Just bought myself a brand new pair of AKG Q701 Quincy Jones Reference Headphone for a ridiculous 300$ CAD (225$ USD).

As we all know, no sound gear is always perfectly Flat.

That's why some Solution were developed over the year and I'm think of Room EQ, Arc2 or Sonarworks to name only some of the most popular ones.

Of course, some would argue that an Electro-Acoustic Engineer would do a way better job then those ''preset-made'' type of amateur solutions and having dealt with them in the past, I would have no choice but to agree. The only thing I could point out as a problem in this specific situation is the cost of the modification that this specialist would suggest for you to get a proper sound Calibration in your room.

So as I live in an appartement building, I decided to go the Headphone way for the sake of keeping my Neighbors happy. Of course, some listening will be made in my monitors once in a while but nothing extensive so no one go crazy about me listening to the same track in a loop.

So to get back to the original subject, I decided to go with the Equalizer APO .

The process suggested after an extensive read on the subject was to take the Headphone frequency response, invert it and apply the settings to the Peace GUI for the Equalizer APO to recall them easily.

Two things areobvious to me when I'm thinking about the concept; First, how would I make sure that my Headphones doesn't have any flaws compared to the other of the same model but also, How can I make sure that the Batch made ( Given the Serial ) were not slightly different in therms of Frequency response .
Second thing that appeared to be obvious to me was that even though I have an idea of the type of EQ reduction that need to be applied per frequencies( given the analysis that were made by 3rd party professionals ), How would i know the Q of each bell frequencies other then trying to guess it by its visual ( that we all know are never very accurate ).

My point here is that I want to reduce the flaws of my Headphones but I dont want to create others.


Just to make sure I'm not making you type for no reason,..... Yes I know I need to put the ITB preamp settings to negative value. Also, I need to point out that I dont believe in positive amp correction given the nature of my correction ( reference ) so YES I will be applying some VERY intensive EQ correction to some frequencies to match the quietest point of the Frequency response.

Anyways, any method to suggest other then sending my Headphones for surgical analysis ?

P.S. No, Using my Cans ''as is'' is not a valid option. Those Headphones are very flat and responsive for their 500$ USD original price range but they can be adjusted and I will do it given then Obvious 5 to -10 db flaws in some specific frequencies. 5 db is almost 2 perceived unit level and thats already way too much to make an accurate decision when mixing.

 

Ok, I did it,

Here's my Impression and my journey:

I bought the Q701 yesterday and just started using them tonight.

I had a very interesting first date with Mr. Quincy Jones Signature Reference Headphones and I think its appropriate to tell the whole thing for you to understand where I'm at with them.

But first, I think it would be more appropriate to let you know a bit about me.
I'm a 36 y/o French Canadian. Former Studio Engineer. Started working with big pop star in my province in 1999 but it didnt last long. I burned myself taking too much project at the same time trying to do the studio sessions with the artists and also do the mixing in a very short amount of time. What resulted is me not sleeping much for the time it lasted ....and then burnout.

I've always been interested in Rap instrumental production and later on in Electronic production.
As a Rap producer I always had to dig for records so of course I've listened to a lot of Soul, Jazz and Funk.

Now back to the Headphones;

First I made an extensive research on the Q701 compared them to the HD600 and DT880.
I was very curious when people pointed out that the AKG were in a world of their own in the Spatial stage side.
I was also concerned when people were saying that they were uncomfortable.

Well, what came next was totaly unexpected for me.

After buying them, I came back home and installed Equalizer APO with Peace GUI. Sat in front of my TV and pluged the HDMI in and started to play with the Equalizer APO.
I was not hearing anything the EQ was doing so I decided to crank to subs freq by 20 db and the 12K+ b 20 db aswell then got tired.... closed the EQ and went to bed.
That was Yesterday.



After my shift today, I opened up the Headphone Box and brought out my new baby....I was very excited.
So I plugged them in my UR28M and thought....men, I know they are not broken yet but I'm gonna have the experience of a life time.
So I plug my Quincy....put them on the desk and put a Bill Evans Flac play list in VLC and press play
I leave and go to the fridge, take myself a cold one and come back to the desk.
Sit on my comfy chair with a huge smile and put the quincy's on......
First I thought....hummmm, I've never noticed the acoustic Bass of Lafaro was that strong and deep....but i was like DAMN boy.....INTENSE !!!
And after 2-3 track I was like...dude wtf...... The mid were being compressed by the sub freq and I thought....theres NO ....FREAKIN..... WAY they mixed it this way....my headphone are defect !!!
Then I've took a look at the Freq response from Headroom ive previously downloaded.....made no sense at all.....6 db large Q at 90 would never do THAT much of a pumping effect on the sub freq.
And then BANG...it HIT me......the Equalizer APO...PALMFACE !!!!

So I went back in it. applied the proper correction based on the Freq Response of Headroom website.

Ended up with a more decent line and something I could rely to when talking about ''reference material''

So after all that....I've been listening to them for the last 4 hours now.
I know I need at least another 40-50 hours in them but I can say those things so far.

