Help with AKG K701 addons

M

Mati71

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 17, 2008
Messages
141
Alright, I decided on getting the AKG K701's for my headphones, and I will be using the Asus P5Q Deluxe as my board. So do I:

1) Get the Zero DAC and be happy, or

2) Get the Zero DAC and amp to use the headphones to its full potential?

My main need for the headset is for gaming and listening to music (and a little YouTube). I don't necessarily plan on watching movies from my computer, but I love a good sound stage effect. I really dig the effects that give you goosebumps of someone breathing down your neck or whispering in your ear; like the dramatic changes in the game Fear (which scared the shit out of me a few times).

Or should I be looking at another option?

Thanks
 
You are spending over $400 on HPhones..The Zero amp will work but I suggest a dedicated one. Need some horsepower for those. Also look at the 702's, I have never been fond of white HPhones.
Coaxial > Zero > Amp > HP

Play Loud;)
 
Yea, I thought about a dedicated one. I do have my Onkyo TX-SR705 down stairs with my KEF speakers attached (love those speakers) for my home entertainment. Any suggestions if I skip the Zero and go with a Dedicated and Amp?
 
u could stick with the zero and upgrade the opamps (once its burnt in of course) since the AKG doesnt require a lot power to run
 
um, despite the 32ohm or whatever impedence, the 701 does better with a powerful amp.
 
You might be better with this.; much better dac and much better headphone amp.

You might also try the sparrow amp and get a xonar DX for the source.

You can also get a cheap dac with mediocre headamp all in one (zero dac).
 
Your options are only limited to your wallet. Everybody here will give you good suggestions but a price range will narrow the combination's. It's kinda like throwing questions at a wall and seeing what sticks.
 
sdgserv said:
Your options are only limited to your wallet. Everybody here will give you good suggestions but a price range will narrow the combination's. It's kinda like throwing questions at a wall and seeing what sticks.
Click to expand...

Yea, sorry about that. I don't necessary have a budget per se, but I am assuming a budget around $500 is a good target for a decent purchase from what I've reveiwed thus far; though I don't feel like splurging for the Stax.

The Citypulse 7.2x II DAC with TCXO looks substantial, haven't checked it out on head-fi.org
 
The Citypulse has some good specs. and was a good suggestion by noxlord. This is a journey, take your time.....
 
Ah ok.

Now that you have a budget, I can say that when I used the 601s and 701s, they loved power. If you are not afraid, a tube amp like a Darkvoice 332 would be gravy. I also used a 50 lb SQ-84 amp that was 10 watts per channel for speakers that I used for the K1000s and K340s with speaker hookups. Nice sound. The SQ-84 did a neat trick with its headphone out. The makers swear that most all of the 10 watts is powering the 1/4" regular headphone jack. I do not know if this is true or not but it was the smoothest amp I ever had.
 
sdgserv said:
This is a journey, take your time.....
Click to expand...

LOL, If you only knew.

I started looking to build a new computer back in May (look at my join date) and have yet to complete my build. I currently have a Modded P182 in which I installed a bottom front fan in front of the the HDD bay, removed some excess griding to improve air flow, and installed a Corsair 750 TX (that's a far as I have progressed).

I have yet to purchase the core of my build, but the last two segments of concern are my Sound and HDD strategies (physical drives and their partitions).

I'm not an extreme audiophile, but I do appreciate quality sound.
 
Citypulse is ok but there is better. A passive modded Lite Dac AH is the bang for the buck dac imo. mrarroyo is selling his on head-fi. That and a DV 332 would have your head spinnng.
 
spaceman said:
...The SQ-84 did a neat trick with its headphone out. The makers swear that most all of the 10 watts is powering the 1/4" regular headphone jack. I do not know if this is true or not but it was the smoothest amp I ever had.
Click to expand...

I think the SQ-84 option is out due to the cost being around $1000. Plus they do have a SQ-84V2 out as well for an additional 200 bucks.

The DarkVoice 332 sounds like a good alternative with a Xonar DX card (which is roughly half the cost of the SQ-84). But I could also get the The Citypulse 7.2x II DAC with TCXO at around $500.

The DarkVoice 332 seems popular at Head-fi.org.

Thanks for the input.
 
Oh the SQ is a beast. That is a pretty high end headphone amp though.

The coolest thing about tube amps is that there is a different energy to the sound. Just MORE there I suppose.

Anyway, yes the Xonar with a 332 would be plenty nice.
 
spaceman said:
The coolest thing about tube amps is that there is a different energy to the sound. Just MORE there I suppose.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm looking for... the MORE.

