AKG K371 Impressions

[Feelas]

I've noticed many times that all kinds of reverb gets enhanced on my pair.

Yes, that is the common thing I notice a lot on them - it feels strange, since the reverb happens to enlarge & widen the audio sources, as it should, but oftentimes doesn't - it seems that 371's FR presents a realistic main sound vs reflections balance (obviously, meaning the recorded reflections), thus predence effect is happening correctly.

I mean the effect, where the head is "gluing" reflections with direct sound - this is mostly referred to in room acoustics, yet recordings also should make that happen on headphones, since they're a combination of direct & reflected sound, albeit since headphones aren't that reflective, this makes it possible for the real recording reverb to come through - unless you somehow underline the reflections, as having a hyped treble range could do. I'd be happy to see this being discussed in the future, because clearly there's something going on. I might be off with the reasons, but I think that smoothness of response & the dips around 4-6kHz might contribute to getting these components to be hearable.

Also, on many recordings you can clearly hear the directionality of closely miked guitar amps, which is something I didn't notice on anything else, before - it might be due to being mid-fi until then. In any case - really amusing and interesting.

It also makes an unpleasant experience (which I personally love) of a closed-in sound, since these don't seem to throw away the characteristics of small rooms and recordings made there sound close & reflective. Even on ASR I've read reports of a somehow forced front/narrow representation, which could theoretically be attributed to recordings which are made in small spaces & just sound like that, which character is hidden by overhyped gear.

 

[Robin L]

One recording I'm very familiar with:

Played back via the the AKG K371, I'm hearing something that I should be hearing that I don't hear via the Drop 6XX headphones. This performance of Pachelbel's Canon is notable for being as Earlie Musique as all get out. That is to say, articulation is exaggerated, the usual notion of classical beauty of tone is deliberately thrown out the window, along with vibrato and A = 440. If the string tone isn't nasty, something's wrong. The Akg K371s get that acid string tone, the Drop 6XXs smooth it out entirely.

 

[samwell7]

My set of AKG K371s arrived today, I ordered them after reading through this thread and seeing a comparison between the K371 and Sony MDR-7520 on rtings.com, where it shows the K371 as having a better FR.

I haven't been able to listen to them much yet but initial impressions are overall good, some male vocals seem slightly quieter than I'm used to (e.g. Kendrick in 'How Much a Dollar Cost') but nothing else really stuck out as being wrong.

I also noticed the direction of some of the guitar amps/mikes as per what @Feelas has said above.

I'll try and do some A/B testing against the MDR-7520 and report back, they used to be pretty well regarded as mixing/critical listening headphones before they were discontinued.

 

[Feelas]

I've noticed many times that all kinds of reverb gets enhanced on my pair.

It feels pretty much that all the tail is intact, which could tell a lot about being correctly balanced - simply because that reverb was deemed complete for such a tonal balance that the engineer had.

I also noticed the direction of some of the guitar amps/mikes as per what @Feelas has said above.

That one is extremely interesting, since that'd pretty much require either:
- single room recordings of whole band w/ some stereo technique
- dual-miked guitars to be panned kind of similarily, ending up with essentially a small-room on a side channel instead of a mono mix, and I don't know if that's how it's done. Anyways, when it happened I was absolutely dumbfounded, esspecially since the directionality is in general very exposed here on 371s. I'd be very happy if I'd manage to find an open pair w/ such an interesting presentation, even if it is colored in the end - it's intriguing how much it differs from the typical clear & bare audiophile presentation, which seemingly strips any kind of processing that the engineer intended.

For instance, Leonard Cohen's voice on "Avalanche" leaves a big impression - he's just big in width, where you can clearly hear out the room's liveness.

 

[samwell7]

It feels pretty much that all the tail is intact, which could tell a lot about being correctly balanced - simply because that reverb was deemed complete for such a tonal balance that the engineer had.


That one is extremely interesting, since that'd pretty much require either:
- single room recordings of whole band w/ some stereo technique
- dual-miked guitars to be panned kind of similarily, ending up with essentially a small-room on a side channel instead of a mono mix, and I don't know if that's how it's done. Anyways, when it happened I was absolutely dumbfounded, esspecially since the directionality is in general very exposed here on 371s. I'd be very happy if I'd manage to find an open pair w/ such an interesting presentation, even if it is colored in the end - it's intriguing how much it differs from the typical clear & bare audiophile presentation, which seemingly strips any kind of processing that the engineer intended.

For instance, Leonard Cohen's voice on "Avalanche" leaves a big impression - he's just big in width, where you can clearly hear out the room's liveness.

An open-backed pair with similar presentation would definitely be interesting. Re-listening I'm pretty sure it was very light panning in my experience and I just hadn't noticed it before because my K702s are too wide in that regard.

Looking into what appears to be the most neutral open-backed cans (which I'd imagine would be a good place to start) has led me to the Audio Technica ATH-R70x and the Shure SRH1840, I've tried neither though but depending how long working from home will continue I may get the ATH-R70x as it's less than half the price of the SRH1840.

Listening to the song you mentioned above on the K702s I can definitely hear the room and he sounds very slightly to the right of centre

 

[Lbstyling]

The eyes are a powerful thing. One should listen FIRST and then measure.

B.T.W. I have seen many reviewers getting a LOT of things very wrong and they did not even have to show any measurements.

