[itchyears]

So just got a set of K361 today. Wore them all day and was very impressed with the sound for the price. Felt very natural sounding in the mids. No harshness in the highs. Bass not too exaggerated - perhaps slightly above neutral...

Now the only problem.... The pads. My right ear touches the driver and it got uncomfortable after during a long session.

I can see lots of pad swaps mentioned here with the k371. Has anyone had any successful pad swaps with the k361 to retain the stock isolation and performance (or improve them if possible, cos why not), have greater comfort (thicker, more ear space, less likely to flatten in a long session)?

I'm particularly intrigued by the yaxi pads cos I like the look of them colourful but tasteful... But other options welcome please.

EDIT: I got the Yaxi stpad2 as suggested earlier in the this thread. Definitely a slight change to the sound. It seems wider and higher in the treble. I feel confused about the mids. They feel different, but I don't want to say something off-putting when they are actually fine. Need more time I guess. The stock sound is definitely warmer. I feel the mids are very slightly more open and natural sounding with the stock pads. With the Yaxis the mids sound very slightly congested compared to stock (but it may also just be further away... Or recessed?), but I personally prefer the bass, treble and width of with Yaxis and they are more comfortable as they don't compress as easily as stock meaning they keep ears further away from the drivers despite the Yaxi pads being thinner than the stock pads.

I think that is normal, every 3rd party pad I have got, usually brainwavz pads its changed the sound in one way or another. It use to irritate me when my ears touch the driver but now with my current hps AT-msr7b with stock pads, its not an issue even if they are touching the inner driver units, I just take regular ear breaks and keep the inside of the hps clean and also clean my ears gently each morning and have done this for many years just fine.

But in the past with my AKG K550 v1-3 with stock pads, the ears did touch the inner driver and the pads did use to irritate much worse and cause dry skin on the ears, so I think its the quality and material of the pads that could be a factor.

I find with my ears closer to the driver units the mids and vocals are much smoother and better refined, so in some ways am glad my ears just got used to it with my AT msr7bs.

Still tempted to order the K371, but unsure what type of material the pads are or how well they will fair with my ears.

 

[dstarr3]

My mother-in-law is interested in some Bluetooth headphones, and the K361BT is the first one that kinds to mind for me. Are there any sonic differences between the 361 and 361BT to be aware of?

 

[gargani]

Just got k371 on Friday. There were no manufacturing defects or cosmetic imperfections, except that the right side slider for the earcups is looser than the left. So far It's not a problem. When I put them on my head they don't move when I'm using them.
They had the removable pastic covers on the earcups.
I have extra large ears so my ears just fit inside the ear hole openings. That might be a good thing because they seal snugly around my ears and there are no gaps.
I wear glasses and that didn't seem to affect the sound. I tried them with the arms of the glasses under the pads and with the arms of the glasses above the ear pads. If there is a difference in sound it must be subtle.

I tried them with some bass oriented music ( deep house, deep funk house, deep jungle walk by astrix and some others). I really enjoyed the bass on this type of music.
I also tried them with Jeff Beck- Jimmy Page from a live performance and the war album the world is a ghetto.
These tracks don't have a lot of deeper sub bass but they still sounded pretty good.

I compared my Senn. hd 6xx with the k371 on some of these songs. The tonal balance on the hd 6xx is similar but different. The 6xx have a bit more upper bass and low midrange with less treble between about 7khz and 9khz. The 6xx are warmer with less treble bite.
Soundstage wise I'm not sure, I have to listen a little more closely.
The 6xx are not known for a wide soundstage but the k371 are closed back.

All in all, up to this point, I find the k371 pretty good. I don't regret buying them.

 

[dhruvmeena96]

Hi, everyone.

Just registered here on the forum. I read all the thread and it was decisive to me when I bought my K361.
I found it extremely pleasant to hear and rest in my head, except when the weather gets a bit hot, and this is a problem to me, as I live in a tropical weather city. Summer here will be HOT as always, and the pleather from the earpads gets a bit sticky in the skin sometimes. This cause a bit of discomfort on the skin around the ears, sometimes a bit of allergy too. When I used my K92, which has a bit harder earpad, I had this kind of problem. So, when I noticed that even on the K361 extremely soft earpad I felt the same, I decided to look for some tips around the internet.