Thanks for helping me narrow down my selection. I'm assuming there are mods and upgrades that can be done to the DarkVoice 332 (at least that's what I've been reading about). I read something about the Pink Floyd mod...
 
spaceman said:
Citypulse is ok but there is better. A passive modded Lite Dac AH is the bang for the buck dac imo. mrarroyo is selling his on head-fi. That and a DV 332 would have your head spinnng.
Click to expand...

Ahh, nice. I could drop the Xonar and just go with the Lite DAC AH, but it looks like there is sale pending.
 
spaceman said:
Oh the SQ is a beast. That is a pretty high end headphone amp though.

The coolest thing about tube amps is that there is a different energy to the sound. Just MORE there I suppose.
Click to expand...

Definitely MORE there... MORE distortion! :)

Twisted Pear Audio makes a good kit (Buffalo DAC) based on arguably the best DAC around: ESS Sabre Reference.

As for the amplifier...if you like the TUBE sound then that's understandable... but I feel a lot of that "warmth" associated with TUBE amps is increased even order distortion (primarily 2nd order). I prefer Solid State, but I'll admit that I have enjoyed the Tube-effect before.

In the end I'm afraid I agree that there isn't much difference between the high-end and the value components. I doubt I could pick out a high-end DAC/AMP combo vs my E-MU 1820m blind-folded... the 1820m is already pretty good.

I would just go for a decent sound card first. Then Break-in my headphones and listen to them. I'd try out a headphone amplifier next (soon afterward). Then if I felt that I had some extra money, I'd invest in a DAC. If I REALLY had some extra money, I'd try to measure the frequency response of the k701's and create an Equalized correction file for playback (but that's just too much trouble).
 
In my experience, the biggest improvement I can hear during the various upgrades I went through with headphone gears, beside getting the Stax, was getting an external DAC (CIAudio). Here is my little story:

Before I bought the CIAudio, I was using an E-MU 1212m soundcard as the source and I already tried upgrading amps (from ampless to a portable amp, Gilmore Lite and Singlepower PPX3) and headphones (HD650 and RS1), but I was never impressed with my setup.

I have done a bit of reading and found out how good the HD650 is when paired with up the GLite. So I got this setup, and I already noticed immediate improvement over driving the 650 out of a portable amp, but I still wasn't too happy with the sound as I expected a lot more from such a high end headphone. Then I did more research, and found that Singlepower amps have good syenergy with the HD650. So I bought myself a PPX3, but I'm still not impressed even after some tube-rolling. To be honest, I didn't notice much improvement the PPX3 has over the GLite.

A few months later I just thought that maybe the HD650 just isn't for me, so I bought something that is totally different to the Senns - the Grado RS1. I put the RS1 on, and found them sound very different to the 650 (as expected) with their forward and bright presentation, but it doesn't necessarily mean they sound better. I was hoping to get wow'd at least for once (I mean, they get Stereophile awards and raving reviews all over the net), but no, still not impressed.:(

Half a year later, I finally decided to give external DAC a try (I always thought that source isn't important and the 1212m is already very good) so I did a lot reading, read many reviews and comparisons of different DACs and decided to get the CIAudio. As soon as I fired up the DAC, I already had a big smile on my face. I could finally hear quality sound that I have never heard before, and feel that all these expensive headphones I bought are finally worth their money. Also, I finally get the wow effect which I have been hoping for since the day I bought a high end headphone.:eek:

I have never heard the K701 before. But if they are in the same league as the HD650 (often see them being compared), then I would say a good source is very important. I don't know how the new top soundcards (D2X and Prelude) compared to the 1212m, but if they are about the same (seeing that the 1212m was the top a few years ago), then I am sure I won't be happy when using them with headphones that are in the same class as the HD650, not even when you have a decent amp (as I described with my personal experience).
 
I used the K701's with a pimeta and Entech 203.2 DAC, it ran wonderfully with the AV710 soundcard. Thats the main thing...get yourself a nice (non creative) soundcard with bit-perfect out. You will enjoy this sound, it sounds very nice.

head over to headfi.org to see if you can find somethings used on sale.
 
I appreciate everyones input on this matter (very well thought out and informative). I just wish I had the opportunity to "test" different setups before making my final decision. I have read quite a bit regarding the HD650 and the synergy of different amps, but I didn't want to make my buying decision based upon the mass discussion of the one set of cans. Clarity is important to me with balanced sound that would emulate a movie theater within my head. Other than that, it seems I have quite a bit of more reading ahead.
 
Well I did a total 180 ater reading the headfi forums, I bought the Audio Technica AD900 with just the AuzenTech Auzen X-Fi Prelude. I figured that since I'm a novice, the AD900 would be a quality intro HP that would function well without the need for an amp. Once I've learned to appreciate the differences, I'll either upgrade to an external DAC plus an amp (or different cans).

Thanks again for everyone opinions.
 
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