[GL1TCH3D]

What's the estimated pricing on these?

 

[Ra97oR]

  Sure why not, probably that patented protein leather. Calcium additive to pleather coating for increased wear resistance, better durability from stains/oils, and uniformity of construction than leather.
 
This isn't the cheapo vinyl type pleather of old. "this ain't your grandpa's Lincoln logs"

Yes, the man made protein leather is very nicely made, as good as the Clarino pad that A2000X that I had, if not better.
 
Back when I tried them out, they did state that they used this instead of real leather due to better durability and consistency of the man-made version, and resistance to hair spray and other chemical seems to a concern on the pro scene.

 

[yoknipas]

Thankyou. This Headphone Looks good.

 

[inasafeplace]

  Sure why not, probably that patented protein leather. Calcium additive to pleather coating for increased wear resistance, better durability from stains/oils, and uniformity of construction than leather.
 
This isn't the cheapo vinyl type pleather of old. "this ain't your grandpa's Lincoln logs"

Would it be like the Sennheiser Momentum pads for example? Hopefully this and not **** like they put on the K550!

 

[FraGGleR]

Would it be like the Sennheiser Momentum pads for example? Hopefully this and not **** like they put on the K550!

Momentums have leather pads. The Fostex TH900s have protein leather pads that are very nice. I'm sure that AKG will have nice ones as well.

 

[dleblanc343]

So my co-worker gave me his impression. It is mostly positive, and very positive if you're not too hardcore about spending into audio and striving for perfection. The build quality and feel is robust, and very much worthy of its price tag minus the cable. Comfort is very nice and among the best he's tried. To him, it's not on the level of the HD800 in terms of comfort,but at least he has the feeling he's wearing a headphone.
 
As for sound, he initially plugged it into his iPhone 5S, and told me he was really caught off guard; it was the best sound he's heard directly from his phone with a headphone. He listened to four complete songs; Get Lucky by Daft Punk, Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, Take Five by The Dave Brubeck Quartet and Right in Two by Tool. Only four songs, but of very different natures. He describes the sound as a reference tuning, and chameleon-like, where it's hard to guess the coloring of the headphone. With the bassier songs like Get Lucky and Right in Two the headphone delivered its heft, but with the Fleetwood Mac tune, for example, he would have said the headphone is more forward sounding. I was pleased to hear this, as these kinds of reactions happen when the FR is relatively neutral, and will really take after the song. 
 
Now the bigger part is, how did it sound with more serious set-ups? Again, he listened to the 4 songs (not in their entirety this time) on 3 amps: the HiFiMAN EF-5, the Meridian Explorer and a Burson HA-160. His praise was still positive, but the hype he had created in his mind was quickly brought back down to earth. First thing he realized was that, to him right off the bat, it did not sound quite on the level of the HD800 or the HE6 on set-ups he was accustomed to (and later confirmed this after trying all three through the Burson). The AKG did perform better on the Meridian and ever-so-slightly better than the HD800 with the EF-5 (again, to his tastes, and he mainly listen to electronica). The bass is somewhere in between the HD800 and E6, but finding its texture and presence more on the side of the HD800's. High frequency extension remained inferior to both the Hifiman and Senns, but never got as peaky in passages where it may have been a concern; they're a bit less extended over all. Midrange in general is relatively color-free and possibly not as forward as the HD800, but again more similar than different. The HE6 definitely has a more natural response and timbre from bass to lower mids.
 
He over all enjoyed the headphone a lot, and thinks it's going to be a big player; especially for retailers like us and general consumers who aren't as crazy as some head-fiers! He had not really gotten hyped up about it, so his enthusiasm for the headphone was neutral, and he gave me a very fair impression of what he thought. He maintains that it is right up there with many high end headphones, but not quite on the level of current leaders such as the LCD3, HD800 and HE6; he feels it just doesn't scale as high and thinks the ease of it being driven by many amps limits its ceiling. He told me he would rank the four headphones as such on a proper set-up: HE6=LCD3>HD800>K812. If you're to build a rig under 2000$, chances are the K812 would be the best (unless you know what you're doing with your money and components, you can still possibly do better with LCD3/HD800).
 
I wished he would have tried a bit more music that fit his tastes (more up-beat electronica, etc), as I feel his impressions would have been slightly more pertinent to me; but his ear is still very good.
 
So take this with a slight grain of salt, but these headphones don't change from AKG's usual house signature, which is neutral/forward-ish in general. This one though has very nice bass and does perform better than anything they've ever made before, making it sound pretty darn neutral and a tad more natural than say, a K712.

 

[Blackmore]

Many thanks for your post dleblanc343
 
When do you think to get the chance to try them? I see you own Bryston amp, any chance you can try it with K812?

 

[Headzone]

If I was going to buy HD800, then these would be very serious choice as well. I prefer the more classic look of the AKG's. The aluminium swivel system looks fu*in nice to

 

[vid]

  With the bassier songs like Get Lucky and Right in Two the headphone delivered its heft, but with the Fleetwood Mac tune, for example, he would have said the headphone is more forward sounding. I was pleased to hear this, as these kinds of reactions happen when the FR is relatively neutral, and will really take after the song. 

