AKG K 420 Foldable Mini Headphone - Blue

The AKG K420 headphones sound nice. They are great if you want, or need high fidelity, semi-open, portable phones. I hate closed phones. The K420(s) sound like my AKG K240 MKII(s), if I were to boost the lows & highs on them a little bit The lows are deep and tight on the 420s. Kick drum and floor toms sound great! The highs are nice, except at very loud SPL listening levels, where at that point, they get a little harsh I use the 420s, for portable use, at mostly low to mid SPL listening levels. At low volume, upright bass sounds great, losing "some" definition at louder SPLs. At lower volume levels, The mild rise in the Hi and Low end frequency response is nice, ...sort of like hitting the "loudness button" on an old stereo, to compensate for the Fletcher-Munson curves of human hearing response at low SPL(s). A lot of listeners, would love them at loud sound levels.
When I go loud, at home, my go-to, is my K240MKII(s)
At home, I also listen to K240 sextetts and Sennheiser HD 414s.

This headphone has a quite good sound quality for its price. Its sound is very clear, the mids and highs are well detailled. The bass is tight but some recordings sound lacking bass. It needed a little bit more body and warmish on the sound. The ear pads have a bad quality. The pads from mine has last about 8 months. 

After a thorough market research and reading the good reviews on this website, I decided to buy the AKG K420 headphone about a year ago. It seemed perfect for my needs: low price, good sound quality, very portable and rather bad sound isolation, which I need so that I can hear the cars when riding my bike. As always, I bought it second hand because you usually get much better deals buying second hand; I still cannot believe the kind of great stuff I got for incredibly cheap prices.

 

So I got the headphone. They looked as new and they sounded as I hoped, no disappointment there! I've been using them every day, riding my bike to work and taking them with me almost everywhere I go. Unfortunately, after a few months, the left speaker started falling out every now and and died in the span of a few hours. I don't know much or anything about repairing headphones, which was confirmed in my attempt at saving them. I figured it might be due to abusive use by the previous owner so decided to buy another AKG K420 headphone, but this time a new pair. Unfortunately, after a few months, the exact same thing happened: the left speaker died on me again.

 

Taking them everywhere, I might not be the perfect headphones-host but I'm certainly not the worst and I've had cheaper headphones lasting for years. As this happened to me twice, I'm thinking this is not an isolated incident and felt like I had to create a profile to let the world know that the shelf life of these headphones is questionable, especially if you like to move them around.

i have got these headphones 2 days back 5-6-14. at the first look and impression of these headphones i thought they will sound like tiny treble producing headphones, i was not impressed by the look actually, but when i put these headphones on.... with my cowon d2+, i feel like wow.... it has balanced bass which i had not expected at all. sound was not congested every beat was there but yeah felt lil lack of sound-stage.. but for the price point these are amazing.....i got it at good price around 37 usd (rs.2200 inr). for me its bang for the buck...

I bought the AKG K 420 for those times when I wouldn't be able to use my grado headphones, I also wanted something compact so the AKG K 420 came handy. In the beginning I was happy with the purchase but soon I noticed it was just too muddy for my ears compared to what I like and what I'm used to.

I've been looking for a good open headphone that I can use in the office instead of my IEMs. It proved a little tricky to find a portable open headphone, but I eventually narrowed it down to the following list:
 

1. AKG K420
2. Sennheiser PX100
3. Jays V-Jays
4. Koss Porta Pro
5. Aiaiai Tracks

 
After much listening and comparison, plus a little thinking about my wallet as I don't need a flagship sound quality for this application, I settled on the AKG K420s.
 
The K420s offered easily the most balanced sound of those listed above. The Sennheisers came a close second, but for the extra money, I felt that they were limited to sounding good on bassy genres while lacking some space and resolution for more subtle acoustic tracks.
 
The K420s are fairly no-frills. Except for the denim coloured trim on the grey frame, there is no bling and they come with a simple, short (1m) cable and a simple carry pouch. For me, that's perfect because the cable is just long enough to reach my laptop without pulling or tangling.
 
The sound from the K420s is outstanding if you keep the price tag in mind. Clearly they're not going to compete with some of the $200-$300 offerings out there, but I can't find an option under $150 that comes close to their balanced, clean sound.
 
Bass is ample and responds well to a good EQ, mids are solid and clean, and highs are detailed and resolved to a good level.
 
