[xeizo]

I ended up never using my K612 Pro much, always sticking to the HD600, but when I purchased a cheap Presonus HP4 headphone amp it all changed. It drives the K612 Pro massively better than my other sources. The HD600 as well for that matter. Great cheap little amp.

HD600 is still much more forgiving to the material, but fed with the right recording K612 Pro can produce a eargasm. For instance the new Tool album sounds absolutely insane with the K612 Pro.

Con with these cans, except how hard they are to drive to satisfaction, is they are maybe too revealing in the mids. Every little imperfection in the source shines through brutal. Would be great studio cans to check the recording quality ... wait, it's exactly what they are!

 

[491838]

I thought the K612 had slightly better resolution than the HD600. You could probably make them sound better than the HD600 with EQ (the oratory presets are great in my opinion).

 

[xeizo]

I thought the K612 had slightly better resolution than the HD600. You could probably make them sound better than the HD600 with EQ (the oratory presets are great in my opinion).

Yes, some eq may tame the aggressive upper mids. They have great resolution. HD600 still sounds a little more together.

What K612 Pro has the most problem with is sloppy recorded distorted electric guitar, for example lined or close miked. It sounds too revealing loosing some of the magic with distorsion. It's like if one plays the guitar irl using a fuzz box through a HiFi-speaker instead of a dedicated guitar speaker. If using more distant miking of vintage speakers it sounds great.

 

[markanini]

Any well-produced music sounds great to me the K612 pro. The treble is excellently detailed without harshness. Without EQ they have a bump around 2k which bring out guitars and vocals but it's rarely harsh or shouty. I use the oratory EQ myself to even out the mids and add in the missing subs. This setup does require a lot of amp juice though, that's the main drawback.

 

[Roderick]

Deleted

 

[davek]

A bit late to the party I guess but I just got my K612 a week ago. I had a K601 a few years ago but I didn't like them that much because it sounded too distant, cold and analytical with the cheap dac/amp I had that time. Now I thought I'd give the K612 a go since I have a warmish amp (NAD D3020 all-in-one) and I'm truly amazed how good they are. Was using an ATH-R70x but after some A-B comparison I decided to sell the R70x since I didn't see any reason to keep it. Initial burn in took about 20-30 hours (first it was a bit harsh, now it's much smoother and bass is more prominent). Balance is perfect, nothing stands out, the slightly warm yet very detailed and open sound is just amazing. I find the bass to be almost perfect, but the NAD maybe helps a bit there as it happened with my MSR7 too. It is an insane value compared to my previous open headphones (HD580, AD900X, AD2000, R70x to mention some).

 

[CADCAM]

Yea I really liked my 612's but ended up selling them. Right now my DT990 & this class A Douk Audio amp are freakin amazing!
Enjoy the 612's they do a lot of things right.
btw I had the ATH AD900... great headphone that I wish I had kept.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

I seem to forget things all the time...especially with regards to headphones because well...it seems to be a returning thing that I need to go out and purchase an AKG every time I yet again am completely surprised by the scorching heat that Denmark experiences during summer...then again I am somewhat of a viking who is never cold and could probably survive in the tundra with but a mere pair of bermuda shorts.
But yeah...I sold off all my AKGs a little while back*..and am now in the process of repurchasing a set.
I initially had my mind set on yet another round with the K712...but then whilst visiting a friend of mine who is a huge classical fan as well as owning the first 15 pairs of AKGs, I found out that the K712 merely is a K702 with K712 pads and an orange colour scheme.
So yeah thought about buying the K702 with the 712 pads and save a little dough in the process...but then got to thinking (oh no not that again!): my absolute fave of the old AKG guard is without a doubt the K612/K601...mostly because it isn’t as aggressive in the uppermids as the rest of the pack..as well as having the best bass extension of the lot. So why not pop on a pair of 712 pads on the badboy and effectively end up with a ‘super-712’?
I’ll report back when I get a hold of my new AKG but suffice to say that I am literally dying to get my hands on one. In this weather I can’t even wear my HD600 without feeling like I’m melting my brain.

Edith: *that’s not entirely true actually. I will never part with my K371.

