FullBright1
Headphoneus Supremus
Equipment Used : Marantz CD-1 Player & RME ADI-2 DAC FX
Songs Used :
Ed Wynne. : "Shimmer into Nature"
Sarah Jarosz " "Over The Edge"
Sierra Hull "25 Trips"
Keane : "Thread"
Kate Rusby : "Until Morning
Azam Ali : "Hope" & "Phantoms"
Al Di Meola : "Strawberry Fields"
Judith Hill : "You Can't Blame Me"
"Circles Around The Sun" : "Babyman"
Mini K872 Review :
Box : Lots of it. Large, with a big headphone case,
Build Quality of Headphones : Beautiful = Chrome meets Black and creates Hi-Tech Aesthetic " wow".
Some headphones at first look, appear to my eye to be masculine. This one to my eye is Feminine. Its Lovely.
Comfort: The K872's are quite comfortable. The Cups seal very well and the Headphones feel for the most part, light.
Wire is decent, you get 1, and its fairly long, it attaches on one side, and its easily replaceable .
Now 4 Sound :
Overall Timbre : Rich and Round,
Overall Tonality : Full, Warm, mostly Neutral, not Bright.
Soundstage : Mildly Impressive, with more of the soundstage coming at you from the sides than directly in front, typical of AKG.
Instrument Separation within the Stereo Field : Very good for a closed set of headphones.
Listening experience : Mostly Immersive
Treble : Extension is very good, and does not attempt to be overbearing. This is a well designed Treble, more about precision then Air.
Midrange ; Not aggressive, not laid back. Presents itself well without being shouty, honky, or annoying in the upper midrange.
Lower Mids : This and the Bass response is non-typical AKG House Sound. They have engineered the K872 to have full low mids. They dont over-ride or subtract from the Midrange, yet they are certainly dialed in resulting in an added fullness to the overall sound.
Most of us have owned K701s and K702s, so we know the AKG House Sound which is "detailed, airy, no bottom end", except for the K712.
Bass. Deep, and elevated above neutral. So, This and the lower mid warmth and the refining of the Treble response is where this Headphone stands out regarding the general AKG Family Sound.
This is a Closed Headphone, made by AKG that has a Treble response that is present but not harsh, and low mids and bass response that are quite abundant.
Tonal Balance: Pretty much a Bullseye. While their sound leans into the realm of warmth over neutral, there is no offense found within any part of their quite extended frequency response.
Comparing them to say, the Arya's... The K872's sound overall, is more lush, warmer, prettier, and definitely more low end full.
And of course its more intimate, as its a set of closed headphones.
Comparing them to the recent Aeon Flow 2C, is not going to help you, as the AKGs are 2x as much money and this is reflected in their sound quality.
The Aeon's are very fine , but the AKG's are in another League.
This is Reference sound, make no mistake, but, its a very warm Reference Sound.
The Hifiman Arya's tend to be Microscopes, and they use their Treble and upper Midrange to achieve a lot of significant detail retrieval.
The Arya's try to present a Sonic X-Ray, while the K872's offer you a lovely and very warm perspective.
The Arya's have more articulation while the K875s have much more body and lower end impact.
The Arya's sound more analytical and the K875s sound more warm and deep.
The sound of the K875's has more depth, more body, and more fullness, as compared to the excellent sounding Arya's.
One advantage the K872's have over the Arya's is that the Arya's need power, and they need to be played at an increased volume or you lose the bottom end and they just sound very crisp.
The K872s are one of those well designed Reference Headphones that are engineered to allow for maximum body of sound, without having to ramp up the Volume knob to get you there. They sound very good at low volume. The Arya's do not fulfill this desire.
Because the K872s have a rich low end extension......, they allow audiophiles who could not love the thin sounding K701s or K702s, to say "ahhhhhh".
These have bass, its rich, its deep for a closed set, ... its well extended and quite accurate.
Its not Skullcandy Bass, but because the bass and lower mids are above neutrality, this headphone is going to please the person who is looking for a rich and warm tonality, vs someone who favors extended midrange articulation.
Who will love this headphone?
The person who is looking for rich sounding closed headphones, as these offer a very pretty sonic experience, quite immersive, with adaquite detail retrieval.
Before i heard them, i read a review that accused them of being a closed version of the K701s.
They are absolutely not.
The K701and K702s, are not rich sounding, are not full sounding, and do not offer anything like an impressive bass response.
You get all that with the K872's.
AKG has created these comfortable beauties to have a rich detailed tonality, with impressive bass response.
They are not flat, or dry, or sibilant.
There is no THIN sound found inside inside the K872 earcups......
Just expensive pleasure.
Final verdict : If you have the coin, if you have the deeper pockets and you are looking for a Solid Reference Audiophile Sound in a set of closed headphones, then do not buy the Sennheiser 820.
