AKG Qs

[Husq2100]

Hey all, bit of a newb here.
 
I have a pair of K701, Q460 and some older 240's. I have recently pre ordered a Pico Power for them.
 
I have been doing a little reading and looking around the net and have found out that AKG have shifted alot of their manufacturing to China. I was suprised to see the K550, which seems to be only 2nd in their line up to the Q701 (K701 being faded out in the USA)
 
I also read here that some of the later K601 were made in China and the earlier ones in Austria. Can anyone definitely confirm this?
 
Looking at the back of the boxes of my K701 and Q460's, I see they both have "Designed and Engineered in Austria by AKG", but the K701 has " Made in Austria", where as the Q460 has "Made in China"
 
What are the opinions on AKG's stuff coming out of China?
 
Also are there any ways to tell if my K701 are fakes??, yes I did by them from the net (NIB)
 
And what are the opinions on the K601 vs K550 vs K701?
 
cheers
Serg

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
I haven't heard of fake AKG's. They're not popular as jewelry for the kids, so who would want to copy them?
 
Who cares where it's manufactured these days? China produces almost everything in the world. They output some great stuff too. And some trash. That's part of the game. It's not like the USA doesn't produce some junk too. How about we not worry which country produced the product and instead focus on the quality of the product as a product.
 
Opinions on the K601, K701, K550, etc, there's tons of reviews and some people will tell you all day about their amazing sound stages and clarity and mids, etc. My opinion is that they're all dry and boring headphones, no fun, no musicality, and sound like tools for editing and mastering, not for enjoying. But that's merely my opinion. I've yet to like an AKG. The Q701 was the closest thing to me liking an AKG, and that was after some equalization tweaking to make it sound more like a full range speaker and less like a `headphone.'
 
Very best,

 

[Husq2100]

Fakes, whod want them.....well anyone that wants to make $$$ of branding. As an example, Stihl have a hard time keeping up with the huge amount of fake chainsaws on the world markets, and since they want to protect their branding and quality, they chase them as much as they can. I have read here about fake AKG, and had my local (Australia) hi-fi guy tell me that he has heard of them turing up to AKG distributors for warranty repairs and only being able to be identified once opened up.
 
China, due partly to their culture, has a reputation of being consistantly inconsistant with pretty much everything. Some BIG name and $$$ companies have spent millions trying to set up factories and control production and quality yet still struggle. Some smaller companies have tried and moved on to other regions for production. It is not uncommon for materials or part there of to be replaced without consulting the customer if they cant get what was originally spec'd.
 
I have also read here that some find a difference between the Austrian made K601 and the Chinese made K601.
 
Yes lots of stuff on the K/Q701/702 and even 550, but most of those are individual threads that end up comparing AKG to Sennhiser etc.
 
So how does the K601 compare to a K701? And for those that have or had, if you owned K701, would you go with the K601 or K550 as a second pair??? or not bother at all?
 
cheers
Serg

 

[qazxsw80]

I also read here that some of the later K601 were made in China and the earlier ones in Austria. Can anyone definitely confirm this?

That's right. From 2005 to 2009 or 2010 Akg K601 were being made in Austria and then Akg started to make most of their headphones in China(except k701/702/3003)
Austria

 
 
China