M80's for one. AKG 701's. - Axiom Message Boards

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So I recently got the itch to try some nicer headphones. Aftering doing *way* too much research over on Head-hi, I decided to order a pair of Sennheiser 650's and a pair of AKG 701's. The plan is to listen to both for a couple weeks and then return one pair. Spent the weekend comparing these two cans vs. my Axiom setup as a reference. All of the listening done from SACD source via Receiver headphone jack, or MP3 & Lossless AAC via iTunes + PC headphone jack. I have a dedicated headphone amp and better interconnects are in the mail (and so it begins....)

While the 650's have a B&W sound to them (quite warm and rich, but lovely), these K701's sound remarkably like our beloved M80's. They are extremely well balanced. Gorgeous, crystalline, revealing highs (MP3 compression never sounded worse). Beautiful and controlled mid-range. Accurate and tight bass that's just as it should be. They're really quite amazing headphones. I can't wait to hear them with decent amplification. They are very much like strapping a pair of M80's to your head. I've never experienced anything like these headphones. Really fun, and totally awesome. I think AKG engineers might be Axiom owners!

Anyway, just thought I'd share!

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Head-hi

I thought it was "Head-Fi", but I like your version better.

Thank you for the report, Peter!

heh heh. Freudian slip.

Indeed, Head-Fi...

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Head-hi

I thought it was "Head-Fi", but I like your version better.

Thank you for the report, Peter!

If what you are looking for is an Axiom sound in a headphone you owe it to yourself to try a set of higher end Grados. I have a set of AKG K501s and have owned AKG 81DJs. While they both sound pretty darn good neither comes as close to the Axiom sound as the Grado SR 60s and the Grado SR 325i. To me the 325is have the most M80 like sound I have found in a headphone.

How about strapping a pair of W2s around your ears

I was about | | this close to ordering a set of 325i's to go with the set, but read too many threads over on head-fi regarding Grados being best with Rock. I listen to mostly Classical and Jazz, and thus, went with the Sennheiser/AKG route. I suspect that a pair of Grados will eventually be in my future, as there are tons of folks who love them, and curiosity will eventually get the better of me.

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If what you are looking for is an Axiom sound in a headphone you owe it to yourself to try a set of higher end Grados. I have a set of AKG K501s and have owned AKG 81DJs. While they both sound pretty darn good neither comes as close to the Axiom sound as the Grado SR 60s and the Grado SR 325i. To me the 325is have the most M80 like sound I have found in a headphone.

I have read the same thing. There are claims, over there, about the small soundstage with the Grados and thus not being suited for classical music. I personally think the soundstage thing in headphones is a bunch of nonsense.
While there is what I would call headstage

there certainly is nothing in any of the headphones I have tried that would qualify them as having a great soundstage. There is more snake oil and miracle cures being claimed on that site than there was in the old west.

Head-fi certainly is a wild place. It is amazing how one can get into cryogenically enhanced output cables, vacuum tube pre-amp stages, and fusion-powered amplifiers just to run a pair of headphones. We all have our vices, I suppose! Crazy and amazing stuff. The plus side is that it seems that for just a few hundred bucks, one can have a really killer headphone setup for those times when a speaker system won't work (at the office, etc).

I have yet to really experience any sort of 'soundstage' with either the K701's or HD650's yet. Many would say that's because I lack the proper amplification, and that solution is in the mail right now. I sort of wonder if those that wax poetic about the 'soundstage of headphones' have ever really heard a good speaker setup. There are most certainly differences in headphones (that I've heard), but like you say, it's nothing like a true speaker setup. The K701's do seem to be closer to actually presenting a soundstage than the HD650's, but it's still not anything like speakers.

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I have read the same thing. There are claims, over there, about the small soundstage with the Grados and thus not being suited for classical music. I personally think the soundstage thing in headphones is a bunch of nonsense.
While there is what I would call headstage there certainly is nothing in any of the headphones I have tried that would qualify them as having a great soundstage. There is more snake oil and miracle cures being claimed on that site than there was in the old west.

Pink Floyd and Roger Waters albums should give you an idea of soundstage with headphones.