Review: AKG K 701 Reference Headphones

I rarely write reviews about products...probably because most of the time they don't live up to my expectations in one way or another.
So it's a rare treat to actually find a product that not only lives up to all it's talk but surpasses it.
I use headphones exclusively for everything I do in the studio, from monitoring to mixing to even just sitting around playing guitar. So I go through a ton of headphones. Quite literally, I own 6 pairs of Sennheizers, 4 pairs of AKG 240 and have pretty much worn them all out.
In all cases..Especially with Sennheizers, I've been disappointed with not only the sound but the 'plasticy' feel of them.
The best pair I've owned up until now has been the AKG 240's. I wear them for hours every day and sometimes have to take them off because my ears hurt so much. (Not my eardrums but my actual ears from the hard pads pressing up against them).

I've been putting off buying a new pair of headphones cause quite frankly I'd given up on finding a pair that was truly designed for the full time studio user and high end listener.
Anyways..I waited, did a lot of research and finally bought a pair of the AKG K701's off eBay for about 1/3 of what they would have cost me retail.

From the second I opened the box I was blown away with the quality. They actually look and feel like an expensive piece of equipment that has had a lot of care put into it.
The next surprise was putting them on. Talk about comfort. I could wear these all day long and they wouldn't bother me. Soft padding and ear pads large enough that they actually go around the ears instead of pressing them inwards.
Last but not least, the sound. Like..holy crap.
I thought I was getting a decent sound from the AKG 240's.

When I first put the K701's on, I thought my amp was turned off because they were completely silent. I'm so used to hearing a little a/c noise buzz that I'd accepted that audio equipment was supposed to sound like that.
These things are completely silent. No noise. No buzz. Nuthin.

So, first I figure I'll try playing some guitar straight through the Boss GT-8 and into my Luxman amp. I figured I'd noodle around for a few minutes and get the feel of the headphones. An hour later I was still playing around because for the first time since I began playing many years ago, I could actually hear every subtlety. It was like hearing my playing for the first time.
Next test was to listen to a master recording directly from Cubase, through the Luxman amp and out to the headphones.

Again..Holy crap...
I'm so used to constantly adjusting headphones on my head to position them right, then turning them down so they don't physically pop on low bass notes. I played the most dynamic and bass ridden...Layered song I had and they didn't miss a beat.
Last test was to try them through a headphone amplifier that I had custom built for me. I only use this amp for mixdowns because it runs on 9 volt batteries (so there's no a/c hum).
I played my reference recording of Slave To The Rhythm because it features some extremely low bass parts (the kind of thing where you can see the woofers on a pair of speakers go nuts, but you don't hear anything because the note is so low) and because of the stereo separation and hey, just cause it's an amazing album.
Again...totally blown away with the clarity, the comfort and sound. And lastly, how nice the headphones look when you finally put them down on the custom built stand they included with them.

Anyways, I highly recommend these even at the price they're going for.
If you use headphones on a daily basis, they're well worth the money.
If you're in the market, check out eBay right now because there are several pairs going for really good prices. (Like I'm talking store prices upwards of $500. or more. eBay, only $120 and they're brand new)