That small plyable plastic piece you removed is there to act as a mini passive radiator. It was engineered to tighten up the bass and give it more detail. by removing it you may get a bit more bass but it will be more inaccurate and uncontrolled (boomy). If you are listening to the Q701 on a amplifier or receiver/amp and want a bit more bass extension with this unit switch on the "loudness" button if your have one.

Watched this tutorial several times and allowed for 300+ hours of burn-in with Q701's before deciding to go ahead with it. In my experience having a good DAC and amp does not magically produce a deeper low-end response on these. Between a Schiit Gungnir and Asgard 2 (>$1000 of gear) I knew the inputs were not an issue (not to mention that all of my other headphones sounded full and well-rounded with this set-up). I immediately noticed pushier/throatier bass that matched the sound profile I was hearing from my Adam A7X monitors (renowned for their flat response). The bass is not blown-out or even incredibly forward after performing this modification but is noticeably accentuated and no longer feels lacking in the way it was before. Thank you for taking the time to show how simple it is to make this modification. P.S. Removing the housing from the left can is, as you said, very similar but should be performed with the headphones directly on a table because when the housing becomes detached it will pull the mini-XLR wiring with it.

Hey I know it's been a few years since you posted it, but your video really helped me out! Thank you! Recently the right side of my Q701's stopped working so I used your video to learn how to open them up. I was able to successfully re-solder the connection, and I did the bass mod while I had them apart! I love it, my cans literally went from zero to hero!

Thank you! very informative video. I just used this video to fix my new AKG Q701. it just tipped over gently on my desk while on a headphone stand. the light fall resulted in no sound out of the right ear cup. After following your disassembly instructions, I found a white wire broke off where it was soldered. I soldered it back on. Now it is all good!

Self-disclosure: there are 78 Dislikes on this video as of Mar 2022. I will update this intermittently.

Thanks for sharing this video. I have AKG K702 headphones and the right side has been cutting sound for some time now. I put a search in KZfaq for AKG K702 repair and your video was the top one. I hadn't even imagined opening up the cover was so easy. It took about three minutes to open it and solder the loose wire back. Much appreciated. :)

I did this mod and there definitely is a improvement to bass response. Which overall improved the sound significantly. Now movies, music and games sound fuller and boulder then ever before And a added bonus I can use these headphones with my samsung smartphone which now has more volume. So this mod does work and is worth doing. I have rediscovered these headphones and now are my go to cans for all my audio listening needs.

I did the headband and bass mod a few years ago . Been using a Ocean Bravo tube amp and was pleased with the better sound. So recently i got new ear pads from Brainwavz the XL gel earpads and now get such a different class of bass. Make this headphone so fun to use when watching movies.

Thanks Mate! Been using these headphones for over 2 years now, doing this mod shows a severe improvement! :) Great work.

I was afraid of doing it to my K701 headphones. They sounded pretty cool, but it's true they have a little too much middles, sometimes resulting in a bit "metalic" sounding. But I like plain response and I was afraid about if the mod could cause excessive bass enhance. However, the result has been great, the sound now is good balanced, the basses are present but not too much highlighted. Thank you very much for your guide.

Thanks for the very detailed video with close ups and good audio.

Thank you! Quick and easy mod! Got a cheap set of these used in very good condition (not enough bass for previous listener.) I used them for a while and kept switching back to my audio techincas until I did this. Just a bit of a difference, but a bit is all it needed.

This made a noticeable difference! Sweet.

Ok. I modded my green Q701. Don't have the money for one more pair of cans. There are cons and pros. Pros: A lot more of sub bass and impact. Lows have just much more volume. You can easily hear distortion in lower extension iff exists with purpous in track. Sounds warmer in some cases. No more shrilled highs. Sounds even more like speakers now! Cons: Lesser sound stage. Bass is sometimes a bit muddy when solo (maybe it is recording). I can say a complitley new cans.. :) Brilliant. :) No boring bright sound anymore.

Thanks for the info. just got my K7XX and indeed feeling the bass is lack a punch, will try this later. cheers!

Thanks for the video, this helped me fix my K7XX. The right speaker went out. I took them apart with your guide, did a continuity test with my multimeter and found a broken wire.

Hey! thanks for the video! you gave me exactly what I was searching for!

To OP, I have the exact same headphones and left side no longer puts out sound so I checked inside and found the yellow wire disconnected, I need to resolder it but the wire is too short so I need to get a new hookup wire but I don't know which wire type to get (18AWG, 22AWG etc.), can you tell me which wire type is used on the headphones?

for the K712s out there !!!!!! you just have to turn the little mesh cap ANTI-clock wise !!!!!!! that is it !!!! no picking required !!!!!!!! just turn it. it is abit tricky to do, i just use 2 needle to create handles so i can turn. be very careful there are wires underneath, dont go too deep.

