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Member Reviews: AKG K 702 Headphones

Positive Reviews

EddieE

A great companion to the HD650

Posted
By EddieE

Pros: Spacious sound stage; realistic vocals; high level of detail; lightweight and comfortable for long sessions;

Cons: Can be a little on the cold side

I've owned these for the best part of a month now and have done some extensive listening with them both in extended listening sessions of several albums and of comparative listening sessions with with my HD650. I feel I am ready to comment on the qualities of these phones.   I had always intended to put these and the HD650 against each other and sell one, as I had thought it would be an indulgence to keep two expensive open circumaural home-listening phones. The problem I have found (and it's a good problem to have) is that the are fantastic companions. Any type of music the HD650 does not do so well with, the K702 shines with and where the K702 seems a bit too formal and cold, the HD650s...
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Negative Reviews

BaboonGuy

Don't believe the hype

Posted
By BaboonGuy

Pros: Weight, Comfort, Soundstage

Cons: Tone, Fatiguing

I used this out of a USB Pico DAC -> Dynalo (Sheer Audio HA-006+) -> K702 using well ripped FLAC files   I really thought this was going to be better, but I really just do not like these headphones much at all. Probably my biggest complaint is the airyness and tone of the vocals. I also have a pair of Grado HF2 and the HF2 just absolutely completely super duper destroys the K702 in tonality, especially the vocals.   It's also very fatiguing for my ears for some reason, even at quiet-medium listening levels. I've read this is because it has a high frequency spike or something. Oh well. I learned a valuable lesson with these K702, the best and only way to know if a headphone sounds...
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More Reviews

MarkJnK

AKG 701, great phone, amazing value

Posted
By MarkJnK
Airy soundstage, sparkling detail, and a slightly cool presentation, with accurate and detailed bass response, lighter bass than others I've owned but not bass-light.  Paired with my WA6se, Sovtek rectifier (to fill out the bottom end) and Sylavania 6DE7, they sounded wonderful.
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bwhsh8r

Clear, detailed, bass light.

Posted
By bwhsh8r

Pros: really clear, good soundstage, comfortable

Cons: hard to drive

I like the AKG k702, they are pleasant to listen to, do a good job of positioning, very airy and open.  Sound is very balanced for the most part, but could use a little more bass (might also be my amp, I don't think my littledot has enough power for these or the hd800s)   I like them 99.7% as much as my HD800s (out of this source) if that gives you any hint!
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Dev Avidon

All Work and No Play

Posted
By Dev Avidon

Pros: Dead neutral, detailed and revealing (though oddly enough, not on the same level as the much warmer HD-650s), extremely comfortable (for me anyhow)

Cons: Not "fun" to listen to. Cold, analytical and soulless poorly amped, hardly inviting even out of my best gear. Cheap plastic on band breaks easily.

And yet, of every headphone I've ever owned, heard, lived with, worked with...you name it at a sane price range, these are the ones that time and time and again I come back to when I'm testing out new gear.  That should basically say it all.  When I want to know what, on average, a new DAC or amp (especially a new amp) is worth, these are the first cans I run through them.  Because if it can do these justice, it's looking good for pretty much every other hard-to-drive can in my inventory (and there are a few).  I also use these pretty much exclusively for tracking and mobile editing.    And as much as I want to malign their lack of apparent musicality, I nevertheless end up using them for...
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TheWuss

love 'em or hate 'em

Posted
By TheWuss

Pros: excellent value; wide soundstage; great rendering of acoustic instruments

Cons: lacks bass impact; shouty upper midrange; headband bumps are uncomfortable for some

Just trying to pull the average up. can't believe someone would give reference headphones of this quality a 1.5 star rating overall. but, that, i suppose is the love/hate nature of the k701/k702.   personally, i feel they are wonderful headphones.  and, at $260 street price at time of this posting, you'd be hard pressed to find a better sounding pair for the money.   they are a little light in bass impact, and a little strong in the upper mid (female vocal range).  harmony vocals can get a little shouty sometimes.    but, what they do well is render acoustic instruments with startling realism, and produce a spacious sound that is perfect for listening to concert hall recordings.    ideal...
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mmayer167

Excellent

Posted
By mmayer167

Pros: Very detail oriented

Cons: headband not so comfy past 30 min.

