hmm, so I haven’t posted anything for a long time, i think this is because I feel I have to post something interesting and complete. Being on twitter has cured me of this, so I’m now going to post smaller things as they occur to me if they are too large for twitter.
Here’s the update on headphones…. incomplete because funds are limited…
I tried the AKG flagship (open hifi) headphone K701. I was disappointed. Although beautifully made, comfortable, and marvelously detailed they simply don’t give an accurate rendition of the music, its hyped and heavily over emphasised in the treble. And there some sort of weird phasing effect I can’t put my finger on. I found them enjoyable on less then 10% of music, and I couldn’t trust them in the studio since they sound so different from most other equipment and I need to make music that translates onto any equipment.
I think AKG have succumbed in recent years to a perceived need to make their products sound more exciting – at the expense of correctness. It just doesnt work for me.
I sold the K701s and bought a pair of vintage now discontinued, nearly unobtainable AKG K500 . These are much much better…. although still more unforgiving than my K271 (which make most things sound good) and a bit light in the bass, these headphones are the revelation I had been hoping for on well recorded music.
The K500s have magnificent soundstage and immersion, great detail and an open natural sound. However – they don’t emphasise the bass as much as we have grown used to for rock music, and they will show up flaws in an imperfect recording. They also are quite difficult to drive and a powerful dedicated headphone amp is required to get the best out of them.
I recommend the K500 as an audiophile or studio mix reference headphone. However for most casual listening the K271 get used more since they make even poor recordings sound ok, isolate from outside noise, and are easily driven by even my Cowon D2 portable media player. Ok the D2 is very powerful for a portable, but still.
One more tidbit – I also found a pair of AKG K530 very cheap.(£40) If you can find them this cheap they are a steal. These use the exact same driver as the K271, but with a cheaper construction and an silly bass ported semi open design. They also lack the K271 auto off switch and removable cable. They are made in china as opposed to the K271 being made in austria. Out of the box they are over bassy due to the bass ported design, however – if you block off the ports with tape (requires disassembly) then you have a set of phones that sound almost indistinguishable from the K271 at half the price. I use these for mobile use, since then I’m not risking my K271s in the big bad world.
I see many places are asking a price nearly as much as the K271, – don’t pay more than £50 get the 271 in that case.
well that will do for a “short” blog…..
