*NEW* AKG K702 has been measured by Oratory!

[Robbo99999]

No, the 702 has angled pads, not drivers. No?

I have no idea about the 712.

Oh yeah, you mean the K702, yes that one has angled pads....I thought you had been referring to the K712 which has flat pads.

Thanks for the info @Robbo99999 and @Jimbob54.
I'm looking for a headphone with a wider soundstage then HD600.
HD800s would be better, but don't want to spend that amount of money, so K702 will do nicely.

Regarding pads, I see that K702, K702 Anniversary, K701, Q701, K601, K712 Pro und 612 Pro all can use the same valour pads or gel pads.
Valour pads definitely seem to be angled, but gel pads not so much.

I think K702 is a good choice when used with the Oratory EQ or a slight variation thereof, if I was you I wouldn't boost the bass up to Harman levels all the way down to 20Hz, instead experiment with rolling it off at 35Hz.

The pads aren't all the same between the different models you list. K702 & K701 are angled, but maybe subtle differences between them, they're different colours anyway, ha! K712 are gel flat pads, I don't know about the others. Ah, K702 Anniversary pads are a bit different I remember, but can't remember in what way. But yes, get the standard K702, don't get the Anniversary Edition.

 

[solderdude]

Small correction: Not gel pads but memory foam. Indeed the K712/K7xx pads are not angled.

 

[Robbo99999]

(Putting this here as probably the most prominent K702 thread here on ASR and could be useful for K702 owners)

At all K702 owners, I urge you to buy the following aftermarket pads, they're a bit deeper than the stock pads that AKG ships on their headphones nowadays....AKG used to have deeper pads on the K702 but they seem to sell with shallower pads now, which means your ears are more likely to touch the drivers and therefore soundstage is worse on the more modern K702's. But if you buy the following aftermarket pads it'll return them to the deeper pad that AKG used to put on their K702's which will help soundstage, they're also a lot less money than the expensive genuine K702 pads. So these are the ones I recommend you:

Accessory House Premium Velour ear pads compatible with AKG K701 K702 AKG Q701 K612 PRO K712 PRO and Massdrop K7XX Headphones. Premium Velour | Soft High-Density Foam | Easy Installation: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Free delivery and returns on eligible orders. Buy Accessory House Premium Velour ear pads compatible with AKG K701 K702 AKG Q701 K612 PRO K712 PRO and Massdrop K7XX Headphones. Premium Velour | Soft High-Density Foam | Easy Installation at Amazon UK.

www.amazon.co.uk

I measured the frequency response of the above aftermarket pads vs the stock pads on my latest K702 that I bought (I have 3 units of K702 ranging from yrs 2015 through to 2020, through to 2022). So following is a measurement of the aftermarket pads linked above vs the stock pads on my latest K702 bought in 2022 (blue line is stock pads):

Don't worry about the strange peakiness you're seeing, as this was measured on a miniDSP EARS rig and not on the GRAS measurement rigs that Oratory & Amir uses, so the frequency response will look different, however we're focussing on the comparative difference between stock pads and aftermarket pads here, there's not much difference. This is an average of 10 measurements, so the data is good, it's not just a cherrypicked measurement. Yes, so not much difference, I urge you to buy the aftermarket pads praps even if you have the stock pads on at the moment, due to their slightly deeper nature which could improve the soundstage for you.

I think given that the differences are small that you could use the Oratory EQ along with these aftermarket pads with confidence.

EDIT: I think these aftermarket pads are even better than the expensive genuine AKG pads you can buy from Thomann, because the genuine pads from Thomann created channel imbalance issues in my headphones, a strange dip in one of the channels in the treble and an imbalance below 1kHz too, following are the Thomann supposedly genuine pads, notice the channel imbalance:

Yes, so instead definitely go for the aftermarket pads I linked you at the Amazon link.

 

[Seta Seta Pop]

Thank you!

 

[Oscarilbo]

(Putting this here as probably the most prominent K702 thread here on ASR and could be useful for K702 owners)

At all K702 owners, I urge you to buy the following aftermarket pads, they're a bit deeper than the stock pads that AKG ships on their headphones nowadays....AKG used to have deeper pads on the K702 but they seem to sell with shallower pads now, which means your ears are more likely to touch the drivers and therefore soundstage is worse on the more modern K702's. But if you buy the following aftermarket pads it'll return them to the deeper pad that AKG used to put on their K702's which will help soundstage, they're also a lot less money than the expensive genuine K702 pads. So these are the ones I recommend you:

Accessory House Premium Velour ear pads compatible with AKG K701 K702 AKG Q701 K612 PRO K712 PRO and Massdrop K7XX Headphones. Premium Velour | Soft High-Density Foam | Easy Installation: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Free delivery and returns on eligible orders. Buy Accessory House Premium Velour ear pads compatible with AKG K701 K702 AKG Q701 K612 PRO K712 PRO and Massdrop K7XX Headphones. Premium Velour | Soft High-Density Foam | Easy Installation at Amazon UK.

www.amazon.co.uk

Do you recommend the pads even for a couple of months old K702s ?

 

[Robbo99999]

Do you recommend the pads even for a couple of months old K702s ?

