[Amictus]

Hope you like it!

K812 is cooler and more analytical, great for top class audiophile recordings and critical listening.

K712 is slightly fuller and more cohessive sounding. Just a tad more forgiving and relaxed overall.

Well, the big beast arrived today. The sound was a little brittle at first, in no way resembling the K712 and there was a persistent distortion in the right channel on lower notes. I have left them listening to music for a while. I have also played some loud music through them to see if something needed to unwrap itself somehow, and I haven't heard the problem again in brief samplings. Has anyone else come across this? I am now giving them a good long burst of Naim Radio for a while. Tomorrow, or much later tonight, I shall check again to see if the problem is still there. If it is, then they are going back to Amazon. FWIW, the box and the headphones say that they are made in Slovakia. To repeat: has anyone else encountered this distortion issue when the K812 is first used?

 

[Me x3]

No distortion.

If you're using the 6.3 mm adapter check it's properly adjusted. Check the cable connector on the headphone side as well. Unplug and plug again if you want to make sure it's properly connected.

Judge only with quality files and recordings. If there's anything wrong with the recording K812 will expose it.

If you're using an analog potentiometer in your chain make sure it's not the source of distortion. Very low level can lead to channel imbalance and other problems on some potentiometers.

 

[Amictus]

Helpful stuff, @Me x3 . I have done some of that. I shall listen to the offending CDs (in this case) later and see what happens. The sound is changing slightly, and I, of course, am changing with it. I shall try it with other equipment if the problem persists. Thank you so much for replying.

[EDIT] The problem now seems to gone away. Some of my fiddling about may have helped, or a good dose of Naim Radio may have woken the cans up. Anyway, I have tried a CD that was especially problematic and now all is fine. Thank you so much for your support. The sound is amazing.

 

[siberianmoon]

I have to say the quality of K812, in my eyes, decreased quite rapidly after my pair started developing issues with the right channel cutting out. I am not able to trace it to a certain point in the wiring -- it might be the plug or the wiring that's glued on the inside of the frame. These symptoms basically developed while I didn't even use the headphones as I had been using a another pair of cans. Since the K812 is "proprietary" in every imaginable way, there's no way to fix these simple issues. I might just as well bin them because spare parts are gonna be expensive.

 

[mikaelmark]

When all headphones and speakers are new and unused, they should not play too loud music, as the membrane are stiff. After many hours of intense listening, it´s ok to play loud.

My advice is to start not to play loud, then higher the volume in several steps. Pink and white noise and also full frequency waves will be good, as they will reach everything between 20Hz and 20kHz.

If you begin to play too loud from the beginning, you may get bad sound and there´s also a risk for permanent damaging.

Also, when they´re burned in, I prefer to not play too loud the first moment and let them warm up. Some people may found this unneccesary; but do you use to jump up from the bed in the morning and run immediately to your work?

 

[hex182]

I have to say the quality of K812, in my eyes, decreased quite rapidly after my pair started developing issues with the right channel cutting out. I am not able to trace it to a certain point in the wiring -- it might be the plug or the wiring that's glued on the inside of the frame. These symptoms basically developed while I didn't even use the headphones as I had been using a another pair of cans. Since the K812 is "proprietary" in every imaginable way, there's no way to fix these simple issues. I might just as well bin them because spare parts are gonna be expensive.

It's worth it to try another cable before throwing them away, I think veclan.com makes a fairly cheap one and even if the problem is on the inside as long as it's not the driver the repair probably doesn't require original spare parts.

 

[mikaelmark]

Designacable from United Kingdom, have a Belden Cable in preferrable lenghts at about $100 - 180 soldered with 1/4 phono TRS and correct Lemo 00 -socket for K812. They have a store at eBay and also a home page. It seem´s affordable. They also sell a lot of parts for DIY parts.