 

[davek]

I seem to forget things all the time...especially with regards to headphones because well...it seems to be a returning thing that I need to go out and purchase an AKG every time I yet again am completely surprised by the scorching heat that Denmark experiences during summer...then again I am somewhat of a viking who is never cold and could probably survive in the tundra with but a mere pair of bermuda shorts.
But yeah...I sold off all my AKGs a little while back*..and am now in the process of repurchasing a set.
I initially had my mind set on yet another round with the K712...but then whilst visiting a friend of mine who is a huge classical fan as well as owning the first 15 pairs of AKGs, I found out that the K712 merely is a K702 with K712 pads and an orange colour scheme.
So yeah thought about buying the K702 with the 712 pads and save a little dough in the process...but then got to thinking (oh no not that again!): my absolute fave of the old AKG guard is without a doubt the K612/K601...mostly because it isn’t as aggressive in the uppermids as the rest of the pack..as well as having the best bass extension of the lot. So why not pop on a pair of 712 pads on the badboy and effectively end up with a ‘super-712’?
I’ll report back when I get a hold of my new AKG but suffice to say that I am literally dying to get my hands on one. In this weather I can’t even wear my HD600 without feeling like I’m melting my brain.

Edith: *that’s not entirely true actually. I will never part with my K371.

Changing the pads on your beloved K612 will also change its sound. The deeper/more angled the earpad (larger distance from driver) the more upper treble you are going to have (and if I'm not mistaken then K712 has deeper/angled pads). If you are looking for a more natural experience I recommend using oratory1990's parametric eq. I'm not into eq usually but this one made a real difference, although I add only +2dB instead of 5.5dB @ 110Hz. Magic is in the details: you are not just altering freqencies but ranges.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

I am buying the pads because I want them to change the sound
I already love the sound of the K712 but think that changing the startingpoint of the actual headphone from a K702 to a K612 will yield a smoother and at least to me better sounding K712

If I want natural sound I reach for my HD600.
Edith:
I received both the headphone and the pads and am very glad to report back that this pairing indeed matches with what I previously had thought. Man am I ever glad that I taught myself how to decipher frequency responses
I figured I would just update my previous post as there probably aren’t anyone beside myself interested in old school AKGs with hefty bass extension.
Nahh there seems to be a K612 camp and a K712 camp...never the two shall meet!!
...except for my little project that is

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

Hmm...
I got curious and went back to stock pads. First of all, the decrease in volume is obvious. I figure the gel/velour pads add something like 3-4 dB as they put your ears closer to the drivers.
Besides that I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard. Unlike the K701/702 the K612 is less forward in the upper midrange which ultimately makes it that more palatable to me. I don’t think I’ve ever had that much of a problem with the treble on AKGs of this design, but that extra boot of energy in the mids often bugs me.
Not really so with the K612. It’s in the same ballpark as the Sundara for me in that it is about as bright as a headphone can be before it gets irritating...and even then it doesn’t really sound ‘bright’.
I dig the bass..man I dig the bass. I dig the mids and somehow the treble doesn’t annoy me..in fact to be perfectly honest with you folks, what the stock K612 mostly reminds me of is actually my recently sold off Elex albeit with the peak at 1k on the Focal shifting to 2k over the AKG and being slightly less annoying/aggressive.
I paid 833 Danish kroner for this coconut over Thomann. Now that’s what I call a sweet deal

 

[sebek]

I'm interested in an entry level headphone and the idea would be to drive it through something like e1da 9038d ...

I've been following the section on iems a lot over the past month but I know very little about headphones at the moment.

I read someone here on the forum who considered AKG K612 Pro the best headphone under 300 € and I got interested.

Let's say that I would not want to spend over 150 €, what would be the best options in this price range together with AKG K612 Pro?

Beyerdynamic? Audio Technica? Takstar Pro 82? Superlux?

I would also like a headphone that sounds good out of the box, no need for mods and stuff as I'm not very well versed in these things.

 

[pcourtney]

I read someone here on the forum who considered AKG K612 Pro the best headphone under 300 € and I got interested.

save up a bit more, you will not regret it
besides I have seen them on ebay ( Japanese seller ) for less than 150 euros - in fact some on there now

 

[adolchristin]

For you guys who've been opening the K612 Pro for repairs how much space is there inside cups where the wires connect. I'm looking to mod a pair to have a 3.5mm removable cable using this jack:

https://octopart.com/mj-074n-multicomp-10479305

I had no trouble doing this mod on some Audio Technica ATH-AD700x but it's hard to find pictures of a torn down K612 Pro.

 

[klogg4]

Gonna buy new K612 Pro for less than $100. I can also buy HD600 for like $220. What should I go for? My primary objectices are:
1. Monitoring during mixing and mastering (rock and metal);
2. Sound - as natural as possible (little EQing is OK I guess?);
3. Wanna just have fun listening, I love texture of distorted guitars the most.

The price of K612 Pro is very tempting. Should I go for it, or better buying classic HD600?