Quadfather
Headphoneus Supremus
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AKG K812 Pro, underrated?
- Thread starter ry_goody
- Start date
Nouvraught
New Head-Fier
whats with flagships being analytical with no bass boost? soundstage treble clarity but no bass bass bass bass bass bass bass im drunk
alpha80
500+ Head-Fier
I think the K812 is the most massively underrated flagship headphone ever.
EVER.
For reference, I have an early batch Made in Austria set.
Now, why do I think these are so massively underrated ?
Partly due to Tyll’s correct observation of the treble not being as great and revealing as it could be. For a flagship engineer’s headphone, the upper treble isn’t anywhere near as revealing as it could or should be. Sure, it sounds great in those ranges, but not natural, and not painfully revealing of any weaknesses in the source material, like say the treble in a BeyerDynamic T-90 is. (T90 is an equally underrated engineer can for treble work).
Another part of why the K812 is so massively underrated is due to people driving them wrong for their intended design.
This headphone was quite literally manufactured to cater to music producers and engineers who largely work on our MacBookPro’s. And thus the K812 was given a surprising impedance, not found in other >$1000 flagship reference headphone. It’s rated as a 36ohm, but operates more akin to a 44-52ohm headphone.
So the common knowledge is, higher impedance = professional quality, lower impedance = consumer quality. And that’s mostly true across the spectrum.
Except here.
When driven DIRECTLY from my Quad i7 MacBookPro, or my Octo-Core Xeon “cheese grater” MacPro, there is quite literally no other headphone on the market which does sub bass, bass, just about every musical instrument’s predominant range and human vocal range (but not upper treble) better than the K812, with anywhere near the soundstage.
I still say the best headphone for treble work and upper register detail work, is the also massively underrated, albeit sibilant T90. They will painfully reveal poor HISSY source material like no other. Cannot overstate their use in this regard.
But for every other area of the EQ/frequency range, the K812 is unrivaled, when driven properly as they were intended to be…. From a damn apple macBookPro. Hell, these even sound spectacular driven DIRECTLY from an Apple IPhone.
That was AKG’s intent.
The K812, unfortunately, just has an unexpectedly colored treble signature, that while pleasing to the ear, is NOT the best for Professional treble work. And it’s really curious why they would take a huge driver and incredible design, intended for engineering work, and not give it more revealing treble.
But other than that, what an absolute masterpiece. Engineers and producers for modern genres of music, who work on our laptops, don’t sleep on these much maligned flagships.
And neither should picky audiophiles who find other similarly priced flagships too shy on sub bass, and who want the most flat, accurate sub-bass/bass/instrument/vocal range frequency response they can get, so long as they also don’t mind more colored signature upper treble than those other flagships (the ones that don’t have this kind of sub extension and sub/bass accuracy)
EVER.
For reference, I have an early batch Made in Austria set.
Now, why do I think these are so massively underrated ?
Partly due to Tyll’s correct observation of the treble not being as great and revealing as it could be. For a flagship engineer’s headphone, the upper treble isn’t anywhere near as revealing as it could or should be. Sure, it sounds great in those ranges, but not natural, and not painfully revealing of any weaknesses in the source material, like say the treble in a BeyerDynamic T-90 is. (T90 is an equally underrated engineer can for treble work).
Another part of why the K812 is so massively underrated is due to people driving them wrong for their intended design.
This headphone was quite literally manufactured to cater to music producers and engineers who largely work on our MacBookPro’s. And thus the K812 was given a surprising impedance, not found in other >$1000 flagship reference headphone. It’s rated as a 36ohm, but operates more akin to a 44-52ohm headphone.
So the common knowledge is, higher impedance = professional quality, lower impedance = consumer quality. And that’s mostly true across the spectrum.
Except here.
When driven DIRECTLY from my Quad i7 MacBookPro, or my Octo-Core Xeon “cheese grater” MacPro, there is quite literally no other headphone on the market which does sub bass, bass, just about every musical instrument’s predominant range and human vocal range (but not upper treble) better than the K812, with anywhere near the soundstage.
I still say the best headphone for treble work and upper register detail work, is the also massively underrated, albeit sibilant T90. They will painfully reveal poor HISSY source material like no other. Cannot overstate their use in this regard.
But for every other area of the EQ/frequency range, the K812 is unrivaled, when driven properly as they were intended to be…. From a damn apple macBookPro. Hell, these even sound spectacular driven DIRECTLY from an Apple IPhone.
That was AKG’s intent.
The K812, unfortunately, just has an unexpectedly colored treble signature, that while pleasing to the ear, is NOT the best for Professional treble work. And it’s really curious why they would take a huge driver and incredible design, intended for engineering work, and not give it more revealing treble.
But other than that, what an absolute masterpiece. Engineers and producers for modern genres of music, who work on our laptops, don’t sleep on these much maligned flagships.
