Headphones for dacmagic plus

[wilfredcp]

Hi everyone,I bought a dacmagic plus 4 months ago, which I've been using with my old sennheiser hd555s. I am impressed with the sound, but do find it a little bright with distortion/sibilance at high frequencies, and perhaps a lack of excitement. That said I love the detail, realism, and wide soundstage.Since my headphones are 8 years old and cost around £100 new, am i right in thinking that a new more expensive pair would be a worthwhile upgrade? I'm very wary of system matching (don't want it to sound bright) and so was wondering what people would recommend (based either on personal experience or just what they've heard about the dacmagic plus etc). Im looking at spending less than £300, and don't want to buy grados (build quality/comfort puts me off). Just to give you an idea, here's what I've been looking at so far:
Akg q701Akg k702Akg k550Sennheiser hd650Beyerdynamic dt880denon ah-d2000In my experience it's hard to try headphones out so any advice is appreciated.

Source is mostly apple lossless files from a desktop.Cheers,Wilf

 

[Andy Clough]

If you don't like the Grados, we'd recommend the AKG K550s provided you don't mind wearing them - they're not exactly small or discreet!

 

[idc]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I would avoid any AKG with a Q as they have exactly the same drivers as the equivalent K headphones and the Ks are cheaper. Good places to audition headphones, such as Sennheiser and Denon are PC World and HMV. Take along an ipod or similar and you can audition with your own music.

 

[quadpatch]

avoid any AKG with a Q as they have exactly the same drivers as the equivalent K headphones and the Ks are cheaper.

In the in the case of the Q701 this is generally true but as a whole the headphones are not identical. People who have tried both do say the Q701 is better than the K701. I'm not saying that's my opinion as I have never heard the K701, this is based on a lot of what I have read. People who only own the K701 and have never heard the Q701 like to say that they must sound the same because on paper they are similar. I'm sorry idc I'm not picking on you, you do have a point but I need to balance that statement a bit.

I should also point out that I got the Q701 cheaper than the K701 although I was pretty lucky, the Q701's seem to fluctuate a lot for some reason. I got them on Amazon (not marketplace).

Oh and yeah I do recommend the Q701, the detail and clarity is stunning although they do need a bit of driving but your DACMagic should do fine. They seem to really like my current DAC (which is similar to the DACMagic in feature and cost) but were not so good with the portable DACport. I'm not sure they are worth £60 more than the K701, which is the current difference on Amazon (£220/£280) - If it was like this when I bought I probably would have gone for the K701.

 

[idc]

If two headphones are the same size with the same driver made by the same company, I think that reports of any SQ differences are in the eye of the beholder only.

 

[quadpatch]

Those are not the only factors that affect quality / signature, or have you never heard of modifying headphones? You can be as closed minded as you like but you haven't heard both and most people who have say they sound differenct, not night and day but different none the less.

WHF have reviewed both models, they say different things about them and give both 5 stars (K701: £250 / Q701: £360).

http://www.head-fi.org/t/537241/akg-k701-k702-vs-akg-q701

 

[wilfredcp]

Thanks everyone for your help. When I posted this I certainly didn't expect a response from the editor - cheers Andy. If you do read this post again, would you still recommend the k550 (when the q701 is available for only £280?). I imagine the k550 is simply more suited to my dacmagic plus?

 

[eggontoast]

Here is a response from AKG when asked what the difference between the Q and K models was

"Good questions/comments everyone. To answer your questions on the what's unique about the new Quincy Signature Line, we'd like to let you know that Quincy Jones himself worked with us to design a headphone that made aesthetic changes to ref...lect more of his personal touch. The models come in black, white (with lime green accents) and a proprietary lime green color only available within the Signature Line. Also, the 330s and the 460s will feature an inline microphone that will work with mobile devices such as the iPhone and Blackberry and a remote control (only compatible with iPhones) to play, pause and skip through music so that people can still have a quality sound experience for lifestyles that are increasingly more mobile and on the go."

I think that covers it, if there was anything more than aesthetic changes I'm sure they would have mentioned it.

 

[Andy Clough]

wilfredcp, in absolute sound quality terms we prefer the K550s over the Q701, although both are excellent 5-star products.

 

[wilfredcp]

Ok thanks Andy.

