The AKG K 701s represent the art of headphone design at the highest level.
Every few years, a truly unique and musically satisfying piece of equipment passes through your doors and you berate yourself trying to figure out what you are going to write about it. Its performance sends you into a frenzy; you tear through your music collection looking for anything that might sound ever better than the last recording you listened to, or for that one recording that might show up some of the warts. The really frightening moment is when you realize that it refuses to be tripped up. It has a confidence about its abilities; some may even think it cocky, that makes you want to run off with it and as many recordings as you can carry.
There is a great deal of debate within our walls at onheadphones.com in regard to the AKG K 701s and how they should be rated. We all agree that they are significantly more transparent sounding than any other headphone that we have reviewed, and represent a new benchmark in headphone design. Where we differ is how they compare to the Sennheiser HD650s and other top models.
One thing we all agree on is that each of the major brands; Sennheiser, AKG, Beyerdynamic, Grado, and Ultrasone, all have their own “sound”, which in some way makes one want to own one of each. There are major differences between the HD650s and the K 701s, making one better for a specific genre of music. The rock/alternative/metal brigade in the office are unanimous in their preference of the Sennheiser ‘phones, no doubt influenced by their rich, extended bass response, while others are more taken by the AKG’s smoother tonal balance, and crystal clear midrange.
The K 701s have one flaw that drove us all crazy. It takes forever to break them in. Having reviewed more than my fair share of loudspeakers over the years, I am used to waiting for a product to show up for the big game. The K 701s are still swinging for the fences in AAA, but stay tuned for the rest of the story because the call-up letter just arrived and we’re going to the show.
Our suspicion is that these bad boys are never playing in some dusty 3,000-seat stadium again.
They are a "conditional" five-star performer.
Batter up.
