[Nicolas from France]

I guess the only upgrade would be a better amp/dac. I have now a IFI nano idsd black label. Which amp/dac would you recommend to push the AKG? At a reasonnable price...

 

[Deolum]

Ifi nano should be fine tbh. I really liked the 702 with the JDS El Amp but i don't know if that's an improvement over the ifi. If you really want an upgrade for a reasonable price i would try to get a mid stax set or a Jade II + Amp. K702 is really a sweet spot for price performance for me and i don't see any possibility for a significant upgrade other than changing the complete setup or going for something like a utopia.

 

[Old Deaf Donkey]

Thanks. Howerver the price difference is huge. I was more thinking in the 500€ to 800€ mark.

Koss ESP/95X Electrostatic System on Drop, Sounds highly comparable. Still prefer AKG K702 on tube amps. Schiit Vali 2 with aune t1 DAC

 

[tvih84]

Not that I ever really had a problem with the K702's bass output, but last week for some reason I ended up doing the bass port "mod" on them and now at least they certainly don't lack bass. Not that it's too much either, of course. Though I almost blew out my ears testing some bass tracks for the heck of it.

Funny thing in that regard, I was contemplating getting a headphone amp, but with my cheapo USB DAC, which is not even meant to be an amp (no volume control, that's handled by the source device, in my case my PC) but it can still run the K702s louder than I can listen to for more than a very short period, and without any clipping or distortion that I can detect. In some of the craziest bass test songs (and I'm talking about stuff like Bass Mekanik you (or at least I) would never listen to normally) there was something going on, but it sounded more like the headphone driver "bottoming out" than clipping. And since it only happened on such an extreme track and unlistenable volume, nothing much to worry about either way as long as I don't keep doing it and damage the drivers. But they say these things are hard to drive... ha I figure might as well stick to what I have for now.

Although the main thing I came here to write... any suggestions for reasonably priced pads for these, preferably of the leathery type? I sweat easily/often and my skin can be a bit... greasy?.. for the lack of a better word. So the original pads quickly get nasty, and trying to wash them is a pain. But recently I got wireless headphones for outdoors which have a sort of leathery pads, dunno if it's pleather or what, and they're just so easy to wipe clean after use. Also much softer than I'm used to from such a material. I found some reasonably priced (~$20) ones on aliexpress for example, but you can't tell much from the reviews, since everything's always 5 stars over there. Kinda like how I bought new pads for my Sennheiser HD 555s a few years ago and they didn't even fit.

 

[jirams]

I have returned to AKG K702 after about 4 years. My last set I gave away and have just bought another from Amazon for £115.
I now find these are an amazing sounding set. Through iFi Signature or RNHA and Chord Qutest they perform superbly, especially on classical.
It really puzzles me why they appear to get little praise on HeadFi.
Anyone here agree that these perform at a standard miles above their price?

 

[trellus]

I have returned to AKG K702 after about 4 years. My last set I gave away and have just bought another from Amazon for £115.
I now find these are an amazing sounding set. Through iFi Signature or RNHA and Chord Qutest they perform superbly, especially on classical.
It really puzzles me why they appear to get little praise on HeadFi.
Anyone here agree that these perform at a standard miles above their price?

I’m missing my K702, it disappeared in the process of two office moves last year. They are definitely punching above their weight at the price I paid for them ($125 used two years ago, in mint condition) and Adorama has them on sale right now for $149.

 

[SilverEars]

Listening to the K702 right now, and at some point I come to realization that it reminds me of Grado x25 series responses (which are my favorite sounding Grado series), and it does to some degree. Looking at Rtings measurements, I wasn't wrong. https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/akg/k702

It's heavily emphasized in the presence region, and boy does vocals pop gives it a bit of realism (female, similar characteristic to Grado x25 series.). The problem is, all the other sounds are not much present. Bass has a very small area impact, and doen't get much felt dynamically speaking. A lot of the sounds are a bit on the thin sound, and I think it's due to the strong lift in the upper-mids. I hear a lot of sizzle in the vocals with consonants with certain tracks, but other tracks better with this (I guess depending on recording).

Listening to jazz, very distant instrumentals (relative to something like HD650), and much black background space compared to the sounds. So, the sounds come off minor and thinner in the larger ratio of space around the sounds. The is a large contrast to something like HD650 which is more in your face and up close.

So, the sounds come off a bit faint compared to more intimate in your face type headphones would present the image. Placement of imaging isn't so vivid, or can't tell the depth much.

Generally speaking, very vocals focused headphone. Personally, I like it better than K712. Timbre seems much better and timbre wise, it's fairly good besides much of the shortcomings. If you want bass, this isn't an EDM bass headphone. Macrodynamics is rather weak.

I generally find the large pad space causing sounds not much forthcoming in terms of dynamics. Doesn't come off strong. After all, sound is described in terms of SPL, sound 'pressure' level, and does it have something to do with less pressure in a larger pad room?

