AKG K701

Design

Both headphones are stylish, and the retro enthusiast may love the AKG K701s more than the HD 800s, but we’d like to point out that the Sennheiser flagship over-ears have one thing that the AKG K701s don’t: removable/replaceable cables. Speaking from a durability standpoint, this is huge. Should anything happen to your cables as an HD 800 owner, all you have to do is send out for new ones, and your cans are salvaged. Not so with the AKG K701s.

AKG K701	Sennheiser HD 800

Frequency Response

When you get to a certain level of headphone, the differences in frequency response become more a matter of taste than anything else. The HD 800s keep a very flat response throughout, and stay within our ideal limits very well. The AKG K701s do this as well, though you can see some of its tracking issues rear its ugly head here. That being said, the AKG K701s maintain more of the higher frequencies than the HD 800s, even if the Sennheisers have better tracking. The AKG K701s also hug the upper limit of our ideal range, meaning your music will get a good boost from these cans… if you can sate their huge appetite for power.

AKG K701	Sennheiser HD 800

Distortion

Neither set of cans has any troubling concerns with distortion, but the AKG K701s technically have more. Still, this is well below what normal humans can hear, so fear not.

AKG K701	Sennheiser HD 800

Tracking

Here’s where the HD 800s blow the AKG K701s out of the water. Though the imperfections in the AKG K701’s tracking response are barely noticeable at worst, the HD 800s are nearly ideal here.

AKG K701	Sennheiser HD 800

Isolation

Neither set of cans were made to attenuate noise, so it’s no surprise that neither isolate well. Both leak sound like sieves.

AKG K701	Sennheiser HD 800

Comfort

Both headphones are insanely comfortable to wear, and you really can’t go wrong with either.

Wear
AKG K701	Sennheiser HD 800

Verdict

This one’s a tough one. Though the HD 800s seem to perform better in a few key areas, the step up from the AKG K701s is actually not that large by judging the frequency response, distortion and tracking alone. Currently there’s no test for clarity of sound, so we can’t make that comparison objectively. Differences in the performances we measured will be only slightly audible at best. Though it really depends on what you’re looking for in headphones, the difference in price may be enough to dissuade some more economically-minded audiophiles away from the HD 800s with their giant pricetag.