[bcaulf17]

Are the crease on the lower end of the earcups normal? its pretty deep. I wonder if this is not making it properly seal? will take pics. It does sound pretty good tho, but I expected something mindblowing comparing to the closed ones I already had (dt770 mainly)

Yeah nothing about these cans is practically mind blowing but that’s what I like about them. As I’ve said in this thread before, I think a lot of the rave reviews have pushed people into thinking this is one of the greatest headphones period, but it’s more like a great closed back for its price (like the DT770). They can be boring, but they do very little wrong and keep the level of fatigue from listening down. The DT770 comes off as impressive with its v-shaped sound but it ends up not being quite as balanced as the K371, at least the way I hear it. I thought the 770 was too bright and didn’t have the same level of portability.

I’m curious about the crease if you post a better photo I can tell if it seems normal or not.

 

[menuki]

Hope ya'll doing well.

Been a while since I posted something this forum at all, I've been happy with my 58x and iFi HipDac combo, but the AKG caught my attention - the most interesting part about this headphone is the upper midrange so far, where as I feel that it strongly depends on the used source as well regarding whether or not it's realy boosted.

If you check out this review:
https://www.soundguys.com/akg-k371-review-30284/

The graph clearly does not show any spikes, but when I run a frequency sweep, I can actually hear a boost in the upper mids rather well, (especially at louder volumes I would not listen music to though), and snares etc. stand out sometimes in the music, but that also depends on the track a lot.

So, this may also be related the ear-form etc and even how loud they are playing,. whether or not they become piercing, because I'm rather treble senstitive, but in most tracks they just sound awesome and I enjoy the extra little sparkle.. pretty interesting to see the how well he rated them too in the review above (these are guys with a lot of experience when it comes to headphones from all price ranges it seems), and I do agree with him basically through and through, there is not a headphone in the 100-300€ range which sounds this neutral/balanced, even if the soundstage isn't really something out of this world.

 

[bcaulf17]

Hope ya'll doing well.

Been a while since I posted something this forum at all, I've been happy with my 58x and iFi HipDac combo, but the AKG caught my attention - the most interesting part about this headphone is the upper midrange so far, where as I feel that it strongly depends on the used source as well regarding whether or not it's realy boosted.

If you check out this review:
https://www.soundguys.com/akg-k371-review-30284/

The graph clearly does not show any spikes, but when I run a frequency sweep, I can actually hear a boost in the upper mids rather well, (especially at louder volumes I would not listen music to though), and snares etc. stand out sometimes in the music, but that also depends on the track a lot.

So, this may also be related the ear-form etc and even how loud they are playing,. whether or not they become piercing, because I'm rather treble senstitive, but in most tracks they just sound awesome and I enjoy the extra little sparkle.. pretty interesting to see the how well he rated them too in the review above (these are guys with a lot of experience when it comes to headphones from all price ranges it seems), and I do agree with him basically through and through, there is not a headphone in the 100-300€ range which sounds this neutral/balanced, even if the soundstage isn't really something out of this world.

I think you’re right in that the upper midrange and even other parts of the FR can depend wildly on how they’re worn, how they seal, sensitivity to that region, and just getting used to the signature. I found the upper mids a bit annoying at first but now I don’t mind it anymore really, save for a few recordings.

 

[menuki]

I think you’re right in that the upper midrange and even other parts of the FR can depend wildly on how they’re worn, how they seal, sensitivity to that region, and just getting used to the signature. I found the upper mids a bit annoying at first but now I don’t mind it anymore really, save for a few recordings.

Glad I'm not alone with these thoughts.

By the way, I just received the BT version, so the K371-BT and I'm disappointed and confused... the pads definitley feel different, less dense in foam perhaps? And my ears touch the drivers quite a bit more. Plus, when I push them slightly on my head, the drivers crinkle a lot, I don't have that with the Non-BT either, perhaps they isolated them a bit more to make them even more useful for loud environments?

Anyway - for some reason I also don't get a proper seal compared to the non-BT, even though the pads seem more soft. Overall they cannot match the sound signature of the non-BT version it seem, and I was of course expecting worse sound quality compared to using it with a cable. Still a bit strange overall - pretty confident that I'll return them because of the rather worrying (if harmless) driver crinkling especially.

