AKG K702 Open-Back Over-Ear Premium Studio Headphones, Reference Grade Sound, Airy and Spacious Soundstage, Precision Crafted

I chose to buy the AKG Q702 headphones after a lot of research. Headphones are a difficult purchase because it's hard to audition them due to the difficulty of finding a retailer who stocks a wide range and also because retailers are reluctant to let people try them due to health and safety concerns around cleanliness. My research was threefold. Firstly I looked at reviews by hifi magazines and websites. Then I consulted hifi forums and lastly I looked at product reviews on sites like Amazon from people who actually had purchased items. All opinions gathered in this way have to be treated with some caution because the views are subjective and, to be frank, some people do have favourite brands. The opinions I took the most notice of were from people who like the same type of music as me, which is mainly classical. These came out heavily in favour of AKG headphones and the Q702s in particular. I also took price into account. I was willing to spend rather more than the roughly £250 the AKGs cost but there is a law of diminishing returns in hifi and everything I read made me think that, whilst I could get better headphones, I would probably be satisfied with the AKGs. Ok so they come in a nice enough box. There is no case but that is not a concern for me as they will only be used at home and I have a convenient shelf for them to sit on. They have a tubular metal framework with a leather strap which goes on top of your head. The bodies are made of plastic and they have foam ear-surrounds. They are pretty light, 360g on my kitchen scales, including the cable, which is detachable. They are "open back" which means that they don't insulate you fully from external noise nor indeed do they protect others from your music. So they are for use in private! I have found them very comfortable. As mentioned, they are light so there is no problem there and I didn't find that my ears got hot even after a couple of hours of listening. Some reviewers have said that they found the ridges under the leather strap uncomfortable but to be frank I didn't really notice they were there. (I wonder if people have been pulling the phones hard down onto their scalp?) In terms of sound quality this is an early review. Some reviewers say that they need hundreds of hours to "run in" but I found them excellent straight out of the box. Some reviewers also say that they are much better with a dedicated headphone amp but I haven't tried that. In fact so far I have only tried them using the headphone socket on my Marantz CD6004. I will in due course try them using the socket on my Marantz PM6004. I've listened to a wide variety of music but the main ones to talk about are: * Grieg Lieder - Ann Sofie von Otter, Bengt Forsberg - DG437 521-2 * Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto - Kyung Wha Chung, LSO, Previn - Decca 475 7734 * Allegri Miserere - Tallis Scholars - Gimell CDGIM 339 * Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds - Columbia DPCD96000 (I think!) * Jennifer Warnes, Famous Blue Raincoat -20th anniversary edition - Shout 826663-10490 * Prokofiev Symphony 5, SNO, Jarvi - Chandos 8450 The Grieg is rather special, being a Penguin Guide Rosette winner and a former Gramophone "record of the year". The performances by both singer and accompanist are outstanding and the digital recording is demonstration quality. It is a tough test for any piece of equipment. The AKGs shone here. Von Otter's voice was captured in all its beauty and in some ways even better the piano was beautifully reproduced, all the notes perfectly represented to my ears. The sound staging was also excellent and by closing my eyes I could easily envisage a live performance. The Tchaikovsky is a much older (1970) analogue recording and I included it in the test not only because it is a wonderful performance but also I wanted to be see how the AKGs handed a non-digital recording (albeit a well-regarded one) and how they would integrate a soloist with a full orchestra. I'm pleased to say that all was well and indeed it was so good I played it through twice. The Allegri is also an old analogue recording but you wouldn't guess that. This is also a really tough test because the key thing is to be able to reproduce the acoustic of the venue, actually the Chapel of Merton College, Oxford, and to set the voices properly in perspective in it. This is hard because the solo group and the main choir are located at opposite ends of the Chapel, so to get it right you have to recreate a huge 3-dimensional sound stage. The distant and often hushed voices of the main choir have to live in harmony with the much closer solo group and Alison Stamp's wonderful treble has to soar above everything. I was quite stunned at how good the AKGs were at achieving this. My KEF Q500s do it better but you would expect that as they have the whole volume of a room to achieve it in. To make it realistic with headphones is excellent. The "War of the Worlds" is an old favourite and includes some excellent sound effects as well as some punchy popular music, with the added bonus of Richard Burton's wonderful narration. Burton really came alive through the AKGs and indeed everything sounded great. The "unscrewing" of the Martian canister sounded fantastic, I won't say realistic because that would be the wrong word, and it conveyed a wonderful impression of what was happening. It was so involving that I listened to the whole CD rather than the first 10 minutes as I had intended. Jennifer Warnes is one of "the" voices of the late 20th century in my opinion and her versions of Leonard Cohen's songs are highly prized. As Cohen himself said of her singing "I stand by my original astonishment". I won't go through the tracks but the AKGs didn't stumble and of particular note they handled with ease the rather difficult live version of "Joan of Arc", which can sound dreadful on cheap equipment. I chose the Prokofiev because it is highly percussive and I wanted to see if the AKGs could separate out all the various percussion instruments that are employed. In addition I wanted to know if they could convey the great excitement and drive of the final movement. They could! I could identify all the instruments and when I closed my eyes it took me back to a live performance I saw in the Albert Hall many years ago. To summarise, the AKGs performed well on all the music I tried. They were particularly good at presenting a realistic sound-stage; the performers seemed to be there in front of you. The Allegri was particularly impressive. I have read reviews that say the AKGs lack bass. I don't think that is right. I think they are neutral and reproduce what is there. If you want bass to be boosted these are not the headphones for you! They are rather analytical, i.e. everything is separated out and put into place, and people who like a smoother sound might find that wearing. I simply think it is realistic and I think the more you listen to these headphones the more you will appreciate the analysis. Overall I am very pleased with my purchase!

