Lehmann Rhinelander and AKG 701s and 272HDs not sounding good.

[RMP2]

Hello people, I hope Im in the right place for finding answers for my headphones issues. Heres the story:

A long, long time ago in a Sevenoaks far away I bought a Lehmann Rhinelander to sort out the sound to my AKG 701s that werent very impressive from a regular headphone socket on the CD player or amplifier (Marantz SA7001KI and PM7200).
The demo we had was a real eye opener, they sounded amazing from the Rhinelander, being run from a mere Marantz CD6001 or thereabouts via some £100+ cable with CDs we brought with us and know very well.

Fast forward to today and after a few years of sitting in the corner, looking pretty and having seen little use, I bunged the phones on my head. Oh dear, how trebly, scratchy and bass free came the sound to my lugs. Looking round the back of the stereo I see a Cambridge Audio phono lead. Eugh. Swapped that for an eBay-knee-jerk-buy "custom made" cable with fancy plugs and mean looking, stiff insulation. And I think... I think I heard a reduction in treble and a tiny bit more bass, but still, not what I remember from the demo room. I tried the trusty and bassy closed backed 272HDs and heard much the same, yet when the 272s are plugged into an Ibasso D10 via the PC they sound great with flac.
So onto the web of lies I go in my quest for that sound I heard on the demo.

The web says - "Burn this amp in for 100 hours or more" and "Initial impressions were disappointing, but swapping to a Van-Der-Fantastic phono cable brought forth bass".

Now, to the point. Does burn in exist within electrical components? A little warm up I can appreciate, but burning in?
And cables... Ive never figured anything more than a tight, non oxidising plug on a well insulated cable costing around £20 is worth bothering with.
However, I dont know what else I can try, so the little amp and phones are now running whenever the stereo is on to test Theory Number 1 as thats free, but should I also be considering a Van-Da-Berdozy cable too?

Logical thoughts with explanations of whys and whatfors would be fantastic as Im ready to sell the lot right now.

[Firebottle]

Rob, from the description of the sound I have to ask the obvious question:

Are you plugging the TT directly into the Lehmann without the use of a phono stage?

I can't think of another explanation given the 'phones are OK with other kit,

:cool: Alan

[John]

The combination should sound pretty good I used to have the same setup myself and liked the sound and did not have the issues you mentioned. As to burn in like everything in audio people have different views I certainty experienced it some equipment I would just leave the equipment on for a few days and see if it improves I think something else is going on

[Billyray]

I have a pair of K701s and Sennheiser HD650 amongst others. Others here may disagree, :sofa: but generally headphones don't do bass well until you pay a great deal andgive them lots of power.

You can get headphones which produce bass, but they are tuned that way and - to my ears - the bass tends to over-power everything else. Getting realistic bass from headphones is very difficult, particularly if they are open back (ie the 701s)

This coupled with the slightly bright nature of the 701s will be part of what you are hearing.

It might be worth trying your phones with another H/P amp. Try to find one with a bit more power - the Schiit range (I really like the Lyr) for instance.

[YNWaN]

Trouble shooting at a distance is notoriously difficult. With respect, the answer often lies in some aspect not mentioned by the OP.

Your dissatisfaction could be down to a whole host of issues, some technical and some subjective. What are you comparing your headphone set up to - is it other headphones or your speakers? Many speakers produce a lot of bass quantity with loads of bass over-hang;in contrast, most headphones are pretty lean with virtually no over-hang and,of course, no room boom.

However, one thing I am pretty certain of is that your dissatisfaction will not be cured by any amount of 'burn in' or cable changes.

[technobear]

There is one solution out there for the AKG K701. It's called the iFi Audio iCAN and you should set the XBASS switch to maximum.