Still. The K371 non-BT is a very very great headphone in my opinion, and in the end I'll probably try to stay away from Bluetooh anyway to have the best sound quality possible through a dedicated DAC/AMP, since I also don't a phone which is LDAC capeable.

 

[bcaulf17]

Glad I'm not alone with these thoughts.

By the way, I just received the BT version, so the K371-BT and I'm disappointed and confused... the pads definitley feel different, less dense in foam perhaps? And my ears touch the drivers a more. Plus, when I push them slightly on my head, the drivers crinkle a lot, I don't have that with the Non-BT either, perhaps they isolated them a bit more to make them even more useful for loud environments?

Anyway - for some reason I also don't get a proper seal compared to the non-BT, even though the pads seem more soft. Overall they cannot match the sound signature of the non-BT version it seem, and I was of course expecting worse sound quality compared to using it with a cable. Still a bit strange overall - pretty confident that I'll return them because of the rather worrying (if harmless) driver crinkling especially.

Still. The K371 non-BT is a very very great headphone in my opinion, and in the end I'll probably try to stay away from Bluetooh anyway to have the best sound quality possible through a dedicated DAC/AMP, since I also don't a phone which is LDAC capeable.

Yeah I guess the BT version ain’t all that. You’re not the first one to say it’s worse.

 

[menuki]

Dayum, I also noticed that the placement on the head really makes a vast difference. When I allign the middle part of the headphone with my ear (as funny as it may sound) the mids become more centered, pretty perfectly actually, making them also come out a bit more alive - sounds great compared to having them pushed behind further back to the ear, to be honest, both signatures are nice regardless of the placement.

I am very thankful that I'm in the group which perceives them as overall rather comfortable - the only gripe would be the drivers ever so slightly touching my ears, but it's not bad at all so far and my ears are rather on the small side.

Honestly, I'm still catching up to this thing actually existing, because I was unaware that there may be such a good closed back available which sounds that darn good. Sub-bass is very well done and you will not loose any detail in those lower registers, I don't perceive it as overly boosted neither, whatever they're doing with the signature it just sounds right and highly enjoyable to my ears. I've tried many, many closed back headphones and ended up giving back basically all of them - I was just never fully satisfied, there was always one issue which was glaring enough to me to not want them anymore. As other reviewers are mentioning, these may be totally untouched at their price point. I also dig the design by the way.. no sharp edges anywhere at all and it's all round? Pretty neat idea.

 

[plakat]

Glad I'm not alone with these thoughts.

By the way, I just received the BT version, so the K371-BT and I'm disappointed and confused... the pads definitley feel different, less dense in foam perhaps? And my ears touch the drivers quite a bit more. Plus, when I push them slightly on my head, the drivers crinkle a lot, I don't have that with the Non-BT either, perhaps they isolated them a bit more to make them even more useful for loud environments?

Anyway - for some reason I also don't get a proper seal compared to the non-BT, even though the pads seem more soft. Overall they cannot match the sound signature of the non-BT version it seem, and I was of course expecting worse sound quality compared to using it with a cable. Still a bit strange overall - pretty confident that I'll return them because of the rather worrying (if harmless) driver crinkling especially.

Still. The K371 non-BT is a very very great headphone in my opinion, and in the end I'll probably try to stay away from Bluetooh anyway to have the best sound quality possible through a dedicated DAC/AMP, since I also don't a phone which is LDAC capeable.

Reflects my impressions of the BT version... it sounded rather uninteresting, comfort was slightly worse. Overall it did not convince me and went back. I somehow had really high hopes for that one, but after the really good wired version having an equally good BT in this price range -- would have been too much I guess.

 

[menuki]

Yeah I guess the BT version ain’t all that. You’re not the first one to say it’s worse.

Oh my, and that really is because of the pads only. I switched the pads, and now the BT version sounds... a lot better I have to say. Smoother than the wired version, but I still have to try these wired though - Now I really wonder if I got an "older" version of the BT K371, which had an older pair of pads which were of less quality, hence a reason why I find the wired K371 so comfortable, because they got some better pads over time! Just a theory, perhaps they actually install these different pads for some reason... I don't see any reason to be honest though, it just makes affects the seal in a bad way and agan, my ears were touching the drivers.

