# How are you driving your headphones?



## igwanna (Oct 2, 2018)

How are you driving your headphones?

I just got a pair of AKG K701's and and i just plug them straigh inin audio interfacee focusrite 6i6 2nd gen. From aall th reviews I heard these were supposed to sound extremely spacious and bright even though quite flat in tonality but after even burning them in for a week they sound very low in volume and very meh. I guess the preamp from my focus is not strong enough?

However my cheap superlux sound super nice and strong and well balanced while plugge into the same audio interface.

Where do you guys plug your headphones to?


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## steveo42 (Oct 2, 2018)

I use a Schiit headphone amp. This one:
http://www.schiit.com/products/magni-1

It drives my AKG Q701 pretty loud and sounds good.


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## wst3 (Oct 2, 2018)

I switch between a headphone amplifier I built and the headphone amplifier in my Apollo Twin - not a lot of difference between them, I prefer mine, but that could be pure ego.


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## ironbut (Oct 2, 2018)

The headphone amp in my Metric Halo LIO-8 is used when I'm working/practicing and I use a Bottlehead Crack DIY tube amp with my stereo (lp's, tapes, etc) for pure pleasure.
That's with my Sennheiser HD800.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Oct 2, 2018)

It's not clear whether you'd be better off with louder headphones or a better headphone amp.

I personally would replace the headphones, because most headphone amps in the world are capable of driving most headphones just fine. That includes my venerable AKG 240Ms, which are high impedance and known to want power, but still get plenty loud wherever I plug them in.


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## ironbut (Oct 2, 2018)

Some people love the AKG701.
I owned a pair for a year or so and they always seemed kind of uninteresting and flat. 
Different strokes ...


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## teammwrp (Oct 2, 2018)

I got pulled over last week while driving ohm


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## sostenuto (Oct 2, 2018)

Use (2) Saffire Pro14 daily for older Sennheiser 32 ohm and never a volume issue. 
Hope you get this sorted easily.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Oct 2, 2018)

ironbut said:


> Some people love the AKG701.
> I owned a pair for a year or so and they always seemed kind of uninteresting and flat.
> Different strokes ...



The 240Ms are also extremely uninteresting and flat. That's a feature, not a bug.


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## pmcrockett (Oct 2, 2018)

I can confirm that an audio interface alone may not drive a pair of K701s properly -- I used to have an EMU 0404 and cranking the output volume could only just barely get an acceptable level on the headphones.

I'm currently running through an old consumer phono preamp (NAD 1020) that's noisy but works well enough otherwise.

Also, depending on what exactly you mean by a week of burn in, that still may not be enough for K701s. IIRC, the burn in time was around 60 hours for me before they started sounding better, but there are others posting online talking about needing 100-300 hours of burn in before getting the optimal sound. Leave them playing music overnight for a couple weeks.


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Oct 2, 2018)

I've been using a Grace m900 which is pretty good and very similar to the m920. I've done quite a bit of testing comparing those 2 and a Hilo. The Hilo has a brighter and coarser sound. The Grace is warmer and more cohesive. I think it comes down to personal preference between the m920 and the Hilo. I'd be happy with either one. The person who owned the m920 didn't like the Hilo.


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## igwanna (Oct 2, 2018)

steveo42 said:


> I use a Schiit headphone amp. This one:
> http://www.schiit.com/products/magni-1
> 
> It drives my AKG Q701 pretty loud and sounds good.



Man i wanted this so bad, theyre cheap and have wonderful reviews... cant find them anywhere that does cash on delivery here in portugal though :(((



Nick Batzdorf said:


> It's not clear whether you'd be better off with louder headphones or a better headphone amp.
> 
> I personally would replace the headphones, because most headphone amps in the world are capable of driving most headphones just fine. That includes my venerable AKG 240Ms, which are high impedance and known to want power, but still get plenty loud wherever I plug them in.



the flattest headphones i liked the most are all upwards of 60ohms so going for louder aint an option forr me unfortuna-te-lay



ironbut said:


> Some people love the AKG701.
> I owned a pair for a year or so and they always seemed kind of uninteresting and flat.
> Different strokes ...



dude they are supposed to be flat, however if you trully start appreciating them you will see that they replicate reality preety well... specially the AMAZING sound stage they provide for the price



teammwrp said:


> I got pulled over last week while driving ohm



OHM'YGOD!



sostenuto said:


> Use (2) Saffire Pro14 daily for older Sennheiser 32 ohm and never a volume issue.
> Hope you get this sorted easily.



K701s have double the OHMage i guess 60 of them?



pmcrockett said:


> I can confirm that an audio interface alone may not drive a pair of K701s properly -- I used to have an EMU 0404 and cranking the output volume could only just barely get an acceptable level on the headphones.
> 
> I'm currently running through an old consumer phono preamp (NAD 1020) that's noisy but works well enough otherwise.
> 
> Also, depending on what exactly you mean by a week of burn in, that still may not be enough for K701s. IIRC, the burn in time was around 60 hours for me before they started sounding better, but there are others posting online talking about needing 100-300 hours of burn in before getting the optimal sound. Leave them playing music overnight for a couple weeks.



i kew it! thanks. what should i get though within 250 bucks?


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## igwanna (Oct 2, 2018)

Portugal is literaly the ass of europe


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## igwanna (Oct 2, 2018)

would this suffice or is it crap? i was thinking about getting this one


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## Nick Batzdorf (Oct 2, 2018)

igwanna said:


> the flattest headphones i liked the most are all upwards of 60ohms so going for louder aint an option forr me unfortuna-te-lay



That's not how it works. Nominal impedance doesn't correlate 1:1 with efficiency.


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