I don’t wanna say I like neutral. I like the clarity, level of detail, the openness and sound-stage of the K702s, but I would like a bit more bass if possible. I am using an EQ atm.
Basically I would like sound of K702 with a bit more punch to the bass.
I was recommended with the 880s, but only the 250 ohm variant. I don’t know if the 32 is also good or not.
from my experience with the dt 990s if they are the same as the 880s for its respective ohms. the higher ohms will come with slightly reduced treble(in this case its a good thing lol) but a better bass and more clarity while also having a slightly cleaner sound. For me though It also helped the recessed mids more too. However, higher ohms demand an amp and sometimes a dac which can become costly
Yeah that’s precisely the thing I cannot afford at the moment.
I could maybe buy the 880 32ohm, try it and if it’s better, then return the K702, or return the 880 if it’s worse.
I would say go ahead and try the 880 if you can more so if it also has a proper return policy. I don’t think comfort will be the issue here and sound wise they are really close to each other from just looking at their frequency graphs and other information. I think the biggest difference would of course be sound staging… since the k702 has incredibly wide staging and in some cases for some songs even this is a bit much imo fantastic for very analytical detail even in competitive as this helps alot but 880 doesnt fall very short to it and from my experience on the 990s it still very good. I will be able to tell you fully tomorrow. Called Fedex they will have the headset delivered tomorrow and I will take a few hours out to test it out.
Ok, will be waiting for tommorow.
The return policy I am talking about is enforced here by the law, you can return anything up to 14 days after you bought it on the internet (from any store) here.
Wish that was a thing here. Would be a lot easier for someone to audition product
AKG headphones in general don’t really have much clamp, so I’m guessing that maybe you’re particularly sensitive to this? If you are sensitive to clamp I would discount anything from Sennheiser and the Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro.
I’ve owned the K702 and also found the pads too stiff. Several pairs of headphones later I tried the K712 Pro. I LOVED that headphone but despite all the reviews saying how comfy they were I found them incredibly uncomfortable and had to send them back.
Anyway, I recommend the Beyerdynamic DT990 Edition (sometimes known as ‘Premium’ iirc). Same drivers as the Pro but with far less clamp and a 3m straight cable instead of a curly one. While they don’t clamp as hard as the Pro they do still have clamp, so you may have to stretch them a little over a stack of books/games/DVDs/whatever. Be careful dong this though as you don’t want to overstretch them. Use something that’s slightly narrower than your head just to ease some of the pressure.
In the price bracket you’re looking at you’ve got Audio Technica AD700X, AKG K702/7XX, Sennheiser HD58X Jubilee and the Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro/Edition/Premium to name a few and all of which I have owned. Out of all of those and a few others I have tried the DT990’s are for me personally the most comfortable and the most ‘fun’ sounding for want of a better word. They have a little more bass than most open backed headphones as well as a fair bit of treble, so they are a decent all rounder in terms of playing games that are either just for fun or competitive imo.
Thanks for the advice.
The problem isn’t really the clamping force itself. It’s the combination of clamping force and stiff padding, which create pressure points on my head after about an hour. If those pads were softer, I think it would be fine.
Also, what about the DT880? It’s also in the same price range.
Unfortunately, I can’t buy anything from Mass here in EU. So no X versions. 
I couldn’t tell you anything about the 880’s I’m afraid. Before I went for the 990 Edition I was tempted by the 880’s, but they are semi-open. I don’t play competitively these days but I do like to play open world, action adventure games, so I didn’t want to potentially risk losing any sound stage by getting the 880’s.
Have you considered maybe changing the pads on your K702’s to something like Brainwavz memory foam? It might set you back around £20, but it might be preferable to trying and returning multiple headphones until you’re happy. That rabbit hole runs deep. I know. 
That doesn’t sound bad.
The problem is that it isn’t sold locally. I would have to buy them from the official store and that will create 2 issues.
Also, which pad material would you recommend, if I would buy it.
I sat down with the 880 this morning… It does most definitely have some stiff pads and slight clamp force out of the box, it’s a semi open so probably was designed like this for a little more isolation.
Personally speaking I feel these both lacks a little in the bass department and is definitely flatter. It’s a little on the heavy side but at the same time I will say the k702 had a little more detail and complexity. These are definite not bass head quality and it’s more on the lighter side of bass it’s bright while staying prominent yet airy. I will say that the k702’s go a slightly bit deeper into the bass while the 880 is heavier just not as detailed
K702’s treble is definitely the tamer one here however these are similar to the 990s as they have a small V signature to them. The 880s have enough treble to them to make them borderline sibilant of which I can definitely see a complaint for some people. The treble I feel is more prominent on these 880s than it is on a k702
Build quality on the 880s is Vastly superior to the k702, cheap plastic on the k702 and a terrible clamping headband against steel, leather, and hardened plastic with very soft padding to go along with it. Padding wise the 880 is better. Overall though the 880 is smaller than the k702
Impedance testing. For the sake of this test I ordered a secondary copy of the 32 ohm vs the 600 ohm I had wanted to test. The main difference I can pinpoint directly here is on the 600 ohm it sound just slightly cleaner especially on vocals and treble whereas the treble and bass are more prominent in the 600 ohm. These however, are fairly smaller difference and my ears are sensitive to a bit of a fault. The 32 ohm was designed with mobile in mind so I tested this… I did feel it could be a tad louder but its acceptable… I had to place it on full to get a full sound experience though.
