[loopfreak]

 
Quote:

Just that it seemed to need it, with probably less than 10 headfiers having heard them, yet 100 trashing them.

 
Once upon a time there were Monkeys....
 
"There’s an experiment attributed to Harry Harlow. Five monkeys are placed in a cage, with a ladder and a banana hanging from the ceiling. Whenever a monkey climbs the ladder to grab the banana, all monkeys are sprayed with ice cold water. After a few times, monkeys know better and nobody tries climbing the ladder.
 
Then, one monkey is replaced. The new arrival wants to get the banana, but as soon as he climbs the ladder, the other four start beating him – they want to stay warm and dry. After a few attempts, the new monkey conforms to the group and stays down. Then, another monkey is replaced and the story repeats itself – when the monkey that was never sprayed with cold water joins the other three. And so on until there is no monkey left who was sprayed with cold water, but still the new arrival gets beaten when he tries to climb the ladder.
 
Now, the decision was made by team members long gone. There’s nobody on the current team who made the decision, and nobody knows why the decision was made. It just gets passed to the new team members, with no questions asked."
 
 
 
THOSE "PESKY MONKEYS" 
 

 

 

[idletime1213]

Quote:

This, I'm almost sure he has never used the K70x line.  not eric idletimte1213.

I've owned them. I've owned nearly every mid-end headphone from every major manufacturer (Senn, Beye, AKG). I won the K550 now, which doesn't have the strange tonality of the K701.
 
I use the word plastic because I think it's an apt description of the K701. Maybe my old Gilmore Lite didn't match up well with them, but eh.

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

 I won the K550 now, which doesn't have the strange tonality of the K701.

Instead it has a nasty treble. No thanks.

 

[CantScareMe]

Loopfreak- That's a great post.

Made my day!

It happens everywhere so i guess there's not much to complain about.

 

[roBernd]

Quote:

Instead it has a nasty treble. No thanks.

at least not as nasty as the K701 lower treble... the K550 FR looks much nicer too my eyes... still I don't like this peak as well.

 

[idletime1213]

Quote:

Instead it has a nasty treble. No thanks.

Yeah I must admit, it has some treble spikes that I don't like at all. But something I can live with.
 
I can see how it may be a deal breaker for some though.

 

[loopfreak]

 
Quote:

Loopfreak- That's a great post.
Made my day!
It happens everywhere so i guess there's not much to complain about.

 
Yeah, it is all around us, just do as it being told to you and don't think too much. Regardless akg has some great 'phones and maybe this one will be in my collection soon, off course not as portable and with proper amplification.

 

[loopfreak]

Akg k 702 lost those spikes with my amplification upgrade, but it did not bother me in the first place although it was a welcome change to the sound.
 
Hopefully akg k550 will be following that change as well.
 
Quote:

Instead it has a nasty treble. No thanks.

 


Quote:

at least not as nasty as the K701 lower treble... the K550 FR looks much nicer too my eyes... still I don't like this peak as well.

 
 

 

[sfoclt]

I'll give these a listen.  I need some good portable, closed cans.  The size of these isn't attractive though.

 

[CantScareMe]

I know. It's the easy to hate brands that aren't popular around here and thats where you find this most common.


Anyway, with a decent desktop rig, or a cd player (like a denon one- great headphone outputs) the treble is tamed compared to a portable setup. Very obvious as its m similar to many phones really. Btw, I've ordered an m-stage amp just as it was the crowned crowd favorite for the k701- may synergise well with this. I'll give impressions if anything special happens with it and the k550.

 

[loopfreak]

M stage is a good amp and since you are not allergic to prominent highs it will be a fair impression.
 
 
 
 

 

[FritzS]

Quote:

I find Tylls review to be a very accurate account of the k550 and what it stands for. Cannot say I agree more.
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/wonderfully-competent-akg-k550-sealed-headphone
 

I got my test sample of K550 as an early bird (before sales launch) and spend a lot of time to compair them with Q701, K271MKII, AH-D7000 ... my experience match very close with Tyll Hertsens (inner fidelity).
 

 

[mindstarr]

Very interested in people's opinions on the best budget amping options for K550. 
Would the Fiio E9 or E10 improve the sound quality if source is high-end PC soundcard (Creative X-Fi Titanium HD)? 

 

[CantScareMe]

The e10 as a dac and the e9 as the amp isn't that bad at all. It's a shame the e9 is so inextricably linked with the e7- as the e7's dac really holds it back.

Using the e10 brings about a major improvement

 

[CantScareMe]

M stage is a good amp and since you are not allergic to prominent highs it will be a fair impression.

Yeah, i've had loads of very sparkly at the top cans. I only hate true treble spikes like with the ck10 iem or the shure 940. K550 to my ears don't classify in this bracket at all.