[MuppetFace]

 
Quote:

I'm starting to wonder if the K550 will become AKG vapor ware. They should have at the very least put a few limited number out on the shelves to try and get some excitement going amongst the AKG faithful. With marketing like this it's no wonder Monster and SkullCandy have dominant market share amongst the headphone masses.
 

I think "vapor ware" sounds about right!
 
Really, I don't get AKG right now. The get a music celebrity endorsement to appeal to a wider group of consumers, yet they choose Quincy Jones which suggests they're going for a more sophisticated 30+ age demographic, but then they make the headphones day-glo green to also try to appeal to the "urban youth" or something? Then they announce a new universal IEM that only a handful of people would be able to justify buying, as it costs as much as a TOTL pair of customs? 
 
It's like they're not sure what they want their company image to be and are trying a little bit of everything. Maybe they haven't released the K550 yet because even they don't know how it's going to fit into their overall lineup.

 

[Groundloop]

 
Quote:

 
Really, I don't get AKG right now.

 +1
 
I can't get how Austrian made Q701 costs 475 EUR in Vienna and 250 USD in US???

 

[bcasey25raptor]

Quote:

 


 +1
 
I can't get how Austrian made Q701 costs 475 EUR in Vienna and 250 USD in US???

It's not fair that americans get killer deals on everything.
 

 

[Gwarmi]

That's called poor subsidiary management courtesy of Harman Kardon 

 
We all have our favorites, it's pretty obvious I'm a Grado tragic but there's a soft
spot in my audio heart for AKG too, sadly as per the previous observations above
they appear to be a little lost under the iron wand of the large juggernaut that is
Harman Kardon.
 
Might be time to switch camps and endorse another 'family owned' company
- Beyerdynamic.

 

[svyr]

 


 +1

I can't get how Austrian made Q701 costs 475 EUR in Vienna and 250 USD in US???

I don't think they grasp the concept of ebay, international shipping and globalization in general

 

[MuppetFace]

Quote:

That's called poor subsidiary management courtesy of Harman Kardon 

 
We all have our favorites, it's pretty obvious I'm a Grado tragic but there's a soft
spot in my audio heart for AKG too, sadly as per the previous observations above
they appear to be a little lost under the iron wand of the large juggernaut that is
Harman Kardon.
 
Might be time to switch camps and endorse another 'family owned' company
- Beyerdynamic.

Ah, yeah, I had forgotten for a minute there about Harman Kardon! Seems like there are still engineers at AKG who WANT to make cool audiophile stuff, but then they get stifled by the corporate office.
 

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

Ah, yeah, I had forgotten for a minute there about Harman Kardon! Seems like there are still engineers at AKG who WANT to make cool audiophile stuff, but then they get stifled by the corporate office.
 

Uncle Erik spins a good yarn about the 'good ol' AKG days when the men in white coats drove the business forward,
these days however under new management, they're more concerned with appealing to the masses.
 
The tragedy is that they don't appear to be all that successful in this transition and transformation - the marketed
image is in limbo.

 

[MayaTlab]

It seems to me the K550, as good as it may finally be, embodies quite well the lack of clear direction I also see in AKG's current endeavours, as I don't quite get what's the use of the K550. It's closed, but at the same time very large, it's got a low impedance and high sensitivity, but at the same time a long undetachable cable. 
Still, I'm quite eager to know how it fares against the competition. As far as SQ goes, the French review seems very positive.

 

[Groundloop]

Yes, but this market is getting more and more crowded. Any minute they delay the K550 is losing money. Nowadays even Philips is producing decen low-impedance high-quality headphones and the competition in this segment is getting tough, there is no place for mistakes, poor engineering, etc. Never really liked Sennheiser but HD650 might be my next phone instead.

 

[MuppetFace]

Quote:

Uncle Erik spins a good yarn about the 'good ol' AKG days when the men in white coats drove the business forward,
these days however under new management, they're more concerned with appealing to the masses.
 
The tragedy is that they don't appear to be all that successful in this transition and transformation - the marketed
image is in limbo.

Exactly. They're stuck in this no-man's land between trying to appeal to audiophiles, 30-somethings, and Urban street culture. I really do miss the "old AKG" too, as someone who owns the K1000 and enjoys it quite a bit. There was buzz around these parts of a successor to the K1000 a while back, as apparently someone on AKG's facebook page gave some cryptic response that hinted it might come to pass. At this point though I honestly can't see that happening.
 

 
Quote:

It seems to me the K550, as good as it may finally be, embodies quite well the lack of clear direction I also see in AKG's current endeavours, as I don't quite get what's the use of the K550. It's closed, but at the same time very large, it's got a low impedance and high sensitivity, but at the same time a long undetachable cable.

That's a very good point. Their product line is all over the map with no real clear sense of direction or organization. I remember thinking "huh?" when I first saw the K550 and heard that it was supposed to be their new flagship. Seems more like a closed alternative to the original K701 than something meant to surpass it. I'd still like to try one out though, as I like a lot of their previous efforts.

 

[zomg]

Quote:

It seems to me the K550, as good as it may finally be, embodies quite well the lack of clear direction I also see in AKG's current endeavours, as I don't quite get what's the use of the K550. It's closed, but at the same time very large, it's got a low impedance and high sensitivity, but at the same time a long undetachable cable. 
Still, I'm quite eager to know how it fares against the competition. As far as SQ goes, the French review seems very positive.

 
I see it as a more refined K271, with better isolation maybe. And despite the low impedance, the reviewer does say that a portable player is not enough to get the better of it. They're a bit expensive at almost 400 $ (AKG UK website - edit: and 249$ in the US? What the..), but I'm still interested (edit: I guess), especially if they sound anything like the K601s.

 

[Joehandsome]

Wasn't the 1st of December release date???
 
Or is there no release date???

 

[Tetsuma]

Quote:

Wasn't the 1st of December release date???
 
Or is there no release date???

There are none on eBay yet. Headphone bar doesn't have an expected release date anymore, nor do they have an 'add to the cart' option.
 
Postponed again, I'll assume .
 
 

 

[msninja]

I made an order for these for the store in september and I have still not recieved them and I get no confirmation dates from Harman nordic so there's some real hiccups in their distribution chain somewhere. I also have not recieved their other non-audiophile new cans either so it's not just the K550 that're affected. Please note that this is in sweden, so I don't know how it is in other parts of the world.

 

[MuppetFace]

That sucks, msninja.
 
Really at this point I don't think there IS a K550 to even be distributed. I know there are a few demo units floating around, but that's probably about it.