Sound staging this was interesting to see I had to take it in game to see for myself how these would perform and personally speaking these 880 definitely aren’t bad by any means. They feel close to perfect on sound staging for games such as Counter Strike or Call of Duty and a good balance in larger games like Fortnite, Apex, Arma, and Planetside it’s not TOO wide. However, the k702 definitely takes the win here for having a MUCH wider sound stage and in some cases I feel is a bit to much. The k702 I found I could discern the different sounds a little easier and it was the more analytical headphone meanwhile the 880s had some sounds that were a little more clumped together with complex sounds and the it was the same with more complex music arrangements which could make the 880s sound a little bit muddy. While these are minor points in sound different it’s still there that’s not to say that the 880 falls very short as it still sounds incredible in sound staging. Imaging wise these are pretty even outside of k702 being the more detailed headphone
Detail wise as said I said above this goes to the k702 as they are definitely more analytical and accurate here they are very crisp and detailed in comparison to the 880s
In most cases these two are harder to compare as 880s are a semi open back which causes a little bit of clamping force respectfully while the k702 are an open back. I will say this though that the 880s feel like they would definitely be better as an all rounder while the k702 is far to analytical and would be better for certain styles of music like instrumental recordings and classical.The vocals I found to be very different between these too and it’s probably due to the slight recessed mids. I honestly liked the 880s vocals a little more as with the k702 they sounded distant and blended which isn’t my taste meanwhile the 880s felt a little more face forward, intimate, and not as recessed.
I will say this though that I felt that thanks to the lighter response that the beyers have this made the headphone seem a little airier that added with the treble gave the 880s that thin style sound in some cases that I have come to expect from a dt 990. Honestly these 880s feel like a mix between 770s and 990s they definitely are one of those you would want to sit down with and test. For competitive these both are fantastic but if you want a less analytical colored approach go with the 880s especially if comfort is a concern between these two I found my head actually hurting a little and being uncomfortable after a while on the k702 meanwhile I was able to sit for hours with the 880s. Musical wise I do feel the k702 comes out on top but gaming is a different story and I preferred the 880s bar none in this case
I feel that changing his pads may be the better option if he already likes the k702s. You are most definitely correct on the loss in sound stage. Comparing the 880 to the 990 the difference is definitely there however, the V signature and treble is stronger on the 990s while the 880 was catered towards a lesser V and more towards neutral they definitely sound different. Personally I stick with my 990s for competitive strictly and use another headphone for everything else. The issue with beyers like this is that if you are not very knowledgeable in that natural high treble and V signature they produce you may not like the headphone at all. The dt 990s I feel are just better for competitive gaming in the case of these 3 headphones however the issue is the at the dt990s have such an insanely high treble a lot of people get turned away. it boils down to preference
Thank you for this detailed review.
I probably didn’t mention I listen mostly to EDM when it comes to music. However, I would say I use the headphones 60% gaming, 20% movies and series and the rest 20% for music.
For the lack of bass I use this EQ: https://imgur.com/a/9JqC3up
The EQ rise the bass, but in my experience doesn’t affect the rest, at least not by much. If I raise it even higher, it starts to hurt the mid-range and highs.
The plan with the new pads sound cool, but it’s this or testing other headphones. I can’t return the pads if the’re not good, at least not easily. And I will have to wait at least a week till they come and by then I could not return the headphone itself.
Well, if you can’t return the pads. I would say see about trying the beyers… If you do not like them maybe consider testing the other pads. It boils down to what you are looking for… If you prefer a more neutral sound however, I would have to point you more towards the Sennheiser brand in this regard which if you can’t get a 58x would be more around like… Sennheiser hd 600 or hd 650 both are very great in this case and go neck in neck with the k702 and dt 880s/990s in terms of gaming least in my opinion… however the Sennheisers have a better well rounded sound and are flat in sound signatures, k702 is a tad lighter on the neutral and much more detailed, and the beyers are V sounding with a very light airy brightness to them.
I don’t need neutral. I just want good clarity, openness, soundstage and level of detail and most importantly, good positioning for games. Bass for the EDM are also welcome. If I wanted neutral I wouldn’t use EQ.
HD 600 is 2 times the price of both K702 and DT880 and 990, at least in my country.
the hd 580, hd 600, and hd 650 are probably more in the area you are wanting however if that is out of reach and you are not the biggest fan of the k702 I would have to point you towards the dt 990 considering what you are looking for. In this case of EDM if a mic is a concern the custom one pro plus may also be a consideration as it has the ability to be a closed back, open back, responds well to eq, has a bass boosting function, and comes with a mic, its catered towards adaptability and gaming
It’s not, because I already bought a lavier to go with the K702. Modmics are too expensive here.
The senns are also overpriced where I live. But I still like the K702 with the EQ in terms of sound, so the new pads idead doesn’t sound bad to me. On the other hand, it’s maybe more safe for me to try out other headphone than to buy the pads, because I can return the headphones, not the pads.
Agreed, I would say try other headphones in this case. the only others I can recommend if senn is out of price range would be looking into Audio Technica ad700x or 900x because they are pretty damn good for gaming, there are some others in audio technica but I am fairly unfamiliar with them, and the dt 990s.
Those are also overpriced here 
The AD500x is about 130$, the AD700X is 200$ and that’s out of my 150$ budget.
The best way in my opinion would be to get the DT990 or DT880, I will have to choose one (still not sure). If the DT will be better, I stay with it, if not I return it and buy the pads for the K702.
That would be the best option then. That’s crazy on the ad700x you can get those here for $100 or less. Yeah, go ahead and test out the dt 990 premium 32 ohm it doesn’t hurt as long as you can return them… They are a very solid headphone for competitives and do have some nice bass for EDM’s beats