Q For WHF: AKG Q701 Pricing

Have asked for clarification when m'colleagues are in the office this morning.

The RRP for the Q701 is £499 but some sellers have been working to incorrect pricing. That has skewed the market and as such there are widely varying prices available.

Thanks for the reply Nick, but could you please explain what you mean that some sellers have been working to "incorrect" pricing? Thanks.

The guide price we were working to prior to launch was lower than the final price when the product came to market. As such many outlets - us included -  advertised at the lower price and by the time stock came through that price had started to become accepted. I presume that is where What Hi-Fi got the pricing from. Certainly the price tracking we utilise shows a vastly fluctuating market and right now £360 is the accepted price - grab a bargain while you can!

I absolutely love my 702's but when the Q701's first came out I was pretty dismissive of them to be honest.

Like a lot of people elsewhere my initial reaction was that AKG were just doing a rip-off by having them "branded" by a "name", and for those with a social conscience making a (whatever) donation to QJ's music charity in the States for neglible - if any - improvement.

However, over time I have kept coming back to them and to be honest they are becoming to look a possible worthwhile investment at some point, but not at £500! Just had a peek at your site and what a excellent price.

My head's going round at the moment with upgraditis; new amp, new source, and possibly new cans. They are tempting, though!

Please someone correct me if im wrong but I always thought that the K702's were the same as the K701's apart from the removable cable and colour. And the only difference between the Q701 and a K702 is the colour. So my understanding was that the Q701's and K701's sound the same but one cost hundreds of pounds more than the other.

General concensus elsewhere is that there is no sonic difference between the K701 and 2.

Things tend to get a bit more divided between the K and Q 1's. It would appear that the Q's have a bit more smoothness in the mids/highs, and with no difference to most - though not all - peoples ears in the bass.

I was undoubtedly having a rush of blood when I said they may become a possible future investment; I believe that they probably are an improvement but probably not one justifying an outlay of £340+

They are the same as the K702 . AKG even said that on thier facebook page i think.

AFAIK k701 - 702 was the addition of a removable lead which is what the Q701 is an asthetic redesign of for the quincy jones look.again no apparent spec differences between k702 and q701

According to a private seller of K702s on Ebay, his newly acquired Q701s in comparison to the K702s are:

"...greater refinement & control in all the hi-fi areas, treble, bass,seperation etc....the K702s sound a bit more ragged by comparision at the extremes. In presentation the K702 is tuned as a studio monitor, so has "larger" vocals and is more critical of older sources (50s mono jazz for example) The Q701s are tuned as a hi end hi-fi speaker, so perhaps you could call them more musical and a bit more forgiving. They certainly take less running in than the 702s (70 hrs to 500hrs!). 

so, there you have it from someone who's assessed both in detail. BTW various US Ebay resellers have the Q701s in various colours for as little as £200 equivalent including shipping, though you have to allow for the onerous HMRC/Royal Mail charges of around 27% on top of that. Still, makes that comment from Home CinemaCentre (UK) above: "... £360... grab a bargain now" look rather hollow. I think I'll pass on that!

I always like this idea of "burn in". This is what AKG had to say to me earlier in the year, and I tend not to disagree:

WG: AKG K702 "Burn-In" Thu, 24 Feb 2011 16:56 GMT Dear Malc, Thank you for contacting AKG. Congratulations on your new AKG headphones. From our experience and knowledge we cannot confirm that there is a burn in effect of the transducers taking place. Normally the sound of headphones changes only over many years and then mainly caused by the ear pads (less low end since the ear pads get more densely by sweat etc.). However, during the first hours of use of headphones, the ear pads - in the beginning a little stiff - start to accommodate to the users ears and head and the sealing becomes better, as a result the bass can be increased a little, on the other hand the distance between the headphones and the ear may become closer, i.e. fewer air volume between ears and headphones is available and thus less bass. Kind regards Horst Burghauser AKG intl. hotline hotline@akg.com

cab be had for as little as £270 now 

The discussion of "burn-in" went 'round and 'round at Stereophile's Innerfidelity site, and ironically, centered on the AKG models you're discussing.  The conclusions of the host seemed to be that burn-in was not very significant, but that conclusion based on testing only one brand/model, and even then with no verification of prior play time on an automated test bench.  When inquiries were made by me, they were dismissed with no evidence offered.  Even the many readers of that site who commented had no problem with the complete lack of responsible testing on that issue. FYI.

Has anyone bought anything from "Great Bargain Music"  http://www.great-bargain.com/index.asp 

They have Q701s at £229.89 but I can't find out anything about them, the website that is.

I contacted AKG but all would say is that they are not a dealer so couldn't comment and any issue I may or may not have would be with the seller, so much for trying to counter the counterfeit culture!

 Just in case anyone from this website is looking in I am not suggesting that you are selling counterfeit goods for all I know you may just be very cheap however I work on the premise that if something looks too good to be true, it usually is!

I'm not sure about the website being ligit, I have not heard of it but a quick search on google doesn't bring up any horrible things either. As far as the headphones go: Although there is a big difference in price between the K701 & Q701 in this country there isn't in America for some reason. I managed to get a pair of Q701's from Amazon.co.uk for £164 so it's possible that it's just a good price.