[asmoday]

Well today my AKG K701 decided to give up on me after a little less than 2 months. The side that the wire plugs into no longer has sound. If I fiddle with the wire a little bit, I can get it to momentarily come back to life but only for a few seconds. 
 
Contacted amazon as thats where they were purchased, and I can get a refund but not a exchange till Jan 30th so that was good news. Not sure why exactly I cant just exchange them, but oh well its better than nothing. 
 
These were never dropped, abused or anything. I am now trying to decide if I want to order another set of them or try something different. I really liked the way they sounded, but I am now a little skeptical on the quality after this. 
 
Trying to stay under $400 for the headphones. Anyone have any suggestions?
 
Been thinking about maybe a set of Grado sr80i's till I can make up my decision?
 
Thanks for any help,
Tommy

 

[ProtegeManiac]

What did you like about the K701's sound? If you liked it's tonal characteristics, the SR80i with the new pads might not help you. If you liked it's soundstage, forget about the SR80i. If you think you really like how comfortable the K701 is around your ears at least, maybe the SR80i won't be a good replacement either.Just get a new K701 one if you liked the sound. Some products will have a few bum units with an outwardly minor - but ultimately annoying - flaw. And sine you said "under $400," I should automatically assume it's new, but still, did you pay the same amount? In other words, a refurb unit for half the price are more likely to have issues like this. Lastly, even if you didn't drop them, how you put them back on the cradle could have stressed the joint on the cable.

In any case, try reading up on the HiFiMan HE300 and HE400, in case you'd like to explore other options. To hold you over in the meantime, why not IEMs under $100? By the time you get new cans these will still be useful as portables, and use them at home when not critically listening (K701 earpads are $90/pair, just so you know.)

 

[asmoday]

Thanks for the reply and the stuff to think about. 
 
As for what I liked about them, its hard to say as this was first decent set of headphones so I dont really have anything to base it on. My set previous to these are a very old set of Sennheiser HD280 (actually using them right now). 
 
I am not saying I 100% couldnt have caused them to break, but they were treated with the utmost of care. I didnt use the cradle that came with them as I didnt like how it kind of pinched the cord when in there. So I had them hung up all the time. I understand things like this happen and there is no way around it. I am not mad per say about it, just kind of bummed at the moment. Yes they were suppose to be "new" when I bought them. I didnt pay $400 for them, but thats the budget I currently have to spend. 
 
I was thinking of getting the Grado SR80i's to use for music only. Like you stated I had seen what the replacement pads cost for the K701 and I didnt much like that price.
 
I only listen to metal music (mainly 80's thrash, yes I never left the 80's...lol). I have heard great things about the Grado's and metal so thats what kind of had me interested in them. The other problem is I also like to use them for gaming. While doing some research before buying the 701's, that the Grado's werent good for that at all. So I tried to find something where 1 set would do it all. I am kind of rethinking that process now. 
 
Basically what the breakage has caused is a lot of confusion again. 

 

[liamstrain]

That seems unusual to me. Many of us have had 701/702 for while without issues. Personally, I'd get a replacement if you enjoyed the sound. They are fine cans. 

 

[TC44]

If you're curious about the Grado sound, you should at a minimum pick up a pair of used Sr60/80 from the FS forum.  I did and found the Grado sound was my cup of tea.   If it's not for you, just resale them.
 
If you like the K701, you could always get the Q701 or K702, it has replaceable cables.

 

[Redcarmoose]

 
Quote:

 
I only listen to metal music (mainly 80's thrash, yes I never left the 80's...lol).

I spent a full year to the month playing Metal on k701s. My end feelings are they are ok, but not as involving as some other headphone choices in the price point. There are cool things they do with Metal like place every part in it's own space area so you can listen to each thing. The issue though is that they really don't do the PRaT as well as some. The other issue is that they seem to be missing a pronounced tone in the lower mids where the majority of lower mid Metal guitar is played. If some one was playing classical music and some type of metal with classical music influences, I could see how they may work.
 
Thrash is going to be better on something else. The great part is you can always pick up another used pair of k701s if you really get home-sick. I have two pair of k701s as I found a used pair a while back for $245.00 for sale by a Head-Fi member. I keep them around as I do like to listen to them from time to time. They do electronic music and classical really well as well as vocals. I listen to Metal 99.99999% of the time so I use Denons. I'm sure there are even better headphones out there now for Metal. It comes down to going to a meet where you can try 50 different types of headphones. This is really much more easy than many make it seem. Though I hear there are some headphones which sound good the first time you play them but seem to loose their magic in two weeks. I have yet to find that pair.
 
You may have a small adjustment time due to being used to the k701 sound. It may even make some headphones sound muddy due to the contrast in sound to the k701s. There maybe handfuls of Head-fi members who love the k701s for Metal, they are not the majority though.