AKG N5005 Review | These $199 IEMs were originally $1000...

[Cuckoo Studio]

Welcome to Cuckoo Studio's review. I am Anzol. You will be watching this headphone review from the perspective of a mixing engineer. I've received the AKG N5005 from Fouxie, appreciate his support.

Below is the text and image content. If you prefer video version:

The AKG N5005 comes in a luxurious and sturdy semi-arm length package.
Upon opening it, you can see the N5005 itself, a numbered headphone case, and interchangeable tuning style earphone filters.

The accessory configuration on the back is also very luxurious. AKG has equipped the N5005 with several ear tips, a headphone cleaning tool, an airplane jack adapter, cables in 3.5mm and 2.5mm sizes, and a Bluetooth adapter. This allows you to either get the maximum sound quality with a traditional wired connection on the N5005, or enjoy a more convenient experience as Bluetooth IEM.

The headphone body is made of high-gloss ceramic material with a good texture, but it is prone to fingerprints. The ear-fitting side is made of a skin-like layer and is marked with the 5005 logo.

At 5.5g each, these IEMs have a moderate weight that won't weigh down your ears. Is very convenient to change the earphone filters, as you can simply twist them off with your hands.

Now let's take a look at its sound performance. The frequency response shows that changing the filters has a huge impact on the sound style of the N5005. As shown, the Bass Boost filter has more bass below 100Hz compared to the harman 2018, which is more in line with the preferences of 2019. There is a roughly 6dB attenuation at 3KHz and 6KHz. Overall, it has a warmer sound. The REFERENCE-MIDHIGH BOOST-HIGH BOOST sounds are almost a step-by-step overall high frequency shelf boost from 2KHz，which provides a wide range of sound adjustment for headphone users. However, each filter has a high frequency peak around 8KHz, This will bring a certain level of excitement,but may not be suitable for people with high frequency sensitive hearing.

Distortion: The cleanest distortion data is from Bass Boost filters. Except for slightly higher third harmonics at a normal music SPL level of 86dB, the mid-high frequencies remain relatively clean. When the volume is increased, in addition to the increase in low frequency distortion, there is only a slight increase in distortion at 5kHz in the mid-high frequencies.

However, when switching to the other three filters besides Bass Boost, the situation changes. For example, using the REFERENCE filter, the low frequency distortion changes in the same way as Bass Boost, but the third harmonic distortion at 86dB is even larger than Bass Boost at a very loud level of 104dB.

Comparing at the same volume level, it can be seen that the REFERENCE, MIDHIGH, and HIGH BOOST filters have similar distortion levels. At this time, the mid-high frequency distortion of BASS BOOST is relatively lower.

Perhaps this is because it has a relatively lower mid-high frequency volume? But even if we continue to increase it to the same mid-high frequency volume level as the other three filters, we can still see relatively less distortion.

Let's enter the Cuckoo Studio mixing space. Due to the large changes in the filter's effect on frequency response, the sense of sound space of the N5005 will also change significantly. Under Bass Boost filter, the bass is heavier, There is no major problem with the mid-frequency volume. The bright parts of the instruments are slightly reduced.

but as you get closer to filters with more high frequency gain like HIGH BOOST, combined with the 8KHz high frequency peak, percussions, breathing and sibilence will feel obviously excessive for most people. The frequency response difference between the two units of the N5005 is small. Its almost symmetrical characteristic can bring a solid center imaging.

But the high distortion will bring some coloring to music playback, making the mid-low frequency scattered and feeling a little compressed at high volume. This seems a little awkward for a pair of flagship positioned IEMs

In the current audio market, we can obtain many low-priced high-quality products. If the N5005 maintains its original price of 1000 USD, it seems to lack sincerity in this market environment. However, due to its plunge to a price of 199 USD, the luxurious packaging, highly playable filter replacement, and the Bluetooth adapter it comes with, is it worth considering the price to quality+quantity ratio at this time？Each person may have a different answer. You can judge for yourself based on the above information.

This is Cuckoo Studio review. I will continue to explore the secret of headphones with you.

 

[Adamant11746]

Always good to see new reviewers! However, there are a few things you may want to look into about measuring IEMs.

First, you used the Harman Over Ear target rather than the Harman In Ear target. There's a rather large difference between them due to IEMs bypassing more of the ear's structure. The In Ear target I've seen most often referenced is the 2019v2 one, but there are older versions as well. I think Amir just recently stopped using one of the old ones, and you can see the (small) difference between them by comparing his two most recent IEM reviews (Moondrop Blessing 2 and Truthear x Crinacle Zero).

The other thing I wanted to mention is your interpretation of the 8khz peak. If you look at measurements from nearly any IEM you will find that, because it's actually a resonance within the coupler. From what I gather it will always be there, but the frequency may be different depending on insertion depth (most reviewers I've seen try to keep it at 8khz). I learned about the resonance from one of Crinacle's articles, Graphs 101: How to Read Headphone Measurements, but others have probably covered it as well.

I'm not any kind of expert at this, but I hope this is useful and correct information.

 

[Cuckoo Studio]

Always good to see new reviewers! However, there are a few things you may want to look into about measuring IEMs.