Will this make them like the K712? Saving money?.. Kind of like the old famous HD555 Sennheiser mod to make them sound like HD595's. Def helped those sound alot better after I did that mod.

I find that the Q701 works best with a warm dac and a warm amp. My Titanium HD (Burr Brown DAC) and Matrix M-stage are both on the warm side and together they make the Q701 perfect. If you want more bass you'd better extend your hi-fi collection. There are different cans for different purposes. The Q701 is a headphone with a great detailed and spacious sound for its price, with good tight bass, but not very high in quantity. I recently ordered a pair of Fostex headphones from Massdrop to use for listening to more bass-oriented genres. I have no doubt though that I will be using it interchangibly with my Q701 depending on what fits my mood and choice of music for the moment.

The red wire on my right side was the one that came undone, after re-soldering I noticed that the right side was louder than the left. Anyone know why? Red is the power line and it now has a stronger connection?

you're a lifesaver m8 thanks!

What you did reminds me of something. We have Ducatis' club, sports car club, and some owners do not want to invest in exhaust, or while waiting for aftermarket exhaust to arrive they take out the inside of OE tailpipe, or muffler in cars. Yeah I mean they sound louder but definitely not the nice bassy of aftermarket equipment. AKG's sound signature is unique and that's why it is AKG. This bass mod feels strange to me. One cannot alter 1 thing without affecting others. i mean increase low end while mid and high unaffected, or the low end sounds hollow not actually dense bass. But hey, it is your headphone :-)

I just did this mod on my K712's. Yeah, you're probably thinking they have enough of a bass boost but they felt squelched somehow.. after doing the mod the sub bass went up a bit and it doesn't feel as held back. Soundstage makes a bit more since to my ears now. Then again I'm used to Fostex TH600/TH900's so I'm used to sub bass punch and these are now closer.

So now that its has been a while do you think the mod was worth it? I was thinking of getting these for gaming and music and wanted to see if your opinion had changed about the mod. Thank you for your time and video.

Just want to share something with people who own or think of buying these headphones. The reason why most people feel like their AKG's have no bass is because people are not amping them properly. People see in the specs that they're 62 ohm headphones, and think they're easy to drive. Well, let me tell you, as someone who owns the Sennheiser HD650 (300-550 ohms), Beyerdynamic DT880 (600 ohm) and Beyerdynamic T1 (600 - 1300 ohms), which are my highest impedance headphones (highest on the market too), and you might also assume hardest to drive, AKG K701's/Q701's are harder to power than any of them. Why? They lack sensitivity. Their sensitivity is extremelly low compared to other headphones at a similar price, and they really need a very powerful amplifier. A lot of people plug them into cheap 100-200 dollar Fiio, O2, etc. amps or soundcards (even Asus Essence ST or STX fits this category) that might look like they have power on paper, but in reality, they don't sound good at all with these headphones. These are probably one of 2 or 3 headphones under 1000 dollars that REALLY will benefit from using a high end amp. This is why you shouldn't really buy these headphones unless you can invest in a proper headphone amplifier, becuase you will be missing out on what makes these headphones so special and what made them so be so loved back before stuff like HD800's and T1's came out and skyrocketed the prices of headphones from 400-500 dollars to 1500-2000 dollars. Most headphones sound the same when plugged into a entry level $100 headamp and a $1000 higher end headamp. These? Nope...their bass extension, presence and tightness greatly increases when used with a really good amplifier, and their overall speed, attack and dynamics increase greatly compared to cheap amps while listening to the same volume, they simply sound far more lively and fun. With cheap amps like O2 you have to listen at high volumes, otherwise they sound dull, boring, flat, lacking bass or any sort of punch. With better amps, you get the fullness of music at lower volumes as well. I was shocked to find how much better my K701 and Q701's sounded when I switched from a 300 dollar chinese Little Dot Mk5 amplifier (which sounded absolutely fine with other headphones) to a 1000 dollar Musical Fidelity M1 headphone amplifier. Basically, you'll get a better sound by spending 1500 dollars on a K701 + a high end amp than by spending 1500 dollars on a 1100-1200 dollar pair of headphones and a cheap amplifier. Why? K701's are still absolutely world class headphones, if it wasn't for slight coloration in the upper midrange, I'd say they're the best at under 1000 dollars. Nothing up to that price beats them when it comes to dynamics, soundstage size, transient response, flatness of frequency response, etc. Ironically, what works against them is their low price. They're too cheap. Until a few years ago they were absolutely the best consumer grade (excluding exotic stuff like Stax) headphones in the world, better than HD600, HD650, DT880, DT990, etc. when paired with proper equipment. Now they sit too low compared to new high end headphones which costs 4-5 times more, and people who don't know anything about the history of these headphones assume they're considerably worse and that they can use them with poor equipment like it's the case with other 200-300 dollar headphones. Well, that's simply not true, and that's the reason why most people who own the K701 never get to hear what these headphones can really do.

