AKG K371 Review (closed back headphone)

[Jimbob54]

AKG K702 is more expensive over there in the USA than the K371, and the K702 is my joint favourite headphone with my HD560s.....I EQ all my headphones to the Harman Curve using measurements from Oratory. Over here in the UK, the K702 is actually cheaper than the K371, which is a bit strange. Amir's reviewed the Drop AKG K7XX and he didn't give it a very good review:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/drop-akg-k7xx-review-headphone.24732/
I'd quite like to see Amir review the K702 to see what he thought, he might pan it though for distortion even though that doesn't bother me, but it's a very good soundstage headphone. Oratory has measured a load of different AKG headphones, but nothing particularly expensive I don't think, but I'm not intimately familiar with them all:
https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/wiki/index/list_of_presets
I suppose there's the K712 Pro that Amir could measure sometime, which is more expensive, but not by a lot. The K712 was the headphone that was actually used to simulate the other headphones in Harman's preference studies, so it's got that interest factor. There's not really any expensive headphones from AKG anymore, I used to think they did an AKG 800 series, but they don't seem to be for sale and Oratory hasn't measured any of those. Ah, I've googled it and there's the K872 closed back (https://www.thomann.de/gb/akg_k_872.htm ), and the open back K812 (https://www.thomann.de/gb/akg_k_812.htm ), they're both around £800, and for some reason they weren't listed on the AKG UK website, but they are available to buy from Thomann. I really don't know anything about those two headphones.

https://crinacle.com/graphs/headphones/akg-k812/

 

[Robbo99999]

https://crinacle.com/graphs/headphones/akg-k812/

Ah, he's got the K872 Pro measured there as well, here's both of them starting with the 812:
AKG K812 (open back):

AKG K872 Pro (closed back):

They both have good bass extension, which is particularly surprising for the open back version, channel matching is not great for the 812, and both headphones have quite a lot of peakiness to try to EQ out and especially the 812, whereas the 872 fits quite nicely to the Harman Curve apart from the massive dip at 2.5kHz but that dip is quite wide so should be relatively easy to EQ up successfully. Not ideal frequency responses for sure, and the closed back K872 appeals to me more as it looks more EQ'able and has better channel matching.

 

[holbob]

AKG K702 is more expensive over there in the USA than the K371, and the K702 is my joint favourite headphone with my HD560s.....I EQ all my headphones to the Harman Curve using measurements from Oratory. Over here in the UK, the K702 is actually cheaper than the K371, which is a bit strange. Amir's reviewed the Drop AKG K7XX and he didn't give it a very good review:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/drop-akg-k7xx-review-headphone.24732/
I'd quite like to see Amir review the K702 to see what he thought, he might pan it though for distortion even though that doesn't bother me, but it's a very good soundstage headphone. Oratory has measured a load of different AKG headphones, but nothing particularly expensive I don't think, but I'm not intimately familiar with them all:
https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory1990/wiki/index/list_of_presets
I suppose there's the K712 Pro that Amir could measure sometime, which is more expensive, but not by a lot. The K712 was the headphone that was actually used to simulate the other headphones in Harman's preference studies, so it's got that interest factor. There's not really any expensive headphones from AKG anymore, I used to think they did an AKG 800 series, but they don't seem to be for sale and Oratory hasn't measured any of those. Ah, I've googled it and there's the K872 closed back (https://www.thomann.de/gb/akg_k_872.htm ), and the open back K812 (https://www.thomann.de/gb/akg_k_812.htm ), they're both around £800, and for some reason they weren't listed on the AKG UK website, but they are available to buy from Thomann. I really don't know anything about those two headphones.

K371 is consistently 15-20 quid cheaper than K702 in the UK. Sometimes even more.

 

[Robbo99999]

K371 is consistently 15-20 quid cheaper than K702 in the UK. Sometimes even more.

Ah, you're right! I looked just now, I either remembered wrongly or they've flipped positions. K371 about £99, and K702 £119.

 

[LTig]

Ah, I've googled it and there's the K872 closed back (https://www.thomann.de/gb/akg_k_872.htm ), and the open back K812 (https://www.thomann.de/gb/akg_k_812.htm ), they're both around £800, and for some reason they weren't listed on the AKG UK website, but they are available to buy from Thomann. I really don't know anything about those two headphones.

I compared the Sennheiser HD800 back in 2014 (€1200) with the K812 (€1500) which just had appeared on the market. For my cloth ears in a non level matched sighted audition, using a Lehmann HP amp, they were almost indistinguishable. Finally the K812 seemed to develop very slightly aggressive upper mids. This, together with the price difference of €300 and the fact that the K812 was not as comfortable as the HD800 (~90g heavier) let me buy the HD800.

