I have been an Audio Technica guy for the last 20 years or so. I have the AD700, A700, AD900X, M50, ANC27 plus the Sony 7506's. I was looking to try an AKG and had been trying for a while to win a set of Q701 Quincy Jones Signatures on Ebay when I saw a post on Slickdeals about the AKG K7XX (First Edition) for $200 on an unknown site to me called Massdrop. After reading the discussion about them claiming K702 Anniversary sound with improved bass I went for it (serial # 2255) and they are now my go-to phones.
Sound: These are silky smooth and clean but still can be very dynamic and fast when they need to be. While all of my other headphones have their pluses and minuses these can match up to the strengths of each of them nicely. The bass is very close to the level of the closed back M50 but cleaner. Drum solos sound more real than I have ever heard them, tight and clean and you can easily tell differences between each drum. The members here said that the K7XX would need and amp so I bought the Fiio E12 to use with it and it definitely helps give the K7XX a stronger dynamic presence.
The sound-stage is second only to my AD700's (the purple pasta strainers) but the base is magnitudes better. I am not a bass-head so the K7XX has more than enough low end to satisfy me. As I am writing this paragraph I am listening to Freebird and the bass is nice and tight, better than open backs usually are. The mids are also better and more open than anything I have heard, Female vocals have always sounded great on my favorite open backed AD900X's but the K7XX is still better and the highs blend in nicely without any listening fatigue.
While I think the K7XX is fairly neutral they are not flat or boring. The 7506's don't have the presence these do and just seem limited and sound small after listening to the K7XX. The sound-stage is large and makes you feel that the music is all around you rather than coming from headphones. These are large phones and don't have a problem filling the whole room (between your ears) with sound. Now I mostly pull out the K7XX by default instead of picking a set of phones for what I want to listen to. Since everything I have played on them sounds as good or better than anything else I have heard they are the one headphone I can't be without.
Comfort: These one of the most comfortable headphones I have ever used. Made from lightweight plastic (8.3 oz.) and with the over-sized memory foam velour ear pads I wear them 4-5 hours some nights and never have had to removed them. There is hardly any clamping pressure, they use a form of self adjusting band on the top that adjusts elastic bands on each side to the right height. The larger Audio Technica models have a self adjusting wing like mechanism that is also works very well and that I really like but the K7XX seems to move around less. The headband doesn't have any padding and my only concern is that it feels a little slippery. If the headband had a little more grip I think that it would be the perfect system for a comfortable but still secure fit.
Value: Well I am a guy that stays around the $150 to $250 area. I find that that gives me the best sound for my money. The AKG K7XX is heads better than anything in it's price range. It might only be due to the Massdrop group buying club that I got these for $200 but that is what they sold for so I am basing my rating on the price. I think that I have the best headphone that can possibly be bought for this price and will probably have to move up to the $500+ range on my next pair to feel that I got a worthwhile improvement. I would like to try a planar magnetic next, maybe the OPPO PM-3 or Hifiman 400i but for open backed dynamics I can't imagine anything under $500-$800 being better than these.
Conclusion: This is my first review and I know that it is incomplete and amateurish in depth and format but there is nothing not to love about the AKG K7XX. I didn't post any new photos as the ones that others have posted are much clearer than anything that I could have done. I didn't know that ear-pads could be so soft and comfortable. That a headphone as large as this could be so light. That you can get this good a bass from a open back design with this large of a sound-stage. Or that one headphone could replace several that I had been using with different music genres. If you don't have a pair of AKG headphones then I think you will be very surprised at what you can get for $200.
Sound: These are silky smooth and clean but still can be very dynamic and fast when they need to be. While all of my other headphones have their pluses and minuses these can match up to the strengths of each of them nicely. The bass is very close to the level of the closed back M50 but cleaner. Drum solos sound more real than I have ever heard them, tight and clean and you can easily tell differences between each drum. The members here said that the K7XX would need and amp so I bought the Fiio E12 to use with it and it definitely helps give the K7XX a stronger dynamic presence.
The sound-stage is second only to my AD700's (the purple pasta strainers) but the base is magnitudes better. I am not a bass-head so the K7XX has more than enough low end to satisfy me. As I am writing this paragraph I am listening to Freebird and the bass is nice and tight, better than open backs usually are. The mids are also better and more open than anything I have heard, Female vocals have always sounded great on my favorite open backed AD900X's but the K7XX is still better and the highs blend in nicely without any listening fatigue.
While I think the K7XX is fairly neutral they are not flat or boring. The 7506's don't have the presence these do and just seem limited and sound small after listening to the K7XX. The sound-stage is large and makes you feel that the music is all around you rather than coming from headphones. These are large phones and don't have a problem filling the whole room (between your ears) with sound. Now I mostly pull out the K7XX by default instead of picking a set of phones for what I want to listen to. Since everything I have played on them sounds as good or better than anything else I have heard they are the one headphone I can't be without.
Comfort: These one of the most comfortable headphones I have ever used. Made from lightweight plastic (8.3 oz.) and with the over-sized memory foam velour ear pads I wear them 4-5 hours some nights and never have had to removed them. There is hardly any clamping pressure, they use a form of self adjusting band on the top that adjusts elastic bands on each side to the right height. The larger Audio Technica models have a self adjusting wing like mechanism that is also works very well and that I really like but the K7XX seems to move around less. The headband doesn't have any padding and my only concern is that it feels a little slippery. If the headband had a little more grip I think that it would be the perfect system for a comfortable but still secure fit.
Value: Well I am a guy that stays around the $150 to $250 area. I find that that gives me the best sound for my money. The AKG K7XX is heads better than anything in it's price range. It might only be due to the Massdrop group buying club that I got these for $200 but that is what they sold for so I am basing my rating on the price. I think that I have the best headphone that can possibly be bought for this price and will probably have to move up to the $500+ range on my next pair to feel that I got a worthwhile improvement. I would like to try a planar magnetic next, maybe the OPPO PM-3 or Hifiman 400i but for open backed dynamics I can't imagine anything under $500-$800 being better than these.
Conclusion: This is my first review and I know that it is incomplete and amateurish in depth and format but there is nothing not to love about the AKG K7XX. I didn't post any new photos as the ones that others have posted are much clearer than anything that I could have done. I didn't know that ear-pads could be so soft and comfortable. That a headphone as large as this could be so light. That you can get this good a bass from a open back design with this large of a sound-stage. Or that one headphone could replace several that I had been using with different music genres. If you don't have a pair of AKG headphones then I think you will be very surprised at what you can get for $200.
