3602
Banned at his own request
- Joined
- May 30, 2009
- Posts
- 3,147
- Likes
- 37
Alright, someone did one before, but that was old. 319 is a rarely talked about 'bud... I returned my SRH840 due to my head being too big thank you, and walking around town into music stores gave me this. They had some 20 boxes, dusty, reduced to $60 (Canadian) from an original price of $100. Guess nobody wants earbuds these days. Thank you, Apple.
Packaging
Some sort of a rubberized paper. Feels good. Not cheap carton or plastic. There is a magnetic flap that you can open, and see the buds with its carrying case through pieces of clear plastic. Some specs printed in many languages.
Parts
K319 earbuds, extension cable, 2.5mm adapter, European-style airplane adapter, foam earpads (pair), carrying case.
Build
You know, Germans (in this case Austria, they're all the same, K1000 would do nicely in a SciFi convention) build electronics quite uniquely. Sennheiser and beyerdynamic have simple, functional yet elegant products, unlike some Japanese or American products. The AKG K319 earbuds are Dark Charcoal in color, the buds themselves are made from a quite good plastic that don't spell GM. The surface is lightly textured. The cable entry point has a ring of chrome, however it has no strain relief (most earbuds don't). the AKG logo itself is surrounded with a thin ring of chrome. This gives it a touch of class without being overly shiny (BTW, saw a person with Lady Gaga Heartbeats). The driver unit itself is in a round piece, surrounded with a ring of rubber for some comfort. Through some wire mesh you can see the driver's voice coil (glue is red). There's no cable slider. The inline volume control is light, the feeling is acceptable (sliding is not as silky as I expected, but it won't move by accident) but it is still a bit bulky. The cable itself is only 50 cm long, so AKG provided an extension (also 50 cm), eh. The cable feels of good quality, flexes quite a bit, but may be somewhat tangle-prone. The flight adapter is simply the best that I've seen. Carrying case is quite large for such a small headphone, but there is just enough space for you to put a full-size iPod into it.
Comfort
Light. Very light on the ears, you put them in place and they melt away in seconds. When you stand up, however, the volume control does tend to pull it down. AKG included no cable clip, I used one from a Sennheiser MX70. Use this cable clip on your collar and you won't feel anything. At all. You can also loop the cable around your ears, just like so many higher-end IEMs, but I doubt the cable's ability to stand all that grease and sweat (SE530 cables eventually crack and snap because of this, SCL5 cables become green, etc). They're not streamlined as the Apple iBudz, but they're way more comfortable.
Sound
You know, I never expected good sound from earbuds (thank you again, Apple). Did have a Sennheiser MX560 waaaayy back. Well, these just changed that. Used an iPod Classic 160GB, Late 2009 Edition. No amp, SoundCheck OFF, EQ OFF, volume at 99% max (at 100% the internal opamp clips).
Bass is thin and weak. Less than what the DT880 has. Impact is acceptable. Bass extension and depth is lacking, but hey, these are open earbuds (AKG claims these as 'semi-open', however the DT880 is also supposed to be 'semi' open). Mids are... Don't quite know how to describe it, feels like those yogurt-in-little-plastic-pots smooth. Reproduction of male vocals are a bit off, however females are very strong on this earbud. Female vocals get way more presence than the rest of the song... Highs are fresh, well-extended, a bit bright but absolutely not fatiguing. The airiness is quite good. Using the foam earpads, the bass gets a huge boost, impact is strong and depth is improved, however the sound feels dull, dark, too 'far away', so I will listen without the pads. Sound stage is wide, not tall at all and moderately deep. Imaging is 'unoffensive', yeah, I'll put it that way.
Conclusion
A rarely talk about earbud, probably due to Apple (I hereby thank them a third time today). Overpriced? No. For this quality, sound-wise, build-wise or included parts-wise, $100 is very correct, and $60 is a downright steal. The AKG K319 totally surpassed my expectations (thank Apple a fourth time?). Very worthwhile to check out, especially if you want unamped portability but nothing in your ear canals (like me). Happy listening!
Packaging
Some sort of a rubberized paper. Feels good. Not cheap carton or plastic. There is a magnetic flap that you can open, and see the buds with its carrying case through pieces of clear plastic. Some specs printed in many languages.
Parts
K319 earbuds, extension cable, 2.5mm adapter, European-style airplane adapter, foam earpads (pair), carrying case.
Build
You know, Germans (in this case Austria, they're all the same, K1000 would do nicely in a SciFi convention) build electronics quite uniquely. Sennheiser and beyerdynamic have simple, functional yet elegant products, unlike some Japanese or American products. The AKG K319 earbuds are Dark Charcoal in color, the buds themselves are made from a quite good plastic that don't spell GM. The surface is lightly textured. The cable entry point has a ring of chrome, however it has no strain relief (most earbuds don't). the AKG logo itself is surrounded with a thin ring of chrome. This gives it a touch of class without being overly shiny (BTW, saw a person with Lady Gaga Heartbeats). The driver unit itself is in a round piece, surrounded with a ring of rubber for some comfort. Through some wire mesh you can see the driver's voice coil (glue is red). There's no cable slider. The inline volume control is light, the feeling is acceptable (sliding is not as silky as I expected, but it won't move by accident) but it is still a bit bulky. The cable itself is only 50 cm long, so AKG provided an extension (also 50 cm), eh. The cable feels of good quality, flexes quite a bit, but may be somewhat tangle-prone. The flight adapter is simply the best that I've seen. Carrying case is quite large for such a small headphone, but there is just enough space for you to put a full-size iPod into it.
Comfort
Light. Very light on the ears, you put them in place and they melt away in seconds. When you stand up, however, the volume control does tend to pull it down. AKG included no cable clip, I used one from a Sennheiser MX70. Use this cable clip on your collar and you won't feel anything. At all. You can also loop the cable around your ears, just like so many higher-end IEMs, but I doubt the cable's ability to stand all that grease and sweat (SE530 cables eventually crack and snap because of this, SCL5 cables become green, etc). They're not streamlined as the Apple iBudz, but they're way more comfortable.
Sound
You know, I never expected good sound from earbuds (thank you again, Apple). Did have a Sennheiser MX560 waaaayy back. Well, these just changed that. Used an iPod Classic 160GB, Late 2009 Edition. No amp, SoundCheck OFF, EQ OFF, volume at 99% max (at 100% the internal opamp clips).
Bass is thin and weak. Less than what the DT880 has. Impact is acceptable. Bass extension and depth is lacking, but hey, these are open earbuds (AKG claims these as 'semi-open', however the DT880 is also supposed to be 'semi' open). Mids are... Don't quite know how to describe it, feels like those yogurt-in-little-plastic-pots smooth. Reproduction of male vocals are a bit off, however females are very strong on this earbud. Female vocals get way more presence than the rest of the song... Highs are fresh, well-extended, a bit bright but absolutely not fatiguing. The airiness is quite good. Using the foam earpads, the bass gets a huge boost, impact is strong and depth is improved, however the sound feels dull, dark, too 'far away', so I will listen without the pads. Sound stage is wide, not tall at all and moderately deep. Imaging is 'unoffensive', yeah, I'll put it that way.
Conclusion
A rarely talk about earbud, probably due to Apple (I hereby thank them a third time today). Overpriced? No. For this quality, sound-wise, build-wise or included parts-wise, $100 is very correct, and $60 is a downright steal. The AKG K319 totally surpassed my expectations (thank Apple a fourth time?). Very worthwhile to check out, especially if you want unamped portability but nothing in your ear canals (like me). Happy listening!
