trance_gott said:

WATCH AKG FACEBOOK!!!

Ha Ha, seems to be a new Headset.

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ah, yeah now i can see the mic coming out of the first coming soon pic

claritas said:

There's an open box for $1250 so if the deal applies it's under a thousand. (Don't know if I would buy an open box of this model given the returns.)

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Discount doesn't apply to these, just checked.

Wait it out folks. The 712 is 50% MSRP already. Patience always works with AKG.

ausername501 said:

  Here is image:

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That's not a high-end product like the K812.

Yea, yea, high-end or high-priced.

I had a chance to audition the K812 at a HeadFi meet yesterday. I have to say that I was pretty impressed but given that the room was noisy and I had about 20 minutes with them, I'm eager to give them an extended audition, hopefully with my system.

claritas said:

It's probably the usual AKG fluff of releasing variants and variants, &c., of the same model.

If they really wanted to help, they could start with a better cable.

But I'm a patient man, so I can wait another 10 years for my favorite big firm to make improvements. I have plenty to listen with in the meantime.

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Agreed, Claritas. AKG needs to work on their stock cables.

That new product from AKG is nothing to care about.
 

ausername501 said:

That new product from AKG is nothing to care about.

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That's what some have been saying here for a while.

Edit: I didn't see the picture.

April Fools!

Could be an April Fools but I don't really care. Here is an April Fools on a product that you would never want. The real April Fools is the K812.

I got this headphone before reading much into the specific technical details. I've owned the AKG K1000s for a long time and thought it was about time that they came out with another flagship headphone. After receiving these, I was very confused why AKG would make a headphone with portable scenarios in mind so OPEN. Due to the ridiculously slim drivers, the 812s have a ton of area for air, which results in a significant amount of leakage. Given that they stuck such a crappy cable on this why would they ever think you would wear these in any setting where people are in close proximity to you? The cable feels extremely cheap and the snap-on 6.3mm seems like kind of a joke. I really don't get why AKG didn't make this semi-open or at least with a design more intended for home use. 
 
I'm not trying to completely bash these because they sound very good. I would place them somewhere ahead of the T1s and right around the LCD-2 in terms of listening pleasure. The drivers and ear cushioning in conjunction with the completely open design delivers a very unique sound signature. I would place it closer to HiFiMAN and Sennheiser than any other brand as they tend to be brighter than other headphones. 
 
What I found interesting was that it powers very easily off a smartphone but doesn't so much off of an amp like the Woo WA7. Granted, the sound that is produced by a smartphone is going to be far less distinguished but I had to adjust the level on my Woo WA7 very high to get similar volume to my HD800s. I understand these are completely different headphones and generally I would not make a comparison like that but the Woo WA7 is positioned as a fairly well-suited amp for a variety of headphones. 
 
Overall, I just don't quite get what AKG was trying to accomplish with these headphones. If they wanted to produce something that could be easily positioned with a portable amp/dac then why did they make it one of the most open headphones that I can think of besides Grado? If they figured it would be used primarily in more intimate settings then why make the cable so crappy? I would definitely opt for these over the TH900s but definitely not over the HD800s or HE-6s. Either way, these headphones do not provide the noise isolation needed to take them traveling. They barely suffice in an office setting with large cubicles.

Gabadabbadoo, how do you think it (the K812) compares with the k1000?

don quichotte said:

  Gabadabbadoo, how do you think it (the K812) compares with the k1000?

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Two completely different headphones. Some similar qualities but the K1000 is a beast of its own. The K812s do not accentuate the highs as well as the K1000s or HD800s (with proper amp). Again, the K812s are kind of a chameleon. I would say it has some similar qualities to the K1000s and some similar qualities to the 701s. I am going to test the K812s on a very diverse, high-end system this weekend and will let you know my impressions. My thinking is that given AKG has made a compromise to make them work as portables that a really high-end system will have somewhat diminishing returns. 

Cool, thanks! Looking forward to reading your impressions.

gabbadabbadoo said:

...I would definitely opt for these over the TH900s but definitely not over the HD800s...

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feel the opposite way about the th900. not so sure about the hd800 tho. need to spend more time comparing it with the k812. but yeah - the hd800 did impress more first time around.