Now let's see which one I'll keep, but the BT's definitley some pad rolling, so far the "new" K371 pads are the best choice.

The BT's just sound more warm than the K371, but perhaps that is also a bit of a lack of detail in the higher registers, I'll have to see - perhaps a decent choice for someone who is looking for that kind of relaxed signature while still maintaing a overall decent (so far) balance.

EDIT: Okay. Wired they seem to sound like the normal K371.. so in the end it boils down to Bluetooth being a nice to have when playing with my cat or when using them portably. More impressions will follow, but it seems that Bluetooth smoothens the sound overall, not bad sounding at all given that they only receive iPhone AAC, although I can see some people really missing LDAC if they own a Android phone. Apple has some catching up to do in that regard I feel..

 

[menuki]

Reflects my impressions of the BT version... it sounded rather uninteresting, comfort was slightly worse. Overall it did not convince me and went back. I somehow had really high hopes for that one, but after the really good wired version having an equally good BT in this price range -- would have been too much I guess.

I agree. I have to take a step back and perhaps take back saying that these sound great - they really do not sound that spectactular especially compared to the non-BT K371 themselves. As you've said, that would have been too awesome. To be honest, perhaps AKG wanted to jump on the cool Bluetooth bandwagon but the driver chassis was not really ideal for all the extra hardware, and through some reason they then had to re-adjust the driver placement, thus they sound different / less good?

Just wildly guesing though and again, the K371 make me want to forgive that the BT versions exist, and hey, perhaps for some it's their cup of tea, but it just really feels like a different headphone sound signature wise which was rather unexpected. Anywho, I'll be giving the non-BT's some further long and awesome listening sessions.

 

[klogg4]

I like my K361 BT. Do not have noticable speaker disbalance, definition is great, sound isolation is good. Haven't compared to wired version (really looking forward to buying K371 wired).

 

[menuki]

I like my K361 BT. Do not have noticable speaker disbalance, definition is great, sound isolation is good. Haven't compared to wired version (really looking forward to buying K371 wired).

Great to hear that - perhaps the K361 BT isn't tuned so differently compared to the K371 BT - I think I'll still let go of Bluetooth for now though to honor my DAC AMP from ifi which is rather new. The Drop THX Panda are already ordered, in the meantime I've also ordered the K361 non-BT because I'm also curious how they sound.

Let me know how the K371 wired compare the K361 BT once you have the chance @klogg4 .

 

[klogg4]

Great to hear that - perhaps the K361 BT isn't tuned so differently compared to the K371 BT

It actually is. I can judge by using Sonarworks Reference 4 sound profile for AKG K361 wired - sound doesn't become flat. But still I somehow like them. Would be interested in getting a frequency response of these.

 

[menuki]

It actually is. I can judge by using Sonarworks Reference 4 sound profile for AKG K361 wired - sound doesn't become flat. But still I somehow like them. Would be interested in getting a frequency response of these.

Ah, I see! Well if you like their sound that's great of course. They go for about 100€ here in Germany, where I'll have to say that even though the K371 BT's sounded a bit muffled in general, if the K361 BT has a bit more clarity then that's kind of a steal for the price given that it also has 40 hours of playtime.

 

[menuki]

I love these headphones. They get more clear and fun to listen to by the hour it seems. I especially love how everything just seems so balanced and natural, the individual parts like Lows, Mids and Highs seems to not take too much space if that makes sense, and it just sounds like everything is in right proportion, besides the higher mids as mentioned a few times before, which is really something I am already used to - heck, may make them that enjoyable!

 

[klogg4]

Well if you like their sound that's great of course. They go for about 100€ here in Germany

I really like them! At first they sounded boring, and I really felt that high mid is shouty, but after a brain burn-in - wow, they're good! They're good to the point that in some compositions I hear acoustic guitars and toms and get the "what the heck" feeling about how well they fool my brain, because that's exactly how they sound IRL (even though compression artifacts are noticable, it doesn't affect). And the coolest thing is that I get this feeling when listening through Bluetooth AAC! So they definitely cost their 100€ (I bought them for something near this price in Russia). Definitely there're better monitoring headphones, but hey, they're cheap and they have BT!