundstage is wide, but not as exaggerated as the community said it is. It feels more like a wide studio, instead of the soundstage from a football field.

Conclusion

Well, I can say that the benefits of having a Q701 is the very appreciated sound, the exchangable cable and of course the design of the cans itself, it is quite a "street wear" to me, which is nice combination with a good sound. Bass mod is recommended if you feel it lacking the bass you need.


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