And neither should picky audiophiles who find other similarly priced flagships too shy on sub bass, and who want the most flat, accurate sub-bass/bass/instrument/vocal range frequency response they can get, so long as they also don’t mind more colored signature upper treble than those other flagships (the ones that don’t have this kind of sub extension and sub/bass accuracy)
These getting a much better from treble wise by time. I had them for few years now.
For me the issue with them is not their tuning, because of SW, but the fact how much they require qualities from amp compared to many other models to get most out of them.
With proper setting their are one of the best ones on the market by far. Most musical and dynamic ones. I went for electrotsatic ones after these, no need to upgrade dynamic ones by now.
For me the issue with them is not their tuning, because of SW, but the fact how much they require qualities from amp compared to many other models to get most out of them.
With proper setting their are one of the best ones on the market by far. Most musical and dynamic ones. I went for electrotsatic ones after these, no need to upgrade dynamic ones by now.
Rob80b
Headphoneus Supremus
Thought I'd add the closed back version of the K812s to this thread, the K872s.....it's only been a week but so far I've been highly "musically" impressed.
Believe it's already been 6 years since their release, but after the K812s getting IMHO an undeserved bad wrap, they've sadly been more or less ignored and regarded solely as a professional tool for the studio and not for home music listening which really is too sad.
Even as a closed backed headphone, they are proving to be quite an accomplished performer, as I mentioned in the K872 tread "IMHO they're neutral to a T". https://www.head-fi.org/threads/akgs-new-k872.803263/
This has become more and more obvious the more recordings I listen to, yesterday evening taking in Dave Holland's solo album for acoustic base "Emerald Tears", which I must have listened to probably a 100 times or more since its release in 77, was like having a live feed from the studio, the fact that they are closed back made the sensation even more so and worked in the K872s favor delivering every aspect of Hollands playing and the full impact of the acoustic base for a wonderful musical performance and maybe the best I've experienced it.
Not to be undone, changing gears for some hard driving techno .... Nanoplex's "The Billion Dollar Brain" was just as immersive. : )
Believe it's already been 6 years since their release, but after the K812s getting IMHO an undeserved bad wrap, they've sadly been more or less ignored and regarded solely as a professional tool for the studio and not for home music listening which really is too sad.
Even as a closed backed headphone, they are proving to be quite an accomplished performer, as I mentioned in the K872 tread "IMHO they're neutral to a T". https://www.head-fi.org/threads/akgs-new-k872.803263/
This has become more and more obvious the more recordings I listen to, yesterday evening taking in Dave Holland's solo album for acoustic base "Emerald Tears", which I must have listened to probably a 100 times or more since its release in 77, was like having a live feed from the studio, the fact that they are closed back made the sensation even more so and worked in the K872s favor delivering every aspect of Hollands playing and the full impact of the acoustic base for a wonderful musical performance and maybe the best I've experienced it.
Not to be undone, changing gears for some hard driving techno .... Nanoplex's "The Billion Dollar Brain" was just as immersive. : )
Quadfather
Headphoneus Supremus
I would use these with Lotoo Paw Gold Touch if I ended up procuring another set.
John Buchanan
500+ Head-Fier
Loving my K812 (picked up second hand about a year ago for AUS$800). Worth every cent. Sounds great out of any of the Burson Conductor Reference 3X, Fidelice Precision DAC/Headphone amp or the Focal Arche. It's a little bright, but otherwise tonally superb - as mentioned in the review by @alpha80
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JAnonymous5150
Headphoneus Supremus
I only just decided to stop just lurking and reading reviews here and actually start participating a bit on head-fi and this thread is a big part of why. Reading through some of the positive K812 owner opinions in here has made me feel like I found my people lol! I have been active on the headphones sudreddit for a while and lurking here and there long before that and I think I might be the only K812 Pro owner on that sub! It's nice to find a place where they are properly appreciated.
I have a decent collection of headphones and gear and have tried or owned in the past many, many more headphones. The K812s are one of my favorite AKGs of all time and I have owned dozens of contemporary and vintage AKG sets from the 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, and 800 series as well as the K1000s and as far as everyday listening the K812 Pros are up there with the best and most versatile of them. Feed them some hi-res tracks from a good DAC with enough power behind it (for me most often my Burson Timekeeper 3i or ifi Gryphon) and they will give you every bit of detail that can be wrung out of a track. The soundstage is both deep and wide, making for an absolutely huge presentation. The bass reaches deep without being overly enphasized and is well controlled and lush. The mids are absolutely packed with detail and combined with a treble section that adds plenty of flourish.
Since I bought the K812 Pros I have used them more than any other headphone I own. I just purchased the DCA Stealths yesterday so that may be changing because those things are ridiculous, but rest assured that the K812s will always see plenty of head time. They are truly an elite headphone that can easily hold their own in elite company.