 

[SilverEars]

Ok, I'm seeing the limtations from it's response, the female vocal area are so much lifted from the bass level, which is the issue. Basically, this response isn't Fletcher and Munson at low volumes friendly. It's like AKG did the opposite. If you raise the volume to get more bass, you essentially are raising the female vocal area volume along with it, which is already too lifted. This is why getting good amount of bass on this is difficult, although I'm getting fairly decent impact with another amp, which tells me the bass potential(need more volume to get better impact), but the response at the upper-mids is preventing me. Modern music female vocals get a bit sibilent which is the issue.

It's too bad because these seem like Sennheisers in terms of timbre. Very close to it in terms of how the sounds area expressed, but the tonality is more exaggerated with these. I would bet Sennehisers and these have similar type of Mylar drivers. Just that AKG and Sennheiser chose different acoustical approaches.

Like I said, if very lifted uppre-mids of Grado works for you, K702 worth a try. Especially, if one finds these on sale at $150-60 price point. If sensitive to upper-mids female vocal area, stay away!

If I were to modify these I would change the pads to get more bass response and better seal to head shape. I would reduce the pad room inside to get stronger dynamics.

 

[pbarach]

Can anyone direct me to a U.S. source for original replacement earpads for the K-702 (not "improved" pads sold by other manufacturers)?

 

[Mad Max]

Can anyone direct me to a U.S. source for original replacement earpads for the K-702 (not "improved" pads sold by other manufacturers)?

email AKG

 

[Mad Max]

Listening to the K702 right now, and at some point I come to realization that it reminds me of Grado x25 series responses (which are my favorite sounding Grado series), and it does to some degree. Looking at Rtings measurements, I wasn't wrong. https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/akg/k702

It's heavily emphasized in the presence region, and boy does vocals pop gives it a bit of realism (female, similar characteristic to Grado x25 series.). The problem is, all the other sounds are not much present. Bass has a very small area impact, and doen't get much felt dynamically speaking. A lot of the sounds are a bit on the thin sound, and I think it's due to the strong lift in the upper-mids. I hear a lot of sizzle in the vocals with consonants with certain tracks, but other tracks better with this (I guess depending on recording).

Listening to jazz, very distant instrumentals (relative to something like HD650), and much black background space compared to the sounds. So, the sounds come off minor and thinner in the larger ratio of space around the sounds. The is a large contrast to something like HD650 which is more in your face and up close.

So, the sounds come off a bit faint compared to more intimate in your face type headphones would present the image. Placement of imaging isn't so vivid, or can't tell the depth much.

Generally speaking, very vocals focused headphone. Personally, I like it better than K712. Timbre seems much better and timbre wise, it's fairly good besides much of the shortcomings. If you want bass, this isn't an EDM bass headphone. Macrodynamics is rather weak.

I generally find the large pad space causing sounds not much forthcoming in terms of dynamics. Doesn't come off strong. After all, sound is described in terms of SPL, sound 'pressure' level, and does it have something to do with less pressure in a larger pad room?

I always found K701 and K702 weak at dynamics as well. For years. It was like it had a built-in compressor squashing dynamics. Then I acquired a bulky Audio-gd amp (C-2C) and now they are awesome at dynamics. I had been underpowering them for far too long, I think, or the audio-gd amp's circuit is doing something that synergizes with K701/K702. None of my other headphones changed like this when plugging them into the C-2C. Audio-gd amps (not those compact ones like NFB15 or NFB12) are often praised for wringing the best out of any dynamic headphone. I can hear why. My high-impedance Beyers and HD650 also sound their best out of it. Other headphones like my HD558 (modified to outclass HD599 & HD598) don't benefit from the crazy output drive, but the amp's high resolution helps render more nuanced playback quality together with my audio-gd DAC19 that runs PCM1704 R2R converter chips.

All that aside, these AKGs still aren't EDM 'phones, K245 is far better suited to that, but its sound quality is a far cry from K702 and its siblings.

 

[pbarach]

email AKG

I emailed and got no response. I called their phone number and after been transferred 3-4x, was able to order the pads--but they are back-ordered by 3-4 weeks. Strill, they were considerably cheaper than any of the Dekoni aftermarket pads. I'd tried Dekoni's on my Focal Clear headphones--they just wrecked the sound with muddy bass, and I returned them for a refund.

 

[Mad Max]

I forget that all pro audio manufacturers have logistical issues due to COVID-19.

 

[calumniate]

I just got a set of these (the 62 ohm version). I notice that with my FIIO K5 Pro they are 'sensitive', meaning even on low gain i find twelve o'clock on the volume dial excessive. My hifiman 400i (2020 version) has a lower impedance but I find the comfort zone of the volume is substantially higher, and I think they're only 38 ohm.

Perhaps this is just a difference between technologies of planar magnetic vs dynamic. Still like the K702 for now, but I can't understand why they seem to be almost 'too' efficient, or if my pair is an oddity somehow

 

[pbarach]

They have always been rated at 62 ohms--as far as I know, there is no version with some other impedance. I don't know your amp, but in my experience they sound better with medium or high gain. The low mpedance doesn't tell the whole story about the amplification these headphones need because they also have low sensitivity. BTW, I bought mine new when they first went on the market, and they are still going strong (I replaced the earpads recently).