 

[Beagle]

I have to say the quality of K812, in my eyes, decreased quite rapidly after my pair started developing issues with the right channel cutting out. I am not able to trace it to a certain point in the wiring -- it might be the plug or the wiring that's glued on the inside of the frame. These symptoms basically developed while I didn't even use the headphones as I had been using a another pair of cans. Since the K812 is "proprietary" in every imaginable way, there's no way to fix these simple issues. I might just as well bin them because spare parts are gonna be expensive.

I had the same thing happen. I thought it was the cable but a second cable functioned OK. I think the culprit was a wire in the headband area that gave way due to the natural flex of the band. Obviously poor design. I had a K872 later on but sold it due to the brittle treble that eventually got to me. I originally mistook it for clarity.

 

[siberianmoon]

It's worth it to try another cable before throwing them away, I think veclan.com makes a fairly cheap one and even if the problem is on the inside as long as it's not the driver the repair probably doesn't require original spare parts.

Cables were just fine, nothing with them. The problem lied in the wiring along the frame. I didn't bother with pinpointing the broken section and I sold them already.

 

[mikaelmark]

If someone are interested, I have an unused new Lemo 00 -connector (fit those headphones) and some new Neutrik NP3X-B 1/4 inch (6,35 mm) for sale.

https://www.neutrik.com/en/product/np3x-b

https://www.lemo.com/pdf/FGG.00.303.CLAD35Z.pdf

 

[ry_goody]

Hi ry_goody. Yes! I completely hear (haha) you - I also collect music that's so sublime (mixed/mastered) and has such a rich 3D image that it deserves to be played on a high res listening chain.

Would you mind sharing your complete list of collected music? You can send me a PM if you would like to keep it private. I have crazy good ears (or better: a deep perception of sound?), love "complex" (aurally spoken) music and would love to pick up some new recommendations

Thanks a lot!
headache

I know this reply is a year late, didn't think this thread would turn into a thing.

But the three albums (really three tracks) I play for people to show off the k812 are:

Solar Fields - Movements (remastered)
solarfields.bandcamp.com/album/movements-remastered
Specifically the first song "Sol" I play for people. His Red Blue and Green albums are also really good. For me Solar Fields is really king in electronic spatial ambient, layers and complex subtle details. Solar fields is one where I think it is worthwhile to get the lossless file.

Infected Mushroom - Return to the Sauce
You probably have to be a bit into harder electronic for this. But the track on it called "Gravity Waves" probably better demonstrates the full frequency range in a single track more so than anything else I have. People who mock the notion of $800 headphones, I tell them you probably have never heard accurately reproduced sub-bass in a song before, and they are like, that's ridiculous, then I play this track and they are just like, "woah". Infected Mushroom are also production geeks so they are good at putting spatial imaging to all their sounds as well.

Jaymes Young - Feel Something
Specifically the track "We won't" I think is amazing for showing off vocals. It has a male and female singer so you can hear both in one song, and is recorded amazing. I don't know where they got this album recorded, but its the best vocal recording I have, its like a whole step above like The XX and Adelle. I would actually like to find more vocal recordings as good as this.

 

[audioot]

Is there any indication which magnet system is more powerful between
the akg k 812 versus senheiser hd 800s.
Neodymium versus Tesla.
I am very interested in the differentiates between these cones.

 

[ry_goody]

I am curious, has anyone attempted to mod a pair of k812's to have a balanced cable?

 

[bertobo]

Is there any indication which magnet system is more powerful between
the akg k 812 versus senheiser hd 800s.
Neodymium versus Tesla.
I am very interested in the differentiates between these cones.

Hello there. The Sennheiser has about 1,1 Tesla (Gauss), the AKG have 1,5 Tesla. Both are more than enough. From the numbers, the AKG is more powerfull.

 

[audioot]

Hello, thanks for this clear info.
The akg therefore has a more powerful magnetic field.
This, together with the smaller and lighter voice coil, makes it a better reproducer technically.
The display of lower frequencies requires a stronger magnetic field so therefore the AKG performs better there than the HD 800 s