 
There's no reason to speculate like this. A simple sine sweep will tell whether they're neutral for that person, and in the likely event that they're not completely so, the sweep will reveal where the emphases are.

 

[JWahl]

   
There's no reason to speculate like this. A simple sine sweep will tell whether they're neutral for that person, and in the likely event that they're not completely so, the sweep will reveal where the emphases are.

To an extent, yes.  However it would be wiser to include some type of white or pink noise analysis, as various combinations of frequencies and their harmonics can interact with themselves within a chamber and your own ears HRTF when actual music is played.  This is also why listening for yourself is important, when possible.  Or at very least, carefully analyzing subjective impressions.  A sine wave sweep would really only be ideal if the electrical signals were wired directly into the sensory neurons of your brain 

 

[Makiah S]

So my co-worker gave me his impression. It is mostly positive, and very positive if you're not too hardcore about spending into audio and striving for perfection. The build quality and feel is robust, and very much worthy of its price tag minus the cable. Comfort is very nice and among the best he's tried. To him, it's not on the level of the HD800 in terms of comfort,but at least he has the feeling he's wearing a headphone.

As for sound, he initially plugged it into his iPhone 5S, and told me he was really caught off guard; it was the best sound he's heard directly from his phone with a headphone. He listened to four complete songs; Get Lucky by Daft Punk, Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, Take Five by The Dave Brubeck Quartet and Right in Two by Tool. Only four songs, but of very different natures. He describes the sound as a reference tuning, and chameleon-like, where it's hard to guess the coloring of the headphone. With the bassier songs like Get Lucky and Right in Two the headphone delivered its heft, but with the Fleetwood Mac tune, for example, he would have said the headphone is more forward sounding. I was pleased to hear this, as these kinds of reactions happen when the FR is relatively neutral, and will really take after the song. 

Now the bigger part is, how did it sound with more serious set-ups? Again, he listened to the 4 songs (not in their entirety this time) on 3 amps: the HiFiMAN EF-5, the Meridian Explorer and a Burson HA-160. His praise was still positive, but the hype he had created in his mind was quickly brought back down to earth. First thing he realized was that, to him right off the bat, it did not sound quite on the level of the HD800 or the HE6 on set-ups he was accustomed to (and later confirmed this after trying all three through the Burson). The AKG did perform better on the Meridian and ever-so-slightly better than the HD800 with the EF-5 (again, to his tastes, and he mainly listen to electronica). The bass is somewhere in between the HD800 and E6, but finding its texture and presence more on the side of the HD800's. High frequency extension remained inferior to both the Hifiman and Senns, but never got as peaky in passages where it may have been a concern; they're a bit less extended over all. Midrange in general is relatively color-free and possibly not as forward as the HD800, but again more similar than different. The HE6 definitely has a more natural response and timbre from bass to lower mids.

He over all enjoyed the headphone a lot, and thinks it's going to be a big player; especially for retailers like us and general consumers who aren't as crazy as some head-fiers! He had not really gotten hyped up about it, so his enthusiasm for the headphone was neutral, and he gave me a very fair impression of what he thought. He maintains that it is right up there with many high end headphones, but not quite on the level of current leaders such as the LCD3, HD800 and HE6; he feels it just doesn't scale as high and thinks the ease of it being driven by many amps limits its ceiling. He told me he would rank the four headphones as such on a proper set-up: HE6=LCD3>HD800>K812. If you're to build a rig under 2000$, chances are the K812 would be the best (unless you know what you're doing with your money and components, you can still possibly do better with LCD3/HD800).

I wished he would have tried a bit more music that fit his tastes (more up-beat electronica, etc), as I feel his impressions would have been slightly more pertinent to me; but his ear is still very good.

So take this with a slight grain of salt, but these headphones don't change from AKG's usual house signature, which is neutral/forward-ish in general. This one though has very nice bass and does perform better than anything they've ever made before, making it sound pretty darn neutral and a tad more natural than say, a K712.

see greatest smart phone headphone ever which is good... but as expected it doesnt scale well with powerful amps.

 

[SleepyOne]

Still a little early re: issue of scaling - shall see once top amps were used. The issue of extended is more concerning though.

 

[Makiah S]

Still a little early re: issue of scaling - shall see once top amps were used. The issue of extended is more concerning though.

true... I still feel its targetting a jack of all market... like those bands that record n mix everything on their iPads... just feels like the perfect Apple companion. Looks to sound... it just feels like the Apple Computer of the Headphone wrld. The king of the up b coming plug n play no fuss generation

 

[SleepyOne]

According to AKG, they did indeed have those Apple ipad music makers in mind when designing K812...

 

[Blackmore]

I am traveling on daily base and see those people, mixing music by using their Apple notebooks, so, guess there is a market for.