A broke college students rig.

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yepimonfire

Audioholic Samurai
Didn't think posting this in the system's gallery sub-forum made a whole lot of sense, considering it really isn't a home theater, so I just decided to post it here.

AKG q701's (identical to the k701's minus a snazzy lime green cable, and the branding of course, but the price on these bounces up and down between 230-299 on amazon, so i snagged them for about 240 vs 279 for the K701's), a Behringer UCA202 usb interface, and my laptop, of course.

While this isn't really a review of the AKG's, I did want to make a few comments on them. What can i say about them? Well, they're the flattest, most accurate sounding headphone I have ever heard. Compared to some other models I've heard, they were the only neutral sounding headphone that wasn't bright sounding. Don't get me wrong, I actually like a small bit of brightness, but I really just wanted something transparent for a change. Unfortunately, these cans can be very unforgiving on recordings (especially on a lot of my "low-fi" black metal albums).

Not really much to say about the UCA202. It's just an interface lol. It's powerful enough to drive the AKG's (something that neither my ipod or laptop managed to do, at least not very loudly.)

Other headphones I own include Audiotechnica's ATH-AD700, and Etymotic HF5 IEM's. The ety's sound very similar to the AKG's, with a slightly more forward mid-range. The AD700's are fun. They aren't really transparent, but they sound great. I'd suspect many people would find their extreme brightness a bit piercing. Oh, did i mention they look ridiculous? lol. A beige frame with purple grills.
 

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j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
I have the 202 also and I use it at work and sometimes in the main rig at home. I like it. Decent sound, not excellent sound.
 
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yepimonfire

Audioholic Samurai
I have the 202 also and I use it at work and sometimes in the main rig at home. I like it. Decent sound, not excellent sound.
What makes it un-excellent in your opinion?
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
I don't notice it with the headphones, but in the main rig, it doesn't sound 100% clear all the time from my laptop. For the price, I really like it though. When I am listening via the laptop, I don't expect SACD quality.
 
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yepimonfire

Audioholic Samurai
I don't notice it with the headphones, but in the main rig, it doesn't sound 100% clear all the time from my laptop. For the price, I really like it though. When I am listening via the laptop, I don't expect SACD quality.
Are you using the RCA outputs? I've heard they are somewhat noisy (not sure if that is what you are referring to.) Either way i haven't heard any problems at all with it (i have never even messed with the RCA outs), even with the volume cranked to the max i hear absolutely no noise. It's definitely better sounding then my on-board and leaps and bounds better than my phone's output (which quite honestly sucks lol). The only gripe i have is if you turn the volume super low the right channel is noticeably attenuated. This, however, is not an issue for me considering i don't even use the volume control on the device, i just use the volume control in windows.

Meh, it's 30 bucks, and can drive my AKG's to a listenable volume level without any noticeable distortion, so it's a winner in my book.
 
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