funkmeister
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2011
- Posts
- 110
- Likes
- 15
I have experience with some AKGs. It looks like the KRK 8400's are similar to the AKG K141/142 and K240/242.
Anyway, I found the soundstage on the K272 to be wide enough to freak me out at first. I can't imagine a wider sound that I'd enjoy without a lot of forced hearing adaptation. Also, the K272 sounded excellent with just about everything that could be thrown at it.
However, I have the most experience with the K171, which are made for monitoring drums and vocals. These are abslutely fantastic on drums (and my voice), and the K271/272 are so similar in sound (same drivers) that the added comfort and touch more bass will be welcome. Even though the K171 is designed for drums and vocals, I haven't found a genre that dousn't sound good on them... but I'm not a basshead and the bass rolls off on these enough that some dubsteppers may want to look at something other than the K171. I just give them +4dB around 30Hz and +2dB around 60Hz and I'm good with any music. Also the K171 is the most detailed of them all but only by a thin margin. It may have to do with the fact that I have a few more hundred hours on these than the other two models.
Of the three AKGs I've had (K171, K272, K142), only the K142 didn't really seem to make use of burn-in. Maybe the sound widened a bit, but I couldn't really tell a difference. The K272 needed between 55-80 hours to tighten and for the bass to wake up. The K171 got about 70 hours. None of these cans are sibilant, but the K171 was closest to being sibilant of the bunch. Grados, by comparison, were like having a cat scratch my eardrums. I still have the K171 and K142 and use them at least 4 times a week. The K272 I gifted away. They sure were comfortable.
All of these AKG's have supremely good headbands. The 7's isolate very nicely. The 4's are open-backed but leak very little sound. Good design. The 27X's are the most comfortable headphone ever made, and are very light weight.
One thing you guys need to know is that AKG attenuates the bass on their closed cans because of resonance. Just pump the EQ and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. So the old wisdom of closed cans having more bass is foolishness when it comes to AKG's. The 4's (141, 142, 240, 242) all have much more bass and are open backed. But the high-bass/low-mid bump at around 125Hz is annoying as heck. I much prefer the sound of the 7's over the 4's, but the open can accepts EQ much better.
All these AKG's make use of current buffer amps with low output impedance. Not all amps sound good on these. They max out at 3.3V and 60mA. Many amps don't supply that much amperage, but have no problem with the voltage. Something like the Objective2 from JDS Labs with the high gain resisters clipped (making it unity gain on one setting and 2.5x on the other) is the way to go.
As for the K550, I think I'd rather wait until I have an outboard DSP setup to my liking before I pick these up. Maybe I'll like the soundstage, maybe not. The shrill highs compared to the headphones you all have mentioned make me think that they have better extended highs, unlike the very rolled off highs of the DT1350 or LCD-2's... and the AKG's I wrote all about.
Anyway, I found the soundstage on the K272 to be wide enough to freak me out at first. I can't imagine a wider sound that I'd enjoy without a lot of forced hearing adaptation. Also, the K272 sounded excellent with just about everything that could be thrown at it.
However, I have the most experience with the K171, which are made for monitoring drums and vocals. These are abslutely fantastic on drums (and my voice), and the K271/272 are so similar in sound (same drivers) that the added comfort and touch more bass will be welcome. Even though the K171 is designed for drums and vocals, I haven't found a genre that dousn't sound good on them... but I'm not a basshead and the bass rolls off on these enough that some dubsteppers may want to look at something other than the K171. I just give them +4dB around 30Hz and +2dB around 60Hz and I'm good with any music. Also the K171 is the most detailed of them all but only by a thin margin. It may have to do with the fact that I have a few more hundred hours on these than the other two models.
Of the three AKGs I've had (K171, K272, K142), only the K142 didn't really seem to make use of burn-in. Maybe the sound widened a bit, but I couldn't really tell a difference. The K272 needed between 55-80 hours to tighten and for the bass to wake up. The K171 got about 70 hours. None of these cans are sibilant, but the K171 was closest to being sibilant of the bunch. Grados, by comparison, were like having a cat scratch my eardrums. I still have the K171 and K142 and use them at least 4 times a week. The K272 I gifted away. They sure were comfortable.
All of these AKG's have supremely good headbands. The 7's isolate very nicely. The 4's are open-backed but leak very little sound. Good design. The 27X's are the most comfortable headphone ever made, and are very light weight.
One thing you guys need to know is that AKG attenuates the bass on their closed cans because of resonance. Just pump the EQ and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. So the old wisdom of closed cans having more bass is foolishness when it comes to AKG's. The 4's (141, 142, 240, 242) all have much more bass and are open backed. But the high-bass/low-mid bump at around 125Hz is annoying as heck. I much prefer the sound of the 7's over the 4's, but the open can accepts EQ much better.
All these AKG's make use of current buffer amps with low output impedance. Not all amps sound good on these. They max out at 3.3V and 60mA. Many amps don't supply that much amperage, but have no problem with the voltage. Something like the Objective2 from JDS Labs with the high gain resisters clipped (making it unity gain on one setting and 2.5x on the other) is the way to go.
As for the K550, I think I'd rather wait until I have an outboard DSP setup to my liking before I pick these up. Maybe I'll like the soundstage, maybe not. The shrill highs compared to the headphones you all have mentioned make me think that they have better extended highs, unlike the very rolled off highs of the DT1350 or LCD-2's... and the AKG's I wrote all about.