Where the F#WK is my Mid / Side spectrum is supposed to start and end in this ....UNIVERSE !!!
But more then that.....wheres my mid / mono representation in there....its not there...its absent...where is it ? oh, there it is ....that little quiet thing in the front.
And where does my pan effect goes.....of there it is.....from Japan to New York passing threw the middle of the earth....GREAT !!!

So to stop my bad ironic Metaphor and go right to the point......I've never experienced anything like this before.
I'm not saying those are bad references at all....what I'm saying is that they are bringing a whole new experience and so a whole new learning curve to my brain.
The spatial range is not ellipsoidal anymore.....its like a super 8 or an omni curve on my rode K2 haha...what the hell is that ?
Who thought about that ...where am I supposed to start with this ....
Waow, thats going to be one hell of a trip.
I feel kind of sad not having anything at all In front of me in the mix anymore....its like if i lost my baby arm....

Finally, to put my emotions aside, Heres my impression of the Headphones after Equalizer APO correction and 4 hours of listening.
( I'm writing this listening to Philip Glass Koyaanisqatsi sound track. )

Comfort: 10/10
Spatial range 12 /10
Dynamic Range (avg full spetrum) 7.5/10

Representation:
Sub freq (until 30hz) : 9/10
Lows 7/10 ( too much )
Low mids 8/10 ( a tad too much )
Mids 9/10 ( pushed back but well balanced )
high mids 8/10 ( I love cream )
High 6/10 ( wheres my snare ??? )
Brillance 8/10 ( cute )
Air 2/10 ( good bye tape hiss , I miss you already )

Overall, I think I can work with that.

It'll be one hell of a challenge tho'

Thanks for reading and cant wait to read your review aswell.


PS
My Equalizer APO Settings :

GraphicEQ: 1 -50; 3 -50; 4 -50; 20 0; 30 0; 40 -1.5; 50 -3; 60 -3.9; 70 -4; 80 -4; 90 -4.8; 100 -5; 200 -5.8; 300 -5; 400 -4; 500 -2.5; 600 -1.5; 700 -1; 800 -0.8; 1000 0; 1600 0; 2000 -2; 3000 3; 4000 3; 5000 3; 6000 -3; 7000 -3; 8000 -3; 9000 0; 12500 11; 21000 0

Pre-amp : -11db


YES I KNOW .....I PUT A +11DB at 12,5 KHZ.
Thats me being lazy as usual.
At least , theres no digital cliping because the ITB preamp is at -11db aswell


That was me and my Quincy Jones ftw....

 

Wait for at least 40 hours of break in before you put them back on your head. Download some pink noise, play it while your sleeping and too while your awake. Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.

 

hahah, eq cannot help you!

 

I wasnt THAT drunk.....
Only had 2 beer.

 

Hehe, I have the "standard 701" with the bass modd done by my self (just take a way the plastic stick from bassport inside) and for me the are the greatest cans ever, almost to great cause everything I listening to sounds GREAT. But I know them well so I can use them for mixing but I always seems to mudd the bass a couple of db in the lower mid but that's a easy fix when I switch to my Adam at home or in the Studio with that all mighty JBL 411 (yeah!) with a sub

 

If resonances sounds bad in the midrange in the middle of the day
after you have had a very good sleep and your ears are not tired.

Then either the music contains bad resonances or the headphones are bad or your hearing is damaged.

 

Theres no resonnance at all.

Well, I like the bass and sub bass like it is right now. This is not why im concerned right now.
My problem is the imagery and the 2khz ish spl. also the 8khz + seems absent so all cymbals and hats sound dull

 

You need to "burn in them" b4 the magic happens, quite long if I don't remember wrong. Mine have that pure magic 3D sound, sounds like expensive hifi ... Maybe not the best cans for mixing but a pure plessure to have when digging/playing music (reggae/dub) without having the nabors knocking on the door

 

Well thats exatly my concern here.

You are typicly telling me that you burned them and still have that surround sound and ''pure pleasure'' type of experience.

As a mixing tool, i'm NOT looking for something that is flatering the sound.....I need something that is revealing !! Theres a huge differene right there .

Second thing is, that Music, in the most part is still mixed in Stereo files. Having Cans that give me a surround sound is just totaly irrelevant.

I REALY hope those thing will ''vanish' in 50 hours of listening. I bought them for referencing....not to masturbate.

 

Thank you for your reference to masterbating. If "it" vanishes in 50 hours, go immediately to the emergency room.

 

I will, I promise !

 

They are accurate but they do sound spatial and deep 3D and have that "expensive shimmer" in the mid and highs and you'll start hearing things you never heard b4 on recordings and on your mix ... so I don't know if this is a bad thing when you get use to use them when mixing ;)

I do love them and will not want to use any other cans. Well, there is others but way above my paygrade ;)
And I think this cans need more then 50h, more like 100-150h.

http://www.stereophile.com/headphones/806akg/#H6kHTH6Dx5e62Llp.97

 

Thats a VERY interesting review.
Theres one thing hes pointing at that I would like to hear but i dont....the edginess...Theres no edge on mine. Its creamy to me....


