Nice. They are good looking woodies.
I luv how the subs just gets up there! There's no haziness in the mids caused by the bass. I like how Harman shelves the sub-bass like it does because it doesn't interfere with the upper-frequencies.
I wish there was more information about the driver and how the headphone was tuned. The most information I can get is that it's 50mm titanium coated driver.
I could not find a K550 or K553 measurement that looks reliable looking. The measurement rig used must use at minimum either GRAS 43AG or 45CA to be decently reliable looking. I saw this, and this gives information on comparisons between GRAS and MiniDSP Ears.Based on comments in this thread and other reviews, it appears that the K371 is probably a little better tuned than the K553. And probably the better-sounding of the two headphones. My K553's are quite foward in the upper mid-range, for example. And also probably too forward in some spots in the mid-treble as well (though based on the above plots it look like the K371 is no slouch in that area as well).
It's concievable that AKG has made some more tweaks on the MKII version of the K553 though. Nobody likes to do graphs of these headphones though, for some strange reason. Which makes it difficult to compare sound siggies to other HPs.
I really can't say one is easily better over the other, but I do prefer the K371 over the R70X due to the practicality of it. The R70X is open, and will require my surroundings to be on the quiet side to get the most out of it, but not with the K371. K371 with it's plush pads, isolates the head from outer-noise quite well. Therefore, I get a good amount of high frequency noise isolation during music listening sessions, which is very useful at times.
Even if Tyll measured the responses, he'd still tell you what he heard, but who knows how much of that was placebo from measurements. There's a lot of reviewers that do not look at measurements as well. I think it's better not to given a lot of crappy measurements that exists as well as non-standarized equipment like Min-DSP Ears that can steer them from better judgements.
Once I got used to these the soundstage didn’t appear as narrow as I felt initially. It’s really in the same ballpark as the HD600 series so I would say it’s passable.I've finally received my set of K371's (BT specifically) and my opinion is that it deserves all of the praise it is getting, particularly as it relates to its low frequencies. Powerful, full, but still very shapely and defined. Very, very impressive for its price range, as well as how independent they are in terms of drive. My Samsung Galaxy s9+ drives these cans so effortlessly. Still excited to hear it through my Chord MOJO, tho.
All that said, I've found points of challenge I need to resolve. Firstly, the mid range is too shouty for my taste. Emphasis somewhere around 1-2k for me (guesstimation). I purchased these specifically with the intention of studio mixing, thanks to their claim to neutral fame for price, and some of the material I'm working on is voice work. Because of that, I need flatter smoother, more natural midrange to mix properly. More on this below.
My second caveat is the seal. I'm 6"3 with a lean athletic build, and I think I'm noticing some of the critical feedback this is getting with fit. Because the cup mechanism is somewhat an attempt to reinvent the wheel, unsuccessfully imo, they are already cumbersome to align properly. That, on top of the stingy ear pad depth and the shape of my jaw line make an inconsistent seal that leaks lows, over emphasizing the other frequencies. Which is truly such a shame ~ to have these tuned and engineered they way they have and to be stifled by something as trivial as an ear cup seal for me... Unfortunate.
That said, my point in stating all of this is to simply provide some additional accounts of what I had read others say before my purchase, as well as inquire of some solutions to my seal issue and hopefully a workaround with the inflated mid range.
I don't want to have to eq that bump out, preferably, and I'm curious bottom line if anyone has really experimented with many pad options. I've read through all 20 pages here that many people have explored one or two options with no undisputed upgrade, but since some time had passed, I was just curious if anyone else had some further discoveries or suggestions... Improved sound stage is always welcomed as well
Loving this discussion btw!
I’ve realized by this point that just about every headphone (especially closed back) has some flaws, but the K371 has probably among the least out of the closed backs I’ve tried which is pretty amazing considering the price. The only one that does better is the EMU Ebony for me but some don’t consider that a closed headphone. But I am with you in that the one issue, for me, is the upper midrange being a bit too hot, on some music at least. Surely mastering comes into play because I’ve only found a few instances where it somewhat bothered me.
