[audioot]

After months of burning in, the k812 sounds pretty neutral.
This was completely different when I first used it.
Especially the low and extremely high are of very high quality.
Comparing the HD800, the K812 is much more musical and dynamic in the total range.
I recently started using Sonarworks 4 for headphones and I can tell you that the display quality increases phenomenally.
This is how a hi end headphone should sound like.
You have to experience how the differences are real with or without sonarworks

 

[lacknothing]

After months of burning in, the k812 sounds pretty neutral.
This was completely different when I first used it.
Especially the low and extremely high are of very high quality.
Comparing the HD800, the K812 is much more musical and dynamic in the total range.

There was also very long burn in time with my AKG K701.
The K712 I didn't buy new, so I don't know.
In my short review of the K812 I deliberately didn't focused on details, as these may significantly change after burn in, but the characteristics of its outstanding precision versus its shortcomings in "3D" rendering certainly will stay.

Hope to be able to prepare a special setting that equals a four wire mod without any changes at the K812 itself.
Lets see...

I recently started using Sonarworks 4 for headphones and I can tell you that the display quality increases phenomenally.
This is how a hi end headphone should sound like.

You have to experience how the differences are real with or without sonarworks

Yeah
But

The problem with all that DAW solutions and similar attempts is, that they are not for laymans and on top of that the plugins for correct impulse folding are not really available nor are the correct inverse frequency response equalization settings for different headphones that have to be executed first.

 

[audioot]

Can be but my experience with sonarworks is that it is a positive addition to the existing configuration.

 

[486892]

Haha, I was just about to recommed you guys again the Sonarworks, but seems like there are others as well. +++

Without Sonarworks (bypassed) K812 sounds thin and badly tuned. Making curve flat you really get out the potential of these headphones, especially if mixing/mastering.. get the free trial and hear the difference. The mids sound awesome with the missing bottom end now. And low end have unreal energy. I have -1-dB bass boost with 2dB tilt as well to dim the highs a bit.

My 70 year old father who has built own amps and speakers love the Sonarworks with HD600 as well, and said he will never go back. If you have ears you will recognise the positive difference of having very high quality studio monitoring with headphones in relatively low price, in home! Depending on your DAC/Amp..

 

[SylvesterH]

It sound interesting .. I`m right now using the trial version.

 

[Roll]

It sound interesting .. I`m right now using the trial version.

Especially the first time with Sonarworks, play with the Dry/Wet settings. For my brother's 812, I like it at 80 for movies...and much lower for music.

 

[lacknothing]

So
What settings and plugins in sonar works are you guys using for the AKG K812 ?

 

[486892]

The Reference 4 standalone for headphones only. You get the vst plugin as well, but i prefer standalone. Then find Average curve for your headphones and press on if not, and bypass to hear difference. If you want more accurate flat curve, send your headphones for their calibration service, but for me the average with -1dB Bass Boost and 2dB Tilt sound pretty damn flat. So basically it does dim just the highs a bit, but not the bass, because tilt means balanced change.. And output i'm having -5,5dB.

 

[lacknothing]

Thanks, UtaA

Meanwhile I was fiddling with cables to get to a symmetric / four wire setup.
What really smashed me is, that the SQ of the AKG K812 seemingly is in such a degree dependant on the original cable, that one could say that the SQ upgrade from the K701 or K712 in clarity and PRAT is by 90% due to the given cable alone.

To further verify this, I possibly have to shell out some more bucks for a original K812 spare cable to attach two of them to the K712 in four wire mode.
This would be the vice versa test of running the K812 through the cable I currently use at the K712. Connected this way (in three wire mode of course) the presentation of the K812 became very very close to that of the K712 (apart from the very different "3D" rendering of course).

Another observation regarding Tyll's distorted "eee's":
This "distortion" is even more sticking out at the well known Keith Jarrett's "Köln Concert" at the very first minute.
There is a hard hit single note, that kinda rings excessively. Once that signature is picked up, the whole record becomes un-listanable. Now I easily understand what Tyll meant, referring the presentation of The Persuasions "Oh! Darling" or Tiger Okoshi's "Bootsman's Little House".

On the other hand, I'm not yet convinced, that this excessively perceived "distortion" has its root cause in the K812 itself.
Looking at the measurement plots and comparing them to plots of its ancestors makes clear, that those measure very similar. Modal breakup can't be avoided anyway and many high regarded speakers do show excessive peaking and subsequent distortion figures due to cone breakup.
My take on that "distortion" by now is, that there might be a left / right interference of the original K812 three wire setup, that exaggerates such an unbearable stick out effect.

I really would like to sort this out.
If I'm unable to do so, the K812 gets trashed. No need here for a can where half the records get rendered un-listanable.

 

[486892]

Do you mean overall distortion or certain frequency area? If you test Sonarworks calibration you will hear what is normal, more realistic sound out from K812, which is very different from original tuning. I don't know why they are so much tuned/thinned, when the result is not good enough. They try to be airy and crispy, but they are something else.. Vocals are in different level with calibration. I should try HD800 again with the calibration and compare to K812.

 

[lacknothing]

Do you mean overall distortion or certain frequency area?

Its a very narrow frequency band that is perceived to be overly "distorted".
As said, in the Köln Concert album its a single key that sticks out. Like Jerrett were playing on a broken or mis-tuned piano.
Tyll in his review on Innerfidelity linked it to cone breakup taking place at 2-3kHz which easily can be seen in any measurement plots as well.

But in my point of view, that's not necessarily the whole story. If I'm right, going four wire may swamp that outsticking "distortion" effect by allowing our ear brain system to better differentiate what got interfered from left / right.

 

[486892]

From Reference 4 you can see the average of hundreds? different K812 measurements, which show the highest peak between 4-5kHz (8-9dB), second highest between 9-10kHz (7dB) and third highest after 10kHz (5dB). Lowest peak is between 2-3kHz (-7dB). The peaks will create some crispiness and air, but will eat the warmness and make the overall sound/balance more thin as well. I think the physical elements of K812 have already quite bright characteristics so tuning up the high side is not an easy job as we can hear. Now i increased the Tilt to 3dB with -1dB Bass Boost and it feels even more comfortable, but it will depend on the other setup, which settings should work on Sonarworks..

 

[lacknothing]

After roughly 100h of break in, the core signature of the K812 has not changed that much.

Having done a lot of further iterations with different cable arrangements, I've come to the conclusion that
- in stock form the AKG K812 doesn't provide the flag ship SQ its touted for
- the cable is in such a high degree part of the K812's SQ, both on the positive as on the negative side, that for me modding this can is not worth the effort, as the result will be totally unpredictable.

My guess is, that those who ventured into modding the K812 and put it on sale short after, have run into severe SQ problems not foreseen.

The "distortion" issue and also, that complex passages are hard to dissolve, are IMO highly related to sort of exaggeration of the K812 - fed by the original three wire cable - on the upfront edge of sounds. Thus, perception of more quiet notes in the mix get subdued to some degree. The original cable accounts substantially for that specific behaviour and IMO the three wire arrangement also accounts for left / right interference and less than stellar "3D" presentation, but on the other hand it also accounts a lot for the airy presentation and for a very special sense of quietness and clarity I loved.

 

[SylvesterH]

I tried both Tru-Fi and Ref 4 from Sonaworks.
Ref 4 is far better. It makes total sense to pay the price difference.

 

[Hubert481]

What was better with Ref 4?
I could not hear any difference.

Using ref 4 on laptop and True-Fi on ipad