Anyways, just wanted to say hello and thanks for creating a place where I can be amongst fellow K812 Pro owners and enthusiasts. It's nice to be amongst my people!
Edit: Just wanted to add that I also own the K872s (essentially the closed back version of the K812s) and they are spectacular as well. Much of my listening is done in environments where the added isolation of a closed back can be helpful and the K812s impressed me so much that the K872s were practically a no brainer.
I have a decent collection of headphones and gear and have tried or owned in the past many, many more headphones. The K812s are one of my favorite AKGs of all time and I have owned dozens of contemporary and vintage AKG sets from the 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, and 800 series as well as the K1000s and as far as everyday listening the K812 Pros are up there with the best and most versatile of them. Feed them some hi-res tracks from a good DAC with enough power behind it (for me most often my Burson Timekeeper 3i or ifi Gryphon) and they will give you every bit of detail that can be wrung out of a track. The soundstage is both deep and wide, making for an absolutely huge presentation. The bass reaches deep without being overly enphasized and is well controlled and lush. The mids are absolutely packed with detail and combined with a treble section that adds plenty of flourish.
Since I bought the K812 Pros I have used them more than any other headphone I own. I just purchased the DCA Stealths yesterday so that may be changing because those things are ridiculous, but rest assured that the K812s will always see plenty of head time. They are truly an elite headphone that can easily hold their own in elite company.
Anyways, just wanted to say hello and thanks for creating a place where I can be amongst fellow K812 Pro owners and enthusiasts. It's nice to be amongst my people!
Edit: Just wanted to add that I also own the K872s (essentially the closed back version of the K812s) and they are spectacular as well. Much of my listening is done in environments where the added isolation of a closed back can be helpful and the K812s impressed me so much that the K872s were practically a no brainer.
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Rob80b
Headphoneus Supremus
The K872s are still my go to and usually prefer them over my HD800S which I've been thinking of replacing with the K812s (which I'm familiar with) to have my cake and eat it too when an open back can be used.
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John Buchanan
500+ Head-Fier
You'll love the K812 headphones.The K872s are still my go to and usually prefer them over my HD800S which I've been thinking of replacing with the K812s (which I'm familiar with) to have my cake and eat it too when an open back can be used.
Quadfather
Headphoneus Supremus
It's between the Meze 109 Pro or the AKG K812...
John Buchanan
500+ Head-Fier
I've just been listening to "Keith Jarrett Complete At The Blue Note" via the Burson Conductor 3X Reference or Fidelice DAC/preamp and AKG K812 headphones - it doesn't get much better than this. Go the 812s while they're still available.
Quadfather
Headphoneus Supremus
I have had them before. I traded them and a Lotoo Paw Gold for a Lotoo Paw Gold Touch. Loved them....109 Pro is very sexy though.
Rob80b
Headphoneus Supremus
Posted this also on the K872 thread.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/akgs-new-k872.803263
Anyone find a decent replacement cable...I'm finding I've been using my K872s more than my HD800Sand Hd660S and was hoping to pick up a shorter well made 5- 6' with a 1/4" plug...no adapters please.
2 contenders so far.
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/162396765213?var=461424688492
Like the fact that they're using, Belden cable and Neutrik, LEMO connectors.
https://fogcityaudio.com/products/akg-k812-k872-headphone-cable
Not sure of the connectors but Mogami is a good choice and Sleeved in Paracord ...which I like.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/akgs-new-k872.803263
Anyone find a decent replacement cable...I'm finding I've been using my K872s more than my HD800Sand Hd660S and was hoping to pick up a shorter well made 5- 6' with a 1/4" plug...no adapters please.
2 contenders so far.
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/162396765213?var=461424688492
Like the fact that they're using, Belden cable and Neutrik, LEMO connectors.
https://fogcityaudio.com/products/akg-k812-k872-headphone-cable
Not sure of the connectors but Mogami is a good choice and Sleeved in Paracord ...which I like.
John Buchanan
500+ Head-Fier
Try Arctic Cables as well - an abundance of choices.
https://www.arcticcables.com/
I asked them to make a thinner, more flexible cable for my (now gone) Beyerdynamic T1 Gen. 2 (and it fits the Gen. 3 that I now have instead), as well as one for AKG K812. They are very well made. I'm not sure they sound any better, as the original cables of both were already super pure copper. However, the screw on 6.35mm over 3.5mm connector is now a direct connection - no screw on and using the black body/gold pins of the Neutrik connector.
https://www.arcticcables.com/
I asked them to make a thinner, more flexible cable for my (now gone) Beyerdynamic T1 Gen. 2 (and it fits the Gen. 3 that I now have instead), as well as one for AKG K812. They are very well made. I'm not sure they sound any better, as the original cables of both were already super pure copper. However, the screw on 6.35mm over 3.5mm connector is now a direct connection - no screw on and using the black body/gold pins of the Neutrik connector.
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