www.akg.com
When you need headphones with
extreme sound quality that are also
suitable for tracking, the K 271 is an
excellent choice. It’s extremely comfortable,
and provides excellent freedom
from noise and leakage. One very
considerate, and unique, touch: The
headphones mute automatically when
you take them off, thus making them
“good neighbors” when others are in
the same space.
Given that the K 271 is $100 more
than the Audio-Technica
ATH-M50 and $175
more than the Shure
SRH440, some might
consider “stretching” to
the higher cost if there’s
a significant difference.
Well, the extra bucks do
make a difference; the
high end is smoother and more dulcet
than the SRH440, and more defined
and present than the ATH-M50. Bass
was similar for all three phones, but the
271 had a “rounder” quality than the
Shure. Overall, the K 271 has an extremely “sweet” response that is
effortless to listen to for long periods
of time.
So given the price compared to
the K 271, is the K 702 twice as
good as something that’s already
good? Well, the K 702 headphones
are remarkable. They don’t have a
“headphone sound;” the experience
is closer to listening on speakers—
there’s an open quality that’s big,
full, and realistic. Also, the fidelity is
beyond reproach: The highs are
crystal-clear (I’d even use the word
“silky”), there’s no peakiness to the
response, and the bass is warm
without being hyped; there’s a
tightness and ability to reproduce
transients that makes these headphones
stand out.
Although the phones are circumaural,
they have an open back that lets
some of the sound “escape” through
the back. While I’m not fully tuned in
to the science, one of AKG’s engineers
explained (I think I got this right!) that
this prevents waves from bouncing
around inside the headphone. The
decreased isolation makes them less
well-suited to tracking in noisy environments
because a little sound can
“leak” out of the headphones, but so
what—get some other phones for
tracking, because the K 702 is exceptional
for mixing or listening. It’s also
surprisingly light and comfortable,
which I assume is a byproduct of the
oversized earcups that also place the
sound drivers further from your ears
than usual. This may also contribute
to an extraordinary ability to pinpoint
sounds in the stereo field.
Granted, these are the second
most expensive headphones in this
roundup, so you’d expect them to be
good. What you might not expect is
value: I’ve heard speakers many times
the price of these phones that don’t
have this level of detail. These are
honest, comfortable, transparent
headphones with a virtually non-existent
fatigue factor.
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