Regarding the K371, it is very good for the money, good tonality but its not perfect. For that reason I would agree with the reviewers title: ALMOST excellent.

The plots in post #161 are not of the K371 b.t.w. but the K361.

Hi solderdude, if you had to choose your favourite headphone for any reason, which would it be and why?

 

[solderdude]

Hi solderdude, if you had to choose your favourite headphone for any reason, which would it be and why?

HD800(S) but with EQ of the treble peak and bass correction and a different cable (the original is horrible).

Best technicalities, best imaging, can easily be driven (not from a phone though needs some amping), excellent comfort.
There are others I also like that are quite a bit cheaper and some more expensive but the HD800 is my favorite 'inbetween' (but on the expensive side when new).

When you mean between K361 and K371 I would say the K371 is the best for music enjoyment between these 2 specific models.
Kept neither.

 

[Lbstyling]

HD800(S) but with EQ of the treble peak and bass correction and a different cable (the original is horrible).

Best technicalities, best imaging, can easily be driven (not from a phone though needs some amping), excellent comfort.
There are others I also like that are quite a bit cheaper and some more expensive but the HD800 is my favorite 'inbetween' (but on the expensive side when new).

When you mean between K361 and K371 I would say the K371 is the best for music enjoyment between these 2 specific models.
Kept neither.

Interesting!

I have heard the hd800s, but only at audio shows, so the environment was too loud to be really useful, but it was my favourite of all the ones I tried apart from a hifiman model, but I don't know which one.

I have only just started to get into headphones really. Just owning the Superlux hd681to get a grounding, but to be honest, I can't see how with EQ, it could get massively better than this for more money. As I will be using EQ, I've been looking for headphone with low distortion as a priority over FR. The Dan Clarke RT closed seem to take it here for reasonable money anyway.

Which have you kept?

 

[solderdude]

This is what I turned my red HD681 into:

measures like this (no EQ, just mods)

don't use it anymore but was a good entry in low budget headphones.
Owned HD650, DT990/600 and HD250 lin-II at that point but wanted to see how far I could take it.

kept a lot of headphones...

 

[samwell7]

This is a copy and paste of the post I made in the K371 review thread, I'm just trying to cast a wide net.

Can another K371 owner help me out by trying something?

When I have my K371s on the smallest and second-smallest position the wire is pinched between the cup and the bump stop but only on the right hand side (see below image) is this normal?

The most comfortable listening position for me is on the second smallest point so I'm worried the cable is going to fail as it's always under stress.

If somebody could please put their K371s on the smallest position and let me know if the same thing occurs that'd be very helpful (Amazon return period will be finished in a week or so)

 

[carlo]

As far as I've read it seems that while 371 has a standard connector, K361 use a different one - maybe proprietary? Just wondering wether a replacement cable for K361 will be easy to provide or it will be a PITA. I found a good deal for 50 euros used - mint conditions - but still thinking. More a matter of principle than money...I generally hate proprietary connections.

 

[solderdude]

K371 has a mini XLR 3 pin connector.
The K361 a proprietary locking 2.5mm TRS connector.

I am not sure one can order the cable separate or if aftermarket cables will also be available.
No idea why the connector has been made this long.

 

[Cylphio]

@solderdude hey man, you are my hero. I liked a lot the k371 aside from the enormous subbass and the mechanism so prone to break. I ordered them 3 times with no luck. I had aldo the k361, but the lack of body is a big issue for me. But today I decided to buy a k361 and to mod them in the way you suggested and... I have now the best of the two. Linear bass, weighted voices and balanced highs. Thank you very much to try all that for us

 

[porotikos]

hi guys. i am facing the same problem as you, with the cable. i dont want just a plub that has the right angle, i am looking for a replacement cable that has that kind of plug. any (cheap) options? looking at aliexpress and ebay, showed no results.
ps. i was trying to adapt some eq but failed dramatically. then i found out that this doesnt work over asio.
so ill try again. is there any updated eq curve that you can recommend? cheers

 

[Fluxed]

Hi can any AKG 371 owner that has owned these hps for 1.5-2 years+ confirm the pleather pads are not flaking and falling apart.

I used to own the K5xx range and those pads would fall apart after 12-18 months, really poor quality.

 

[Lbstyling]

Hi can any AKG 371 owner that has owned these hps for 1.5-2 years+ confirm the pleather pads are not flaking and falling apart.

I used to own the K5xx range and those pads would fall apart after 12-18 months, really poor quality.

Wear daily, and owned for 18 months. Just showing semi permanent creasing/ compression in the pads now.

 

[Fluxed]

Wear daily, and owned for 18 months. Just showing semi permanent creasing/ compression in the pads now.

thanks sounds like AKG solved the crumbling flakey mess issue that was in their previous AKG K5xx series pads.

 

[Berwhale]

a lot of weirdo's here...

How rude!

 

[Joe Smith]

My K361 pads are fine after about a year and a half.
The same can not be said for some beater "Urbanears" I just pulled from my cheap stack for my wife to use and man, that thin leather took about a day to crack all to hell, plus all of the rubbery parts of the cups and cord have that sticky breakdown feel. Utter crap!

 

[Berwhale]

I had to replace the pads and headband on my Sennheiser PX100 last year.... around 35 years after I bought them