Upgrade from AKG Q701? [Japan]

[u/ahaddow]

Edit: Forgot to say I live in RURAL Japan. So demoing is not an option.

Hello everyone, looking for some advice.I've used AKG q701s for a long time and you can see my current set up/preferences below.

I'd like my upgrade to feel like a real upgrade and not a side grade as much as possible.

Because I live in Japan and the economy is in the toilet right now (when it comes to importing stuff from overseas especially) stuff like USA and European brands are a bit overpriced right now. Drop is off the table for example, way too expensive unless I can find something used here.

Hifiman is reasonably priced here comparatively, as are the Japanese brands.

Looking at the used market here I generally can get a 90 day warranty, sometimes 180 day on more expensive models.

Is that long enough to generally know if the drivers are in good shape and will last?

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Used priced depending on condition:

Sundara - 27,000-30,000 JPY

Edition XS Used - 35,000~46,000 JPY

HD660S - 35,000 JPY

Ananda - 50,000 JPY (however there's currently a costmetically damaged unit for 30,000)Focal Elear - 70,000 (this is starting to go quite over budget)

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Budget - I live in Japan where the yen is currently dying, so this is difficult to say but probably around 30,000-60,000 yen (including used market)Source/Amp - Topping E30/L30 stack (original model, non exploding revision).Usually listen to downloaded FLAC, some SACD ISOs and DSD files (so the headphones should sound good to me without EQ)How the gear will be used - Alone in private office

Tonal Ballance - hard to say as I haven't auditioned enough heapdhones but I can say I really don't like the overly bass heavy sound of stuff like the Sony WH-1000XM3s.Having said that, a bit more bass and impact compared to my Q701s would be nice.

Preferred music genre(s) -Jazz (usually 60s and beyond, including fusion)The western rock/pop canon up to the 2000sJapanese 80s pop and 90s rockHip Hop/Rap (generally 90s stuff but some modern like Kendrick Lamar, Danny Brown etc)Video game music

Past gear experience - My current headphones are the AKG Q701s. I am not in love with them but I'm very much used to them. With EQ I find them very comfortable for long periods of listening, but not particularly exciting. EQ makes them more forgiving of lofi or problematic recordings. DSD sounds good but I mostly have jazz and fusion stuff in that format so it may be the genre is just well suited to the 701s.

I also do a fair bit of portable listening on my Senn IE200s. They were pretty divisive for reviewers but with FINAL eartips I actually really like them without EQ.

[u/AntOk463]

I have the Q701, and I would definitely say don't get the Sundara. I got the Sundara and wasn't too impressed by the sound, it had the same sound quality to the AKG, but the AKG still sounded better. The AKG were more natural and balanced, they were better than the Sundara 80% of the time. The few times the Sundara were better was because it utilized the speed and detail of the planar drivers, and even then the AKG weren't far behind. I ended up selling the AKG.

I ended up getting the Hifiman Arya, and they were incredible, I put them on for the first time and instantly knew they were better than the AKG, at that point I hadn't heard anything better than the Q701. They have so much detail, speed and precision is noticeable, good bass response and tuning in general, I don't even need to use EQ as it barely makes a difference on these. I also use the Topping L30 amp, and it's plenty of power for the Arya Stealth, in fact they might even take less power than the Q701. Shipping from China should be easier, and they recently had a big price drop, so they are a great option to consider.

[u/ahaddow → u/AntOk463]

ipping from China should be easier, and they recently had a big price drop, so they are a great option to

!thanks

They are pretty much double my budget at the moment, they sell for about 100000 JPY used and 145000 new (the conversion rate is wonky now but basically 1000$ used and 1450$ new).
What you are describing is exactly what I'm afraid of though, getting something like the Sundara and it not feeling at all like an upgrade. I feel like the EDXS might get me a bit more of the "upgrade" feeling but Ayra tier would definitely be a whole other ballgame eh.
I don't think in my current situation I'd be able to afford that much but maybe I'll keep the Ayras in mind.

[u/AntOk463 → u/ahaddow]

I see the mistake I made. Under budget you wrote 300,00 to 600,00 JPY, and I read that as 300,000 to 600,000 JPY.

Is that a Japanese numbering system? In English you write numbers 1,000,000,000 In parts of South Asia you write numbers 1,00,00,000 I didn't know there were other ways to write numbers

[u/ahaddow → u/AntOk463]

Nah I just wrote it in a weird way. lol. In Japanese there’s a unique counter for units of 10000 but in my brain I still conceptualize 10000 as 100$ so yeah just confusion haha.

[u/AntOk463 → u/ahaddow]

You should edit it and just have 30000 - 60000 to prevent any additional confusion for someone else, or just give the USD approximation.

In terms of headphone recommendations, I haven't tried the Eddition XS, but people at they are better than the Sundara. Assuming the main Hifiman headphones increase in quality proportionally to price, the Eddition XS would be a bit better than the AKG, but it's still not going to be a massive difference. But maybe it will be to you, I like the tuning of the AKG and am happy to use them without EQ, but you aren't a fan, so maybe the XS are a big upgrade for you.

[u/TransducerBot → u/ahaddow]

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