I found leaving it on loosely gave the best result, atleast on the k702 which has 1db more bass.

What amp/dac are you using with these? I just got my q701 and sounded about 50% of what these are capable of when running off my xonar dg. I'm looking for some budget amp/dac combo to go with these to get the best possible performance.

You saved my life ... And my $400 usd headphones \._./ somehow one of those 2 tiny cables was deattached, again thank you a lot

UPDATE 3/31: If there was ever any doubt whether the bass mod makes a difference, I'm now fully convinced after running them via: www.audiocheck.net/Audio/audiocheck.net_headphoneshaker.mp3 I haven't used these much after I moved so still didn't upgrade the left cup yet and it's day and night difference in the sub bass on right cup until about 6 seconds. Of course it's much more subtle when listening to normal tracks unless of course your music only consists of sub bass... ^_^ For those who will be trying the mod, please run it through the tester above after doing only one cup and post back your impressions.

Just wanted to say that your mod video is very well made!

it works great ! thxx

Nice Idear！~

Hey mate, I have the K7XX but can't find the correct holes to pop the things holding the mesh on. Can you help? Possibly send me some photos or somesort?

Does anyone know the size of the driver that this headphone uses? 40mm or 50mm?

UPDATE 7/20: I should clarify that my comments on the sound were while hooked up straight to my Dell XPS un-amped. I just hooked these up to an old Kenwood receiver (KR-V8060) and the bass increase is slightly more discernible. Again, I hear it in the sub bass rather than mid's. As for changes to sound stage, I'm still exploring that but thus far I do notice a constant albeit subtle imbalance (I still haven't mod the left cup yet). Will be cloning tracks in Vegas to eliminate potential imbalances with the tracks I'm testing with and providing further updates here.

Is there a way to bass mod also the AKG K551 ?

Q701 vs K612? do these have enough bass? i hear that these have no bass (akg headphones) and are not good for movies, hiphop, rock, ect. i really want to get akgs but if the bass is horrible then i cant buy them

What exactly is the point of that sticker?

A few hundred? I see the AKG 701/2 right around 100 Euros and the 712, which needs no bass mod - it has really balanced and transparent sound costs 199 Euros new in a lot of places. Maybe you're in another country or they simply got cheaper over the years...

There's a lot of discussion about "improving the bass" in a Q701. Here's my take: I've got both the Austrian K701 and the Austrian Q701. There is no question...the Q701 is already enhanced. That is, it's very subtly coloring the sound. For me, it's not a reference headphone. The K701 will tell you the truth about whatever you're listening to. (I also have the HD600, which are a true reference headphone).

ребята, в чем заключается модернизация? можно тезисно. заранее спасибо

thank you for introducing me to massdrop.com :) i've never even heard of it before!

Hice el mod y no me terminó de gustar. Despues vi en DIY Audio Heaven que agrega casi un 5% de distorición a las frecuencias bajas y es en parte lo que notaba. Mejor eq y disfrutar como viene de fábrica.

so what is the use of this mod?

Why not use an EQ?

I've actually noticed a pretty large increase in low end base. Combined with the amp I use I compared it to how it was before and came out pretty satisfied. Thanks for the tutorial. However I ended up accidentally ripping one of the interior cords on the left side with the headphone jack, I had to rap the cord around and tape it with a very small piece of electrical tape. Given that definitely isn't the best fix, i just hope that it doesn't harm the audio quality.

The foam is so dust and etc. won't get inside

only akg 140 cardan and tooping dx3 pro hight hi fi

Your cool dude

So apparently, the more you can write the more you know about headphones. Who knew?

A stupid way, it increases the decay time of the overtones of the speaker itself, worsening the final sound quality that it produces. If the speaker has already been set to the limit by engineers, you shouldn’t go there, if you need bass, it’s better to work with filling the front chamber of the case with some kind of acoustic foam, denser meshes on the baffles of the case separating the rear and front chambers of the headphones and denser ear cushions.