This week I bought a Brainwavz HM5 Hybrid. It was my first time buying earpads, so I took no chances and bought just a regular one, flat, not angled. My phone is now really confortable, much more than with the original earpads. I noticed a bit of bass reduction, just a bit, not enough to make me think of changing back to the originals. The soundstage, however, had a huge improvement. Didn't noticed any significant changes on the mids and highs. As I read, the K371 have a more pronounced bass on the sound signature, so MAYBE, the difference in final sound can change I bit more. I don't know, just guessing here.

Anyway, just wanted to register this here as a thank you all for the messages on this thread, and I wanted to give my contribution to future buyers.

 

[The Fourth Doctor]

So I've been auditioning the K371 and K361 for the past two weeks and I really need to pick one so I can move on with my life. The K361 is lighter and more comfortable, but less secure as a result. The K371 is built better and its clamping force makes it more secure, and therefore probably more consistent.

I'd like to choose the K371, but I feel it leans just a bit too heavy on the sub-bass (for me). Unfortunately, the K361 is just a bit too lean on the sub-bass (for me), among other things. As time goes on, is there likely to be any continued break-in in either direction on these? In addition to pad/driver break in, I feel like the K371's greater clamping force could alter the the trajectory as well? Thanks!

Edit: When I said the K371s could be more consistent, I may have spoken too soon. Because they have more bass to lose, I’ve just started noticing that when I move my head around to various positions, the strength of the bass on the K371s seems to vary more than it does on the K361s.

 

[oldmate]

I'd like to choose the K371, but I feel it leans just a bit too heavy on the sub-bass (for me). Unfortunately, the K361 is just a bit too lean on the sub-bass (for me), among other things. As time goes on, is there likely to be any continued break-in in either direction on these? In addition to pad/driver break in, I feel like the K371's greater clamping force could alter the the trajectory as well? Thanks!

Eq baby!!

Now, whether to boost or cut - read this;

https://www.waves.com/eq-tips-boost-or-cut-the-frequencies

I would be grabbing the K371's and would eq that bass down a little. Have fun.

 

[The Fourth Doctor]

Eq baby!!

Now, whether to boost or cut - read this;

https://www.waves.com/eq-tips-boost-or-cut-the-frequencies

I would be grabbing the K371's and would eq that bass down a little. Have fun.

Thanks. The thought did cross my mind. But I’m a total amateur. I may go that route someday, but I’m trying to keep things simple for now. Sometimes I’m just watching tv/movies, playing physical media, or playing music off my iPhone. That’s why I was wondering if additional break-in on the K371 would be expected to tame the bass somewhat. I’m just taking like maybe 5%.

 

[OmniscientNihilist]

So I've been auditioning the K371 and K361 for the past two weeks and I really need to pick one so I can move on with my life. The K361 is lighter and more comfortable, but less secure as a result. The K371 is built better and its clamping force makes it more secure, and therefore probably more consistent.

I'd like to choose the K371, but I feel it leans just a bit too heavy on the sub-bass (for me). Unfortunately, the K361 is just a bit too lean on the sub-bass (for me), among other things. As time goes on, is there likely to be any continued break-in in either direction on these? In addition to pad/driver break in, I feel like the K371's greater clamping force could alter the the trajectory as well? Thanks!

Edit: When I said the K371s could be more consistent, I may have spoken too soon. Because they have more bass to lose, I’ve just started noticing that when I move my head around to various positions, the strength of the bass on the K371s seems to vary more than it does on the K361s.

i found them too big for my smaller ears. i didnt get as good of a seal as i wanted.

also i could not even listen to the 361's without reducing the 8khz treble by 35%

 

[gargani]

i found them too big for my smaller ears. i didnt get as good of a seal as i wanted.

also i could not even listen to the 361's without reducing the 8khz treble by 35%

That's interesting. I have extra large ears and my ears just barely fit into the ear hole openings. As a result they fit really snugly around my ears.
There are no gaps or seal leaks. I tried them with glasses and without; I also tried moving my head around and as far as I could tell nothing changed; they sound the same to me.
Maybe one's ear size and the shape of one's head and face are the determining factors.
I'm referring to the k371.

