[zzffnn]

I am interested in these AKG K550s and would like to use them out of iPhone 3GS. I wonder how they compared to ATH-ES10s, Sony Z1000s or Ultrasone Edition 8 as portable cans w/o amp. I hope they will have balanced sound and decent soundstage. I had ATH-ESW9s (out of HM-801) before and hate their forwardness and closed-in sound signature.
 
I have no doubt that all these cans will improve with a good amp. However I am looking for portable full-sized cans that sound good w/o amp and look nice (M50s, Shure 840s look bad on my head). For using with amps, I have LCD-2s and DT880/600s with Beta 22. I do not want to bother with portable amps.

 

[treal512]

How are there not more pictures of these bad boys?

 

[pietcux]

Hi treal512, here is a link to photos:
http://www.stockhammer.eu/hifi/AKGK550-main.php
And here is a link to a review on Head-fi:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/akg-k-550/reviews
I found the link using Google, could not find it on the Head-Fi search.

 

[bigtim]

So much for the early October release date

 
 
Looking forward to any further insights from FritzS

 

 

[darkodz]

Got to say - from a marketing perspective I think AKG really screwed up with the K550. I've lost interest... You can rip it out of Monster for having a overhyped product but hey - at least they want to get it off the shelves.

 

[svyr]

Got to say - from a marketing perspective I think AKG really screwed up with the K550. I've lost interest... You can rip it out of Monster for having a overhyped product but hey - at least they want to get it off the shelves.

pretty much. the late launch means the people initially excited about it mostly just went - meh and bought something else (Smeggy's TP1, Beyer T70, etc)
oh well..

 

[darkodz]

Exactly

 

[svyr]

plus in the 3 months it was meant to be out, people can well save the $200-400 to higher end models anyway (well, not that price is necessarily the determining factor *does not remember T5p or ED10 *)

 

[drummerman]

C'mon, 'headphiles' being what they are, they will fall over themselves to buy this one. Whether it is released now or in 6 months.
 
Creating interest and delay/shortages is an age old marketing exercise. Sony are particularely good at it.
 
ro

 

[msninja]

It's not late really, the catalogue I got from a Harman exec said "late october" release for scandinavia a while back. It's just that a few images have been out for a while. There's still very few reviews since they're not really out yet in most places.
 
I don't really think this is a pure audiophile headphone since that market as gone way up in price (they have the crazily priced in-ear K3003 at 1000 Euros for example). This looks more like something along the lines of sennheisers HD59X; good headphones for music enthusiasts, but not necessarily raging audiophiles with different amps like many of the people on this forum. I wonder if they'll even be as detailed and at least relatively neutral as the K701 since they are also marketed as "portable" in some ways.
 
I'm definately curious, but I wonder about where the target market really is.

 

[wind016]

 
Quote:

pretty much. the late launch means the people initially excited about it mostly just went - meh and bought something else

(Smeggy's TP1, Beyer T70, etc)
oh well..

Yea, I'm pretty disappointed. I ordered the AKG K550s but they said they'll deliver it to me between 10/11 to 10/22. I'm not even sure anymore.
 

 

[wind016]

I cancelled the order. I got my girlfriend to e-mail the retailer asking why the headphones haven't shipped since they said they would most likely ship between the 12th to 22nd, but their reply was something on the lines of "I think you misunderstood us. It will ship early in November" after translated. Whatever. There's so many new headphones to buy that seem more interesting now.

 

[Hifianddrumming]

 These things look a surprising amount like the Skullcandy Mix-master Mikes

 

[KANA]

Fortunately, I heard this cans today in Oto-Ten Japan.
 

 
 

 
 

 

[Noir7]

^
how does it sound like?