I was having a hard time working out whether or not I should get these cans - most people love 'em, from what I can tell, and that's what swayed me - there was no way of auditioning them before purchase. From what I understand, and despite what people say, they do need a certain amount of 'burning in' to get them sounding their best. A bit about what I'm expecting from them. I'm a muso, and do a lot of recording. For tracking and mixing to date, I've largely been using a pair of AKG K271 Mk2 headphones, and I'm happy with them, although they're light on the bass, resulting in some rather bass-y mixes. I wanted to get some new headphones for mixing that had a flatter frequency response, and was going to go for a pair of Beyer DT880s. Thing is, from what I could tell from the response curves I've seen, they're bass heavy. The AKG's are flatter. I'd also read that they're VERY detailed and will show up any mistakes in recording. Well, they've turned up and I couldn't wait to unbox them. Packaging is good, although unlike the K271s, they only come with a single cable (as opposed to one straight and one curly) and no replacement ear pads. You need to attach the cable via the mini XLR plug to the headphones, and then you're good to go... They're quite comfortable, and the pads fit enclose your ears nicely. They weigh next-to-nothing. But they are open-backed, so if you buy them, please don't wear them on a bus or a tube, otherwise someone might want to gouge your eardrums out with a knitting needle or something... People WILL be able to hear what you're listening to! Plugging the headphones in to begin with, I'd say that they're not quite as bass-light as the K271s but not far off - certainly not what I'd expected from the graph I'd seen, but I've also been told that the bass response does improve after the burn in period, so for now I'm only giving them 4 out of 5. Maybe it's me not being fully familiar with them yet - that's always a possibility. But to relate the sound in layman's terms, the articulation is phenomenal. Playing Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, I'd heard quiet synth sounds that I never knew were even there before. Playing 'Slave' off the Rolling Stone's Tattoo You album, it's like you're in the room with Charlie Watts while he's playing it - every detail of the reverb is there. Listening to 'Coma' by Guns And Roses, you can even hear the start and end of the 'heartbeat' sample. You can tell because there's some noise that they didn't get rid of altogether... (Tut tut, GnR!) Whatever music I've played through them so far, you can hear the transients on everything - the detail on these headphones is FANTASTIC!!! I heard a 'count-in' on one track I played and had to look around, as I thought someone was in the room with me. Well worth the money! UPDATE: Well, after a day or two more-or-less continual use, I wasn't so sure whether or not the sound had changed. Until I A-B'd them once more with the K271 Mk2's. The difference in quality is extremely noticeable, where I'm not so sure that it was before - the 271's sound boxy now in comparison; the 702's sound full and crystal clear. Highly recommended! So I'm upgrading my review to 5 stars...

Słuchawki wiernie oddające dźwięk tyle i aż tyle.

ふと在宅ワークで良い音で音楽を聞きたくなり、一人暮らしなのでオープンエアーにしようと思ってたどり着きました。 最初は、PCに直刺しと、Toppingのデジタルアンプに刺して使ってみました。確かに音はクリアで良いのですが、迫力足りない。 そこで、Fiio K11 R2Rを導入してみたところ、本当に感動です。高い解像感、無理にブーストしてないベース、いつまで聴いてても聴き疲れしないフラットさ。 もともとテクノなどの電子音楽も好きでしたが、このヘッドホンだとやっぱり生楽器が聴きたくなるので、サブスク配信でジャズやロックなど漁って聴きまくってます。 QOLが爆上がりしました。

Es un audifono muy plano, aunque le falten graves es ideal para mezclar. Los medios tienen mucho cuerpo y precision. Los agudos son extendidos y para nada fatigantes.

Casque léger et ouvert très agréable à porter avec excellent rendu.

I'm not an audiophile but those are very comfy and the sound is great!