[mbyrnes]

I still love my Annies. Bought them new when they released. Getting ready to use these extensively for a bit. I've upgraded my gear so much since they were used. They really are beast at gaming, and with Loki, I can easily tweak it if I feel the need.

I could never sell them. I have much better headphones, but they still sound great. I hope you really enjoy them. They're comfortable!

 

[davisman]

My annies have been collecting dust for a while, so I cleaned them up last night and hand washed the pads. They were used extensively when I put them up, so the pads were a bit gross. I would replace them, but IIRC you cannot get the real annie pads.

I forgot just how amazing these are for gaming and virtual surround. I think Ill ask my wife for a creative g6 for christmas and build a custom cable for my annies with a mic and use them for console/pc gaming. I have resisted getting a ps4 forever because PCMR, but I hate missing all the exclusives.

Pretty sure I have modded mine and removed the bass port cover. They actually rumble a bit!

 

[jwbrent]

I still love my Annies. Bought them new when they released. Getting ready to use these extensively for a bit. I've upgraded my gear so much since they were used. They really are beast at gaming, and with Loki, I can easily tweak it if I feel the need.

I could never sell them. I have much better headphones, but they still sound great. I hope you really enjoy them. They're comfortable!

These are keepers for me, too. I have the Utopia for critical listening with hi res files, the HD 6XX which I love as well, and the Sonus faber Pryma when I need a closed back headphone.

So, French, German, Italian, and now Austrian!

I haven’t tried the AKGs on my Switch yet, but I will. Been playing too much NBA2K19, so my thumb is messed up and it needs a good rest.

 

[FritzS]

Whats the difference between AKG K702 65th Anniversary Edition and the older K702 or the newer K712?

 

[jwbrent]

Whats the difference between AKG K702 65th Anniversary Edition and the older K702 or the newer K712?

A headband without bumps although I believe the current 702s now come with a bumpless headband as well. Additionally, the colorway is gray and blue on the AE. Also, most users who’ve compared the AE to the 702 found there to be a bit more sub bass on the AE. Probably the biggest difference is the 702 is made in China where the AE is built in Austria like all AKGs of old. Finally, the AE is a limited edition model with only 3,000 manufactured, so it is a collectible for those who care about such things (I do).

With that all said, the 712 is an excellent headphone, plus it has 3dB more bass without impacting the lower midrange, at least from my recollection when I owned them. I believe they are still made in Slovakia, but since Harmon closed down the Austrian facilities not too long ago, the 712 may be made in China as well.

 

[elwappo99]

A headband without bumps although I believe the current 702s now come with a bumpless headband as well. Additionally, the colorway is gray and blue on the AE. Also, most users who’ve compared the AE to the 702 found there to be a bit more sub bass on the AE. Probably the biggest difference is the 702 is made in China where the AE is built in Austria like all AKGs of old. Finally, the AE is a limited edition model with only 3,000 manufactured, so it is a collectible for those who care about such things (I do).

With that all said, the 712 is an excellent headphone, plus it has 3dB more bass without impacting the lower midrange, at least from my recollection when I owned them. I believe they are still made in Slovakia, but since Harmon closed down the Austrian facilities not too long ago, the 712 may be made in China as well.

Pretty much this is it. The K702 65AE is the same as the AKG K712 or K7XX (from massdrop). They removed the bumps from the K702 headband and changed the pads to seal better. Also, they originally said the 65th Anniversary was a limited run, but I believe they removed the cap and kept producing them... or they produced an enormous quantity of them.

 

[jwbrent]

Pretty much this is it. The K702 65AE is the same as the AKG K712 or K7XX (from massdrop). They removed the bumps from the K702 headband and changed the pads to sealAlso, they originally said the 65th Anniversary was a limited run, but I believe they removed the cap and kept producing them... or they produced an enormous quantity of them.

The 7XX has a 3dB bump in the bass and the upper frequencies were tweaked, so even though Massdrop said the design was based on the AE, this and the aesthetics are definite differences. To quote Massdrop:

“These headphones have been tweaked to deliver an extended frequency response and a wide, locationally specific soundstage that puts you closer to the source than most cans. The highs were boosted by an innovative flat-wire voice coil, the mids were brought up to better balance the range, and the lows were jacked up by 3 dB for fully immersive sound imaging. To make sure the channels are synced up and well balanced, each transducer is individually tested and paired to a transducer with the closest possible sound signature.”

Regarding production exceeding 3,000, do you have any tangible evidence of this or is this hearsay? I’d love to hear if anyone who owns an AE has a serial number greater than 3,000. That surely would confirm your supposition.