Buy the AKG K857, instead.
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Songs Used :
Ed Wynne. : "Shimmer into Nature"
Sarah Jarosz " "Over The Edge"
Sierra Hull "25 Trips"
Keane : "Thread"
Kate Rusby : "Until Morning
Azam Ali : "Hope" & "Phantoms"
Al Di Meola : "Strawberry Fields"
Judith Hill : "You Can't Blame Me"
"Circles Around The Sun" : "Babyman"
Mini K872 Review :
Box : Lots of it. Large, with a big headphone case,
Build Quality of Headphones : Beautiful = Chrome meets Black and creates Hi-Tech Aesthetic " wow".
Some headphones at first look, appear to my eye to be masculine. This one to my eye is Feminine. Its Lovely.
Comfort: The K872's are quite comfortable. The Cups seal very well and the Headphones feel for the most part, light.
Wire is decent, you get 1, and its fairly long, it attaches on one side, and its easily replaceable .
Now 4 Sound :
Overall Timbre : Rich and Round,
Overall Tonality : Full, Warm, mostly Neutral, not Bright.
Soundstage : Mildly Impressive, with more of the soundstage coming at you from the sides than directly in front, typical of AKG.
Instrument Separation within the Stereo Field : Very good for a closed set of headphones.
Listening experience : Mostly Immersive
Treble : Extension is very good, and does not attempt to be overbearing. This is a well designed Treble, more about precision then Air.
Midrange ; Not aggressive, not laid back. Presents itself well without being shouty, honky, or annoying in the upper midrange.
Lower Mids : This and the Bass response is non-typical AKG House Sound. They have engineered the K872 to have full low mids. They dont over-ride or subtract from the Midrange, yet they are certainly dialed in resulting in an added fullness to the overall sound.
Most of us have owned K701s and K702s, so we know the AKG House Sound which is "detailed, airy, no bottom end", except for the K712.
Bass. Deep, and elevated above neutral. So, This and the lower mid warmth and the refining of the Treble response is where this Headphone stands out regarding the general AKG Family Sound.
This is a Closed Headphone, made by AKG that has a Treble response that is present but not harsh, and low mids and bass response that are quite abundant.
Tonal Balance: Pretty much a Bullseye. While their sound leans into the realm of warmth over neutral, there is no offense found within any part of their quite extended frequency response.
Comparing them to say, the Arya's... The K872's sound overall, is more lush, warmer, prettier, and definitely more low end full.
And of course its more intimate, as its a set of closed headphones.
Comparing them to the recent Aeon Flow 2C, is not going to help you, as the AKGs are 2x as much money and this is reflected in their sound quality.
The Aeon's are very fine , but the AKG's are in another League.
This is Reference sound, make no mistake, but, its a very warm Reference Sound.
The Hifiman Arya's tend to be Microscopes, and they use their Treble and upper Midrange to achieve a lot of significant detail retrieval.
The Arya's try to present a Sonic X-Ray, while the K872's offer you a lovely and very warm perspective.
The Arya's have more articulation while the K875s have much more body and lower end impact.
The Arya's sound more analytical and the K875s sound more warm and deep.
The sound of the K875's has more depth, more body, and more fullness, as compared to the excellent sounding Arya's.
One advantage the K872's have over the Arya's is that the Arya's need power, and they need to be played at an increased volume or you lose the bottom end and they just sound very crisp.
The K872s are one of those well designed Reference Headphones that are engineered to allow for maximum body of sound, without having to ramp up the Volume knob to get you there. They sound very good at low volume. The Arya's do not fulfill this desire.
Because the K872s have a rich low end extension......, they allow audiophiles who could not love the thin sounding K701s or K702s, to say "ahhhhhh".
These have bass, its rich, its deep for a closed set, ... its well extended and quite accurate.
Its not Skullcandy Bass, but because the bass and lower mids are above neutrality, this headphone is going to please the person who is looking for a rich and warm tonality, vs someone who favors extended midrange articulation.
Who will love this headphone?
The person who is looking for rich sounding closed headphones, as these offer a very pretty sonic experience, quite immersive, with adaquite detail retrieval.
Before i heard them, i read a review that accused them of being a closed version of the K701s.
They are absolutely not.
The K701and K702s, are not rich sounding, are not full sounding, and do not offer anything like an impressive bass response.
You get all that with the K872's.
AKG has created these comfortable beauties to have a rich detailed tonality, with impressive bass response.
They are not flat, or dry, or sibilant.
There is no THIN sound found inside inside the K872 earcups......
Just expensive pleasure.
Final verdict : If you have the coin, if you have the deeper pockets and you are looking for a Solid Reference Audiophile Sound in a set of closed headphones, then do not buy the Sennheiser 820.
Buy the AKG K857, instead.
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