I loved them while I had them, recabled them with DHC Nucleotide cable and liked them even more. There is a but, I was not able to pony up the cash to power them properly so I had to let them go. I thought I could make them work with the rig i had (uDAC->Indeed hyrbid) but it ended up just frustrating me. They were awesome with female vocals and any acoustic recordings! Every once and a while I get phantom memories of those mids and cry a bit inside because they are gone...  Someday I'll own them again!    
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Farnsworth

Fantastic detail and soundstage

Posted
By Farnsworth

Pros: Detailed sound and huge soundstage

Cons: Bumps on headband kinda hurt, needs proper amping.

Beautiful detailed and analytical sound provide a well balanced and easy listening experience. This, coupled with a huge soundstage, put these headphones at the top of my list. 
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David Chavez

Believe the hype

Posted
By David Chavez

Pros: Great soundstage, Clear and detailed sound,

Cons: 2d soundstage, long burn in time, No texture in bass, needs a amp for full potiental

About a little lower then half a pound in weight it is amazying how comfortable this thing is.  The ear cups are angled so its hits your ear in a more natural position.  The soundstage is wide and airy but not able to pin point anything like sennheiser hd 800.  I would reccomend people to buy the earlyier one with 7 bumps on the headband because it has more bass.  For the price its the best you can get. Sennheiser hd 600 or 650 are side grades for more money, just depends on taste.  Any of the world class head phones will be the perfect step up from this.  But it's a great way to get your foot in the hifi door.  Get a simple fiio e11 or e07k or e17 to...
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oggdude

Initial impressions of AKG K 702

Posted
By oggdude

Pros: fantastic sound stage, clear throughout the frequency range and very detailed

Cons: lacking in bass but not a bad thing especially for mixing

Having never heard open-back headphones before i was looking forward to being able to hear mixes as they should be with accurate stereo representation and i wasn't disappointed.   I can only compare the AKG K 702's to a pair of KRK 6400's and studio speakers such as KRK RP6 G2's. Compared to the KRK headphones, as expected the sound reproduction is much more detailed with greater separation between instruments and nothing getting lost in the mix.   For mixing on the move or when you don't have access to studio speakers the K 702's are possibly as close as you can get to being able to mix accurately with a nice flat frequency response.   For music the K 702's...
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Mike-mex

AKG K702 in one word: SOUNDSTAGE!

Posted
By Mike-mex

Pros: Well balance, airier soundstage, give every detail

Cons: no deep bass, trebble highest frequency looses detail.

In few words: cheap, great neutral sound, very well built headphones and Soundstage is really great. I love to hear classic music and these were made to be classy. Also love caribbean rythms and let me tell you AKG found a really good detail con percussions and guitars. I found a lack of deep shocking bass, but theres a really defined bass it doesn´t looses any detail. The highest frequencies get some distortion, but the midrange is what they do best.   Great headphones, you need a lot of power to run them fine. I use a Schiit Audio Valhalla and a Cambridge Audio MagicDac100. I could say all together do a very descent job!.   Cheers,   Miguel V.
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samwell7

Excellence

Posted
By samwell7

Pros: Awesome Soundstage, Great Sound Quality, Flat yet musical frequency response, Comfort, Perfect for Home-Studio

Cons: Little Isolation

If you're not sure whether these are worth the money or not, they are.   I've had these for a month or so now and I absolutely love them, I bought these to reference with while producing/mixing tracks down and now I barely use my monitors, they translate really well!   They're comfortable to wear and are really quite light, I think they look great and feel like they're really well made (The made in Austria sign is pleasing, and its nice to know that some parts of these are hand-made) I've not tried them straight out of an iPod but they were powered comfortably by my DAC (NI Komplete Audio 6), I've since purchased an objective 2 amp.   With the amp they sound...
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Where to Buy It

SweetwaterK702 (K702 Open Back Headphones) at Sweetwater$349.00See It »
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