Quadpatch: seeing as how my dacmagic plus is already a little bright sounding (sometimes painfully so), do you not think it will cause problems when used with the q701s? This is something I really want to avoid - my sennheiser 555s already give me this problem.

 

[quadpatch]

You think that your DM+ itself makes a painfully bright sound? Not having experienced this myself it would be difficult to say. The Q701's are pretty neutral.... but... actually yeah it's possible. I remember trying to eek some bass out of them recently and it's fine until you get some strong highs as well, this is me missing the bass from the D7000s though and lets face it not much can compare to that.

 

[idc]

Those are not the only factors that affect quality / signature, or have you never heard of modifying headphones? You can be as closed minded as you like but you haven't heard both and most people who have say they sound differenct, not night and day but different none the less.

WHF have reviewed both models, they say different things about them and give both 5 stars (K701: £250 / Q701: £360).

http://www.head-fi.org/t/537241/akg-k701-k702-vs-akg-q701

I am not being closed minded, just sceptical, especially as eggontoast has posted AKGs own view on the 'differences' between the two.

Anyway, the K550s sound as if they are the dogs.... I use my closed backed leakless K271Mkii more than any other pair I have and would happily recommend them to anyone with any system who is looking for closed back, properly leakless and comfort.

 

[quadpatch]

I am not being closed minded, just sceptical, especially as eggontoast has posted AKGs own view on the 'differences' between the two.

Anyway, the K550s sound as if they are the dogs.... I use my closed backed leakless K271Mkii more than any other pair I have and would happily recommend them to anyone with any system who is looking for closed back, properly leakless and comfort.

I had not heard that before, it's certainly changed my perspective. If you had said that I wouldn't have been so harsh so my apologies. It really does look like they have changed nothing at all accept the colour so they are either cheeky with price or stupid with marketting. It's an expensive paint job!!

I am very curious about the K550 but something tells me they are not very well isolating for closed back phones. Anyone know for sure?

 

[idc]

Ever since Harman International took over AKG they have dumbed down their previously highly inventive range. I have the K280 Parabolics with two speakers per headphone and the glorious K340 Elecrostatic Dynamics. I would love to hear the K1000s and wish Harman would let AKG lose again to make such headphones.

 

[wilfredcp]

Well thanks again everyone for your help. I decided to order both the k550 and the hd650: I can return them within 7 days so seems the best way to properly try both and see which is best for me.

Quadpatch from all my research it seems the k550 have pretty good isolation (compared to denon AH-D models for example). I can let you know once I've received mine and tried it out though.

 

[quadpatch]

Oh that's interesting, yes please do let me know about the isolation (My Denon's are poor for a closed back) and general sound quality. Very curious how the two compare, I heard the HD650 in a shop once and found it really comfy but a bit boring in sound signature.

I might be testing the HD800 and Beyerdynamic T5p with an M-DAC next weekend. Am curious how they compare to the Denon.

 

[dalethorn]

I had another long listen to the Philips L1 last night and I am still convinced it's far better than the HD-650 or anything else below $1000 USD. But sadly, no more than a handful of people on Earth will ever experience that because:

1) Very few people will try it.

2) Those who do will refuse to turn the bass down per my suggestion, and will therefore experience the same thing Innerfidelity reported.

 

[wilfredcp]

i decided to go with the hd650 in the end. i think they are better purely because they are open headphones: their massive soundstage gives them a '3D' sound (almost like listening to a pair of speakers), whilst the k550 had a more closed-off sound which was tiresome to listen to. still the k550s are a good pair of headphones - they had a better bass extension than the hd650s (and perhaps more 'presence' too) - at first i found it difficult to decide.... basically the two headphones are just completely different.

anyway quadpatch you wanted to know about the isolation of the k550s - sorry this reply is so late. i didnt really have another pair of closed headphones to compare them too, but i would say their isolation was good. this review seems to compare their isolation with the denon ah-d series, and from my research before many seem to agree: http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/wonderfully-competent-akg-k550-sealed-headphone-page-2

wilf

 

[quadpatch]

Thanks for coming back and letting me know wilfred . It sounds like the K550s are a great closed headphone but very interesting that you picked the HD650 over it. I can certainly testify that the Denon D7000 sucks at sound isolation. For my next high end headphone I am going completely open for sure but I am looking for a closed one for work. The VModa sounds great but it's uncomfortable as hell!!