Nowadays I listen to all my headphones with EQ. However the K371bt's deep bass quality is not reachable by the HD800 while the soundstage of the latter is not reached by any other HP as well.

 

[Blake Klondike]

I suppose we may find out about good performance from other models if folks ever send in more to be measured. The fact that they can do this at $150 makes me really curious to see what they can do at other price points. I have a friend who has a $2k pair of from them and a $700 pair. He was skeptical that a $150 pair would stand up. But measurements don't lie, right? If they measure well, they are going to sound good..

 

[Robbo99999]

I suppose we may find out about good performance from other models if folks ever send in more to be measured. The fact that they can do this at $150 makes me really curious to see what they can do at other price points. I have a friend who has a $2k pair of from them and a $700 pair. He was skeptical that a $150 pair would stand up. But measurements don't lie, right? If they measure well, they are going to sound good..

Well I'd certainly like to see the K702 and K712 measured on this site, I think the frequency responses of the AKG 800 series seem too flawed though (from Crinacle's measurements) so I'm not particularly interested in seeing them, especially as they're in the £800 region.

 

[Exprymer]

I bought an K371 Considering this Review and how high it was on the Auto EQ Ranking. I couldn't be happier. This thing sounds 200 US more expensive or more. The QC must be the only downside to this.

The best thing in my opinion is that looking at the distortion Graphs, most Headphones have High THD on the low end, and this one doesn't, and that with an excess of low end output. That means that when i apply the correction via Equalizer APO or Wavelet app, it will take out bass instead of adding more (which would raise the THD). The distortion after correction is very low.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

They are very close. But on the K361, bass level is a bit lower (more neutral) and there is no peak in the treble at 8 kHz. The K371 is a bit better between 2 and 3.5 kHz though.

See the comparison graph "The K371 vs the K361" on @solderdude 's great website:
https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/akg/k361/

The 361 appears to be around 4dB below the 371 in sub bass…

…but the 371 appears to overshoot sub bass by about 4dB according to Amir’s measurements here…

…which would make the 361 spot on, wouldn’t it?

 

[MayaTlab]

The 361 appears to be around 4dB below the 371 in sub bass…

…but the 371 appears to overshoot sub bass by about 4dB according to Amir’s measurements here…

…which would make the 361 spot on, wouldn’t it?

I would consider that sort of difference immaterial given the variance between people : https://www.rtings.com/headphones/1-4/graph#1671/4007

Even a slight difference in the shape of pads might make one sample veer one way or another on your head.

When measuring my current K371 sample on-head, the bass level of the L and R channels are quite inconsistent, and can vary depending on position by several dBs up to the resonant frequency, introducing varying channel imbalance. It's really the sort of HPs one has to try for themselves to see if they get a consistent, repeatable seal and bass level.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

I would consider that sort of difference immaterial given the variance between people : https://www.rtings.com/headphones/1-4/graph#1671/4007

Even a slight difference in the shape of pads might make one sample veer one way or another on your head.

When measuring my current K371 sample on-head, the bass level of the L and R channels are quite inconsistent, and can vary depending on position by several dBs up to the resonant frequency, introducing varying channel imbalance. It's really the sort of HPs one has to try for themselves to see if they get a consistent, repeatable seal and bass level.

Almost every review/measurement I've seen of the 371 says it over-shoots on sub bass by around 4dB.

Almost every comparison measurement I see of the 361 vs 371 shows the 371 as having more sub-bass than the 361.

 

[MayaTlab]

Almost every review/measurement I've seen of the 371 says it over-shoots on sub bass by around 4dB.

Almost every comparison measurement I see of the 361 vs 371 shows the 371 as having more sub-bass than the 361.

I get that, but you and @daftcombo were talking about how they compare relative to Harman's target or to a concept of "neutral", and these individual variations, even on the same sample, makes this a moot point.
And then you may get a sample of the K371 with slightly differently shaped pads than another sample of the K361 and get results, on-head, that won't match how an average of samples would have differed on a GRAS hammerhead (which geometry around the ear has little to do with humans' anatomy BTW).
Basically, the incapacity of that design to deliver a predictable FR at someone's eardrum at lower frequencies means that it's the sort of HPs where you can't know which one of the K371 or K361 will actually deliver something closer to the target's absolute values on your own head.

EDIT : as an illustration of that, here's five individual traces for each the K371 and Airpods Max, for each of the left and right channels, normalised at 500Hz, measured on my own head with blocked ear canal microphones as n°2 in the picture below, during the same measurement session (microphones weren't moved) :

That's already a pretty big spread between channels even though for this session I tried to keep my head as level and steady as possible and warmed up the pads before proceeding.
And you get an idea how sensitive it can be with the two individual traces that didn't land on the others. It's a good deal worse for the K371 as soon as I lean forward / move about.
Which is why in regards to comparing the K361 and K371, I wouldn't nitpick about a few dB difference here and there as it might not be that meaningful once your own sample is on your own head .

