[Charlie Norwood]

Quincy is considered a god among the most respected of professional musicians. One might not care too much for the music he's made but his legacy, influence and reputation for making the best sounding pop music possible isn't really up for debate.
 
That being said, I have no idea what audiophile and/or technical knowledge he possess personally, and his involvement with AKG might be as simple as just his name and a tacit approval over the final design and acoustics. But it's also possible he's been a headphone freak for 40+ years and has a lot of good opinions. 
 
I doubt there's any popular musician/artist (past or present) that could lend their name to a line of headphones that anyone on head-fi would really be that impressed by... 

 

[alpha80]

  AKG making oval cups is kinda interesting.

Yes.
I'd love to see the K812's successor sport rear-angled oval cups, with the same tesla magnet angled drivers, and the exact same construction, with a tiny bump up from 1k-3k.
If they market this black and gold model properly, on high traffic hip hop websites and mags, this will eat a huge amount of beats dollars up, from apple.  And if they market an alternate color way in the same places where Bose sells lots of headphones (Sports sites, GQ, DuPont registry lol) it will make the brand's imprint on the american consumer much larger across two huge demographics.
I predict success!

 

[alpha80]

  But it's also possible he's been a headphone freak for 40+ years and has a lot of good opinions.  

This.
Something tells me Quincy was a huge fan of the OG 240's and 340's

 

[AKGunkie]

  Yes.
I'd love to see the K812's successor sport rear-angled oval cups, with the same tesla magnet angled drivers, and the exact same construction, with a tiny bump up from 1k-3k.
If they market this black and gold model properly, on high traffic hip hop websites and mags, this will eat a huge amount of beats dollars up, from apple.  And if they market an alternate color way in the same places where Bose sells lots of headphones (Sports sites, GQ, DuPont registry lol) it will make the brand's imprint on the american consumer much larger across two huge demographics.
I predict success!

I don't know how much beats business they will take. These will probably retail around 1200-1300 USD

 

[money4me247]

  I don't know how much beats business they will take. These will probably retail around 1200-1300 USD

with that prospective price point, the answer would probably be zero. might make some noise against some of the other TOTL closed headphones out there though.

 

[robm321]

.

 

[Roderick]

Who designs these headphones! Same goes for senn hd630. These better sound really dang good for me to consider these over th900 and such.

 

[robm321]

Well, it would have to sound very close to or better than the HD800, otherwise it will flop. 

 

[alpha80]

  I don't know how much beats business they will take. These will probably retail around 1200-1300 USD

wow.
fail.
 
I assumed these were $349-$449

 

[AKGunkie]

 
wow.
fail.
 
I assumed these were $349-$449

These are "self calibrating" and there isn't any other headphone that does this yet. It would be a bit of a stretch to think that they will retail for about the same as a K712.

 

[money4me247]

  These are "self calibrating" and there isn't any other headphone that does this yet. It would be a bit of a stretch to think that they will retail for about the same as a K712.

At the same time, it is a bit of a stretch to think that there would be that much demand for a $1k+ closed headphone with beat-esque styling and active components. the demographic looking at that type of price range has quite different stylistic tastes compared to the $300-$500 headphone market.
 
I personally think it looks nice and I am excited to hear these in person. just offering some general thoughts/feedback.

 

[AKGunkie]

  At the same time, it is a bit of a stretch to think that there would be that much demand for a $1k+ closed headphone with beat-esque styling and active components. the demographic looking at that type of price range has quite different stylistic tastes compared to the $300-$500 headphone market.
 
I personally think it looks nice and I am excited to hear these in person. just offering some general thoughts/feedback.

Oh, i definitely agree with you, but there is also an all black version based on pictures. My bet is that this will be the first release with this new "TruNote" tech and if it proves successful, we will see many more releases with this option. Its also important to note AKGs pricing model, no one ever pays MSRP. Late summer was the expected release, we should be seeing some more news in the coming months.

 

[qazxsw80]

  Oh, i definitely agree with you, but there is also an all black version based on pictures. My bet is that this will be the first release with this new "TruNote" tech and if it proves successful, we will see many more releases with this option. Its also important to note AKGs pricing model, no one ever pays MSRP. Late summer was the expected release, we should be seeing some more news in the coming months.

Even the black version has some gold accent.


But it's not just about the color. The whole headphone looks ugly. Just compare with the K550 which costs about 150 dollars. It's ten times cheaper and looks much better.

 
 

  My bet is that this will be the first release with this new "TruNote" tech and if it proves successful, we will see many more releases with this option.

And probably it's not gonna be successful. I just can't imagine any audience for this headphone. Akg is steadily going down hill since it's was bought by Harman. They dropped really great the K501 and K1000. It took them 10 years to make a decent headphone out of the K701. That horrible Tiesto line which fall apart in your hands after a few months of use. Then they failed with K812 and K3003. And finally they shut down the factory in Austria to make a few more bucks by using child labor in China.

 

[robm321]

Yeah, AKG is a disaster. My favorite headphone, K1000 was their top achievement. They have gone down hill since. 

 

[money4me247]

  Yeah, AKG is a disaster. My favorite headphone, K1000 was their top achievement. They have gone down hill since. 

really? haven't found any other akgs to your liking? i think the nice thing about akg is that you can count on their prices dropping & sniping pretty nice discounts. hahah