New AKG Q701.....is it worth buying a dedicated headphone amp?

Have same 'phones. Love 'em. Got 'em before Christmas as a upgrade to Senn 595s. They do benefit from h'phone amp and from running in - I left them on for about a week with a source running through them. 

I went for Firestone Cute Beyond as h'phone amp- £109 until 5th Feb at Russ Andrews. Sounds pretty amazing, so much so I bought a Supplier nower supply and that improved things again. Not that it needs the power supply, but I was impressed enough to try it. 

I also have a pair of SR80i's which I haven't heard for as long as I can remember - I love my K's too much!

They are/can be an acquired taste. Is there a particular type of music that you listen to?

I know we all like to think that we like most kinds of music, but I think I really do.Today been listening to Elvis, Enter Shikari, Oasis, Adele, Drake......and some house music. The only music I dont listen to is Calssical.

I note you have the Graham Slee AMP........does this make a huge difference?.

I have only received the AKGs today so I know I need to run them in.

Regards

To wbarr

Thank you I have found this on Russ Andrews site and I will definitely consider it.

I bought the Novo for £150 used and at that price I thought yes it was most definitely worth it over the headphone jack on my Marantz PM6003.

Would I say the same if I'd paid full retail? (around £240 at the time IIRC). Possibly not, but as I've not had it plugged in to the amp - again, for as long as I can remember! - I wouldn't like to say. Unfortunately that amp is sitting in the spare room so I can't do a comparison at the moment. Is there something in particular your not happy with your Q's? And what's your source.

I have the Arcam A85 amp.....the headphones do sound good, but I have noticed in a lot of reviews that they work best with a dedicated headphone amp.

As stated earlier I think I expected a bigger improvement from my Grados, but as I say they are by no means run in yet.

I already prefer them to the Grados so happy.......but maybe not escstatic......yet

Also please excuse my ignorance on this, but what is the puropose of a headphone amp over say my existing amp.

Does the hedaphone amp connect to my source...ie CD player...or my amp......I take it I would need decent interconnects too?

Doubt you'll be disappointed if you go for it. I was dubious, but swayed by the 14 day return policy. Took about 14 mins to decide the CB was a keeper. 

Re AKGs.  I was only vaguely impressed at the start, but they do benefit from running in. Very impressed now. 

is it worth buying a dedicated headphone amp? IMO no, all amplifiers have their own sound signature and whether it's going to sound better is going to be subjective, one would assume you like the sound of the Arcam amplifier since you brought it. If you have a poor Hi-Fi amp (which you don't) or no headphone socket a headphone amplifier is advisable. Just don't expect to hear a huge difference between your A85 and a headphone amplifier because you won't.

The AKGs need 300 hours - during that time I wondered whether they would ever become listenable. Piercing upper midrange. Now much more balanced but a very analytical sound.

If you can take the headphones into a dealer that stocks a couple of headphone amps, you will be able to listen for yourself and decide if you need one. Having heard the AKG K701s with NJC Monitor Audio hp amp, Matrix Mini-i and headphone out of a NADC350 integrated amp, I can say there are significant differences. Whether it's worth it is up to you.

[quote=datay]

The AKGs need 300 hours - during that time I wondered whether they would ever become listenable./quote]

Scroll down this post here where I copied the reply from AKG regarding my "concerns" (the reason why it appears ragged is because it was posted through my mobile).

I've had my Q701s for about 6 months now and agree 100% that they need a dedicated amp, but its worth doing a bit of research as these are picky headphones.  Get it right and they really can rival the best headphones, get it wrong and you'll wander where the bass and drive has gone. 

I use a handbuilt Panda headphone amp and it sounds fantastic

http://rockgrotto.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=m&action=display&thread=6605

But if you don't fancy DIY then the Matrix M Stage is meant to be a great match for a reasonable price.  You can pick these up on ebay, but these are from China and you run the risk of import VAT.  I'd buy from amp city, no risk of additional charges and a 30 day money back guarantee.

http://www.ampcity.co.uk/matrix-m-stage-headphone-amp.html

Spending a bit more the Heed Canamp is also said to be a great match.

Yep, Heed Canamp supposed to match well (would love to hear it actually) and the Matrix (this is the headphone amp, not the Mini-i dac/preamp with headphone out that I own) is apparently a Lehmann Rhinelander clone. The latter was designed using Sennheiser HD600 (not exactly sure of the model, their former reference model) I believe.

Thanks for that Sizzers. While I agree with AKG that the fit of the earpads will affect bass as a more user-friendly fit is acheived (more likely with on-ear, given the 701s are very large circumaural I think it matters less), I found there were very, very noticeable changes over 100, 150, 300 hours that could only be down to mechanics. This was not psychoacoustic either.

I think my NJC Audio Monitor II may be a bit too "clean" for them, but I'm not spending another £400 on the Heed...then there's Heed's PSU to resist as well...