 

[daftcombo]

I get that, but you and @daftcombo were talking about how they compare relative to Harman's target or to a concept of "neutral", and these individual variations, even on the same sample, makes this a moot point.
And then you may get a sample of the K371 with slightly differently shaped pads than another sample of the K361 and get results, on-head, that won't match how an average of samples would have differed on a GRAS hammerhead (which geometry around the ear has little to do with humans' anatomy BTW).
Basically, the incapacity of that design to deliver a predictable FR at someone's eardrum at lower frequencies means that it's the sort of HPs where you can't know which one of the K371 or K361 will actually deliver something closer to the target's absolute values on your own head.

EDIT : as an illustration of that, here's five individual traces for each the K371 and Airpods Max, for each of the left and right channels, normalised at 500Hz, measured on my own head with blocked ear canal microphones as n°2 in the picture below, during the same measurement session (microphones weren't moved) :
View attachment 154984
View attachment 154986
That's already a pretty big spread between channels even though for this session I tried to keep my head as level and steady as possible and warmed up the pads before proceeding.
And you get an idea how sensitive it can be with the two individual traces that didn't land on the others. It's a good deal worse for the K371 as soon as I lean forward / move about.
Which is why in regards to comparing the K361 and K371, I wouldn't nitpick about a few dB difference here and there as it might not be that meaningful once your own sample is on your own head .

I heard both the AKG K361 and the K371. @renaudrenaud let me try each for a few weeks, and I had the time to draw my conclusions: out of the box, I prefered the K361, but once corrected with Amir's EQ settings, I prefered the K371 (which sounded more detailed).

As it's for using at the office and I don't have the rights to install EqualizerAPO, I chose to purchase the K361.

The main differences between the K361 and the K271 uncorrected were:
1) a tad too much bass with the K371
2) the K371 was a tad bright.
It is the slight britghness that annoyed me the most, and that is not a matter of seal.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

I get that, but you and @daftcombo were talking about how they compare relative to Harman's target or to a concept of "neutral", and these individual variations, even on the same sample, makes this a moot point.
And then you may get a sample of the K371 with slightly differently shaped pads than another sample of the K361 and get results, on-head, that won't match how an average of samples would have differed on a GRAS hammerhead (which geometry around the ear has little to do with humans' anatomy BTW).
Basically, the incapacity of that design to deliver a predictable FR at someone's eardrum at lower frequencies means that it's the sort of HPs where you can't know which one of the K371 or K361 will actually deliver something closer to the target's absolute values on your own head.

EDIT : as an illustration of that, here's five individual traces for each the K371 and Airpods Max, for each of the left and right channels, normalised at 500Hz, measured on my own head with blocked ear canal microphones as n°2 in the picture below, during the same measurement session (microphones weren't moved) :
View attachment 154984
View attachment 154986
That's already a pretty big spread between channels even though for this session I tried to keep my head as level and steady as possible and warmed up the pads before proceeding.
And you get an idea how sensitive it can be with the two individual traces that didn't land on the others. It's a good deal worse for the K371 as soon as I lean forward / move about.
Which is why in regards to comparing the K361 and K371, I wouldn't nitpick about a few dB difference here and there as it might not be that meaningful once your own sample is on your own head .

And yet the Harman target curve (like it or not) is an excellent predictor of preference, something it couldn't possibly be if there was that much variance.

The only answer is that, in our lives, we become conditioned to the shape of our ears and the sound they produce. So those differences you describe effectively disappear as our brains adjust to them, in much the same way that the fact that you're seeing upside down is compensated for by your brain, and flipped.

 

[phoenixsong]

Also, people with glasses etcetera may find the bass level of the K371 more accurate than that of the K361

 

[killdozzer]

Had my eye (ear) on these for a long time. I found this review very helpful and well done. Glasses will be a problem, also, I'm somewhat of a hothead, but I doubt it'll be much warmer than Beyers.

I hate to see those problems with the head band though. Anyway, I'll be the only one using them so I hope I can set and forget the size of the head band.

 

[MayaTlab]

And yet the Harman target curve (like it or not) is an excellent predictor of preference, something it couldn't possibly be if there was that much variance.

Harman's research very specifically took great pains to test the target on HPs with low variance across users and with good correspondance at lower frequencies between test rigs and actual humans.
It was never tested with HPs with poor individual to individual consistency (for good reasons as the results would be meaningless).