I think if you've got one of the newer K702 that have been manufactured over the last 2 yrs then I think they are the ones with thinner pads. Looking back at my amazon order info, I bought the first one in 2015, second one in Jan 2021, and third one a few months ago - these last 2 units had thinner pads than I remember on my first K702, and they're thinner than the "genuine" K702 pads you can buy from Thomann. I don't recommend the Thomann pads though because they're silly expensive and they also messed up the channel balance......so instead it's better to get the aftermarket pads that I linked in my last post. So, yeah, if you've got a K702 that you've bought in the last 2 yrs I think it will have the thinner pads, and so you could benefit from those aftermarket pads I linked. Essentially those aftermarket pads meant that my ears don't touch the drivers anymore, which is how I remember it with my first K702 I bought back in 2015. Can you feel your ears touching the drivers with your stock K702 pads? If they don't, then might not be worth getting the aftermarket pads, but if you can feel your ears touching could be worth trying the aftermarket pads I linked.

 

[Oscarilbo]

I think if you've got one of the newer K702 that have been manufactured over the last 2 yrs then I think they are the ones with thinner pads. Looking back at my amazon order info, I bought the first one in 2015, second one in Jan 2021, and third one a few months ago - these last 2 units had thinner pads than I remember on my first K702, and they're thinner than the "genuine" K702 pads you can buy from Thomann. I don't recommend the Thomann pads though because they're silly expensive and they also messed up the channel balance......so instead it's better to get the aftermarket pads that I linked in my last post. So, yeah, if you've got a K702 that you've bought in the last 2 yrs I think it will have the thinner pads, and so you could benefit from those aftermarket pads I linked. Essentially those aftermarket pads meant that my ears don't touch the drivers anymore, which is how I remember it with my first K702 I bought back in 2015. Can you feel your ears touching the drivers with your stock K702 pads? If they don't, then might not be worth getting the aftermarket pads, but if you can feel your ears touching could be worth trying the aftermarket pads I linked.

Thank you Robbo... and yeah, my K702 are new and in fact my ears do not touch the drivers, so I think I'm safe then.

Btw I'm considering getting the K712 just to listen that "a tad of added warmness" to the AKG sound (which I like) that may fit my taste even better. But I was wondering... what if I can achieve that added sense of warmness with just swapping pads? Are there any pads for the K702 that may do this? I've read the original K712 are very expensive and maybe dont even fit perfectly on the K702

 

[Robbo99999]

Thank you Robbo... and yeah, my K702 are new and in fact my ears do not touch the drivers, so I think I'm safe then.

Btw I'm considering getting the K712 just to listen that "a tad of added warmness" to the AKG sound (which I like) that may fit my taste even better. But I was wondering... what if I can achieve that added sense of warmness with just swapping pads? Are there any pads for the K702 that may do this? I've read the original K712 are very expensive and maybe dont even fit perfectly on the K702

You could just use EQ. The K702 needs EQ anyway....you could try the Oratory EQ to start you off......although I recommend removing his Filter #1 which is the 24Hz Low Shelf, I think it's kinda crazy to put in a Low Shelf that low down in the bass that's gonna cost you another 5dB negative preamp, not to mention the extra stress it puts on the driver.....so I think best to just remove Filter#1.

As for K712, I wouldn't really recommend them because they don't have angled pads, which I think is one of the ingredients associated with a good soundstage. You could try buying some non-angled pads for your K702 if you wanted, but I don't think that will get you all the way to the K712 tuning. EQ is the best way to go with headphones and the K702 is no exception to that....in fact it's more at the extreme end of necessary with the K702, lol!

 

[Oscarilbo]

You could just use EQ. The K702 needs EQ anyway....you could try the Oratory EQ to start you off......although I recommend removing his Filter #1 which is the 24Hz Low Shelf, I think it's kinda crazy to put in a Low Shelf that low down in the bass that's gonna cost you another 5dB negative preamp, not to mention the extra stress it puts on the driver.....so I think best to just remove Filter#1.

As for K712, I wouldn't really recommend them because they don't have angled pads, which I think is one of the ingredients associated with a good soundstage. You could try buying some non-angled pads for your K702 if you wanted, but I don't think that will get you all the way to the K712 tuning. EQ is the best way to go with headphones and the K702 is no exception to that....in fact it's more at the extreme end of necessary with the K702, lol!

Thank you. The thing is, I dont use a computer for my desktop listening. I'm still a bit old fashion; my Onkyo CD player as source for my CD collection, into a Schiit Modi3+ Dac and a Magni Heresy amp. How can one EQ in a set up like that?

 

[Robbo99999]

Thank you. The thing is, I dont use a computer for my desktop listening. I'm still a bit old fashion; my Onkyo CD player as source for my CD collection, into a Schiit Modi3+ Dac and a Magni Heresy amp. How can one EQ in a set up like that?

Well, you can get something like the miniDSP 4HD (reviewed here on ASR) to do the EQ for you but it replaces your already good DAC, and also it doesn't measure fantastic and it's not particularly easy to use. Quidelix 5K is a DAC/amp and does EQ but it's probably not compatible with your CD player in terms of connections and as I said you've already got your good DAC so I suppose you don't want to replace it. I think your best bet is just moving with the times and ditching the CD player, there's nothing good about them - instead you can rip all your CD's to disk (lossless so the quality is not reduced) and play them from a laptop or PC or some kind of music player device, it's far more convenient and the quality of the playback does not deteriorate over time like it would with scratched CD's or skipping CD players. Plus you have all your music at your fingertips and create playlists, it's just a lot more flexible. If you use a PC/laptop then you can use EqualiserAPO for unlimited EQ ability, which is a free program too....or you can buy any number of music player software that has parametric EQ included. You'll get your best listening experience from using parametric EQ and you'll get a more flexible & easier control of your music playback.....I would strongly advise you to look at & think about changing your "playback system" to give you flexibility/ease & EQ.