You have to look at how you are using these headphones and what you are using to drive them. I have a set of Q701s' (Austrian Made, not the poorly made chinese rubbish) and a set of K701s' and I use them for mixing and mastering (along with a good quality set of monitors) with DAW programs (Digital Audio Workstations such as Protools). I can plug them straight into my mixing desk which acts as an audio interface or straight into a studio quality headphone pre-amp to drive these and the sound quality, sound stage, frequency range and depth is outstanding and up there with many other high end models I have used straight out of the box without the mod. If I did the mod I can assure you for my application I would be hearing a completely different sound to what was actually recorded / mixed / mastered. So application is the key....how are you going to use them and in what environment? There is also the belief by some audiophiles that headphones need to be 'burned in', refering to the practice of playing music continuosly through new heaphones for 100-200 hours to wear them in so to speak. Theory has it that the diaphrams in the drivers are somewhat brittle when the headphones are new and after a few hundred hours they soften up and sound quality is improved. there are two schools of thought to this, whether this actually works or if the whole theory is bullshit. This depends on who you listen to, some swear by it, others think its rubbish. I can say on my own experience my Q701s' new compared to my 10 year old K701s' sounded a little cold when new and after a few hunderd hours of regular use the sound is comparable now, much warmer so that they are almost identical to a blind test. Who knows???...But treat them like a new pair of sneakers maybe... To get the most out of them you have to drive them to get the full soundscape and potential as mentioned in an earlier comment, if you want a set of headphones to listen to your ipod or iphone then go buy a set of cheap Beats by Dre that are bass heavy, muddy sounding and uncomparable to AKG Q/K 701s'. Again, I emphasise, it depends on the application. If you just use these for listening to your HiFi / CD's / watching movies / DVD's then the mod may be the right way to go for you. But for me, It would be like going to McDonalds' for a salad. My question would be why go messing with something that has been developed by audio engineers at a company that specialises in high quality audio equipment? If used with the right equipment in the right environment adjustments in frequency response can be done before the sound reaches the headphones.

UPDATE 1/1/18: New vid covering left cup repair of broken wire: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pKqKlZuX0s66pGw.html

I dont like these mods, in my experience they make the headphones sound significantly hollow.

This fones are not for Bass at all !!! - Its a studio Monitor !!! Its Opened design....and will never reverberates any low frequencies ! Opened designs are made for spatial and wide listening....to be able to feel something from the environment aroud the musician....its great for playing acoustic versions.....

Ok a simple feedback coming from a music industry professional. TLDR - the mod works, but for me it does too much. Be advised and save everything you need to reverse it, might not suit you. Long version - 1. Bassmod improves bass response A LOT. I mean fcking lot, its around 4-5 db on everything lower then 120hz or so. 2. The effect is actually quite ambivalent - i would say that effect overall is actually interesting, sometimes pleasing and amusing. But as a professional i have to admit that the mod ruins this headphones as a reference tool. I would say 2-3 db less and it would make my pair of q701 the best headphones i ever used. But now i guess i reverse the mod and try to get a pair of k712, since i've heard they are basically the q701 with a better base response.

You sound like hifi insider. Except you dont have the accent.

These headphones were made to create true sounds. You're supposed to be able to hear all nuances in the audio being reproduced. Quincy Jones approves of this design, why change it and ruin the ability to fine tune audio tracks? More bass in your headphones = distortion in final production.

If you want bassy headphones either adjust your computer's EQ or buy some Beats/Sony XB/Some other shit pair of headphones. Don't ruin a great pair of headphones by "modding" them.

7:10 the foam is only there so you can't look through the little holes and see the insides of the headphones.

Jump to 3:10 to skip irrelevant talking.

This is totally ridiculous. If you want to get more bass out of these headphones just use a good amplifier with them. This is like putting offroad tires on a Ferarri because you like to travel offroad so much.

Complete Nonsense. The AKG K701/ Q701 already have enough bass. Modding destroys the linearity of these fine piece. if you want "more" the buy the right Headphones!

Beware!! the left side where the cable attaches has very short wires that are soldered very, very poorly, and can very easily snap off, when you remove the cover - Made in Austria my ass - and it's an absolute nightmare to resolder if you don't have any experience with electronics, so be careful.

if it was a 4 minute video i'd try it.

BUYER BEWARE, THEY ARE NO LONGER MADE IN AUSTRIA AS ADVERTISED. THEY ARE MADE IN CHINA. Very disappointed, may return them soon.

all mods degrade sound all