AKG K81/518 DJ/LE Thread and *Review*

[WakiDabeast]

wow I actually really agree with this. Still unfortunately I don't think it's as clean or fast as it could be for rock, still for the money I don't think you can get much closer, I prefer the sound over the HD25, although if I were hearing both for the first time i would probably say other wise, and still the HD25 has better sound quality, but I love the AKG518 sound. 
Also, the conductor might make a touch of difference in the sound quality, but I doubt the thickness would seeing that it's binary. I'm sure it's a lot more durable. 

 

[ostewart]

very durable, i still love these and will keep them, even if i get some new cans. My friend has them at the moment.

 

[WakiDabeast]

so hows the 518 soundstage? 

 

[ostewart]

not very wide, but they are supposed to be like that. But if you do the blu tak mod and get velour pads it widens, also if you have a amp with a wide soundstage that also helps. These are agressive sounding

 

[Raguvian]

I just got these headphones about a week ago, and I really like them just for their size and portability. Sound wise, yeah I've heard better, but for $50 they do hold their own, and with their compact design I wouldn't give them up for anything else.
 
I couldn't hold out, though, and ended up buying 50 feet of silver plated copper wire and a Neutrik right angle plug to have fun with these.

 

[ostewart]

i really want to recable these with a silver cable, but have no money, but with velour pads the bass is more refined and punchy.
 
have fun with them, they are great to mod, and dont be worried about the solder pad, as i have recabled and desoldered a few times.
 
regards

 

[Sonnyt]

Quote:

i really want to recable these with a silver cable, but have no money, but with velour pads the bass is more refined and punchy.
 
have fun with them, they are great to mod, and dont be worried about the solder pad, as i have recabled and desoldered a few times.
 
regards

 
I, too, like my modded K81DJ.  Although I have average head, it is somewhat tight and hurts top of my head if I wear it longer than 30 minutes.  Anyway, here's my modded can.  
 

 
It's not as fancy as what most people have done, but it is functional and a definite difference in sound impact with the cable.  I use the Canare Starquad microphone cable with Techflex.  It does have microphonic sound to it.  I might do a 3-4 feet of pure silver when I feel adventurous sometime in the future.
 
 

 
Another thing I did was stuffed the cavity with sound absorbing fiberglass.  I don't know if this obstruct the way the driver delivers depth/dimensionality, but it certainly tightens the low frequencies, creating "faster" bass and reducing the boominess.  Like I said, I can't be certain if it does that or not.  What I learned from soundproofing my dedicated home theater, I applied it here.  Any comment/recommendation is welcomed.

 

[ostewart]

that cable looks super nice, i didnt have the materials around to do mine like that. But mine still work fine. I have a velour pad on the headband and that helps relieve pressure from the top of your head. I used blu-tak in the cups.

Regards

 

[Sonnyt]

Thanks.  I saw your pics with the pad, looks pretty darn nice.  How is the sound isolation with those pads?  I saw the pads selling at eBay for well over $30US.  I paid just $49.00 for a new set of the K81DJ - don't know if it's worth it to shell out that much more for pads.  I would love to have a set though.
 
 

 

[ostewart]

the isolation is not that good with the velour pads, but i sacrificed isolation for better comfort and sound.
Mine were about 15GBP which is close to 30 USD.

 

[Raguvian]

 

 

Recabled my K518LE's. Don't mind the fact that there's no plastic trim and that the color's all weird. It was a dyeing attempt gone wrong.
 

 

 

 

For being a month old, my headphones look pretty beat up.

 

[elgpostei]

Hi, 
 
I'm contemplating buying a pair of either the Dj or LE versjon of these headphones. Personally I think til regular black DJ model looks the best, but when I look at the specifications of both models I see that the "Maximum Input Power" are different. The DJ lists 200mW and the LE lists 2000mW. I don't know much about headphones, but does it matter? If 2000mW is better why doesn't the DJ model also handle that much power? 
 
I hope someone can help me choose as I have to order either today or tomorrow to get them in time for a vacation.
 
Thank you!

 

[LizardKing1]

It has to be a typo. I didn't do the math, but I'm pretty sure 200mW is more than enough to be painful and 2000mW would be an overkill.

 

[elgpostei]

Thanks! 
 
It seems like the different LE pages all say 2000mW. Even the downloadable Product Sheet.

 

[ev13wt]

Every time I go to these headphones at home to listen to because the SO is blasting the TV or blabbling to her mom/friends on the phone - I really notice that the soundstage is almost "non-existant". Its almost "mono" like soundwise. Is this the norm for closed cans? 
 
Or is it because the room i'm sitting in is entirely excluded from the music?
 
The sound itself is really nice, and the isolation is good. A bit bass strong and mid shy and a bit of a can/bucket type of sound, which - when removing the foam pads gets worse although clarity improves. The pleather pads are starting to fall apart after 5 years now. They got some serious use in the early days of their life when I worked in a noisy open office environment.