To quote him :

''The bass was scary good, although it lacked some of the physical impact that speaker listening can convey on, say, a live jazz recording such as Bill Evans' Sunday at the Vanguard (CD, Riverside 9376), where you not only hear Paul Motian's kickdrum flex the Vanguard's wooden floor, you feel it in your gut as well. On the AKGs, I heard it, but not in my gut.''

Thats what I'm talking about.....the attack of instruments and so all the air higher freq part just doesnt reach out in an aceptable way

And then he said this :

''As for the K 701s' HF performance, I found myself listening to an enormous amount of acoustic string music for the very simple reason that the AKGs delivered the snap, bloom, and harmonic overtones of plucked strings with unbelievable clarity''

There's some contradiction here or just doesnt know that the Kikdrum motion hes talking about in the first segment is actualy an High Freq movement. Flexing a wooden material doesnt happen like a rumbling sound to be more specific. What he his describing ( I dont know if its because hes lacking sound technical verbiage ) is not a low freq phenomenon for the kick drum. I know what he is talking about because I am also use to hear it in this specific recording ( I'm a bill evans fan ).

And then he says this :

''This actually proves two things: 1) I apparently don't have many original ideas, and 2) while I could hear all that stuff with the AKG 701s, it didn't really seem like that big a deal. Maybe I just don't like playing "gotcha!" as much as I used to, but I think it has more to do with my chief niggle regarding the HD-650s, which was that they could be, shall we say, overly analytical—that I could all too easily focus on the musical trees (or even branches) rather than the forest.''

That does totaly prove what seems to be obvious to me so far.....Its am ensemble type of Headphone...where its made to be enjoyable and not analytical like he says in his own terms '' that I could all too easily focus on the musical trees (or even branches) rather than the forest''


So to sums it up, I agree with him on pretty much everything but he seems to confuse certain sound frequencies like the Motian kick flex sound.

Thanks for bringing this article to my attention, at least now i know I'm not hearing things that are not suposed to be there. The Cans are like that and I'll have to find a way to bypass it(at least in my brain ).

 

That's cool. That's why I said to play pink noise through them continuosly. Why not play through them while you're sleeping, time's a'wastin'. Burn baby burn them in. I'm always shocked at how crappie my headphones and ear buds sound after unboxing. 50 hours is the minimum. 100 maybe the magic number.

 

those cans can do low bass, BUT as you can see its dropping below 100Hz. so without accurate calibration you get problems in mixing bass correctly.
Also looking at the high mids ripples and also the high end, its full of resonances.

if its just for listening, i like my K702 also pure, but it is less stressing to the ears with accurate correction engaged.

Those are "the flatter ones", there are other headphones, that have much worse fequency responses.

 

I'll give Sonarworks Free Trial a shot tonight.
People argued that the Q701 were only a repackaged K701 when other one pointed out the obvious mid-high and high frequencies response difference.

I'll compare my ''headphone.com'' setup vs the sonarworks and give it a verdict.
I think i'll be well suited to make the difference as the high freq is exactly one of the thing that bother me the most.


Just turned off the Equalizer APO.....
God....thats horrible....someone put a Kleenex in my headphone thats for sure.

 

Well @Antilles , you were right to point me out to Sonarworks.

I've use the K701 preset

BUT....
Sonarworks does bring me 3/4 of the road there.
Theres still a huge Air part ( 9khz+ ) missing. ( yo...where the fuck is my room yo !! )
Fuck guys, im not alone in this for real....theres nothing there guys...come on, someone say something please.

Also, I've noticed an HORRIBLE phasing issue when i started the plugin in S1.

That was due to the plugin not being on Linear but on Mixed mode under the filter phase type ( that cost me 60ms but its not an issue NOW because i dont need my ressources )

Also, to be totally honest....this is a tad too hot and muddy on the Q701 so yeah, the K701 are not a replica with a Q on each can for rebranding.
Unless Sonarworks are some fawkin douche thinking beat by dre's are some very good Dickphone <--- like this guy, istn it beautiful music, right ? Fawkin bubblehead .

Anyways, Sonarworks wont be my solution but its bringing me closer tho' so thank you very much for that.



P.S. I was listening to Carlos Kleiber with the Wiener Philarmoniker on the famous Symph #5 and 7 (16 bit 44.1 as it was never remastered)
Was fuckin Epic with my scotch ale by my side.
Equalizer APO was abandoned during this testing.
All Equalizer APO were traumatized and tortured during this testing.

Thank you bye

 

Last edited: Dec 4, 2016

Extra infos:
Just corrected what seems like obvious flaws to me.
Nebula server :nrA enhancer -18... Input +6db ; treshold -14 makeup : 6db
Silk eq shelving : ON ...High shelf : +6db
(nrA is sampled from Dolby Model 363 with CAT 300 modules.)

Shit yo........now we're fawkin rawkin fo'real!!! ahahahahha
Assai meno presto
ROFL
All of that for me haha !!

 

Last edited: Dec 4, 2016

Hey yo, jerk off. I did it !