First, you used the Harman Over Ear target rather than the Harman In Ear target. There's a rather large difference between them due to IEMs bypassing more of the ear's structure. The In Ear target I've seen most often referenced is the 2019v2 one, but there are older versions as well. I think Amir just recently stopped using one of the old ones, and you can see the (small) difference between them by comparing his two most recent IEM reviews (Moondrop Blessing 2 and Truthear x Crinacle Zero).

The other thing I wanted to mention is your interpretation of the 8khz peak. If you look at measurements from nearly any IEM you will find that, because it's actually a resonance within the coupler. From what I gather it will always be there, but the frequency may be different depending on insertion depth (most reviewers I've seen try to keep it at 8khz). I learned about the resonance from one of Crinacle's articles, Graphs 101: How to Read Headphone Measurements, but others have probably covered it as well.

I'm not any kind of expert at this, but I hope this is useful and correct information.

Thank you for carefully reading through my review and for suggesting improvements! Let me explain:
first, I used OE2018 as the target for IEMs is because the low-frequency standards of the 2019v2 target still have some contentions among some of the acoustic researchers I know, and the surveys among enthusiasts also showed some dislike. However, using the bass-less Harman inroom flat as a compensation target for in-ear listening also felt wrong. After seeking the opinions of many acoustic professionals, the feedback I received was that the 2013 with bass and 2018 with bass targets for IEMs might be a more neutral choice. Since the OE and IE targets are almost identical in everything except for their low-frequency targets, both of these targets represent a compromise in the low-frequency domain.

And yes, the 8kHz peak is related to the resonance within the coupler, but under the same insertion depth, the N5005 does indeed have more 8kHz than other IEMs, as can be seen in my measurements of other IEMs. In fact, in order to confirm the validity of this 8kHz, I tried many depths of insertion and compared the same depths of different earphones, and based on the results, it should be reasonably present. Of course, if I made a mistake, please feel free to correct me.

 

[thewas]

First of all thank you for that very thorough and interesting review.

I have one question, based on which model and software are those "imaging bubbles" created?

 

[restorer-john]

$1000 earbuds reduced to $200. Still a rip-off, but they sound OK.

 

[Cuckoo Studio]

First of all thank you for that very thorough and interesting review.

I have one question, based on which model and software are those "imaging bubbles" created?

Any 3D software can be used, such as Unity, Maya, AE, dimension. The models in the picture are basic spheres, cylinders, and cuboids. The ruler in the picture is something I made in advance in Photoshop. Whenever I need to deform the shape, I will load the picture as the background of the 3D image."

 

[thewas]

Any 3D software can be used, such as Unity, Maya, AE, dimension. The models in the picture are basic spheres, cylinders, and cuboids. The ruler in the picture is something I made in advance in Photoshop. Whenever I need to deform the shape, I will load the picture as the background of the 3D image."

Thank you but I didn't mean that, but the position in space and size of those bubbles, so I guess it is just an artistic impression of what you heard and not based on a psychoacoustic model and calculation?

 

[Cuckoo Studio]

Thank you but I didn't mean that, but the position in space and size of those bubbles, so I guess it is just an artistic impression of what you heard and not based on a psychoacoustic model and calculation?

It seems that there is no specialized software that can convert the state of sound into such 3D graphics, and software like Mathlab is also somewhat difficult for me. The spatial sense of sound in music(Not referring to a specific positioning system for humans) is probably only a subjective feeling and is difficult to be specifically translated into scientific models.it's inspired by "The Art of Mixing" by David Gibson, a way that mixing engineers may use to imagine the sense of space in music.

 

[Cuckoo Studio]

Thank you but I didn't mean that, but the position in space and size of those bubbles, so I guess it is just an artistic impression of what you heard and not based on a psychoacoustic model and calculation?

Further to that, this is indeed a very subjective image and I really wish that scientific models could directly translate such images, but it seems difficult to do so currently. However, I have established some rules in an attempt to make this image as comparable as possible when comparing different models of headphones for value and reasonability.

On the front graph, the vertical contraction from top to bottom is determined by the frequency response. If the high frequencies are more compared to the flat target, then compared to the flat room playback graph, elements such as high frequency percussion will become larger. If there is a decrease or increase in the part from Mid, the volume of the instruments and main vocals will also contract upwards or downwards. The same applies to bass.rule on right is 6dB/unit.

The horizontal sound field has not yet been scientifically proven and is only a subjective feeling. It is also explained in the text in the lower left corner. The ILD in the middle is the representation of skew, the frequency response difference between L&R，the smaller the better.

The contraction on the side graph is calculated based on a certain rule by THD+ILD. In the mixing process, it is commonly observed that the bigger the distortion adds to the instruments, the heavier the coloration, and the smaller the dynamic feeling, so headphones with high distortion will have a contraction on this graph. Overall, this is a graph that intend to make my description of headphone sound more vivid. Language descriptions of headphones are really useless, so here it comes.

 

[vrships]

The bass boost gives you the best THD% curve and in some mid-high frequency range it's even more than 10 times better than "reference" filter? So it's best to use "bass boost " only and void all other filters it looks like. This feels quite uncanonical.

 

[TonyJZX]

knowing what apple charge for their nonsense i'm good with $200

akg and all harman products tend to do this sort of thing... firesales every so often

my own akg nc headphones were firesales items too

 

[Natchie]

My one complaint with this IE is the fitting. It does not seem to fit in a normal manner.

 

[DS_Construct]

The AKG n5005 is 159.99 with free shipping and no tax right now.