Guys, K702 is coming. Be prepare.

[d-cee]

unless the removable connectors are dual entry then i think its only benefit is convenience of replacement as opposed to sound quality, as the cabling will still go through the head band

[Mr.Sneis]

IIRC AKG's wire designs for detachable cables are at a midpoint in the cable not directly from the drivers like in the case of sennheisers; slightly defeats the purpose of the detachable upgrade replacement

[Snicewicz]

I just hope that they come out soon so possibly the price of the K701 will go down

[Yikes]

I believe that July was mentioned as a release timeframe.

[QQQ]

Maybe they release white K602 too *)

[Andrew_WOT]

Originally Posted by Mr.Sneis

IIRC AKG's wire designs for detachable cables are at a midpoint in the cable not directly from the drivers like in the case of sennheisers; slightly defeats the purpose of the detachable upgrade replacement

K271S has the same in headband wire, and using Zu Mobius in place of the stock one makes a great difference. K702 should not be different, I would guess they might even use the same mini din connector. That'd be sooo cool.

[ephrank]

Looks like AKG is releasing a lot of new models this year. K142HD, K242HD, K172HD & K272HD are also in the news.

[Andrew_WOT]

Originally Posted by ephrank

Looks like AKG is releasing a lot of new models this year. K142HD, K242HD, K172HD & K272HD are also in the news.

Unfortunately none of these are factual *new* models. Just cosmetic updates of the older ones.

[spinali]

The "actual" release of the K701 was "promised" for April 5th...
Translated version of http://www.seeko.co.kr/zboard4/zboard.php?id=freeboard&page=1&sn1=&divpage=15&sn= off&ss=on&sc=off&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&n o=91161
...at least at this South Korean site.

However, one poster in HardForum claims that the new 702 will be a somewhat more bassy version.
Post your HeadPhones! - Page 136 - [H]ard|Forum

Naturahl Blog suggests news, albeit old, that AKG is waiting to deplete their K701 supplies before they release the 702:
naturahl BLOG | K701À¸»º½ªÎ»¡©
Could that be the reason for the striking discounts in the 701 that we've witnessed this year?
In other words, the sliding release date for these phones could theoretically go on for quite a bit more time.

As for bassiness: most of you probably know that you can construct your own "sound do-nuts" to replace the ones that come with the K701:
McMaster-Carr
...for cheap, quality polyurethane foam. This foam moderates the clarity or looseness of the bass response for the 701.

At the AKG website, they've logged over 400 visitors for the K702 query: more than any other post on record.
Headphones

[wnmnkh]

Do not get information from seeko.co.kr It is more like AudioAsylum rather than head-fi.

Edit2 : It is not even "April 5th". The post said "sometime in May". The translator failed you.




ÇìµåÆù ÄÚ¸®¾Æ ¹æ¹®À» ȯ¿µÇÕ´Ï´Ù!!
:: ÇìµåÆùŬ·´ [Headphone Club] ::

Those two are real Korean headphone sites. One of them is the one I am getting information. I checked both of them (and some others) for the new information. Currently there is no update on the K702 for now :/



Edit: ffs omg at our broken character encoding....

[DVasdekis]

Originally Posted by spinali

So far, Headsonic from Australia has not responded to a confirmation on the 702

I haven't been asked anything by anyone yet.

My source, for the record, has been a combination of 2 things. Firstly, the dealer network in the USA is completely sold out of K701's, for the first time since I have started trading, and has been since I posted my news article. It makes little sense for this situation to keep going as it has, as headphones (like most electronics) have a high fixed cost in terms of development, and a low variable cost per unit. Thus, AKG would be looking to, essentially, flood the market with units and ensure that it stays flooded. Given AKG's recent flirtations with bankruptcy, I doubt there's any room for them to take financial liberties in terms of restricting supply or market engineering. For there to be a drought for this long, something is up.

Secondly, I also heard a little bird from close to the source (not here) whisper about K702's, and I put 2 and 2 together and deduced that the K701 would be discontinued and replaced with a revised model, and that the market drought was AKG's attempt to avoid a fire sale on their flagship model. It never crossed my mind to consider the possibility of both models existing together, especially considering the major comfort issues with the K701, something I and many others agree on. A revision would offer AKG a chance to fix the niggling issues, and possibly squeeze more sales out of fans looking for the marginal improvement.

I doubt the 'studio/professional edition' theory, for two reasons. As anyone who has done studio recording previously will attest to, closed headphones are preferred for studio work, as there will always be the need to clearly hear your feed, to the exclusion of everyone else's. Of course, this still leaves the floor open for a 'solo mastering' edition, but I have my doubts, given the relatively small size of this market. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, a cost/benefit analysis simply wouldn't be able to justify the wholesale drought for a colour change. However, they are still on sale at Amazon, so perhaps they judged downstream stock levels and played their hand accordingly.

I always said that there was no concrete news, and I continue to do so. However, I believe a significant revision is much more likely than not.

[greggf]

I understand.

But I'm also even more confused.

There's a shortage of K701 in the U.S.? Anybody get that feeling?

I thought they almost WERE going at fire sale prices now.

And is AKG really in financial trouble? Any danger of them actually going belly-up?

I'd hate to be stuck with even fewer decent headphone manufacturers.

[Kees]

My guess is AKG is following this scenario:
- Sales on K701 are falling behind a bit compared to last year, time to think of something to pick up sales without investing too much.
- Develop a K702 that is almost completely the same as K701, but may attract some new customers.
- K702 can be produced using the same production facilities as the K701.
- The production facilities will be used more efficiently: the sales of K701 and K702 together will be larger than of K701 alone.
- The production facility is (easily) switchable, but you make a run of either K701 or K702.
That is not a problem as long as you just have to keep up with sales / demands.
- The problem is in the initial big run of K702. They need a large run to initially supply all dealers with the new product and that is at the moment keeping them from producing any K701.
- As soon as the initial batch of K702 is ready they can go back to producing enough K701 for the present demand. They can switch back to K702 if they need more of those.
- This way they can produce whichever is in most demand and optimize the use of their production facilities.

Just my 2c.

[d-cee]

Originally Posted by DVasdekis

Firstly, the dealer network in the USA is completely sold out of K701's

really? Marcus @ headphonic just got a whole batch in and is selling them at never before seen prices in Australia.

Don't know about other dealers overseas but certainly not the case down under. I see quite a few on eBay, but that's probably not the best indication of market forces.

The rest well I'm not sure, there's still speculation but nothing concrete it seems, AKG flirting with bankruptcy is a surprise though aren't they now a part of Harman group?

[ph0rk]

This is getting to be like an apple rumor.


A tougher, more comfortable k701 would be neat, but I'd guess it would be heavier.