AES E-Library » Improved Measurement of Leakage Effects for Circum-Aural and Supra-Aural Headphones

Headphone leakage effects can have a profound effect on low frequency performance of headphones. A large survey, including over 2000 individual headphone measurements, was undertaken in order to compare leakage effects on test subjects and leakage effects of the same headphones measured on a...

www.aes.org

AES E-Library » Listener Preferences for Different Headphone Target Response Curves

There is little consensus among headphone manufacturers on the preferred headphone target frequency response required to produce optimal sound quality for reproduction of stereo recordings. To explore this topic further we conducted two double-blind listening tests in which trained listeners...

www.aes.org

The only answer is that, in our lives, we become conditioned to the shape of our ears and the sound they produce. So those differences you describe effectively disappear as our brains adjust to them, in much the same way that the fact that you're seeing upside down is compensated for by your brain, and flipped.

The subject under discussion is "which one of the K371 or K361 matches the target better ?", as evidenced by posts 196 and 429.
All I'm just saying is "it doesn't matter because their measured difference so far are below how they'll vary between individuals anyway". And in my case it even varies between L and R channels, and when I move my head. And that's before even considering sample variation.
The sort of variation you're discussing here rather is related to individuals' varying HRTFs, which is a concern, but not at lower frequencies.

 

[Garlucky]

Had my eye (ear) on these for a long time. I found this review very helpful and well done. Glasses will be a problem, also, I'm somewhat of a hothead, but I doubt it'll be much warmer than Beyers.

I hate to see those problems with the head band though. Anyway, I'll be the only one using them so I hope I can set and forget the size of the head band.

I got the k371 last Friday. I was worried about a number of issues that have been brought up too.
They came with the plastic wrapping on the earcups, I think that means they're the newer batch.
I found no cosmetic or manufacturing defects except the slider for the right earcup was looser than the left.
I will only be using them at home , not on the go, so I won't be constantly adjusting and folding them, and I just take them off and set them down when I'm not using them. Hopefully that will help the right slider from becoming to loose. Right now they stay where they are when I put them on my head.

I have really big ears and they just fit inside the ear cups. They fit snugly and there are no gaps or seal issues.
As far as that goes It's going to be dependant on one's head and ear shape and size.

I wear glasses and I tried them with the pads sitting on the frames, then I pulled the glasses off and set the frames on top of the earpads.
I couldn't really notice a change in sound. If there was a change it was so subtle I couldn't tell.

I listened to some heavy bass oriented music like deep house, deep funk house and massive attack's angel and astrix- deep jungle walk.
I really enjoyed the bass performance on this type of music. It was tight and just the right amount for my taste. Although I am more of a bass head than a treble head.

I listened to Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page live, as well as a live performance of loner by Ozzy Osborne.
This type of music isn't sub bass oriented and the k371 presentation was reasonable I thought.
I found the treble to have some bite to it without being piercing.

I'm going to do some more listening and comparing to my Philips Fidelio x2.

So far, so good.

 

[killdozzer]

I got the k371 last Friday. I was worried about a number of issues that have been brought up too.
They came with the plastic wrapping on the earcups, I think that means they're the newer batch.
I found no cosmetic or manufacturing defects except the slider for the right earcup was looser than the left.
I will only be using them at home , not on the go, so I won't be constantly adjusting and folding them, and I just take them off and set them down when I'm not using them. Hopefully that will help the right slider from becoming to loose. Right now they stay where they are when I put them on my head.

I have really big ears and they just fit inside the ear cups. They fit snugly and there are no gaps or seal issues.
As far as that goes It's going to be dependant on one's head and ear shape and size.

I wear glasses and I tried them with the pads sitting on the frames, then I pulled the glasses off and set the frames on top of the earpads.
I couldn't really notice a change in sound. If there was a change it was so subtle I couldn't tell.

I listened to some heavy bass oriented music like deep house, deep funk house and massive attack's angel and astrix- deep jungle walk.
I really enjoyed the bass performance on this type of music. It was tight and just the right amount for my taste. Although I am more of a bass head than a treble head.

I listened to Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page live, as well as a live performance of loner by Ozzy Osborne.
This type of music isn't sub bass oriented and the k371 presentation was reasonable I thought.
I found the treble to have some bite to it without being piercing.

I'm going to do some more listening and comparing to my Philips Fidelio x2.

So far, so good.

Thank you for this helpful feedback. What attracts me to this model is this, almost unison, opinion that they come closest to the desirable curve. That's what I'm after so I'll be getting them one way or the other.

Have you tried any movies (just as a test drive with all the effects)?

 

[MayaTlab]

What attracts me to this model is this, almost unison, opinion that they come closest to the desirable curve.

Harman has a whole cohort of models that are tending towards that direction, it might be a good idea to look at some of their other models as well. The JBL 710BT for example couples a bit more effectively with my head than the K371 and is a more pleasurable experience so far (for me).