In comparison to the PX100s and Porta-Pros, the K420s could seem a little bright at times and therefore may become fatiguing and high volumes, but haven't listened for long enough to know yet. For me, their ability to create space in the soundstage and resolve detail was what pushed them past the competition.
 
For less than $150-200 (perhaps more?) you will have a very hard time finding a better blanced sounding portable, open headphone. The PX100 would be my choice for a bass-oriented sound, but these win hands-down for balanced sound.

i bought this pair for alternate use with my iGrado. (iGrado is less comfort for a long use). 
 
Audio sounds better than the closed-back AKG K450, Senn PX100. i love the balance sound which i think is comparable to iGrado and Koss PortaPro. Design wise, the AKG420 looks more sturdy than the Senns, even though the portability of the latter is better. The denim and matte finish together with nicely placed AKG logos on both cups are very easy on the (my) eye. Size is neither too small nor too big, and rest comfortably on both ears after adjusting the headband. i listen to wide genre of musics. this headphones gives nice kick on most of the genres, including Toni Braxton's, Metallica's, Adele, Dave Gruisin's, Lee Ritenour's, Flletwood Mac's. Strings, horns and bells in the 1821 Overtures and others are clearly expressed. Music listening is very enjoyable.
 
The only drawback i noticed about this pair is its tendency to leak sounds in and out. As I enjoy listening to music with maximum volume, this pair is not very commuter-friendly. However it was designed to be like one as this is an open-back can (you can opt for the closed-back K450 to minimise the leakage). 
 
I will recommend this pair to anyone who is looking for a sub USD100 headphones which can deliver excellence audio quality for portable use.
 
 

Ok, so it's the season to be jolly, and purchase new audio gear.
Yours truly has went out to get himself some audio candy (not to confuse with SkullCandy...) to refresh his audio experience.
 
I had to wonder around the store to find me a good pair of headphones, and after about an hour of browsing and the seller trying to sell me on the Beats Studio (aparently he had no clue whatsoever as he first tried to sell me on some SkullCandy and Bose...I have left the store cheerful and sound-happy with a pair of AKG K420 and the Etymotic MC5 (I really wanted to hear those).
 
Enough with the casual chit-chat, let's get down to business!
 
After unpacking I have discovered that the K 420 are really light, and even squak a bit when stretched (let that not deter you from these headphones, as they are quite sturdy).
 
First Impressions:
Cable is a bit on the short side, about a metre (if you're from europe) or somewhere about 3.2ft. which is just enough to reach my pocket, all in all...good enough.
The fit is extremely comfortable, I was suffering from pressed (or squished) head after using my audio-technica's closed earphones, these however fit right in and sat snugly enough to embrace my ears.
 
Soundwise:
Well, here's the tricky part, the sound of the AKG K 420 is really good, a bit on the warm sound, I have heard people comparing them to the porta-pros and the Px100, I think personally that they are quite better than both, in terms of the sound stage, it is somewhere in the middle.
The sound tonality is warm - to the bassy side, however the highs are very clear and the mids are fantastic.
In some songs the bass kind of takes over and resonates, which I guess is something that I will have to get used to, which is kind of odd to me since it doesn't cloud the highs, it just kind of smears the bass all over, makes it a bit muddy maybe.
 
Songs tested on:
Don Ross and Andy McKee - Rylinn:
started off great, with clear acoustics, however once once the second guitar came in, they sounded like they were having a fight over my brain, each taking over the sound in turns.
 
Metallica - Wherever I may roam:
Drums and guitar were so real I wanted to join in and play with the band, I think these headphones will shine with metal music in general, beware of the vocals sometimes taking over the sound stage.
 
Radiohead - Let down:
This song left me stunned with the clear highs and the amazing vocals, the beginning of this song resonates in my head till this point...amazing.
 
Stereophonics.- Maybe Tomorrow:
Well, maybe even today. The gritty vocals sat right in with the headphones, the sparkles were shining through the song, and the guitar wasn't lost. a keeper.
 
To sum it up, these headphones handle quite well whatever I have thrown at them, if you like the Grado sound or good semi-open headphones, for that matter, they are a good value for great headphones, however as semi-open heaphones, do understand that they leak sound, although not horribly but they do, if this is a concern for you, don't even think about then, otherwise,  I would highly recommend them to anyone.