 

[ADUHF]

Recent raw frequency response plot of the K371 made by the SoundGuys on their new Bruel & Kjaer 5128 measurement rig, from their K371 review...

A couple of my own plots based on the 5128's diffuse field curve, with an additional slope applied to better approximate the Harman curve, and some well-extended loudspeakers in a room, for use as a temporary target reference curve...

These might be just a bit too elevated in the 2 kHz range. And the 2nd graph might also be a bit too elevated at the very ends of the curve in the sub-bass and very high treble. But they're probably in the general ballpark of something approaching a neutral-ish response in terms of their general overall shape, for comparison purposes.

Some more B&K 5128 plots by the SoundGuys, to help put the above AKG K371 plot into better context...

Audeze Mobius
AudioTechnica M40X
Beyerdynamic DT-770 (80-ohm)
Beyerdynamic DT-880 (250-ohm)
Bose NC 700
Bose QC 35-II
Sennheiser HD 280 Pro
Sennheiser HD 6XX

I wouldn't pay too much attention to the target curves that the SoundGuys are using on these, btw. They seem to be mostly guessing at what a neutral response should be for the 5128 rig at this point. And using different targets for different headphones, which doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense since these are all over-ear headphones.

 

[plakat]

Re soundguys: unfortunately purchasing measurement gear does not make one proficient at measuring… I remember their comparison graph for Bluetooth codecs, ranking them by encoding bit rate as a quality criterium… the site left my list of RSS feeds soon after. Different target curves shows a biting the same quality I think.

 

[ADUHF]

Re soundguys: unfortunately purchasing measurement gear does not make one proficient at measuring… I remember their comparison graph for Bluetooth codecs, ranking them by encoding bit rate as a quality criterium… the site left my list of RSS feeds soon after. Different target curves shows a biting the same quality I think.

Thanks for the reply plakat. I'm not that familiar with this site either. In fact, I just ran across the SoundGuys yesterday for the first time. So don't really have too many impressions formed yet about their accuracy or reliability.

All I'm really interested in at the moment though are the measurements on their new HBK 5128 rig, since those are still fairly hard to find outside of Head-FI, and Jude's headphone reviews/measurements. I would take their target response curves with a grain of salt though.

ASR also has a few 5128 measurements from when they did some testing with the rig, btw.

I wish the SoundGuys did not apply as much smoothing as they seem to be doing on some of their 5128 plots as well, so more detail could be seen particularly in the higher frequencies.

 

[Ichos]

Hello dear friends.

My Greek review is available online and you can read it with a little help from Google.
https://www.hxosplus.gr/reviews/headphones/akg-k371-review/

 

[Geralt]

Thanks for the link Tom! Although I really don't trust RTINGS measurements at all, they always provide "another vision" in special with the great amount of hps the measure. I have tested some bassy closed heaphones which extend as low as the K371, like the Beyers DT770 and they reach as low but without the "bass overload" of the K371, even the HyperX Alpha Cloud I have (based on a cheap but good Takstar studio headphone) reach very low and have a decently accurate bass.

Hey man i always using RTINGS for headphones and TVs. I have to trust their measurements because I can't find some models measurements results on Innerfidelity (stereophile, now) or Crinacle or anywhere! So RTINGS has good database unfortunately
So long story short, how do you compare AKG K361 and K371 to Hyperx Cloud Alpha, both for metal musics and gaming experience? Which one should I get for these purposes, which is more valuable?(listening to metal/gaming) I don't have amp/dac, I'm on low budget. Sound quality (good details, instruments speration, wide soundstage and good imaging) interests me the most.

 

[Skrilla 009]

I found a better seal for K371's today

For some time I noticed that I been getting more "fuller" sound on the right earcups and my ears were touching the left driver which really bothered me. Used the adjustment sliders and slid the cups even lower, which made the seal perfect and enjoying better sound too (More bass as a result).

If any of y'all ever have trouble with seal or ears touching driver, be sure to try this method as it worked for me