 

[mbyrnes]

I'm #3683

 

[jwbrent]

I'm #3683

Okay, that settles it. Seems a bit underhanded for AKG to advertise them as a run of 3,000 and then not honor their word. My recent purchase was influenced by them being made in Austria and that they were a limited run of 3,000 pair. Perhaps I should have done more research ... never mind, I do love the way they sound.

 

[elwappo99]

Okay, that settles it. Seems a bit underhanded for AKG to advertise them as a run of 3,000 and then not honor their word. My recent purchase was influenced by them being made in Austria and that they were a limited run of 3,000 pair. Perhaps I should have done more research ... never mind, I do love the way they sound.

I agree. The reason I remembered these were not capped is that many people were similarly upset when we eventually figured out they had removed the cap and pushed out more.

 

[jwbrent]

I agree. The reason I remembered these were not capped is that many people were similarly upset when we eventually figured out they had removed the cap and pushed out more.

Thank you for telling me how it is.

 

[qazxsw80]

Pretty much this is it. The K702 65AE is the same as the AKG K712 or K7XX (from massdrop). They removed the bumps from the K702 headband and changed the pads to seal better. Also, they originally said the 65th Anniversary was a limited run, but I believe they removed the cap and kept producing them... or they produced an enormous quantity of them.

Actually, they produced 6000 pairs - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/akg-k702-65th-anniversary-edition.626971/page-180#post-9540313. That story of 3000 pairs was a mistake made by Hifiguy528. Not sure whether it is an enormous quantity, but for comparison, Sennheiser has already made about 100,000 pairs of the Hd800, and AKG themselves has produced more than 20,000 pairs of the K812, and I remember even years ago the serial numbers of the AKG K701 exceeded 200,000. So, of course, the K702 AE is not as rare as the Audio-Technica L3000 (550 pairs) or Grado HP1000 (about 1000 pairs), but I guess it is as rare as possible with such an inexpensive headphone.
And by the way, they are not completely the same as the K712 and K7xx. If you compare the service manuals, you can see that the serial numbers of the drivers of the K712 and K702AE are different. And people wrote back then that the quality of the pads and plastic is worse in the K7xx. So, considering a unique color scheme and that the K702AE was one of the last headphones made in Austria before those people were fired by Harman (along with early pairs of the K812 and K712), I think it is a nice choice for an AKG fan, even if you have to pay a little extra for a pair.

 

[FritzS]

All my AKG headphones I own were made in Vienna, except the K550, which came from China.

I was lucky to get 'early birds' through good contacts.

As far as the capsules of the K/Q7xx series are concerned, they are basically the same. They were specially measured and selected for the individual headphone models.
The different spare part numbers were introduced later to better handle this. You can see that when you look at the first publications of the service manuals. In addition to the spare part number, the headphone designation also had to be given. In order to avoid this, different spare part numbers were introduced.

(Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator - my native language is german)

 

[qazxsw80]

All my AKG headphones I own were made in Vienna, except the K550, which came from China.

I was lucky to get 'early birds' through good contacts.

As far as the capsules of the K/Q7xx series are concerned, they are basically the same.

Why then there is such a big difference in the price? 38 dollars for the K712 and 18 dollars for the K702 -
https://www.fullcompass.com/prod/514206-akg-2400x00090-dkk45-capsule-for-k712
https://www.fullcompass.com/prod/551653-akg-2400x00070-driver-for-k702
Probably some better ones are selected for more expensive models.

 

[jwbrent]

Actually, they produced 6000 pairs - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/akg-k702-65th-anniversary-edition.626971/page-180#post-9540313. That story of 3000 pairs was a mistake made by Hifiguy528. Not sure whether it is an enormous quantity, but for comparison, Sennheiser has already made about 100,000 pairs of the Hd800, and AKG themselves has produced more than 20,000 pairs of the K812, and I remember even years ago the serial numbers of the AKG K701 exceeded 200,000. So, of course, the K702 AE is not as rare as the Audio-Technica L3000 (550 pairs) or Grado HP1000 (about 1000 pairs), but I guess it is as rare as possible with such an inexpensive headphone.
And by the way, they are not completely the same as the K712 and K7xx. If you compare the service manuals, you can see that the serial numbers of the drivers of the K712 and K702AE are different. And people wrote back then that the quality of the pads and plastic is worse in the K7xx. So, considering a unique color scheme and that the K702AE was one of the last headphones made in Austria before those people were fired by Harman (along with early pairs of the K812 and K712), I think it is a nice choice for an AKG fan, even if you have to pay a little extra for a pair.

Thank you for your post. It’s nice to know how many were actually produced.